Small Is Beautiful

Without knowing more about your family’s financial requirements, it would be hard for anyone else to advise you whether or not to proceed. Certainly, the more you’re able to reduce the risk, the better. For example, you might find a like-minded professional to share expenses with you. Another possibility would be to plan on outsourcing specialty services to keep your overhead down, at least in the beginning.

At a minimum, I think you should draw up a detailed business plan that spells out what you plan to achieve in a specific time frame, how you will achieve it, and what you will do if it doesn’t work out. Discussing this with your husband may go a long way toward allaying his fears. He may also feel more accommodating if you suggest some concrete ways to reduce the household living expenses until you get your new venture off the ground.

I think many big planning and investment firms are giving small investors a raw deal with high fees, minimums, and breakpoints, not to mention impersonal service. But when I mentioned to my two partners that we ought to target this market, they said it was impractical, that we’d lose our shirts, and so forth. They’d rather join everybody else in chasing after high-net-worth prospects. Am I nuts? If you feel strongly that this may be your calling as well as your personal preference, why not ask your partners for a limited-time trial to see if it could become a viable subspecialty of the firm? Let them woo the wealthier clients while you court the little guys.

Your big advantage, as you’ve already perceived, is that you have less competition than they do. Simple tactics can be surprisingly effective, such as developing seminars and workshops to persuade non-investors or disenchanted do-it-yourselfers to get on board with you. In Washington, D.C., financial advisor Ellie Wotherspoon has helped launch several women’s investment clubs, which she advises free of charge. A number of these club members have eventually come to her as paying clients, after learning to trust her integrity and her enthusiasm for empowering women to take charge of their finances.

Whatever course you follow to serve small investors, I applaud your commitment and wish you success–along with the respect you deserve from the partners in your firm.

As I approach 60, I’m getting tired of working harder and longer just to make more money. My wife passed away several years ago, and my kids are grown. If it weren’t for my 85-year-old father, whose nursing-home bills I pay, I’d be glad to scale down–work less, spend less, and enjoy life more. My younger colleagues, who are still gung-ho on gathering assets, keep telling me, “If you rest, you rust.” I guess I need some attitude adjustment. Help! Actually, your attitude is perfectly normal. But it’s probably quite lonely where you sit, longing to let go and cut back in an atmosphere of escalating consumption and acquisition.

I assume the cost of care for your father is the big hurdle that keeps you from following through on your desire. Are there alternative ways to care for him that would be less costly? Or can you downsize enough in other aspects of your life to keep paying the nursing-home bills? You might, for example, sell your home and buy or rent a smaller place. For ideas on lower-cost living, consider Amy Dacyczyn’s Tightwad Gazette books or Mary Hunt’s The Best of the Cheapskate Monthly.

Even if you’re not ready to join the fans of frugality who saw paper-towel rolls in half, you may find it easier to cope with “affluenza” by joining a simplicity circle in your area. In fact, if you know a few other people who share your desire for more time to smell the roses, you might form a group of your own to foster this lifestyle and buck the societal trend. I really hope you do this. The more people who try to balance work with time spent in relaxation, rejuvenation, and enjoyment of family and friends, the better off I think we all will be.

Choosing not to get bigger may seem counterintuitive when all the talk is of big firms squashing, swallowing up, or ignoring smaller practices. But for many advisors and clients, small is beautiful. If you decide to challenge the conventional wisdom that “bigger is better,” three cheers for you! With a little focus, self-trust, and some creative brainstorming alone or with supportive friends, I believe you can find the wherewithal to do it well and not only survive but flourish. Find your niche. Polish your integrity and your personal touch–they’re the differentiating factors that can help you prosper. And serve your clients so well that they will never dream of deserting you to become an account number at a bigger firm.

Don’t misunderstand me–I’m not saying that big is bad. You may feel that success lies in growing your client list, expanding your staff, or joining forces with bigger firms–not that there’s anything wrong with that (as Jerry Seinfeld once said, in another context). But if all the scary predictions make you feel that your desire to stay small or get smaller is risky or impractical, consider the suggestions I’ve offered. They can give you more energy to go the distance in creating a practice that will suit you better, professionally and personally.