Top Wealth Manager Number 55 | Back to Top Wealth Managers
"We are a traditional financial planning firm," says Joel Isaacson. "A lot of people in the field who may have started out in financial planning have gotten away from their roots. We’re not afraid to do the heavy lifting." Clients are high-net-worth professionals, many from the financial services sector. Isaacson says the firm's competition is not other RIAs, but trust companies and brokerage firms. An ongoing challenge for the business is inherent in its makeup. "Oftentimes when a firm like ours gets to a size, the entrepreneur has to become a manager, and that’s not always an easy transition." During the downturn, the challenge was trying to make sure clients were healthy and getting them through it. "People were freaking out and you had to basically talk them off a ledge. Someone asked me what they should do in case marshall law was instituted in New York."
2009 Top Wealth Managers Rankings by Average AUM Per Client (PDF)