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Financial Planning > UHNW Client Services > UHNW Client Advice

How Advice Differs When Your Average Client Has $100M

By John Manganaro

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What You Need to Know

  • When families reach a certain level of wealth, their money is generally going to outlive them.
  • For these wealthier clients, attention turns to how their wealth can help their communities and philanthropic causes.
  • One of the most powerful ways to build client loyalty in the UHNW space is by engaging the family’s younger generations.

The wealthiest families in the United States are seeking more sophisticated advisory services that meet their complex and rapidly evolving needs, and according to Jack Ginter, the CEO of Callan Family Office, there is a tremendous opportunity for specialist wealth managers to grow in this space.

As Ginter told ThinkAdvisor in a recent interview, Callan Family Office was founded some 16 months ago specifically to take advantage of the fact that ultra-high-net-worth clients want highly tailored and holistic advisory services delivered in a fiduciary capacity that is free from conflicts of interest.

“There just aren’t a lot of registered investment advisor firms out there providing this level of service specifically crafted for the ultra-wealthy,” Ginter says. “To be successful in this realm requires a clear focus, and that’s why we are completely dedicated to serving the needs of ultra-high-net-worth clients and foundations with $50 million in assets and above. This sharp focus is a really important element of our strategy and story.”

As Ginter recalls, Callan Family Office launched in 2022 and was founded by a group of 22 partners who had all worked at Abbot Downing, the UHNW multifamily office of Wells Fargo. Ginter had led Abbot Downing until Wells folded it into its private wealth business in 2021.

According to Ginter, the reason for Callan Family Office’s creation was twofold and included both personal and professional motivations.

“One reason why we are here today and working in this dynamic space is that I was ready for a change, as were the nearly two dozen partners who have joined,” Ginter explains. “The other reason is that, as we were having discussions and looking at the landscape, we felt a strong conviction that nobody was doing exactly what we were looking to do in terms of serving this specialized client base.”

As Ginter spells out, Americans at all wealth levels face big financial challenges, and many could benefit tremendously by working with an advisor. This is true for the middle class and the mass affluent, he says, but even more so for high- and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and their families.

Among other challenges, these groups face big questions about monetizing closely held businesses and mitigating taxes through effective estate planning and smart charitable giving. They are also grappling with an evolving estate tax framework and tackling fundamental questions about the meaning of wealth and how it should best be deployed, protected and grown from a multigenerational and community-oriented perspective.

UHNW Clients in Focus

While Callan Family Office has a client minimum of $50 million, its average client has about $100 million in assets, and at this early stage, the firm is serving more than 40 families and growing quickly, Ginter says.

“All the clients and the families that come to us are unique in their own way, but the key thing is that, when families are at this level of wealth, their money is generally going to outlive them,” Ginter explains. “As such, generally speaking, they want to be intentional about instilling positive values in their children and the next generations, and how the wealth can impact their communities and important philanthropic causes becomes a key discussion.”

In Ginter’s experience, one of the most powerful ways to build client loyalty in the UHNW space is by showing a willingness and ability to engage the next generation (or two) of the family, and this can be accomplished in a variety of ways.

On the one hand, some clients’ children may already be highly interested in and well informed about the need to carefully steward the family’s wealth, and they can be brought straightaway into discussion about everything from estate planning to charitable giving.

On the other hand, some clients’ children may be totally disengaged. While the parent can often have trouble “getting through” to the next generation, the advisor can actually be in a powerful position to shake up the status quo.

Liquidity Events and Private Investments

Another important trend, Ginter says, is the prevalence of big liquidity events and the need for better planning around them.

Simply put, there are many highly successful entrepreneurs approaching retirement age and looking to turn to the next chapter. Making the most of the process, Ginter notes, requires the support of skilled advisors working in concert with accountants, tax attorneys and other resources such as investment bankers.

“Across all of these areas, our clients tell us that they value our independent perspective so much,” Ginter says. “In our firm today, we don’t have any proprietary products, and there is no fee sharing going on in any way with any underlying managers we use, and we don’t fee share with any outside advisors, either.

“When a client is coming into this world and thinking about the management of this level of wealth, they want a partner that is truly aligned with their best interest,” Ginter adds. “They want to know there are deep resources, too.”

Ginter says the firm works to stand out in other less obvious ways, as well. Its stewardship of clients’ private investments is one example.

“When we go through a liquidity event and then we are looking to make private investments for clients, it’s all done directly,” Ginter says. “We don’t use a feeder structure with multiple layers of fees. We make sure our clients are directly investing as partners, and that’s a harder road to go down, but it’s absolutely the best way to do this.”

The Callan Collaboration

Reflecting broadly on the experience of launching the firm, Ginter says one of the most gratifying aspects is the close collaboration with Callan, which is one of the largest institutional investment consultants in the country.

“As you might know, the Callan organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and our launch was actually the first time in their history that they chose to extend their brand outside of their core firm,” Ginter says. “That’s a really special thing for me, because I’ve been working in partnership with the leadership there for more than 20 years now.”

According to Ginter, it would be impossible for the firm to deliver the necessary level of service to its clients without being able to tap into the resources and expertise of the Callan organization, especially its capabilities across managers searches and its access to attractive private investments.

That said, clients also value the fact that Callan Family Office is a truly independent business that collaborates with but is not controlled or influenced by the bigger Callan organization with respect to running the business, Ginter said.

The Road Ahead

Echoing other firm leaders focused in this space, Ginter says there is much reason for optimism.

“We have a lot of confidence, and we are going to continue investing in our firm across technology and talent,” Ginter says. “For example, right now we are very focused on continuing to develop family governance support and education as a core competency of our firm.”

Ginter says securing the right talent will be a challenge, in a sense, but he says the firm’s unique approach and its early success has generated a lot of buzz and interest, and advisors are frequently contacting the firm and asking about opportunities to join or collaborate.

“Strategically, we want to be really thoughtful about our growth, but we have a clear vision of completing a national strategy and expanding our footprint in key markets, for example by continuing to add talent in the Midwest and on the West Coast.”

Photo: Shutterstock

John Manganaro

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