Overview
At Masterson, Emma, & Associates – we employ a comprehensive, planning based approach to meet the unique needs of the affluent families we serve. Working with a small, select group of clients allows us to maintain the intimacy of a boutique, while offering the global resources of a large investment firm. Our clients include many successful private business owners, professional athletes, and senior executives at leading public companies across the country.
The individuals on our team offer a broad range of expertise, including financial and tax planning, asset allocation and portfolio management, trust and estate planning, and concentrated stock and liability management. Our partners have earned both the Certified Financial Planner designation, as well as the Certified Investment Management Analyst designation. We apply our knowledge, resources, integrity, and commitment daily.
Each of our clients is the CEO of their family’s wealth. In many ways, our team acts in a CFO (Chief Financial Officer) capacity for each family. We take our mandate very seriously and assist our clients in five distinct areas of their lives:
- Financial Guidance
- Legacy Implementation
- Estate Coordination
- Retirement income and cash flow
- Tax planning strategies both during life and at death
To address the above needs for clients, we have created a unique approach using a platform of 13 Wealth Management Issues. The “13 Wealth Management Issues” define our Wealth Planning process, and ensure that our clients’ entire wealth plan is reviewed, optimized, and integrated. Together with our clients, we review and discuss each issue and make recommendations where gaps or shortfalls arise. When our review is complete and the recommended changes have been implemented, we deliver our Compendium of Wealth document. The Compendium of Wealth is the synthesis of our planning process. It is one of the most in-depth documents of its kind, and a powerful tool and resource for our clients. It empowers each family with a sense of control, knowledge, and security. Our clients can also access their wealth plan and Compendium of Wealth through our secure client portal located at WealthCompendium.com.
The 13 Wealth Management Issues:
- Investments (Asset Allocation and Diversification)
- Insurance (Overall insurance plan, life disability and liability)
- Liabilities (Ensure appropriate and cost effective)
- IRA/ Qualified Plan (Investments and Distributions – both during life and at death)
- Stock Options (Exercise plan/ Taxation/ Concentration issues)
- Business succession planning
- Durable Power of Attorney (Who is it/ Continuity within the estate plan)
- Gifting to Descendants (Tax efficiency and Control)
- Charitable gifting while alive (Control issues)
- Title of Assets
- Trustee or executor (Who/ continuity within the estate plan)
- Wealth Transfer at Death (Tax efficiency and control)
- Charitable intent at death (Tax efficiency / control)
While our Wealth Planning process is the cornerstone of our practice and client relationships, our Investment Process and Client Care Commitment are equally rigorous and comprehensive. We assist our clients in constructing a well-diversified portfolio that is tailored to their unique goals and objectives. Our approach considers each family’s feelings, financial situation, tax considerations, risk tolerance, and stated goals – while providing in-depth capital markets analysis.
Our Investment Process includes the following:
- A personal interview is conducted by our team with each family. The interview considers both quantitative and qualitative factors that contribute to successful investing.
- Based on the mutual interview, we craft an appropriate asset allocation and review the wealth allocation framework for each client.
- The recommended allocation is stress tested to ensure the highest probability of success in meeting the client’s stated goals, while taking the least amount of risk possible.
- Individual investment positions and strategies are selected to build out the allocation. We conduct on site due diligence of the managers and strategies selected.
- We review the correlation between each asset class, investment, and manager to ensure a complementary portfolio construction.
- We create an Investment Policy for each family. We provide ongoing monitoring of the portfolio allocation, wealth allocation, and Investment Policy.
- We maintain a disciplined rebalancing and reallocation process. In addition, we discuss exit strategies where appropriate.
- We conduct a weekly investment committee meeting to review individual strategies, market conditions, and macro-economic trends that shape our investment decisions. We solicit and receive outside, independent input from industry experts on our committee.
Our Client Care commitment includes the following:
- We conduct quarterly reviews, and prefer that at least two of these be in person each year.
- We provide frequent and meaningful communication to clients through daily and weekly emails entitled “Morning Roundup” and “In Case You Missed It…” These emails are designed to share timely articles and research of interest.
- We are available to clients at any time, and return client calls the same day they are received.
We believe the financial services industry is “faith based.” We work tirelessly to earn and keep the faith and trust of our clients. Our comprehensive nature allows us to better understand our clients on multiple levels in order to help them manage their wealth to its fullest potential – for the benefit of their families and future generations. We are confident that when given the opportunity, we can clearly demonstrate our ability to deliver wealth management solutions with unparalleled service. We would be honored to engage you and your family in a more comprehensive manner.
We conduct family wealth meetings with our clients
Family meetings are designed to foster open communication about the family's wealth across multiple generations. Each family is unique, and the agenda for a meeting is customized to address the issues each patriarch and matriarch feel is important. These topics can be complex in nature, such as family estate planning strategies, or softer, such as passing along family values. No matter what the topic, it is a valuable exercise. Our partner, Ted Ridlehuber, is charged with coordinating and facilitating family meetings for our clients.