Writer: Joshua Andino
4 min read March 2023 — In Pittsburgh and across the country, the last two years have given business leaders some of their hardest challenges and biggest successes navigating unprecedented volatility. Looking ahead, businesses are focusing both internally and across the market to determine their next steps, with key themes – succession, development and preempting the market’s ongoing shifts top of mind.
For those in the wealth management space, the market’s volatility heralds its own unique set of challenges. Charged with managing investor’s portfolios while simultaneously taking care of their business, wealth managers understand that their client’s success is their own, and the best way to tackle both is with leadership that remains focused on clear objectives and an engaged, supporting team.
In Pittsburgh, employee-owned investment management and financial planning firm Fragasso Financial Advisors has worked hard to ensure the strength of their clients’ portfolios even amidst wider market turbulence, having defined targets, implemented new minimum investment levels and a clear path forward with the firm’s next generation of leadership and company-wide goals. Invest: reached out to the team to hear their thoughts on today’s market, how they’ve navigated it and where they see opportunities, challenges and the key objectives for the future. Invest: reached out to CFO & COO Christine Erimias, President & Executive Director of Portfolio Management Daniel Dingus and Executive Vice President Christine Robinette to hear their thoughts on today’s market, how they’ve navigated it and where they see opportunities, challenges and the key objectives for the future.
What factors are Fragasso Financial Advisors looking at today that are helping to inform its leaders’ decisions tomorrow?
Christine Erimias: Last year Fragasso Financial Advisors’ founder, Robert (Bob) Fragasso, celebrated his fiftieth year in the industry. Twenty-seven years ago, Bob broke away from a large brokerage firm to form an independent advisory firm, setting the groundwork for where we are today. It is that foresight and vision that continues fifty years later guiding our decisions today and moving forward.
Naturally, part of that evolution is considering the succession of the firm. If you ask any business founder, it is not easy to pass the reins, but it is necessary. The key to making that transition successful is ensuring new leadership shares similar fundamental values. We have different thoughts and ideas but through mutual respect and confidence, we arrive at conclusions. The current executive team starts with two guiding principles to help in our decision making: 1) what is best for the client, and 2) what is best for our employees. If we lead and make decisions starting with these two basic questions, it is hard to go wrong.
How has the team strategized around recent market volatility?
Daniel Dingus: For many investors, market volatility can be unnerving. The key to success in navigating those market situations with clients is communicating with clients often and in terms of what this means to them and their long-term goals. We have navigated this by adopting various means of communication, including webinars, blogs, both in writing and video, and in-person discussions. It’s more than just the financial advisors communicating. Our clients are supported by the full team at Fragasso — it is the portfolio managers, planning analysts, executive management, and more, so clients know they are our key priority.
What was the motivation behind the development of Fragasso’s high-net-worth initiative?
Christi Robinette: We are extremely fortunate to have quite a few advisors that have been with us for 15, 20, and even 25 years. The knowledge and experience that they acquired throughout that time was the true catalyst for this initiative. We have always placed emphasis on holistic financial planning and unbiased investment management. In fact, Bob Fragasso, our founder and CEO, was a pioneer in acquiring his CFP in the early 1980’s. Having that mentality and firm priority allowed and continues to allow our advisors to learn and elevate that knowledge in every aspect of planning including but not limited to estate planning, tax planning, insurance and asset protection, executive compensation, philanthropic advice and business succession planning. Having an established team of advisors with this extensive knowledge enabled us to create a very robust high-net-worth initiative.
We also have a few advisors that have been ingrained in our culture and planning process but work independently. This allows us to be able to provide the ideal amount of investment management and planning to clients who may not fit our minimum but still need assistance and guidance. We’re not looking to turn anyone away. We just want to provide the appropriate amount of assistance and service for each category of client needs.
What type of partnerships have been formed to help the firm succeed in its mission?
Dingus: Fragasso Financial Advisors works collaboratively with attorneys, accountants, and banking professionals for the benefit of our clients. We view those relationships as critical to the client’s “financial board of directors”, and those services are best met with independent professionals whose areas complement the work Fragasso performs. We are able to engage the top resources of outside professionals to meet the specific needs of our clients without the compromise others may find when trying to do all things in-house, and we are happy to spearhead that collaboration.
For example, we have a partnership with an independent trust company, offering the expert services of trust and custodial services. That independence is critical and a key difference among other firms that have a captive relationship of trust management and investment management under one relationship. In a world where flexibility and portability are paramount to clients, we view this as a unique value proposition.
In what ways does the firm distinguish itself from competitors?
Robinette: Our culture and how we function as a firm sets us apart. Our advisors do not own their own client books but rather the firm does. That structure helps to mitigate any type of competition between advisors or unwillingness of team members to assist for the benefit of our clients and prospects.
This team commitment is illustrated from the moment someone becomes a prospect. Once an advisor has gathered the pertinent information and our financial planning analysts draft an individualized plan, it is then presented at our internal “Friday morning meeting.” Every advisor, financial planning analyst, portfolio management team members, department managers, and our executive team are in attendance. As a team we have an open, collaborative discussion resulting in a comprehensive evaluation from the perspective of each of our areas of expertise.
What attracts potential employees to Fragasso Financial Advisors?
Erimias: Many of our recent hires will rejoice in the fact they just had their last lifelong interview. They know they have found their employment home till retirement. Upon joining the team employees are soon to realize one of our founding philosophies – tell the truth. This means being truthful to yourself, as well as clients and other team members.
I recently attended a national conference held by a large financial custodian where the topic of one of the sessions was succession planning. The presenter was questioned about ESOPs in the financial services industry. The response was that there are not many, and they don’t tend to be widely used for succession. The reason being most RIA’s are not structured like Fragasso Financial Advisors. Our employees are aware of how unique and generous an ESOP is in this industry. This adds to our motivation to grow the firm. The firm’s success is the employees’ success. The ESOP environment fosters everyone to work towards more efficient processes, less waste and more teamwork.
What is the key to developing client relationships to create a more effective, informed financial plan?
Robinette: While each prospect and client have unique goals and needs, there are similar areas of discussion or pain points that occur in a “niche.” Whether that be affluent women investors, executive compensation candidates, or small business owners. Having advisors who are familiar and have acquired training in these areas who can present solutions is first and foremost. Our in-house marketing team is invaluable as they can create targeted campaigns for those audiences.
Defining these niches distinguishes us from competitors who do general financial planning. Whether we are working with a client within a specific niche or not, our codified and uniformly applied client experience encompasses every aspect of the client relationship. Our client experience is designed to navigate through one’s current financial goals and obstacles as well as those yet to come.
What are your key priorities over the next year and beyond?
Erimias: As it pertains to culture and succession, succession being the ESOP, a key priority will be to continue to strive for efficiency while prioritizing client needs in an ever-changing environment. If we continue to work as a team with the underlying notion of doing everything in the clients’ best interest, we will succeed. We do all this while giving our employees the autonomy to do their jobs, building on trust established over decades.
Robinette: Our key objectives and priorities have never changed. Whether it was fifty years ago, twenty-seven years ago when Bob Fragasso set out as an independent investment advisor, or in the next year, everything we do is driven by the individual needs of our prospects and clients. It is imperative to determine those needs and find valuable, most relevant solutions. That means enduring diligence to seek out the most innovative resources and bring them to bear.
Dingus: Fragasso Financial Advisors has been in growth mode for some time. Our goal is to grow our client base among high-net-worth investors but to do so by always providing an elevated client experience. That balance is key to efficient growth where our focus remains steadfast on the client and potential client needs and goals. An investor’s needs are ever-changing, and we look to achieve growth through a virtuous cycle of process improvement in internal systems, communication, investment management, and our client experience. By focusing on those priorities, we envision a growth that is strong, efficient, and built for the long-term success of our clients.
For more information, visit:
https://www.fragassoadvisors.com/
Investment advice offered by investment advisor representatives through Fragasso Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor.
