Three Key Met Exhibitions in New York

Based in New York City, Peter Culver most recently served BNY Mellon as a senior wealth director, working for the company for 14 years. Outside of his professional work, Peter Culver supports a number of local art institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Operating out of three locations across New York City, the Met upholds the simultaneous goals of supporting fine arts studies and celebrating 5,000 years of art. As such, the museum hosts countless exhibitions each year that cover a wide range of artistic areas. During the remainder of 2016, the Met is featuring three key exhibits:

Kerry James Marshall
Through the support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Ford Foundation, the Met will hold an exhibit of Kelly James Marshall’s works. From October 25, 2016-January 29, 2017, visitors at the Met Breuer will be able to view almost 80 pieces from Marshall’s career of over three decades. With a theme of breaking through societal stereotypes of people of color, the exhibit will feature pieces across such media as comic books, murals, and narrative paintings.

Diane Arbus
Entitled “In the Beginning,” the Diane Arbus exhibition at the Met, currently running, showcases over 100 images from the portfolio of the prolific photographer. In particular, the museum is displaying photos from the early portion of her career, when she cultivated the distinctive photography style for which she has become known. The exhibit at the Met Breuer will end on November 27, 2016.

Jerusalem 1000-1400
The Met’s upcoming Jerusalem 1000-1400 exhibit will focus primarily on those works that reflected the Holy City’s influence of art throughout that particular period. Thanks to around 60 international lenders, the exhibit will feature more than 200 different pieces. Hosted at the Met Fifth Avenue, Jerusalem 1000-1400 opens September 26 and runs through January 8, 2017.

In an earlier post, we explored the all-too-prevalent malady of “benchmark – itis” – that is, measuring wealth management success solely in terms of investment performance.  In this follow-up post, we look at practical techniques advisors can use to to transform their conversation with clients – and indeed their whole practice – to a “goals-based” model.

Numerous studies document that wealth management clients favor a holistic, goals-based approach over a product and performance approach.  How can advisors make this approach central to their practice and get buy-in from their clients?  Here are a few concrete suggestions:

Introduce a goals-based approach right at the beginning.

·      At your very first meeting with a new prospect, explain that your process is planning-based, with the key objective being to meet the client’s wealth management goals.

·      Pinpoint exactly what the prospect’s real-life goals are.  People will rarely describe these in terms of investment performance.

·      Get an agreement from the prospect that success will be measured in terms of meeting the goals they have identified, not investment performance.  If you help them meet their goals, you should get an “A”.  You will of course report investment performance on a regular basis, but the key measure of success will be the achievement of the client’s goals.

·      Lay the groundwork for asking for referrals based on successful achievement of goals.

Document the primacy of goals.

·      Every firm has an “Investment Policy Statement”.  This only serves to over-emphasize investments.  Use instead a “Wealth Management Plan”.

·      In the Wealth Management Plan, document the client’s goals (financial and other) and make it clear that achieving these goals will be the key measure of success.

·      Also include a “service protocol” – e.g, the frequency and content of client meetings, calls, etc.  Make this a key part of meeting the client’s goals.

·      Get the client(s) to sign and return the Wealth Management Plan.

Organize client meetings around goals.

·      Every firm has a standard client review report.  Too often, these reports are filled with pages and pages of investment statistics, and very little discussion of client goals.

·      Restructure your meetings and reports, as follows:

o   Begin by asking the client for a personal and financial update. Are there any important changes?

o   Confirm the goals in the current Wealth Management Plan.  Are any changes needed?

o   Ask the client directly if you are meeting their goals, both financially and from a service perspective.

o   With this as background, then review the investments. Here the focus should be on performance in the attainment of goals vs. raw numeric performance (I.e. Benchmark - Itis.)

o   Document all important changes in a revised Wealth Management Plan, mail it to the client and get the client to return a signed version.

Make sure all your materials focus on goals.  

·      Standard Investment Policy Statements and client meeting reports are two of the more notorious offenders in setting a focus on performance vs. wealth management goals.  But there are many other areas where you may be undermining the goals-based approach.

·      Make sure all your materials underscore your focus on goals: brochures, flip books, websites, newsletters, client satisfaction surveys to name just a few.

Follow these simple suggestions and you will transform your practice to a truly goals-based culture. Your clients will be happier, and so will you!

For additional information on important wealth management issues, please go to my blog, peterculver.blogspot.com, or visit me on LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/in/pculver.