Broker Check

Who We Are

Derrick Handwerk interview - Success in Wealth

Our Mission

At Handwerk MFO our goal is to act as a Personal CFO for our affluent families and privately held business owners. We go beyond just investing to provide a holistic suite of services in addition to coordinating and implementing the strategies of your existing professional advisors.

Our Core Values

  • Be open, honest and forthright in all matters
  • Provide transparent, high-quality service to each family
  • Be ethical in the performance of our duties
  • Respect the concerns and views of our families and business owners
  • Do what is best for each family
  • Accept only those families or privately-held business owners we believe we can add value to


A Letter from our Managing Partner, Derrick Handwerk, on Who We Are

In 2004 I met with a financial planner to develop a wealth management plan for myself and my family. After 45 minutes the financial planner gave me a boilerplate plan. The 100+ page document was produced with very minimal data from me, and essentially only outlined how I should invest my money, and not well. All I really received was a cash flow projection with some Monte Carlo variable analysis thrown in. I wondered how many others like me had received just such a document.

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

Through the course of earning my MBA and owning and running several companies I learned to approach problems in a holistic fashion, and when I looked at the financial industry I did not see this multidisciplinary approach to solving problems. Instead I saw salespeople with no significant background in financial projections, taxes, estate planning or settling 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. 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 did not want to follow the big company model of averaging more than 250 clients per advisor. Rather, I wanted to concentrate on setting a strategy and working with client wealth on a much more personal and customized basis. I defined by client base as affluent families and decided I would not work with more than 40 families.

Since then it has been my experience that most people with less than $10 million in investable assets have never had the opportunity to work with a person who works in a customized, multi-dimensional fashion, who looks at all aspects of their wealth and who is primarily concerned with their well-being. Many affluent clients cannot even tell the difference in services provided by one financial professional versus the next. At Handwerk Multi Family Office we are working to change that, by providing holistic wealth management services for long-term financial success. If you are ready to start getting the full picture of your financial health, contact us today for a complimentary consultation.

Regards

Derrick Handwerk

Personal CFO