Brian Ginsler reads Gensler's Q1 2023 client letter, opening with a chef story to explain the firm's push to exceed expectations. He covers tax updates, technology rollout, and the SVB failure, while emphasizing independence as core to their fiduciary work.
Questions this episode answers
April 13, 2023.
Five families.
Ranked in the top 20% of most followed and most shared podcasts globally in 2022.
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Foreign. This podcast is brought to you by Gensler Wealth. The information discussed today is meant to be general in nature and not tailored to your specific investing circumstances. This means that you should talk to your regular Gensler wealth advisor or your own advisor before acting on any information we discuss today. Nothing in this podcast is intended to be a solicitation and past performance does not guarantee future returns. Wow. I can almost recite this in my sleep now. Today on the unlimited podcast, we review my 2023 Q1 quarterly letter to clients. We talk about my past and recent experiences around exceeding expectations, some of the wealth and planning work we are doing for clients, and why still being independent is important. Let's. Foreign. Welcome everyone to the Gensler Wealth Unlimited podcast. It's the first quarter or the end of the first quarter of 2023 and I've just sent out my regular quarterly letter to clients. And for those who want to listen to it rather than read, here it is for the 2023 first quarter client update. And here we go. Two Gensler Wells clients back in 1998, during my last year in the Ivy Business School's HBA program, I organized a large event for the school which I thought went off very well. A few days after the event was over, I got called in to see Lawrence Tack, the dean of the school. Nervously, I made my way to his office where he sat me down and said, brian, job not just done, but well done. Phew. I've never forgotten that phrase. Fast forward 25 years. A few weeks ago I was at Pearson Airport at 6am for an early flight with my son. Prior to the flight, we sat down and ordered breakfast off the iPad ordering system. My friends who know me well will know that I like all my food well done. Well done. Eggs, well done. Potatoes well done. Toast well done. You get the picture. And yes, I am a pain at restaurants. A few minutes after ordering, I realized that I hadn't specified my well done preferences electronically, so I walked to the open kitchen area where the chef was cooking. Remember, this is 6:00am and I'm sure catering to my particularities was likely not high on his list of things to care about. When I called to him and asked about making everything well done, he didn't look very pleased to speak to me and he said that the food was already ready. The food as delivered was not well done, but I figured I'd make the best of it after the first bite. To my surprise, I heard the chef call to me from the kitchen area and ask if everything was okay or if I'D like it cooked a bit more. Since he was asking, I let him cook it a bit more and when it was returned to me, the chef smiled as he watched me take the second bites with delight. The chef got the job done originally. He delivered what I ordered and he could have moved on, but he didn't. He ensured my meal was cooked to my liking and in doing so he got the job not just done but well done. I thanked him verbally and gave him a tip in excess of the entire cost of the meal. I explained to my son that there is magic and exceeding expectations. I use this same well done phrase with our growing but small team at Gensler wealth, if we are going to provide you with great service and value, we have to exceed your expectations. How are we doing on this front? I would like to hear from you. This past quarter, in addition to managing your portfolios, we have been very busy taking care of your other wealth management needs. This included updating tax and holding structures, updating wills, and introducing tax effective insurance solutions, all with the expert external partners we work with. For families that utilize our full family office services. We also rolled out technology that enables us to organize and manage all your critical financial documents accessible at all times via a desktop and mobile app. By the examples below, I'm encouraged that we are on the right path to delivering our services done well. First, this past quarter, five different families asked me to be an executor of their wills. Unfortunately, due to potential conflict of interest, we can't do this, but we will always be available to support the appointed executives. Second, in our specific desire to find a forum to allow you to hear from the investment managers we work with, along with other topics, last year we launched this the Unlimited Podcast. In January we learned that the podcast was ranked by Spotify in the top 20% of most followed and most shared podcasts globally in 2022. There's a footnote in the letter with the reference to that if you want to find the letter online. Third, and just recently we were notified by Wealth Professional, a publisher focused solely on the Canadian wealth management industry, that Ginser wealth has been named an Excellence Awardee and finalist for the Avenue Living Asset Management Award for Portfolio Discretionary Manager of the Year, and there's a link in the letter as well to all those references. While we care far less about what our industry thinks than what you think, we are proud to have garnered this recognition early in our journey. Our ability to achieve the above for your benefit emanates from our deliberate decision to operate Genser Wealth As a fully independent wealth management firm, we only answer to one group, our clients. We decide what content to share with you via our podcast, we decide the level of breadth and depth of financial advice to provide, and we have no constraints on the investments that we can consider for your portfolios. I believe the latter enabled us to do a good job protecting your capital throughout 2022. And of course, there's the footnote that says reminder that our clients have varying risk tolerance and goals and objectives. All Gensler wealth portfolios are customized for each client and therefore all portfolios will have a different performance experience as a result. Speaking of investments, you no doubt are aware of the continued volatility and instability in some areas of the financial system, most notably the unbelievably swift collapse of Silicon Valley bank or svb. SVB was the largest bank failure since the Great financial crisis in 2008. Interestingly, equity and bond markets are positive both since the start of the year and since the day before SVB's failure. This is a good reminder that while there is always plenty to worry about day to day, the markets are forward looking and in the long run push through the short term noise by now. You should not be surprised to hear that while we may have taken some action in your portfolios over the past quarter, we have not made any dramatic changes during this time. At a time when some of our independent peers are either being bought or given away to a big bank, we remain undistracted and resolutely focused on getting the job well done for the most important people in this relationship. All of you, thank you for your trust, support and confidence. We are available 247 should you need us. Sincerely, me Brian Gensler, President and CEO so that was my first quarter 2023 letter to our clients. Hope you enjoyed. Keep following the podcast. We have a number of great guests coming up and we look forward to the next one. Take care.
The Unlimited podcast is hosted and produced by Brian Gensler and is edited and mixed by myself, David McMillan. This podcast is not to be taken as investment advice. If you like what you heard, don't forget to rate the podcast and follow us on Social medianslerwealth. Thanks for listening and see you next time.
