Page 98 - 914INC - Q3 - 2013

MONEY TALK
The relentless focus of the discussions and the software and the relationship- building is the effort to answer questions. Does the life insurance plan fit with the kids’ college funding? And do those two things fit with the investments and the will and the tax plan?
Giangrande says clients typically have many and varied advisors: an accountant for taxes, an attorney for wills, an investment advisor, insurance people, and bankers.
“One of the questions we ask them is, ‘When was the last time you had all these advisors in the same room working on your behalf?’ And invariably the answer is, ‘Never.’ And even if they did have sev- eral of their advisors together, they might be speaking a different language.”
What Altium does, Giangrande says, is to sit in the middle with the client,
like a hub in a wheel, and look at all the advisors on the rim of the wheel and the aspects of a client’s financial picture they represent. “Most advisors don’t step in the middle,” he says.
Doing that, DeStefano adds, allows Altium to see how the pieces fit. “The CPA gave good advice, the attorney gave good advice. And the advice may be good by itself but may conflict with other advice,” he says.
“Many advisors just focus on invest- ments,” Giangrande says. “They’re not good at planning. And what really cli- ents are looking for these days is leader- ship in navigating through all the piec- es. The Morgan Stanleys of the world, the Merrill Lynches of the world—they try to do what we do but they’re really not doing it to the extent that we are. For the highest level clientele, maybe they’re doing it, but not for the main- street clients.”
Altium says revenues and earnings have tripled since the company’s found- ing in October 2010, and assets under management have gone from $70 mil- lion to nearly $250 million, although that function represents only a small part of what the company does. Clients,
depending on circumstances and needs, pay from $2,000 to $10,000 for the first year of Altium’s services.
Jim Daniels of New Rochelle is one of Altium’s clients. Daniels, 68, is vice presi- dent of a local distribution company and employs Altium to manage a wide range of affairs for him, including three invest- ment accounts and life insurance.
“I can’t say enough about how they cross-pollinate with my other people, who have said they like dealing with Altium because they are so professional,” Daniels says.
“One thing I really like about Altium is their ability to listen.” Other advi- sors, he says, are often so busy with their sales pitch they “barely come up for air.”
At Altium, he says, “they did more listening than I did.”
With his wife, Greg G. Weber runs sour cherryfarm.com, a website whose motto is Eat. Drink. Live.
96
Q3 2013