My father George Marotta and I were interviewed recently by Nancy R. Mandell for her article in Financial Planning magazine entitled “Family Affair.” Her subject matter was about when parents and children work together as financial advisors and I’m glad to say that the theme which came out of her interviews with my father and I among others was “When parent and child are business partners, a key to success is mutual respect.”

The large page quote used in the magazine summarizes the respect that my father and I have for each other’s strengths and expertise:

Marotta Wealth Management weds the father’s investment artistry with the son’s technological analysis and computer programming expertise.

Although the article focused on the father-son aspect, because we have an ensemble practice, every advisor in the firm has added a new set of skills and expertise to offer clients. Rather than some clients feeling like they are isolated in a silo under a junior advisor, every client gains the expertise of what a new advisor specializes in and brings to the firm. I think this collaboration and respect for each advisor’s individual unique strengths and expertise is one of the keys to building a successful multi-advisor firm.

Here is the section of the article which talked about us:

Sometimes a parent may join a child in creating a new firm. Both Shannon Eusey and David John Marotta are working with their fathers, but at firms they founded as equals.

…

The Marottas came together after David’s parents sold their planning firm but asked David to help with a few remaining clients. George Marotta saw David as a potential planner. “He had degrees in electrical engineering, computer science and philosophy,” the elder Marotta says, “and he is a strategist, a game player. He started beating me at chess at age 8.” But George, now 85, never expected his son to give up his teaching career.

In 2000, however, David founded Marotta Wealth Management in Charlottesville, Va., building on just a few million dollars in assets to close to $200 million today. “My parents knew I would love the business, but I didn’t know! After re-creating it from scratch, I understood it better,” David says.

The new firm weds his father’s investment artistry with his technological analysis and computer programming expertise. The 50-year-old Marotta says: “I think it was the best of all possible worlds. I inherited a mentor, I didn’t inherit his success.”

Working with my father has been a great experience, but the family affair does not stop there. My daughter Megan has been working summers with the firm since she was 14 years old. She has mentored under both her father and her grandfather. And now she is contributing her financial lessons learned in a blog series entitled “Rich Dad, Rich Daughter” starting October 1st, 2011. Majoring  in Cognitive Science and Computer Science, I highly recommend her blog to parents who want to raise financially savvy children, and children of any age who want to become savvy about finances.

Invite any parents or children you know to subscribe to the blog and start reading “Rich Dad, Rich Daughter” today!