Written by: Amanda Schiavo | In your career as a planner, you’re bound to meet a character or two. Plus, when you consider the unique bond that develops in an advisor-client relationship, it makes sense you will field some, well, unorthodox requests from clients from time to time.
Scroll through the following list to see advisors' favorite anecdotes on baffling, funny and just plain strange queries.
Written by: Matthew Phillips | The last words of the email stood out the most. “… the thing is … we are deaf.” This is how the prospective client closed her message to me in 2017.
When I agreed to meet with the woman and her husband, I was feeling uncertain about how to best communicate with them. To prepare, I added captions to my usual video presentation. But halfway through, I realized the couple was completely overwhelmed with the financial vocabulary I was using, which was entirely new to them. Improvising, I pulled up a blank Word document and started typing which allowed us to converse back and forth. I felt completely inadequate and regretted not preparing more, but did my best to connect with the couple.
To my surprise, the meeting concluded with the wife rejecting my handshake and instead grabbing onto me tightly as she began to cry. “Matthew, thank you for what you have done,” she said. “We have sat with five advisors, and none have come close to helping us like you have. I know we have missed out on financial opportunities because we are deaf.”
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Irvine, California‑based Trilogy Financial launched Trilogy Tax & Consulting, an affiliated company that will provide tax preparation and consulting services for its clients.
Trilogy said the affiliate would help its advisors connect clients with tax professionals, identify tax planning opportunities and integrate tax mitigation strategies into financial plans. The firm said the services are intended for individual, family and business‑owner clients.
“We are excited to continue building out our capabilities available through our affiliated businesses with the addition of our new tax and consulting offering,” said Jeff Motske, Co‑Founder, President and CEO of Trilogy Financial. “As clients’ financial lives become increasingly complex, it is important to provide services beyond traditional investment management.”
Founded in 1999, Trilogy has 10 regional offices and more than $5 billion in advisory and brokerage assets.
In March 2024, Trilogy announced an investment by Toronto‑based private equity firm Peloton Capital Management.
“The launch of Trilogy Tax & Consulting reinforces our ongoing focus on partnership, organic growth and delivering differentiated resources to help advisors better serve clients,” Motske said. Read more here.
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