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April 30, 2018 at 12:20 PM
Good advisors have insatiable appetites for knowledge. They like to learn from experts in investment theory, practice management, client prospecting and succession planning. But they love to learn from their peers. That’s why Michael Kitces, Sheryl Garret, Ric Edelman and others attract such highly engaged advisor listeners when they speak at industry gatherings.
And that’s also the goal of this new column — to profile advisors who have achieved some measure of success and who are laying the groundwork for continued success. My hope is that their achievements — and failures — can provide you with insights and tools that can help you realize your own ambitions.
Meet Renee Kwok, CEO of TFC Financial, a Boston-based, privately owned RIA firm with just under $1 billion in discretionary assets, 340 primarily high-net-worth client relationships and 17 employees. TFC has just launched a 501(c) (3) foundation called the TFC Financial Charitable Foundation.
What can you learn from this new endeavor? Advisory firms should put their assets where their financial literacy mouths are, and advisors should educate not just their clients about the financial world, but the broader population that likely needs that education even more than higher-net-worth folks. That’s what the new TFC foundation is about.
Kwok has worn many hats at TFC, starting as a financial-planning analyst and working “hand in hand with Jim Joslin,” TFC’s chairman and co-founder, “on all aspects of our business; there isn’t a job I haven’t done in the firm,” she says.
Kwok assumed the CEO role last year and recently became majority owner of TFC, which she notes makes it a woman-owned firm in which two-thirds of the employees are female. In addition to managing the firm, she still spends most of her time working with clients, particularly in what she calls “crisis management.”
This means helping them navigate planned or unplanned “life transitions” such as career changes, divorce or the death of a spouse, and end-of-life issues by “planning in advance of a crisis,” she says. In addition to financial planning and investment management, TFC works with clients on charitable giving.
Was starting the foundation a business-building or philanthropic decision? “This is a charitable decision with a long-term purpose,” Kwok says, which is tied to TFC’s core values.
