CWG News: Serving More Families Through An Expanded Personal CFO Platform
It is my pleasure as the Chief Investment Officer to announce the expansion of our Personal CFO platform so that more families have access to Crown’s extensive service offering. Previously, Crown was only able to take on high-complexity clients best suited for our Personal CFO, retainer-based model. Recently, we have been adding new clients that have more traditional financial profiles without compromising the deserved attention that we provide to our CFO clients. Our non-retainer paying CFO clients will have the same access to our firm’s breadth of expertise, goals-based financial planning, investment management, risk management and real estate services. These clients will pay an asset management fee on the accounts we manage directly and will not have a retainer fee. Many of our clients have reached out to us in the past regarding people in their lives that would benefit from our advice, but many times their needs did not fit the Crown model. Nick and Tyler have always felt dejected by this issue, and as you would expect, they set out to fix it. By adding my experience to the team and expanding the platform, we are well prepared to be of service to anyone needing high-quality, independent and objective advice.
We are fortunate to be able to grow and expand, leveraging the success of the Personal CFO model, which will always be our core value-add and differentiator. The majority of our current clients are business owners and understand that there are clear signals when it is time to expand: clients are seeking you out, you are consistently surpassing internal goals, the underlying systems, processes and technology are built for scale and a talented team has been established. Crown has been laying this groundwork since launching its independent firm last summer. We believe we are operating in an underserved market where people want concierge-style solutions and a single point of contact for all financial matters that will help them achieve their goals in life (not just investment goals).
Our expanded Personal CFO division will leverage key aspects of the retainer-based Personal CFO model. Each new client will go through our behavioral-finance based discovery process where we dig deep into their life path, financial DNA and true-life goals. We complete an assessment that will include analysis and specific recommendations around cash flow management, wealth accumulation, risk management, wealth transfer and other important areas that will cover their entire financial picture. And in true Crown form, we will execute this plan to its full extent. The execution of the plan is what sets us apart from other firms. Traditional financial planning delivers a binder of analysis and recommendations and in turn the advisor collects a fee for creating the plan. Most people are time compressed already and will only act on a few of the easiest recommendations. The result is a broken process that is expensive and inefficient to consumers, but low maintenance and lucrative to the largest financial advice providers in the country. Our team takes accountability for taking each recommendation from decision to execution, ensuring the plan comes to fruition and doesn’t collect dust under a pile of statements on your desk.
A key reason we have chosen to expand is driven by our current clients. There have been numerous occasions where a family member, friend or colleague needed advice but due to our focus on the Personal CFO platform, if they did not fit that profile we were unable to help. Those days are now gone, we are welcoming with open arms, anyone that needs good quality advice from a firm with a proven track record of building unique and customized solutions. We will continue to carve out a niche as a fully independent company in this industry that is saturated by multi-billion-dollar companies that provide services riddled with conflicts of interest. The presence of conflicts almost always depends on two factors: business structure and how the advisor is compensated. Nick has written previous articles on this so I won’t be redundant. But I will add this: everyone in our industry understands the different types of financial advisors and what that means for clients, but the public is largely unaware. I am sure if you think about your respective industry, there is probably a similar unfortunate scenario for clients/consumers.
We want to be sure to thank our clients for their continued confidence in our firm and for helping us create something truly unique. We are ready to grow the Crown Wealth Group family so if there is anyone in your life that needs good quality advice, we would welcome the introduction. We resolve to deliver the same great experience Crown has come to be known for!
Steve Lindgren - Chief Investment Officer & Partner