Embracing a New Year and the Path Less Chosen

With a new year comes the opportunity to reflect on the past as well as our goals for the future. When I founded Truepoint over 25 years ago, I believed I could improve lives by creating a better approach to wealth management. After having the privilege of working with so many individuals and families over the years, I believe this to be true now more than ever.

Wealth is about so much more than money – in many ways it is the outcome of the choices you’ve made, the challenges you’ve overcome, and what you have worked hard to achieve. Above all, it’s the freedom to create the life you want to live for yourself and for your family, and the confidence to be able to focus on what matters most. This belief is the cornerstone of what we aim to achieve for our clients.

The Exceptional Experience

I talk to people every day about wealth management, and sadly, they rarely have a relationship with a trusted financial advisor. Hidden fees and conflicts of interest persist in our industry, and many find their advisors either frequently change firms or they simply have too many clients to make them a priority. This creates a host of problems ranging from basic account service issues to a general lack of familiarity with a client’s unique needs.

At Truepoint, we have always sought to build a business based on delivering an exceptional client experience. As our clients’ needs have grown, we have invested in our team and deepened our resources. We have limited the ratio of clients to advisors and refined our focus to providing a true wealth management experience to clients who benefit from complete financial integration. This comes at a time when most firms are trying to expand the volume of clients they serve as they focus on growth and profitability.

Leading the Way

Today, individuals and families have complex needs that require more substantive coordination in order to gain the confidence they deserve. And while many in the industry recognize this, they have failed to build an infrastructure to properly serve this need. Many firms are using ad-hoc planning solutions or exploring digital tools as stand-ins for real relationships, but few are committing the necessary resources to develop a holistic model that benefits clients in the long-term.

Truepoint has consistently invested significant time and resources toward this objective, and continues to do so based on the belief that this was, and is, the right thing to do for our clients. Just as we always believed an unbiased, fee-only approach was a better way, we continue to reimagine wealth management by recreating the experience. Someday, the rest of the industry may follow, but for now we are happy to take the path less chosen and lead the way.

From all of us at Truepoint, we wish you a healthy and prosperous 2016.