A lucrative market opens for advisers as marriage legalities level

Just as the Supreme Court ruling for same-sex marriage will influence American society, it also will have an impact on the financial planning industry, according to advisers. Planning considerations for gay couples will now more closely resemble that for heterosexual couples, making any niche expertise in serving them less necessary. Steve Branton, senior financial planner at Mosaic Financial Partners, said his firm's location in the San Francisco Bay Area means it had already been targeting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. But serving that market will now be magnified throughout the industry as more firms take the same approach. “You'll see an expansion of marketing outreach nationwide, mostly in urban centers where gay couples with the resources to have a financial adviser tend to live,” Mr. Branton said. Holly Hanson, principal and founder of Harmony Financial Strategies, who wrote "The LGBT and Modern Family Money Manual," said it will take time for advisers to acquire more gay clients. But there's real opportunity there. “It's a very underserved community,” said Ms. Hanson, whose wife, Sophie, is a wealth planner at her firm. “Hopefully there's going to be more people willing to actually open up to these conversations and be [responsive] to the clients' special needs. It's a subject that has to be handled with kid gloves.” Bringing up sexual orientation “is definitely a delicate subject,” said Tom Balcom, founder of 1650 Wealth Management. But approaching it from a financial angle can ease the discussion, especially following the Supreme Court decision. For instance, if two clients are in a committed relationship, “you might want to talk to them about getting married from a financial standpoint,” Mr. Balcom said. Gay couples often have been together a long time, Mr. Branton said, and will want to explore the financial advantages and disadvantages of marriage. His firm has developed a “pros and cons” presentation. “Let's talk about everything and see where you stand on a range of decisions,” Mr. Branton said.