As part of a series analyzing the Californian wealth management industry, here Family Wealth Report shares insights from firms on their Californian operations.

Editor’s Comment: As part of a series analyzing the Californian wealth management industry, here Family Wealth Report shares insights from firms on their Californian operations. Although by no means inclusive, the information is intended to give readers an idea of the many flavors of wealth manager flourishing on the West Coast. To view the first part click here. 

Rothstein Kass

Rothstein Kass Family Office Group, part of the eponymous consultancy firm, has offices in Wilshire Boulevard and Montgomery Street, spots the firm chose due to their “thriving business communities.”

It segments the state into: Southern California, with a strong concentration of business managers, legal and investment advisors, and “gatekeepers” to the wealthy; Central California, “home to an enclave of regional and national banks” and investment advisors – whose high level staff and clients qualify as potential clients; and Northern California, “one of the most active markets for multifamily office operations in the US.”

As Rothstein Kass does not offer investment advice, it views part of its niche as providing outsourced services to single-family offices – usually with around $100 million assets – and investment managers. It counts athletes and entertainers among its California client base, which comprises over a dozen ultra-wealthy clients.

Its provides services including balance sheet management, liquidity cash management, bookkeeping, income and estate tax planning, investment reporting and general project management. 

Northern Trust

Northern Trust, the Chicagoan stalwart, entered the California market in 1987 with a Santa Barbara office.

“When Northern Trust opened its first California office in the late 1980s, the average price of gas was less than $1 per gallon, the internet was in its infancy and the first President Bush was in office,” Steve Bell, chairman and CEO of the west region, told Family Wealth Report.

Since then, much has changed, and with it the firm’s coverage has expanded to ten offices in five markets (San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego), staffed with around 260 employees.

Strategically, Northern Trust views California as part of the West Region, which also includes Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Texas, all of which Bell heads up. It then breaks California down into Northern California, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego.

Its offers a lifetime goals and values-based approach to wealth management, says Bell, covering financial planning, private and business banking, investment management, trust and estate services, advisory, foundation and institutional advisory services.

CitizensTrust

CitizensTrust has two offices in the state, in Pasadena and Ontario, with a history in California dating back to 1912, making it one of the oldest trust companies there, according to Chris Walters, executive vice president.

It views California as a “distinct market” and further parses it into North/Central, Los Angeles and Orange/San Diego counties. It segment clients by the size of their investment portfolios: affluent (under $1 million portfolio), HNW (under $10 million), and UHNW ($10 million+).

It serves “individuals, families, foundations, endowments, institutions and governmental entities,” all of whom are looking for “continuity, discretion and accountability in the management of their assets,” says Walters.

“We are not a brokerage firm, nor are we owned by one. We are not compensated in any way other than our advisory fee.”

It offers proprietary investment strategies and third-party manager selection and gives clients the option to use either of these or a mix of both.

Silver Bridge

The multi-family office Silver Bridge has been ramping up its West Coast presence over the last 12 months, expanding its physical presence from solely the East Coast, in Delaware and Massachusetts, to Berkeley and San Francisco. It has been serving clients on the West Coast for around 20 years.

California, which is segmented into northern/southern, is the “central focus” of the firm’s West Coast team.

The firm has six advisors based across its West Coast offices serving a client base of 40, representing around $1 billion assets.

Its focus is on multi-generational and business-owning families. Its service mix consists of wealth planning, including philanthropy services; financial management, administration and consulting (including family office and business consulting); and research and education, delivered through the Silver Bridge Institute.

Salem Partners

Salem Partners is a privately-held Los Angeles based investment banking and wealth management firm, co-founded in 1997 by John Dyett and Stephen Prough. The wealth management division is a registered investment advisor with the SEC.

In the main its clients are successful entrepreneurs, with at least $10 million in investable assets. “Fortunately for us, there is an abundance of these families on the West Coast,” said Salem Partners. It does not differentiate prospects by whether they are based in Northern or Southern California and counts California as part of its West Coast client-base.

It manages the assets and financial lives of 20 families, representing over $250 million in assets, from its LA base, where it has six professionals.   

With an investment banking division, the firm’s focus is squarely on entrepreneurs and business owners and the niche services required right from the early stage - of “business planning, seed-stage capital raises and institutional venture capital raises with an eye to the long-term impact these decisions have on wealth management.”

“Business owners seeking wealth management services confront a complex set of challenges and opportunities that calls for expertise beyond strong portfolio management,” said Salem Partners.

City National Bank

City National Bank has around 50 client-facing advisors in California spread across offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose, Walnut Creek in the northern part of the state, and Pasadena, downtown Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Irvine and La Jolla in the southern part. The firm defines the transition between HNW and UHNW as starting at $10 million in investible assets, but it prefers to segment clients by needs. It also divides them into sources related to their wealth, for example entertainment, technology, healthcare, real estate and the legal profession.

The firm offers investment management and investment advice as well as family legacy planning, estate and wealth transfer, deposit and liquidity management.

When describing the differences in the nature of the wealth management business in California compared with the rest of the country, the firm said that there might be slightly more focus on growth rather than wealth preservation because of the entrepreneurial mentality in the state.

CONCERT Advisors           

CONCERT’s business model is to help what it calls “captive” financial advisors of HNW and UHNW clients at wirehouses to become independent and own their own businesses, while supporting them with back and middle offices systems.  Roughly half ($443 million) of its total assets under management of $1 billion are based in California. The firm has 22 independent advisors in California and 11 offices in Carmel, Los Altos, Menlo Park, Folsom, Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Mateo, Walnut Creek and Westlake Village.

Beverly Hills Wealth Management

Having started just two years ago, Beverly Hills Wealth Management has 150 clients and $250 million in AuM. The firm has eight advisors in the golden state across two offices. One of them is, quite naturally, in Beverly Hills and the other one in San Diego. The investment advisory firm launched the San Diego base earlier this month and added a financial advisor in the shape of Taylor Schulte to spearhead it. The firm has also an office in Phoenix, AZ. The firm defines HNW as someone with a net worth or around $5 million and investible assets of at least $1 million, and UHNW as £25 million in net worth and investible assets of $5 million.

Among the wealth manager’s services are portfolio management, tactical and strategic retirement planning, international trading, private equity, alternative investment, insurance and trust services.