The name Bill Bachrach may not mean much to you, but in the investment advisory world he is a trusted partner to many of the top firms in the industry. Not long ago he wrote an article in an industry publication aimed at how the ultimate advisor should be promising to serve clients. We pulled and excerpt from the article and have shared it with you here.

Coordinate. “Currently, the various technical experts in tax, financial planning, asset management, insurance and legal do not have an impartial leader holding them accountable to perform at the highest levels possible. They are NOT working together with synergy and harmony for your benefit. In fact, many of them do not even know the others exist and are forced to do their work without any visibility to the important information in the possession of another technician. Your life will be much better when your technical experts are being coordinated through a collaborative process that yields better advice. I can provide the leadership to coordinate these technicians for you and your family’s benefit. How does that sound to you?”

Consolidate. “You have many more accounts, institutions and products than are necessary to achieve your goals and have diversification. The reason is that the various technicians you currently do business with don’t do this kind of work. As a result, your documentation is much more complicated than it has to be and your costs are much higher than they need to be. Your life will be much better when all of your financial affairs are as consolidated as possible. I can provide the leadership to achieve this consolidation. Would you like to get this done?”

Comprehensive. “To put it politely, there are holes in your financial house that you could drive a truck through. It’s simply by luck and the grace of God that an event hasn’t happened that turns one of these holes into a big problem for you and your family. The reason for this is that you have a variety of technicians doing bits and pieces, but nobody with a comprehensive checklist to make sure that virtually everything necessary to get your entire financial house in perfect order gets done. Your life will be much better and safer when you experience truly comprehensive financial services. I can provide the leadership to get your entire financial house in perfect order and help you keep it that way forever. This will give you the confidence that no matter what happens in the markets, the economy or the world that you will achieve your goals. How would having that kind of confidence about your future impact your life?”

Simplify. “By having one trained professional as the leader of your team coordinating the comprehensive and consolidated organization of your financial affairs, your life will be much, much simpler. This means that you can focus your physical time and mental energy on things that are more important to you and bring more meaning to your life than dealing with your money. If anything happens to you, you know the people you care about most won’t be stressed out or frustrated dealing with your technical experts and trying to figure out your unique way of handling your financial affairs. When I am done simplifying your financial life, even the most uninterested person in your family will be able to understand and appreciate your finances. Your life will be much better when your finances are simpler. I can provide the leadership to achieve this simplification. What do you think about the idea of simplifying your financial life?”

Accountability. “We hold the technical experts accountable to give you the best advice necessary to get and keep your entire financial house in order. We hold you accountable to do your part. One of the problems is that you’re driving the train. Because you have so much money and by the nature of your personality, your technical experts are following you instead of leading you. This could be because they don’t really know how to lead or they could just be afraid that if they exert leadership that you will take your business elsewhere. Whatever the case, it’s not working. The technical experts need to be held accountable to do their work at a very high level and you need to be accountable to implement their advice. What’s missing in your financial life is a leader who can make this happen. Are you ready for a leader to hold you and your team accountable?”

As you may know, Katie Trout joined our firm in February and we’ve been the better for it. Don’t be surprised in email or phone conversations when you notice her new name – Katie Ackerman. Katie just returned from her spectacular October 13th wedding at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. We’re thrilled to welcome Katie home and to have her back in the office. She is pictured on the left with her husband, Doug Ackerman, and the rest of our team snapped the picture on the right at the St. Louis reception this past weekend. Congrats Katie!

Remember the movie Catch Me If You Can? We were lucky to hear the man who was inspiration for the story at this year’s BAM Alliance National Conference. After spending time in French, Swedish, and American prisons, Frank Abagnale was ultimately offered a job with the FBI where he still works today…over 40 years later. He’s turned down pardons from 3 Presidents because he knows no single piece of paper can possibly wash aways the sins of his past.

Frank offered his perspective on keeping your personal identity safe from fraud, including these items below:

• Shred all mail with a micro cut shredder (Even department store catalogs may contain enough information to be dangerous)
• Don’t use ATM/Debit cards; Only true credit cards from Visa, Mastercard, Amex, etc.
• Never pay by check at any retail merchant
• Use credit monitoring services, and only those that do so in real time from all 3 credit bureaus
• Be careful with pictures on social media. Readily available facial recognition software can help fraudsters find your facebook (and other) accounts in just minutes. Make sure several faces appear in any one picture, or avoid sharing pictures of your face altogether.