Wealth management is a comprehensive financial planning service designed to help clients grow, protect, and pass on wealth. A wealth manager combines investment advice, tax strategies, estate planning, retirement planning, and life insurance to achieve the client’s goals.
If your financial situation is more complex than what you can effectively manage on your own, a wealth manager can help bring clarity and control. Our experienced CPA wealth advisors at Griffiths, Dreher & Evans, PS, CPAs* are here to understand your needs and build tailored strategies that align with your financial goals. Contact Us To Book A Free Discovery Meeting.
What Is Wealth Management?
Wealth management is a comprehensive approach to managing your finances. It looks at the full picture, not just your investment portfolio. It combines financial planning, investment management, tax strategy, retirement planning, estate planning, and risk management into a single, coordinated strategy tailored to your goals.
Unlike a traditional financial advisor who might just help with your 401(k), a wealth manager helps you answer bigger-picture questions like:
- How can I reduce my tax burden over time?
- What’s the best way to structure a business exit or liquidity event?
- What’s the best way to pass wealth on to my family?
- How should I invest given my business, income, or lifestyle?
- Should I create a charitable trust, family office, or private foundation?
What Do Wealth Managers Do?
A wealth management firm offers an array of services to achieve your goals, including investment strategy, tax planning, estate coordination, retirement planning, and more.
Build a Comprehensive Financial Plan
Wealth managers begin by understanding what matters most to you. Are you trying to retire early? Create passive income? Set your kids up for college, or launch a second career? Once they understand your goals, they map out a plan that ties everything together: income, spending, saving, investing, and protecting what you’ve built.
Manage Your Investments Strategically
A wealth manager builds and manages an investment portfolio tailored to your needs, not just based on market trends. They consider your risk tolerance, time horizon, cash flow needs, and tax situation. They also rebalance your portfolio when needed and help you avoid emotional investment decisions during market volatility.
Implement Tax-Efficient Strategies
Taxes are one of the biggest drags on wealth, but intelligent planning can reduce them significantly over time. Wealth managers don’t just file your taxes; they look ahead and structure your financial life in a way that minimizes taxes long-term.
This could involve tax-loss harvesting, Roth conversions, charitable giving strategies (like donor-advised funds), or coordinating stock option exercises.
Coordinate Estate & Legacy Planning
Wealth management includes planning how your assets will be distributed during your life and after. This includes setting up trusts, updating beneficiaries, minimizing estate taxes, and planning charitable giving or family wealth transfers.
Plan for Major Life Events
Life rarely follows a perfect plan. A good wealth manager helps you navigate financial transitions, expected or unexpected, and recalibrates your strategy accordingly. This includes planning for divorce, business exits, illness, aging parents, education costs, or sudden wealth.
Serve as Your Financial Point Person
High-net-worth clients often work with a range of professionals: CPAs, estate attorneys, insurance advisors, mortgage brokers, and more. Your wealth manager becomes the central hub, helping you coordinate all advice and decisions in one aligned strategy.
Example
Consider a couple in their early 50s with a net worth of around $4.5 million. One spouse was a corporate executive with over $2 million in stock options, RSUs, and deferred compensation. The other owned a consulting business valued at $800,000.
In addition to multiple investment accounts and a vacation property, they were also supporting two children in college and assisting aging parents. With so many moving pieces, they realized it was time to bring in professional help.
Their wealth manager recommended a structured plan to gradually diversify the executive’s concentrated company stock and time option exercises for tax efficiency. For the consulting business, they advised an S-corp restructure and implemented a solo 401(k) to reduce taxable income while boosting retirement savings.
A retirement projection helped clarify whether early retirement at 60 was realistic based on lifestyle goals. At the same time, the advisor coordinated updates to their estate plan, including a revocable living trust and power of attorney documents.
They also helped establish 529 plans for future grandchildren and set up a donor-advised fund aligned with the couple’s charitable values. With one advisor managing these interconnected pieces, the couple gained clarity, confidence, and a roadmap for the next stage of life.
How to Choose a Wealth Manager
Choosing the right wealth manager comes down to trust, expertise, and alignment with your goals. Here’s what to look for:
Credentials and Standards
Prioritize advisors with CFP®, PFS™, or CPA designations and those who follow a fiduciary standard. Ask directly if they operate under that standard at all times. When you meet with a wealth advisory firm, ask these questions:
- Who do you typically work with?
- What’s included in your fee?
- How do you coordinate with CPAs and attorneys?
- How often do we meet?
- Can I see a sample financial plan?
Fee Transparency
Understand how they’re compensated. Fee-only advisors tend to be the most transparent, while commission-based models may come with product sales. Ask for a clear breakdown of costs and services included.
Relevant Experience
Choose someone who works with clients like you. If you have equity comp, business income, or estate planning needs, your advisor should have direct experience in those areas.
Right Fit
This is a long-term relationship. Make sure the advisor listens well, explains clearly, and isn’t pushing products or quick fixes. Trust and communication matter just as much as credentials.
Is Wealth Management Worth It?
The right wealth management firm can help you protect what you’ve built, reduce taxes, and make smarter decisions with your money, especially when you’re dealing with things like equity compensation, business income, estate planning, or retirement transitions.
At Griffiths, Dreher & Evans, PS, all our shareholders are CPAs with most possessing the Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) credential, a designation only awarded to CPAs with advanced training in personal financial planning.
With us, you get expert guidance and personalized financial solutions for your business. Call us to schedule a NO-COST, NO-OBLIGATION discovery call today.
*Disclaimer: Investment advisory services are provided by Griffiths, Dreher & Evans, PS, CPAs, a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Planning outcomes depend on individual circumstances.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much money do you need for wealth management?
It depends on the firm, but most clients who benefit from wealth management typically have $1 million or more in investable assets or a complex financial situation that requires professional coordination.
How do wealth managers get paid?
Some charge a percentage of assets under management (AUM), others charge flat fees or hourly rates. At Griffiths, Dreher & Evans, PS, we’re fully transparent about how we’re compensated and what’s included in our service.
Is a CPA with a PFS designation better than a regular financial advisor?
A CPA/PFS brings specialized expertise in both tax and personal financial planning—something many financial advisors can’t offer. This is especially valuable when your financial life involves equity comp, business income, or complex tax strategies.