Levi Pettit, CFA®, CFP®, has launched Dornick Wealth Management, a boutique wealth administration agency that challenges the business’s conventional emphasis on uncooked returns in favor of complete, goal-oriented monetary planning.
Armed with an MBA from Pepperdine Graziadio Enterprise College and expertise managing portfolios at a single-family workplace, Pettit based his agency on the precept that significant wealth administration requires understanding every shopper’s full monetary image somewhat than chasing market efficiency alone.
“Traditionally, a lot of the wealth administration business has been targeted on returns,” Pettit explains. “Returns are nice, however the portfolio must align along with your private monetary plan.”
Addressing Business Gaps
Pettit recognized what he sees as a basic disconnect in wealth administration providers. Whereas many corporations promote spectacular efficiency numbers, he argues they usually fail to think about whether or not these returns serve their shoppers’ precise goals.
His strategy incorporates the whole lot from danger tolerance assessments to legacy planning conversations. Whether or not shoppers wish to fund grandchildren’s schooling, set up charitable foundations, or plan early retirement strikes to Florida, Dornick builds funding methods round these particular objectives somewhat than generic benchmarks.
“These are all conversations that should be had within the planning course of in order that we construct a technique that aligns with these objectives,” Pettit notes. “It’s not only a return-focused plan.”
The Household CFO Mannequin
Quite than functioning as conventional monetary advisors, Dornick positions itself as an outsourced chief monetary officer for shopper households. Pettit views his shoppers as CEOs of their households, along with his agency offering the strategic monetary steering and execution help usually present in company settings.
This mannequin represents a departure from what Pettit characterizes because the sales-driven strategy frequent all through the business, the place advisors face quotas for property beneath administration or shopper acquisition.
“We actually wish to be intertwined with our shoppers’ lives,” he says. “We view our shoppers because the CEO of their family or their household. They make the manager selections, however our aim is to offer them the plan and the methods to attain these objectives.”
The agency accepts calls after hours and on weekends, treating shopper questions—whether or not about main funding selections or on a regular basis purchases—as reliable considerations worthy {of professional} enter.
Capability by Design
Dornick intentionally limits every advisor to not more than 50 shopper households, with Pettit ideally focusing on 30 to 40 shoppers per advisor to make sure the personalised consideration his mannequin requires. Many wealth administration corporations deal with considerably bigger shopper hundreds, however Pettit argues this dilutes service high quality.
“We by no means need any advisor to be managing greater than 50 shoppers or households,” he explains. “We consider that proper there’s a sturdy quantity for each shopper, each family to get the eye that they deserve.”
This strategy means slower enterprise development in change for deeper shopper relationships. Pettit accepts this trade-off, believing that distinctive service to fewer shoppers creates extra sustainable long-term success than fast enlargement.
Constructing Shopper Relationships
Dornick dedicates appreciable consideration to the preliminary shopper expertise, focusing closely on the primary 90 to 100 days of every relationship. Throughout this era, the agency establishes communication preferences, clarifies expectations, and ensures shoppers perceive how the partnership will perform.
Quite than delivering one-time monetary plans, Dornick supplies ongoing planning providers that adapt as shopper circumstances change. Job transitions, relocations, household developments, and different life adjustments set off plan evaluations and technique changes.
“Simply because we put a plan in place tomorrow doesn’t imply that plan isn’t going to vary 12 months from now,” Pettit acknowledges. “Our aim is to be proactive versus reactive.”
The agency coordinates with shoppers’ current skilled advisors, together with CPAs and attorneys, to make sure complete monetary administration. This collaborative strategy permits Dornick to think about tax implications, property planning necessities, and authorized buildings when growing funding methods.
Measuring Success In a different way
Levi Pettit measures Dornick’s success by means of shopper aim achievement somewhat than conventional enterprise metrics like property beneath administration development or new shopper acquisition charges. He believes this client-first strategy finally drives enterprise success extra successfully than aggressive enlargement methods.
“Our objectives are our shoppers’ objectives,” he states. “We measure our success by our shoppers’ skill to attain their objectives.”
Shopper referrals function the first indicator of satisfaction, with Pettit viewing suggestions to family and friends members because the strongest validation of Dornick’s strategy. He prioritizes this natural development over marketing-driven shopper acquisition.
The agency’s restricted capability mannequin helps this philosophy by guaranteeing current shoppers obtain full consideration somewhat than competing with enterprise improvement actions for advisor time.
Pettit’s background contains expertise in industrial banking and personal fairness, offering him with perspective on each institutional and particular person investor wants. His CFA® and CFP® designations replicate technical experience, however he emphasizes the self-discipline and time administration expertise these credentials require as equally priceless for shopper service.
With Dornick Wealth Administration, Pettit goals to display that prioritizing shopper relationships over fast development can create a extra sustainable and satisfying wealth administration expertise for each advisors and the households they serve.
