Five years ago in January 2020, I published the article “Q&A: What is Your Client’s Average Portfolio Size and Life Stage?” as part of a series of articles answering frequently asked advisor interview questions. This year, we had a prospective client ask for an update of that article.

What I said originally still remains true today: We truly serve clients of all life stages and portfolio sizes.

Overview of Our Main Service Levels

Currently, we have three service levels at Marotta Wealth Management.

In our “Comprehensive” service level, we strive to do whatever our clients would do if they had our time and expertise. This means providing all of the financial services listed on our Services page as well as researching, analyzing, and answering in a customized manner countless other financial planning questions and decisions clients may ask or need answered. Our “Comprehensive” service level starts at a minimum annual fee of $10,000, which means it works well for clients who have one million or more in investable assets.

For years we only had this service level and were struggling with how we could help people who could not afford our services. Our comprehensive, integrated, and personal financial planning is unfortunately rare in the financial services industry.

We have always challenged ourselves to do whatever our clients would do if they had our time and expertise, which is why our list of services is extensive and ever expanding. For example, our customized tax reviews take at least three to eight hours, and those reports are just the start of the service. The tax review often results in new capital gains management plans which involve a year of intentional portfolio trading, customized Roth conversions which involve extensive paperwork and accounting, strategies for charitable giving which involve meticulous paperwork and valuations, and even more services too numerous to name.

However in 2018, we lowered our minimums to zero by adding a new service level called “Do-It-Yourself.” Our “Do-It-Yourself” service level provides a set of basic investment management services for a low flat 0.4% annual cost. Investors are encouraged to do as much as possible themselves and are guided through many aspects of financial planning through our personalized email assistance.

Then, in March 2020, we added our “Collaborative” service level. This is intended to be an in-between offering for those who cannot yet afford our “Comprehensive service” level but who have more financial planning needs than our “Do-It-Yourself” level provides. Our “Collaborative” service level starts at a minimum annual fee of $4,000, which means it works well for clients who have $400,000 or more in investable assets.

Distribution of Clients

Because of these three different service offerings, we have a large distribution of clients at all portfolio sizes. Currently, nearly 40% of our clients have less than $250,000 and over 40% of our clients have between $1 and $10 million.

As for Life Stage, we pride ourselves with helping clients of all life stages.

We come along side the newly married to help them set their budget and finances up for success. We are also skilled at helping the spouse who never had to worry about the finances get back on his or her feet after a divorce. For parents of young children, we develop college savings plans. For parents of rising adults, we help in the financial education of their children. We navigate all the fund choices and benefits for those who have started a new career. For those who are retiring, we help ensure financial security by determining their safe withdrawal rate. We help those who want to leave a legacy implement their estate plan and assist those who have recently lost a loved one inherit the assets. We do all this and more.

If you look at the age decades from 20s to 90s, a completely representative distribution would have 12.5% in each age group. Surprisingly, we follow a nearly representative distribution.

Age Decade	Percent of Clients
20s	7%
30s	14%
40s	10%
50s	16%
60s	24%
70s	21%
80s	6%
90s	2%

 

Furthermore, when we accept a client, we see the relationship as a lifetime partnership. With our goal being to help our clients meet theirs, we become invested in what they are invested in and for many clients that is family.

We offer investment advice for the whole family, managing assets for grandparents, children, and grandchildren. As a part of our “Comprehensive” service level, we are happy to provide investment advice for client family members who otherwise may not meet our client minimums.

Our average new “Do-It-Yourself” client is in their 30s or 40s. They have got married recently and are starting to have children. We provide them with their first asset allocation and often also their first investment lessons. Our exclusive guides walk them through how to fund an investment account, determine which retirement accounts and employer plans they should fund, and develop a strategic savings plan. Many, in addition to their own retirement accounts, open a 529 plan to start saving for the family’s education expenses.

Our average new “Collaborative” client is in their 50s and beginning to think about retirement. They’ve had a full career of saving and investing and are now trying to figure out if they can retire. In addition to portfolio management, the first services often include consolidating and organizing all the various accounts and retirement plans collected over the years into an understandable picture and then getting to work on projecting retirement prospects and/or setting a safe retirement withdrawal rate. Many, after they turn 59 1/2, are able to rollover their 401(k) plans and graduate to our “Comprehensive” service level.

Our average new “Comprehensive” client is 61 and is fairly serious about retiring. In addition to portfolio management, our first services often include developing a retirement plan, creating a Roth conversion plan from a tax review, optimizing Social Security filing, setting a safe retirement withdrawal rate, and more.

If you are interested in hearing more about our services, there is no reason to hesitate. You can contact us now. Our prospective client meetings are free, and we look forward to meeting you!

Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash. Image has been cropped.