8 Successful Advisor Niches
April 8, 2013 10:51 AM
<b>8 Successful Advisor Niches</b>
Focusing on a client niche can boost a planning practice. Among high-performing firms with a target client profile, just 3% pursue opportunities outside of that profile (versus 11% for all other firms surveyed), according to the 2012 Fidelity RIA Benchmarking Study.
The reasons are manifold. Word of mouth serves many planners so well in tight-knit communities that they dont need to market themselves as much, if at all. And developing an expertise in a complicated niche produces greater ROI when there are more clients that need it.
The following eight planners, have built strong businesses around highly specialized client demographics -- from airline pilots to baseball players to competitive bass fisherman. -- Ann Marsh
(All photos courtesy of the subjects.)
The reasons are manifold. Word of mouth serves many planners so well in tight-knit communities that they dont need to market themselves as much, if at all. And developing an expertise in a complicated niche produces greater ROI when there are more clients that need it.
The following eight planners, have built strong businesses around highly specialized client demographics -- from airline pilots to baseball players to competitive bass fisherman. -- Ann Marsh
(All photos courtesy of the subjects.)
<b>BASS FISHERMEN</b>
(Planner Jared Reynolds, shown bass in hand, has a client roster full of competitive bass sports fisherman and other professional outdoorsmen. )
NAME: Jared Reynolds
FIRM: Wilkerson & Reynolds in Columbia, Mo.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: 90% (including other outdoor sportsmen)
Wilkerson & Reynolds cofounder Jared Reynolds found his niche in his backyard. His father was a competitive bass fisherman, operating out of a resort the family owns and operates on Truman Lake. However, it was only after Reynolds became a financial planner that he thought to look for clients in his fathers line of work.
I said, Dad, is anybody doing what I do focusing on this industry? Reynolds recalls. He said, No, not that I know of.
Like many other planners with niches, Reynolds says, it took him about two to three years to establish a foothold before clients began knocking on his door. Today, word of mouth propels much of his business growth and he counts champions among his clients (and friends).
The sector is appealing: The size of purses in bass fishing contests has grown to as much as $1 million, compared with about $10,000 when Reynolds father was competing, he says. About 90% of the clients in Reynolds $110 million AUM firm are competitive bass fisherman and, increasingly, other outdoor sportsmen -- including some fishing champions.
In 2004, the year that Japanese angler Takahiro Omori won the Bass Masters Classic, Reynolds remembers thinking it would be cool to have him as a client.
And now I do, he adds.
NAME: Jared Reynolds
FIRM: Wilkerson & Reynolds in Columbia, Mo.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: 90% (including other outdoor sportsmen)
Wilkerson & Reynolds cofounder Jared Reynolds found his niche in his backyard. His father was a competitive bass fisherman, operating out of a resort the family owns and operates on Truman Lake. However, it was only after Reynolds became a financial planner that he thought to look for clients in his fathers line of work.
I said, Dad, is anybody doing what I do focusing on this industry? Reynolds recalls. He said, No, not that I know of.
Like many other planners with niches, Reynolds says, it took him about two to three years to establish a foothold before clients began knocking on his door. Today, word of mouth propels much of his business growth and he counts champions among his clients (and friends).
The sector is appealing: The size of purses in bass fishing contests has grown to as much as $1 million, compared with about $10,000 when Reynolds father was competing, he says. About 90% of the clients in Reynolds $110 million AUM firm are competitive bass fisherman and, increasingly, other outdoor sportsmen -- including some fishing champions.
In 2004, the year that Japanese angler Takahiro Omori won the Bass Masters Classic, Reynolds remembers thinking it would be cool to have him as a client.
And now I do, he adds.
<b> BASEBALL PLAYERS </b>
( Pete Bush, left, with clients David and Rachel Dellucci. A 13-year-veteran of the majors, David Dellucci was a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks 2001 World Series championship team. )
NAME: Pete Bush
FIRM: Horizon Wealth Management in Baton Rouge, La.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: 30%
Baseball players have their own lingo -- not all of it clean, laughs planner Pete Bush. And it helps to speak it if you are going to work with them, he says.
Thats something that Bush and his partner, former Major Leaguer Jeff Reboulet come by naturally. The two played college baseball together for Louisiana State University back in the 1980s. After college, Reboulet went on to play for six Major League baseball teams, including the Dodgers, Kansas City Royals, Twins, Orioles and Pirates. After retiring, he became a client of Bushs firm; nine years ago, he joined as a partner.
The firm now has $230 million in AUM; and Bush and Reboulet, along with a third partner, plan to add new advisors to serve even more current and former professional players.
Being a specialist is key, Bush says: We understand [the players] benefits ... Major League Baseball has a very robust pension and benefits program, which few of the guys take the time to understand because a lot of them are really young.
NAME: Pete Bush
FIRM: Horizon Wealth Management in Baton Rouge, La.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: 30%
Baseball players have their own lingo -- not all of it clean, laughs planner Pete Bush. And it helps to speak it if you are going to work with them, he says.
Thats something that Bush and his partner, former Major Leaguer Jeff Reboulet come by naturally. The two played college baseball together for Louisiana State University back in the 1980s. After college, Reboulet went on to play for six Major League baseball teams, including the Dodgers, Kansas City Royals, Twins, Orioles and Pirates. After retiring, he became a client of Bushs firm; nine years ago, he joined as a partner.
The firm now has $230 million in AUM; and Bush and Reboulet, along with a third partner, plan to add new advisors to serve even more current and former professional players.
Being a specialist is key, Bush says: We understand [the players] benefits ... Major League Baseball has a very robust pension and benefits program, which few of the guys take the time to understand because a lot of them are really young.
<b> NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES </b>
(It took planner Julie Logsden eight years to convince members of her own tribe to let her manage tribal money.)
NAME: Julie Logsden
FIRM: Gerber Kawasaki in Santa Monica
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: 70%
In the early years of Julie Logsdens career, being a member of the Siletz Tribe in Oregon wasnt much help.
Members of the Native American tribe wanted me to have a lot more experience before they would work with me, says Logsden, a planner with Gerber Kawasaki in Santa Monica. It took me eight years to get in with my own tribe. Its definitely a specialty.
Today she manages $18 million of her tribes funds -- accounting for about 70% of the AUM in her practice -- and is bidding to manage more. She also has bids out with several other neighboring tribes as well.
Logsden says she anticipates that Native American funds will ultimately make up an even greater percentage of her AUM, fueling most of its future growth. To that end, she often spends time out on her tribes reservation and the casino it has operated since 1995 in Lincoln City, Ore.
You really have to invest the time, she says.
NAME: Julie Logsden
FIRM: Gerber Kawasaki in Santa Monica
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: 70%
In the early years of Julie Logsdens career, being a member of the Siletz Tribe in Oregon wasnt much help.
Members of the Native American tribe wanted me to have a lot more experience before they would work with me, says Logsden, a planner with Gerber Kawasaki in Santa Monica. It took me eight years to get in with my own tribe. Its definitely a specialty.
Today she manages $18 million of her tribes funds -- accounting for about 70% of the AUM in her practice -- and is bidding to manage more. She also has bids out with several other neighboring tribes as well.
Logsden says she anticipates that Native American funds will ultimately make up an even greater percentage of her AUM, fueling most of its future growth. To that end, she often spends time out on her tribes reservation and the casino it has operated since 1995 in Lincoln City, Ore.
You really have to invest the time, she says.
<b>AIRLINE PILOTS</b>
(When they arent serving planning clients Jeffrey Baumert, center, and his partners, Gary Krasnov, left, and Carl Youngdale, all work as pilots for one of the large U.S. airlines. Their cockpit-view logo is recognizable to airline insiders.)
NAME: Jeff Baumert, Gary Youngdale and Gary Krasnov
FIRM: Advisor Financial Services in Woodstock, Ga.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: More than 90%
Airline pilots are more than a client niche for planner Jeff Baumert and the partners in his firm, Gary Youngdale and Gary Krasnov -- theyre colleagues. Several times a month, each continues to work as a pilot for the same major U.S. airline. (Their employer wont let them say which one.)
Working simultaneously as pilots and planners gives them a unique perspective and edge with clients in their industry. We dont just know their world, Baumert says. We are there, living it with them.
The trios firm, Advisor Financial Services in Woodstock, Ga., has $368 million in AUM, mostly from pilots, airline executives, flight attendants and a few mechanics and ramp workers. The firms recently redesigned logo features a graphic pattern that is easily recognizable to many in this group: Its a pilots view out of the cockpit.
Like many in their industry, Baumert and his two partners served in the military before joining an airline. We can speak to military pensions and then to that transition to the airline industry, he says. They also understand the disruptive change that continues to roil the airlines, from vanishing pensions to layoffs: We can speak to the termination of pension plans and weve been through furloughs like our clients.
The three can run a planning firm because of their seniority as pilots; each only flies a couple of days a month at most. With such a light flying schedule, Baumert says, The question becomes, Why stop?
NAME: Jeff Baumert, Gary Youngdale and Gary Krasnov
FIRM: Advisor Financial Services in Woodstock, Ga.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: More than 90%
Airline pilots are more than a client niche for planner Jeff Baumert and the partners in his firm, Gary Youngdale and Gary Krasnov -- theyre colleagues. Several times a month, each continues to work as a pilot for the same major U.S. airline. (Their employer wont let them say which one.)
Working simultaneously as pilots and planners gives them a unique perspective and edge with clients in their industry. We dont just know their world, Baumert says. We are there, living it with them.
The trios firm, Advisor Financial Services in Woodstock, Ga., has $368 million in AUM, mostly from pilots, airline executives, flight attendants and a few mechanics and ramp workers. The firms recently redesigned logo features a graphic pattern that is easily recognizable to many in this group: Its a pilots view out of the cockpit.
Like many in their industry, Baumert and his two partners served in the military before joining an airline. We can speak to military pensions and then to that transition to the airline industry, he says. They also understand the disruptive change that continues to roil the airlines, from vanishing pensions to layoffs: We can speak to the termination of pension plans and weve been through furloughs like our clients.
The three can run a planning firm because of their seniority as pilots; each only flies a couple of days a month at most. With such a light flying schedule, Baumert says, The question becomes, Why stop?
<b>REFINERY WORKERS</b>
(Planner Landon Yoshida marvels that most of his blue collar clients, all current and former ExxonMobil refinery workers, live within their means and have no debt.)
NAME: Landon Yoshida
FIRM: IK Wealth Management Group in Irvine, Calif.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: At least 90%
About six years into his career as a planner, Landon Yoshida received a fortuitous client referral: a longtime worker at the ExxonMobil oil refinery in nearby Torrance.
A family friend said, Hes retiring. Can you take care of him? Yoshida, a wealth manager with IK Wealth Management Group in Irvine, Calif. Thats when this all started. One became two became four became eight became 32.
And so on. Today, some eight years later, blue-collar workers from that same facility account for most of his $45 million in AUM.
Theres no advertising. Theres no cold calling -- and his practice has been growing at 30% annually, Yoshida says.
Over the years, hes developed his own strategies for helping his clients, who invariably own highly concentrated positions in Exxon stock. Among other strategies, he helps them to diversify their investments, while retaining their lowest cost basis shares. When they retire and they sell [that low cost-basis stock], they are only taxed at 15%, which is the long-term cap gain rate, Yoshida says. So its a huge tax benefit.
NAME: Landon Yoshida
FIRM: IK Wealth Management Group in Irvine, Calif.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: At least 90%
About six years into his career as a planner, Landon Yoshida received a fortuitous client referral: a longtime worker at the ExxonMobil oil refinery in nearby Torrance.
A family friend said, Hes retiring. Can you take care of him? Yoshida, a wealth manager with IK Wealth Management Group in Irvine, Calif. Thats when this all started. One became two became four became eight became 32.
And so on. Today, some eight years later, blue-collar workers from that same facility account for most of his $45 million in AUM.
Theres no advertising. Theres no cold calling -- and his practice has been growing at 30% annually, Yoshida says.
Over the years, hes developed his own strategies for helping his clients, who invariably own highly concentrated positions in Exxon stock. Among other strategies, he helps them to diversify their investments, while retaining their lowest cost basis shares. When they retire and they sell [that low cost-basis stock], they are only taxed at 15%, which is the long-term cap gain rate, Yoshida says. So its a huge tax benefit.
<b>SPECIAL NEEDS FAMILIES</b>
(Wendy Wan Turk specializes in families with children who have everything from mild learning disabilities to autism.)
NAME: Wendy Wan Turk
FIRM: Gerber Kawasaki in Santa Monica, Calif.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: Roughly 33%
Prior to becoming a planner, Wendy Wan Turk spent three years working for an educational services company focused on families whose children had special needs. So it was a natural transition, she says, to serve this client demographic when she became an advisor.
Wan Turk, who works for Gerber Kawasaki in Santa Monica, has 125 clients in a $5 million practice; about a third have children with issues ranging from barely discernable learning disabilities to severe cognitive disorders.
During her years in her previous career, she says, working with these families, it became very apparent to me how much more [financial] planning is necessary when you have [children with] any sort of special needs.
In an average week, Wan Turk says she brings in about three new clients, mostly through referrals. Now, she says she is expanding her special needs focus to include families who must provide elder care.
NAME: Wendy Wan Turk
FIRM: Gerber Kawasaki in Santa Monica, Calif.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: Roughly 33%
Prior to becoming a planner, Wendy Wan Turk spent three years working for an educational services company focused on families whose children had special needs. So it was a natural transition, she says, to serve this client demographic when she became an advisor.
Wan Turk, who works for Gerber Kawasaki in Santa Monica, has 125 clients in a $5 million practice; about a third have children with issues ranging from barely discernable learning disabilities to severe cognitive disorders.
During her years in her previous career, she says, working with these families, it became very apparent to me how much more [financial] planning is necessary when you have [children with] any sort of special needs.
In an average week, Wan Turk says she brings in about three new clients, mostly through referrals. Now, she says she is expanding her special needs focus to include families who must provide elder care.
<b>LGBT CLIENTS</b>
(Planner Jason Purinton, center, attends a performance of the Heartland Mens Chorus, a gay mens chorus in Kansas City that includes two of his LGBT clients. )
NAME: Jason Purinton
FIRM: Rains Purinton Babcock in Overland Park, Kan.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: 25%
The call was not a pleasant one. Back when Jason Purinton was still with Merrill Lynch, one of his clients chewed him out over the phone in late 2008, at the height of the market meltdown. After hanging up, Purinton walked over to the office of Kent Rains -- now one of his partners in their independent firm, Rains, Purinton & Babcock in Overland Park, Kan.
Oh man, I just had the worst phone call, Purinton told Rains. I just had the best call, Rains responded.
A client, one member of a lesbian couple, had just called to see how Rains and his firm were weathering the volatility. Can you imagine if we were serving 100 clients just like these? Rains asked Purinton.
Purinton says he decided thats precisely what he wanted to do. Five years later, a quarter of the $165 million practices clients are part of the LGBT community.
It wasnt an easy demographic to court, especially because none of the firms planners are in the LGBT community. They knew they needed to ask some questions, so they gathered together all of their LGBT clients and asked precisely how they could evolve their business to this new demographic.
NAME: Jason Purinton
FIRM: Rains Purinton Babcock in Overland Park, Kan.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: 25%
The call was not a pleasant one. Back when Jason Purinton was still with Merrill Lynch, one of his clients chewed him out over the phone in late 2008, at the height of the market meltdown. After hanging up, Purinton walked over to the office of Kent Rains -- now one of his partners in their independent firm, Rains, Purinton & Babcock in Overland Park, Kan.
Oh man, I just had the worst phone call, Purinton told Rains. I just had the best call, Rains responded.
A client, one member of a lesbian couple, had just called to see how Rains and his firm were weathering the volatility. Can you imagine if we were serving 100 clients just like these? Rains asked Purinton.
Purinton says he decided thats precisely what he wanted to do. Five years later, a quarter of the $165 million practices clients are part of the LGBT community.
It wasnt an easy demographic to court, especially because none of the firms planners are in the LGBT community. They knew they needed to ask some questions, so they gathered together all of their LGBT clients and asked precisely how they could evolve their business to this new demographic.
<b>FOOTBALL PLAYERS</b>
(Planner Christopher Bleuher, left, with his former client and new colleague, 2008 Super Bowl veteran Rich Seubert.)
NAME: Christopher Bleuher
FIRM: Domus Capital Group in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: 10%
Back in the 1990s, Christopher Bleuher met the sports agent for a client’s son -- a young man who’d started playing for the New York Jets. The agent soon began sending professional football players to Bleuher for advice.
Still, it took the planner a few more years to decide how best to serve the niche. “It’s easy to tell these guys what they want to hear and get caught up in ego,” says Bleuher, a principle in Domus Capital Group in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
The trouble, he says, is that not many want to hear that they need to save a lot of their money every season -- to support themselves not only during the off-season, but after their brief careers have ended.
Professional athletes currently account for a relatively small slice of his $300 million in AUM (with 30 total clients) -- but Bleuher, who is now registered as a financial advisor with the NFL Players Association, says he’s about to start building up the number of athletes his firm serves.
Recently he brought on one of his clients to help. Rich Seubert played for the New York Giants for 10 years, wears a Super Bowl XLII ring and moved to San Luis Obispo after retiring as an offensive guard.
“What’s most impressive,” Bleuher says, “is that this guy was an undrafted free agent who never got that big giant contract, but because he was with me from the beginning and was a good steward [of his money] from the beginning, he was able to retire with his three kids and not have to worry. He’s coaching high school football just for fun.”
NAME: Christopher Bleuher
FIRM: Domus Capital Group in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
% OF PRACTICE IN NICHE: 10%
Back in the 1990s, Christopher Bleuher met the sports agent for a client’s son -- a young man who’d started playing for the New York Jets. The agent soon began sending professional football players to Bleuher for advice.
Still, it took the planner a few more years to decide how best to serve the niche. “It’s easy to tell these guys what they want to hear and get caught up in ego,” says Bleuher, a principle in Domus Capital Group in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
The trouble, he says, is that not many want to hear that they need to save a lot of their money every season -- to support themselves not only during the off-season, but after their brief careers have ended.
Professional athletes currently account for a relatively small slice of his $300 million in AUM (with 30 total clients) -- but Bleuher, who is now registered as a financial advisor with the NFL Players Association, says he’s about to start building up the number of athletes his firm serves.
Recently he brought on one of his clients to help. Rich Seubert played for the New York Giants for 10 years, wears a Super Bowl XLII ring and moved to San Luis Obispo after retiring as an offensive guard.
“What’s most impressive,” Bleuher says, “is that this guy was an undrafted free agent who never got that big giant contract, but because he was with me from the beginning and was a good steward [of his money] from the beginning, he was able to retire with his three kids and not have to worry. He’s coaching high school football just for fun.”
