Wealth Adviser: Discussing Death over Dinner
"A morning briefing on coverage of special interest to wealth managers, financial planners and other advisers. Please send tips and comments to [email protected] or [email protected].
By Kevin Noblet
Many advisers’ clients just don’t want to talk about death–particularly their own. Philadelphia-based adviser Catherine Seeber sees a way to make the topic more palatable–by introducing it in a casual social setting, like a dinner party. In fact her own family will be discussing death at their Thanksgiving meal, she tells Wealth Adviser at WSJ.com. At the University of Washington, a former restauranteur, Michael Hebb, has taken the concept to another level with “Death Over Dinner,” his taboo-breaking program that brings people together over food to discuss terminal illness, the loss of a loved one or how they’d like their own death handled. Dark topics, perhaps, but they have their place in any comprehensive financial plan.
MANAGING THE MONEY:
Ways to measure risk. There are better ways to measure a client’s risk tolerance than a long-form questionnaire. Michigan-based adviser Jay Berger in Traverse City likes to look at what they did with their portfolios during and after the global financial crisis in 2008, Financial Planning says. Many of them basically stayed put to a large degree, although at the market’s low point he shifted some money out of equities in order to soothe nerves. “As clients get older they don’t process data or handle anxiety as well as they used to,” he observes.
IPO funds attract advisers. While some advisers try to get IPO shares for their clients, many don’t want anything to do with these sometimes over-hyped stocks. But mutual funds that invest in them could be more appealing, since the funds provide a diversified approach, Wealth Adviser at WSJ.com observes in this video.
An estate plan for a South American mother. Cross-border estate planning gets complex, but there can be tax advantages for someone who was born and lives outside the United States and who wants to leave an inheritance to children who emigrated here. In an interview with Wealth Adviser at WSJ.com, Boston-based wealth manager Brian Monnich describes how he tried to maximize those advantages for a client living in South America.
THE PRACTICE:
It’s not just about numbers. Advisers are too focused on numerical goals for the client–specifically a fixed retirement date, the size of their nest egg and a draw-down rate. These are outdated, say Brian Jacobsen and Wayne Badorf of Wells Fargo. Writing on InvestmentNews, they point out that retirement is becoming less about quitting work entirely than about transitioning to new careers. That means advisers have to approach Social Security and Medicare timing in a more flexible fashion.
Improve your social-networking profile. Social media won’t work for advisers if they don’t have efficient yet informative profiles on sites like LinkedIn.com. Writing on OnWallStreet, marketing expert Caitlin Zucal suggests they be selective about the specific skills they highlight–and not simply let that list of skills be driven by endorsements. “LinkedIn can miss the mark and suggest skills that don’t truly speak to who you are as a professional,” she warns.
(Murray Coleman contributed to this Wealth Adviser briefing, which is available to subscribers by email each workday morning. If you haven’t done so already, you can sign up for it here.)"
