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Joe Reilly:  You speak in your book about different ways an advisor can approach their role, including that of an artist.  Could you elaborate?

Tim Belber:  I think the artist comparison is the most valid. Think about a mosaicist who works with colored tile. She starts with, I don’t know, 100 different colored tiles, all shiny and beautiful in their own right. After talking with her patron about how he wants the tiled roof of his balcony to look she decides which colors to use and how to arrange them. She does not apply them willy-nilly. Finally, she periodically may have to buff one up or replace one that has cracked. To keep the mosaic beautiful for the patron requires a level of vigilance.

As advisors we have literally thousands of strategies, each “shiny” with their own benefits. Our art is the ability to pick the ones that, when we skillfully combine them, will give our patron family a plan that supports their qualitative goals for themselves and the coming generations. And since a family wealth plan is an interconnected set of documents, property arrangements and human relationships that are all subject to changes, we need to be vigilant if the plan is to remain relevant to the family.

Joe Reilly:  You have a unique approach to working with families.  Could you describe Visionario Thinking?

Tim Belber:  Visionario is the Italian word for a person with vision. It also is a combination of vision and scenario. Successful family wealth plans start with a vision of the present, the future and the intervening time period. I always begin by telling a client, either new or at a review, to put everything they know about taxes, planning and their balance in a box under their desk and let’s start with what they are thinking about today. What has become clear to them since the last time we spoke? Where do they see themselves and the family heading over the next X years. It is about feeling free to think expansively and with vision.  

Then we can begin to look at what we can do to support this thinking and vision. This is where you fuse the qualitative goals with actual strategies. This process supports the idea that “form” follows “function.” Without visionary thinking, strategies will be adopted for purely tax reasons. Think about the mad rush at the end of 2012 to take advantage of the $5,000,000 gift exemption that we thought was going away. So we have a bunch of assets in trusts that many clients don’t understand and their families are ill-prepared to operate. Last, part of the strategy selection process is scenario planning. Let’s see how this will play out over time under different family situations as well as with balance sheet changes.  This helps us identify both risks to be managed and possible opportunities to capitalize on. So vision plus scenario equals Visionario Planning.

Joe Reilly:  How did you develop Visionario Thinking?

Tim Belber:  I’ve been fascinated with Leonardo da Vinci since I was young. Then I read Michael Gelb’s book How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci.  He outlines seven principles which he identified as the key to Leonardo-like thinking and creating. I can’t remember them all off the top of my head but the four that always stick with me are Curiosità , Dimostrazione, Sfumato and Arte/Scienza. Simply put, Curiosità tells us to approach everything with a sense of curiosity. I want to know why a client thinks the way he does and I ask a lot of questions.

Dimostrazione says we should test things for ourselves. Just because something works for one family we still need to test it for the next family. The Sfumato principle is about a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox and uncertainty. When it comes to family and wealth these are all present and if, as an advisor, you struggle with them you will not be able to help the family navigate the complications of wealth. Last, Leonardo was the model of Arte/Scienza. He combined art and science like no other historical figure. It was the principle of Arte/Scienza that opened my mind to the fact that a great advisor is indeed an artist as she paints the canvas with strategies.  I found that applying and practicing these in my client work changed the dynamic and quality of the work I could deliver. I have been a student of da Vinci for years and he hasn’t disappointed me yet.

Joe Reilly:  How do you know how far you can safely take a conversation?  Even small issues with families may be full of snakes.

Tim Belber:  I often joke that I won’t bring foam bats to meetings because I’m not a therapist. On the serious side, I have two family systems practitioners that I call on to discuss situations that look beyond my scope. You have to develop a way to triage a situation and decide if the issues are clear enough for you to handle or should you suggest an alternate path to the family.  The best way I know of is to talk to all family members before you embark on long term family wealth strategy, really listen and put your own economic interests and ego about being able to help any family aside, which can be hard to do, before you step in in a big way.

Even with that said, you can find yourself in the middle of an unpleasant situation. The key there is to remain neutral and not take anything said personally. I’ve been in a meeting when a family stood up, yelled at everyone including me and stormed out. The silence was palpable. I did have a colleague in the room, one of the family systems consultants I mentioned. He went out to talk to the family who left and had me stay with the rest of the family, about 10 people. I said let’s treat this as a learning moment instead something to gossip about. When the other family member returned in about 20 minutes the conversation became about what they had learned, how it could have been handled differently and what they should do in the future to avoid this situation. The cause of the disruption? Who should the family hire as a second money manager.

Joe Reilly:  Do you have any advice for the advisor seeking to develop wealthy clients?

Tim Belber:  Here is what keeps me in front of new opportunities. Financial wealth only amplifies situations, good and not so good, in families. The minute the concepts on family and wealth apply only to wealthy families then it is no longer about the family it is about the money and that will shut you down. There are plenty of very competent technical tax, legal, investment and insurance professionals in the world. But there is a shortage of advisors who can act as a thinking partner around the issues of family and wealth. Focus on the people first and then their stuff second. The other thing I do that pays dividends to me in a number of ways is to know my market well. I have two hours a week blocked to review all the recent publications, surveys and studies. I constantly look for resources for wealthy families. I follow media people like Paul Sullivan, Ron Leiber and Jason Zweig on Twitter. I have an interest in character-building so I read a lot about that topic which is something of concern to affluent parents and grandparents. In short – learn what they are interested in and make a point of being a subject matter expert.

But, first you have a passion for the work you are doing for them as a family. I suggest you read Simon Sinek’s book, Start with Why.  If the work you do with families of wealth inspires you to get out of bed in the morning then you are in the right space.

Joe Reilly:  Do you feel there is a difference between a career, a profession and a craft?

Tim Belber:  I really like the word craft. Several years ago I read Richard Sennett’s The Craftsman, another book that has influenced how I approach my profession. Craft is about focusing on doing good work with skill and ethical values. It is not about doing something just because you can. Craft points to how you think about the use of your tools and the materials you work with. It goes to creating something of lasting value. Like the artist comparison I mentioned before I believe it is about bringing heart into what can easily be a purely intellectual work space.

Joe Reilly:  What advice do you give your clients on trusts?

Tim Belber:  I think trusts can be an important tool in supporting a family’s legacy over many generations as well as smart asset protection structure. You have to remember that all trusts start with a very simple premise: Someone gives something to another person to hold for the benefit of a third person . The questions about establishing any trust are therefore “How will this be for the benefit of the beneficiaries? And how will it enhance their lives?” If the trust is primarily about asset protection and addressing the parent’s agenda it will probably fail when it comes to the beneficiaries.

A very wise attorney once described a trust as a community that could serve the growth and flourishing of all the beneficiaries. If you draft them thoughtfully you can create opportunities for the trustee to be a mentor and the beneficiaries to “benefit” from their combined life experiences.

There is one caution I also point out. While trusts offer great benefits, it is important that every family member have a chance to build their own personal balance sheet. For an entrepreneur, the personal balance sheet is his credibility and access to opportunities. I regularly work with families to help the next generation begin building their own balance sheet. From a tax and asset protection perspective taking something out of trust doesn’t make sense but from a human capital perspective it matters a lot.