San Francisco-based J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Wealth Partner Elaine Meyers shares how an advisor can help you distribute money through your family tree.
San Francisco-based J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Wealth Partner Elaine Meyers helps tech founders and entrepreneurs make financial decisions that may pay off in the long term.
Most of us want to see our wealth live on and thrive for generations to come. Between time, legal factors and complex family dynamics, this can become a challenging feat. Fortunately, with the help of the right wealth manager, we can help overcome these obstacles and the benefits can be abundant.
Operating out of San Francisco, J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Wealth Partner Elaine Meyers helps technology founders, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, executives and families develop long-term strategies that can help carry their wealth beyond their lives. With years of experience in the Bay Area and access to J.P. Morgan’s resources, including family engagement and governance specialists, Meyers’ team is uniquely positioned to help clients develop healthy wealth habits for themselves and their families. Engaging with specialists is a great way to get to the root of everyone’s personal needs and relationship with money, and develop a long-term plan that aligns best with each family’s unique situation.
“Managing multi-generational wealth is a life-long journey. The earlier you start thinking about it, the better,” Meyers says.
Read on to learn Meyers’ tips for distributing wealth through multiple generations and how working with a wealth manager can help facilitate the process.
When should families start thinking about how their wealth will live on for multiple generations?
“We have some clients that think about it before they even have children. Managing multigenerational wealth is a life-long journey. The earlier you start thinking about it, the better. It evolves as your income and wealth change. It changes as your children get older and you see the people they are becoming. Tax laws are constantly being reworked. There are many factors to wealth planning, and looking at it through the lens of multiple generations can add a layer of complexity. Your plan for your finances should always be evolving, just like your family.
If you’re an entrepreneur, your business is also always changing, adding another dimension. Many successful founders are often thinking about exit strategies for their business, even early on, and taking into consideration their legacy and their family should be a component of this. For example, are your children or grandchildren interested in your business and if so, are you having conversations about what that might look like? It’s fine if they aren’t or if their potential role is far off, but having conversations now can help ease decision-making in the future and avoid surprises.”
With so many long-term aspects to take into account, how should clients approach multigenerational wealth management?
”It’s important to regularly check in and ask yourself: ‘What am I trying to accomplish with my wealth? How will my decisions today impact the people or the community I love in the future?’ Life is a journey. My biggest piece of advice is to take your time and be thoughtful with your decisions and with how you bring children into discussions about wealth. Ultra-high net worth clients can face complex challenges, but also opportunities.”
You work with a lot of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. How do you address the emotional aspects of multi-generational wealth management with these clients?
“We help them separate themselves from the emotional attachment they often have to their company. For many business owners, their wealth is concentrated within their business. We try to show them the importance of diversifying their investments. It’s important that we address this emotional side with our clients, while also talking about the financial markets, educating them on why diversification is so important. Even if they’re financially savvy, they might be so laser-focused on their business that they need an advisor to really take the lead on planning for their personal finances. They might be up at night stressed about the success of their high growth startup, but we’ll help make sure they aren’t up at night concerned about their family’s finances.”
Wealth management teams can help facilitate those difficult family discussions and provide a non-biased perspective to something that can often be emotional.
Your team offers a family-office-style approach to wealth management. What does this look like for your clients?
“We serve as our clients’ primary contact for everything related to their finances. We partner with their accountants, estate planners and lawyers to help make sure everyone is working in sync to help best serve the client. For our busy clients, this looks like simplicity—they don’t need to worry about coordinating with a whole suite of different specialists. We can help be a liaison for them. And if they’re looking for a specialist, we can help connect them within our network in the Bay Area."
Why is it so important to address a family’s unique approach towards money when planning for the future?
“Wealth is not just about money, it's about your relationship with money and your children's relationship with money. Many people have been raised with dysfunctional money messages, and they tend to mirror those behaviors in their adult lives. Without being addressed, this can create a negative cycle, where their children, grandchildren and beyond continue to mirror these messages. Our team will help them have conversations that can sometimes be difficult, especially when different family members want to take a different approach to money. We can help by bringing a non-biased perspective to something that can often be emotional, and share insights on positive ways to bring younger generations into wealth planning.”
Working with a well-equipped wealth management team can help your children grow into their financial roles.
When it comes to working with clients’ children, what are some of the most important things an advisor can help them learn to facilitate better long-term outcomes?
“Every family should have a purpose for their wealth, whether that be in philanthropy, business or something else. When a child eventually steps into a financial role on behalf of their family, they will have particular responsibilities. Our team can help them outline what these will be, so the children can grow into their role with the understanding of what their parents planned, how it’s important for their family and how to pass those ideals onto the next generation.”
J.P. Morgan Wealth Management financial advisors are dedicated to educating their clients and helping them reach their goals. Throughout our “Build Your Wealth” article series, these advisors will provide valuable insight into ways you can help maximize your financial future.
Learn how to build healthy financial habits, how investing in your passions can pay off and smart ways to give back in the previous articles in this series, with more great content to come.
Take the first step by connecting with an advisor near you at this link.
J.P. Morgan Wealth Management is a business of JPMorgan Chase & Co., which offers investment products and services through J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (JPMS), a registered broker-dealer and investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC. Certain advisory products may be offered through J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC (JPMPWA), a registered investment adviser. Trust and Fiduciary services including custody are offered through JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A (JPMCB) and affiliated trust companies. Insurance products are made available through Chase Insurance Agency, Inc. (CIA), a licensed insurance agency, doing business as Chase Insurance Agency Services, Inc. in Florida. JPMS, CIA, JPMPWA and JPMCB are affiliated companies under the common control of JPMorgan Chase & Co.
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