When Kathy Fish's biggest clients, a married couple, died within a year of each other, she worried that their two children would walk their parents' assets right out the door, since most children don't retain their parents' adviser after they inherit wealth.
But it turns out that all the effort the founder of Fish and Associates puts into building relationships with her clients' children paid off. The Johnsons' son and daughter kept their assets with her Memphis, Tenn.-based firm.
“There are a lot of things you can do to try and keep the kids,” said Ms. Fish, 57, the firm's only adviser. “It's not always going to happen, but the relationships you want to preserve, you have to try to do something to make that occur.”
Ms. Fish, who manages about $96 million in client assets, reaches out to the children of her clients on a regular basis. She offers them financial planning services, encourages clients to bring them to her financial seminars and into meetings where family estate planning is discussed. Next year, she's starting a financial education “schmooze and brews” series aimed at clients' children who are in their 20s and 30s.
Such an effort to attract the next-generation client is uncommon at most advisory firms, never mind one that has only three staff members in addition to Ms. Fish. It turns out that her firm's compensation, benefits and succession practices also are more robust than the average solo firm's, which is what
led InvestmentNews to name it an industry innovator.
HIGH MARKS
Fish & Associates ranked 14th among the 77 top-performing financial advisory practices identified in the
2013 InvestmentNews/Moss Adams Adviser Compensation and Staffing Study — especially in earnings before owner compensation as a percentage of revenue.
While Ms. Fish is her firm's sole adviser today, she recently hired another professional who is taking the certified financial planner exam this month and will begin acting as an adviser in January. Over the next three years, her daughter Kerry Jackson also will move into an advisory role. But before that can happen, Ms. Jackson, who is director of client services at Fish and Associates, will have to train her replacement.
Ms. Jackson recently received a salary bump after her mother brought in a compensation consultant who revealed that Ms. Jackson was paid too little for what she was doing for the firm.
Overall, the firm pays its employees a competitive salary plus a small amount of incentive pay based partly on how the firm performs and partly on the individual's performance over the year. Ms. Fish also is big on offering non-cash compensation, such as flextime and 401(k) matches. The firm also matches employee charitable contributions and holds quarterly outings where the office does volunteer work. The firm invites clients to join the firm on its charitable field trips.
“A lot of people want to do volunteer work, but they won't go do it on their own, so we like to offer opportunities,” Ms. Fish said.
Ms. Fish, who teaches yoga and is very health oriented, also brings a massage therapist into the office each month for a “stress-free Friday.”
“These little extras don't really cost the firm a lot, but I think you just want employees to know that you value them,” she said.
Everyone at Fish and Associates also starts with 15 days of vacation in addition to regular holidays.
“I think it's ridiculous to get just get one or two weeks a year,” she said. “People have to get away and rejuvenate.”
Kathy Fish on how perks show a firm goes above and beyond for its employees
