This was not the intended article for this space this month. I was going to write about the differences in the markets from 2022 and so far in 2023. I was going to talk about investment risk and reward and the benefits of having a plan. This was the intention until I received a phone call from the son of one of my longest-tenured clients. He called to tell me his dad was dying.
His dad and I first met back in 1988 when I was still in the accounting field and he was still working. When I became an advisor in 2002, he was one of the first people I called because I was told he was retiring. We met for dinner, talked about his retirement plans and he hired me to be his advisor. As we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, I asked him if there was anything else he was concerned about. He answered that he and his wife were responsible for a special needs trust account for his disabled brother-in-law and they were not satisfied with the current advisor.
It took us a while, but we finally were able to move the account to our investment platform. During this time, my client’s wife passed away and he was the sole remaining trustee on the account.
Along with a local estate planning attorney, we met quarterly to review the investments and our cash flow projections and get a health update on the disabled brother-in-law. As my client got older and began to have health issues of his own, he brought his four sons into the situation by naming them co-trustees along with himself.
What was remarkable about this case was that the disabled brother-in-law had siblings who did not want to deal with the situation and their only interest was how much money was going to be left to them upon their brother’s passing. (The answer is none as any remaining funds in the trust go to the next generation of nieces and nephews.) My client worked tirelessly on his brother-in-law’s behalf as his guardian, trustee, advocate and friend, even though he knew there was no monetary reward for him.
Throughout the years, I’ve told my client how much I admired how he took care of his brother-in-law while also dealing with the family drama. He always answered that he felt it was his duty to take care of him and it was a duty he took seriously.
When his son called me last Friday, he said his dad wanted to speak with me. When he called a few minutes later, he thanked me for all the years of service and friendship. We reminisced about some things and said our goodbyes.
We are very fortunate to work with great clients. We are there for them in the best and worst times. And they help make us better advisors by helping us realize that it’s not just about account size and rates of return. I was honored to speak one last time with my client and I was able to tell him again that I will always remember him as a standup guy.
James J. Denora, CPA, CFP®