David Quick, CPA • Dallas, TX
Hearthstone Financial, Inc. • Foresters Equity Services, Inc.
My business grew initially through seminars, where I covered a number of financial topics, including the tax implications of various investment strategies, Social Security claiming issues, and estate planning. I think after 2008-2009, the seminar approach lost some of its luster. The audience was so numbed as to be unresponsive, and the competition for an audience became very intense, with a great number of advisors trying to reach the same target market.
These days I focus far more on developing new clients from referrals and from the children of current clients. My clients are getting a bit older, and many have grown children. It is an important strategy for my practice to involve those children in the planning and review process for their parents and to demonstrate the value I have added.
Not only does it increase the possibility that I end up transitioning as the advisor on assets that my initial client base ultimately leaves to their heirs, but there’s the opportunity to gain new clients with their own assets and financial-planning needs.
I almost always invite my clients to include their children in meetings, if they are of age—particularly those who will be responsible for executing the estate plan down the road. I also want them to be aware of more than just the mechanics of the estate-planning process—to really understand why we have done what we have done over the years, including how we have selected investment strategies.
This serves two purposes: First, I want to make sure everybody’s on the same page and there aren’t any surprises for the heirs in the future. And second, I have found it to be a great practice-development tool for me in terms of actually getting clients from that next generation to understand concepts they may not have been exposed to before.
For example, the whole area of active investment management, with its defensive strategies, risk management, and quantitative approach, can be quite an eye-opener for my clients’ adult children. It is a terrific way to effectively make a presentation on our investment beliefs and approach to a highly receptive audience.
Disclosure: David J. Quick, CPA, is an investment advisor representative offering securities and advisory services through Foresters Equity Services, Inc., member FINRA, SIPC and a registered investment advisor. Hearthstone is independent of Foresters Equity Services, Inc. Hearthstone Financial, Inc., is not a CPA firm.
Photography by Robert Hart
