Why Griffin Black Head Jane Beule Puts People First

The planner would recommend that instead of the client's current holdings, "some non-crappy mutual funds." That approach may work for clients who are 60 or 65, she argues, and it also worked for the "planner" whose true goal was to sell those new mutual funds. That approach doesn't work at Griffin Black, where half of the clients are under 45 and not wealthy.

Instead, all of the firm's clients, she says, want to do a better job with making the most of the money in their lives now, she says. Her clients are involved in the planning relationship, which can take six to nine months to get started. Why so long? One reason is that most clients don't know what their goals are. They enter the relationship because of some trigger — "it hurts some place"— but while the process will address that present issue, that's often not the same as formulating long-term goals and building a strategy to achieve them.

Griffin Black's fee schedule reflects its planning-centrism. The firm doesn't have an investment minimum, and those younger clients pay a $745/quarter or $3,000/annum fee, which means, says Beule, that the firm is less expensive than hourly financial planners. As those younger, less wealthy clients build up assets, their fees are increased.

That's an interesting solution to the industry's overall pricing problem, which Beule compares to the medical industry's. "As you get older, you need more services," she says, but for younger people, she wants fees to be as low as possible so Griffin Black can "reach more clients."

Whether younger or older, for Beule and her team, client financial planning is a "process, not a product."

James J. Green, a former editor of this magazine, is editor of Jamie Green Reports, an advisor-focused writing, editing and shepherding service. He can be reached at [email protected].