The Top Wealth Managers 2012 Profiles: No. 8—Pathstone Family Office LLC

Growth and Adaptability

The team that started out at 19 professionals has grown to 30, and has seen its client base grow organically as well. While further growth is planned, Pathstone has only just begun to consider acquisitions.

Being a relatively new firm has its advantages, says Braverman, adding that Pathstone has “enjoyed being a new organization able to more easily adapt and adopt new technology and processes.” Client meetings are conducted on iPads, rather than “handing out multitudes of paper in an environment where the market is volatile.” Technology, as might be expected for such a firm, is a “major factor,” particularly because of its client base. More timely data, managed and manipulated more quickly and efficiently by “taking the best advantage of what the tech world has to offer,” is appreciated by a client base that’s pretty heavy into technology itself.

“So many clients are heavily entrepreneurial in nature,” says Braverman, “that they’re on the move more. As a result, it’s hard to catch them behind a desk, so technology has given the firm the means to deliver information to them wherever and whenever they need it, whenever they have time to access it.”

Because Pathstone incorporates so many aspects of clients’ financial lives into its functions, it doesn’t have to ask questions about what a family might want to do with its money or how it might prefer to handle a business or charitable question. “We are in possession of the answers, rather than the questions,” says Braverman, so if a client wants to make an unplanned major acquisition, the firm can tell him if it’s possible and/or adjust other aspects of his finances so that it can happen.

Ownership From Within

Pathstone is “employee-owned,” with new employees “mentored through a growth process to be future partners.” In addition, there is a protocol in place, Braverman explains, to acquire ownership interests from the founders.

Succession planning is set up with the multigenerational nature of client families in mind. “When a family makes the buying decision to become the client of a multifamily office,” says Braverman, “what they’re really saying is, ‘Here’s all my money forever,’ because what they recognize is that they have attained a level of wealth greater than they will need to consume in their lifetime.” For that reason, he says, the firm has to be prepared to serve the family beyond the current generation and plan for its own longevity.

Along those lines, he says that maintaining the culture of the firm, with client service ideals intact, is a prominent concern. Future leaders of the firm have to be selected to be culturally aligned with the ideals that drive present leaders. To this end, when looking for new candidates, the firm seeks out those who look at the whole picture, whether on the accounting side—with a focus on complex families—or on the advisory side, with a focus on multigenerational financial planning with complex asset allocation.

For more on the 2012 Top Wealth Managers, please visit our home page.

For information on reprints of this profile and other 2012 Top Wealth Managers content, we invite you to visit our reprints partner, PARS International.