Our Clients

We offer our services exclusively to high-net-worth people. We fully commit our expertise and objectivity to helping them go even further — planning for the needs of family, creating strategies for charitable giving, and mapping a course for preserving their wealth and building a legacy.

The Executive

Corporate America is trying to do more with less manpower. Accordingly, more is asked of executives today than at any other time in the past. Giving more of yourself to your company means you need to have a partner, a CFO, so to speak, to keep track of your personal business plan. Whether this is developing a distribution strategy for a deferred compensation account, diversification strategies for equity ownership, or retirement preparedness, we are positioned to help the executive combine their corporate benefits with their personal goals.

Nearly all executives come to us lacking a strategy for their equity ownership. They also have yet to determine the difference between their wants and their needs. In other words, they want to sell their  stock at a price that is higher than it is today. The question is, “Should I take the risk and wait for appreciation, or can I accomplish my goals by diversifying all, or part of, my holdings today?” You need to know the answer to this question, and we can help.

We often use sales strategies built around a 10b5-1 declaration. The benefit of this approach is twofold. First, for those who are unable to buy and sell except during pre-determined times in the year, the 10b5-1 plan allows the executive to buy or sell when pre-determined events occur (such as a target price achieved), even if they occur outside the executive’s trading window. Second, the 10b5-1 can help reduce risk for the executive who is privy to insider information. It is our job to help the executive plan for the long term and avoid risks — whether they are market- or trading-related.

The High Net Worth Individual or Family

Statistics tell us that people are living longer today than in years past. Accordingly, even high net worth individuals are concerned about maintaining their purchasing power throughout their retirement years, and some are even worried about outliving their money. Retirement income planning is the focus of our relationship with our retiree clients. It is a component of every comprehensive annual review that we perform.

To maximize the benefits of income planning, we reevaluate all liquid assets and the tax consequences of distributions from each.  We take this one step further and adjust investment allocations to match lower risk investments with those needed to meet liquidity requirements. The corollary to this strategy is that risk assets are placed in accounts which are not needed for current income.

Investing in the capital markets means exposing yourself to many risks.  Since so much of  investing is beyond your control, we advocate taking control of the two aspects that are within your reach - fees and taxes.   There can be significant disparities in the cost of investments which seem, on the surface, very similar.  We stive to keep costs low at every stage of the asset allocation process.  Additionally, changes to your asset allocation can trigger taxable events.  While we focus mainly on the merit of the investment being considered, we always take into account the tax ramifications of the strategy being considered.

As our clients enter their retirement years, estate planning becomes more important. Most people think of estate planning as maximizing the transfer from one generation to the next. If you are likely to leave a legacy, it is imperative that you plan wisely to make the most of your wealth transfer. This includes implementing basic, and sometimes sophisticated, strategies. While this is one very important part of estate planning, we believe that there is much more to the process.

If you died unexpectedly, would your beneficiary know what goals and dreams you had for them? Would they know what was important to you or how you hope to be remembered? Is there anything more valuable that you could leave your family than this insight into your most personal thoughts and concerns? We believe that this is some of the most important planning you can do.   Kovalcik and Geraghty will help you do it.