One City Built to Last

that obstacle a challenging one,” Reilly
said, noting that, “Stronger uniform
standards could help push aside
some of the typical client worries that
follow the financial industry like a
dark cloud”.
Regulatory change or not, ethics
and client interest are points of
pride for Reilly Financial Advisors.
The company prominently displays
a number of awards it has received
in recent years, including Top 100
Places to Work in San Diego for three
years running, plus a BBB Torch
Award Winner for Marketplace
Ethics in 2012— and Reilly said
firmly that he is determined to
always keep clients first. Putting
client’s needs ahead of the
firm also often means taking an
unorthodox approach to wealth
management.
Noting that risk tolerance
questionnaires administered by
most wealth managers to new
clients fails to capture what really
matters, Reilly emphasized, “I
believe, and we believe, that it is
a fundamentally flawed process.
It really comes down to how
much risk do you need to take.
If you could accomplish all of
your goals … lay them out, chart
a path, reach those goals with an
8 percent rate of return … Why
would you [take on more risk]?”
Instead, Reilly Financial Advisors
looks at how much risk the client
needs to take, not how much risk they
can bear. That’s a key difference in
mindset, allowing the firm to provide
each client with a unique solution.
Founded in 1999, the company
originally served Americans living
abroad – a demographic that still
makes up about one third of its customer
base. Now, the firm focuses
primarily on those in transition,
whether it’s the newly wealthy, career-changers
or families looking for
solid family transition planning. The
firm’s approach to risk also helped
it weather the Great Recession by
choosing to keep clients constantly
in the loop, instead of leaving them
in the lurch. “We realized that our
clients needed constant communication
… so many advisors hid from
their clients,” Reilly said. “We wanted
to make sure … the talking heads
“Wealth management is looking at everything:
investment management, financial
planning, tax issues, estate issues, family
wealth transitions – all of those in one,”
Reilly insisted. “We’re not just investment
managers, we are truly wealth managers.”
Reilly Financial Advisors
7777 Alvarado Road, Suite 116
La Mesa, California 91942
Toll Free: 800-682-3237
p) 619-698-0794
www.rfadvisors.com
weren’t scaring them.”
Working through that crisis was
about wealth management – not just
investment management. It took holistic
thinking for Reilly’s clients to
not only weather the storm, but even,
in many cases, to get to port in better
shape than when they left. Now, with
the crisis largely over, Reilly is looking
to expand again with goals he ticks off
like a shopping list.
Smaller starter accounts, expanding
the client base, more international
agreements – the list goes on – but
it’s that multi-pronged approach that
makes all the difference between a
wealth manager and a guy who merely
helps people invest.
“Wealth management is looking at
everything: investment management,
financial planning, tax issues, estate issues,
family wealth transitions – all of
those in one,” Reilly insisted. “We’re
not just investment managers, we are
truly wealth managers.”
THE SUIT MAGAZINE p.75