Derrick Handwerk

Personal CFO

Who We Are

In 2004 I was trying to find a financial planner to help me put together a plan for me. I met with a few Financial Planners who after sitting with me for 45 minutes gave me a financial plan. The plan really just showed me how I should invest my money, the plan did not include tax drag and had a linear 8% rate of return for the next 25 years.

That 100+ page financial plan was produced with a minimum of data from me; just a 45 minute meeting and all the answers were inside the plan. These “plans”, which I still have, were really a cash flow projection with some variable analysis (Monte Carlo) thrown it.

From that experience I realized the vast majority of people calling themselves financial planners really were stockbrokers and insurance people. I was looking for an integrated plan which tied my taxes, my estate plan and my investments together. It was at that time I realized that unless I had at least $20 million in investable assets I would not find what I was looking for.

Having owned and run several companies as well as having my MBA I was trained to approach problems in a holistic fashion. When I looked at the financial industry I did not see this multidisciplinary approach to solving problems. Rather I saw salespeople who wanted to invest my money or sell me insurance. Many of these salespeople had no significant background in financial projections, taxes, estate planning or setting long-term strategies. Worse yet, they did not understand the needs of an affluent family or a successful business owner. Even the large multi-family offices also wanted to concentrate on investing since that business is very scalable and thus profitable with each marginal dollar added.

It was at that time that I decided to retire from the corporate world and begin my financial services business. When I started in the industry, I thought of working for the big brokerage houses or insurance companies. I decided I could not work for them, though they would give me a salary, since I saw their business model as a win-lose proposition and there solutions were not inclusive in fashion. According to promote, Professional Planner in May of 2012, the average number of clients per advisor across all industries is 481. According to CEG Worldwide LLC (April of 2011) the average financial planner had 269 clients.

It took me two years of research to understand the industry and find a niche where I believe I could excel and deliver services on a win-win basis. I just could not work with a client the way the big company models were set up. I defined my client base as affluent families and I started in 2007 without any clients but with a vision. I did not want to advise more than 40 families and I wanted to concentrate on setting strategy and working with client wealth on a customized basis.

Within 4 years, via client referrals, I was up to almost 20 clients and was establishing my name in the industry with my customized approach and concierge level of service.

Unfortunately, my years of experience suggest most affluent clients cannot tell the difference in services provided by one financial professional vs. the next. Client confusion abounds surrounding titles and what the family can expect regarding the services rendered from the financial professional. This client confusion is propagated by the large brokerage companies and large insurance companies who financially benefit from this confusion which can also lead to a poor client experience.

From my experience, most people with less than $10 million of investable assets have never had the opportunity to work with a person who works in a customized, multi-dimensional fashion looking at all aspects of a client’s wealth and who is primarily concerned with the client’s wellbeing.

From the brokerage industry perspective, this affluent population many times has be given the same services and investment products as clients with $300,000 to invest. If you have at least $50 million to invest with one of the larger multi family offices, you will receive many of the same services I have been offering to my clients.

Our Core Values

Be open, honest and forthright in all matters
Provide unbiased, high-quality service to each client
Be ethical in the performance of our duties
Respect the concerns and views of our clients
Do what is best for each client
Accept only those clients where I believe we can add more value vs. their advisor