“Pick up a pen and write your life story. Write it the way you want to live it. Make it full of purpose and laughter, make it uniquely yours.”
Chapter 06.
risk tolerance
Sam & Natalie
Sam and Natalie are a wonderful couple with tons of passion and energy for life. We met them when they were in the process of considering the purchase of a beautiful family ski retreat. Sam and Natalie are both very frugal, and the potential purchase was causing anxiety.
An integrated analysis of - individual risk preferences, detailed cash flow, estate strategy - worked in concert with long conversations. What we discovered was that dramatically different risk tolerances were at the core of the hesitation on the purchase. Nobody had ever really focused in on the wide chasm in the couples’ risk preferences, and how this impacted life and choices. It was the root cause of hurdles they faced on dozens of decisions. Solving for this in a specific and tangible way took down a critical barrier to leveraging their wealth in a way that brought both Sam and Natalie joy.
Michelle is amazing. She is an extraordinarily talented and thoughtful scientist with a sharp, dry sense of humor. Michelle had hesitated to enter an advisory relationship before meeting us. As a scientist she didn’t feel like the industry was transparent, didn’t feel like she could get at the data she needed.
It was fun to develop a relationship with Michelle. Her basic problem was that she felt disconnected from her wealth, almost embarrassed because it was not connected to the things that mattered most to her. After many months of getting to know each other Michelle’s story with us began with tackling this issue.
Chapter 05.
purpose
Michelle
Chapter 04.
Concentrated holdings
Jack and Eliza
We met Jack and Eliza during a significant financial event in their life. They felt lucky, they owned shares in a company that they loved which had recently had a hugely successful IPO. While they believed in the company there was also anxiety about concentration and taxes. There are many ways to address concentrated risk. Because the company remained important to both Jack and Eliza, exploring options beyond the standard answer of ‘sell and diversify’ was where we began.
“My mission in life is not to survive, but to thrive, and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor and some style.”
Isabella is super smart with an ‘old-fashioned’ sensibility that brings wisdom to every conversation. When we first met Isa, she brought along a 118-page financial statement that said little and seemed to be hiding a lot. Our first step was to slim that down to a one-page executive summary, a sort of dashboard for everything. That ‘I got this’ feeling brought Isabella renewed energy and the one-page summary created clarity around where strategy needed to go.
Chapter 03.
clarity and control
Isabella
Chapter 02.
wealth and children
John
John is a force of nature. The early chapters of his life were filled with an extraordinary sense of purpose and passion. He had worked hard and helped to build a company he and his team were proud of.
As the pages turned, John’s biggest worry became that his wealth was going to ‘screw up’ his kids. Wealth can have a profound impact on children in both the short and the long term. Understanding these impacts and creating an intentional plan that addresses them is central to the LEVATUS Children and Wealth program. With younger children John and the team focused in on a plan that integrated the powerfully positive impact of earned success on development, and implemented that alongside education that made the value of a hard-earned dollar visible and real.
We met the Hill–Tillman family many years ago. One of their early central questions revolved around a lovely cabin that had been in the family for generations. Meeting in person at the property was step one. On a gorgeous summer day, we all packed into their kitchen and began what turned out to be an amazing conversation of discovery. While values were shared amongst the group, life had led each person in a different direction. Finding the common ground that those shared values created was how we began to develop a strategy for the homestead that would bring the family closer together rather than further apart.
Chapter 01.
family mission
The Hill-Tillman Family
Note: Names and details around each story have been altered somewhat to protect the privacy of our clients, the core theme however is consistent with actual work LEVATUS has done with real families and individuals.