'Blended family situation' highlights collaborative approach

At Kuttin Wealth Management, Jonathan Kuttin and his team are dedicated to taking a collaborative approach to help streamline client concerns. He believes this enhances a client’s chance of understanding risks and opportunities - both liquid and otherwise.

"We regularly work with business owners as it relates to exit planning and corporate executives [who may have] significant equity positions,” he says. “And a lot of time there’s potential tax consequences. We try to help them really understand the risks and the opportunities related to that substantial wealth. We like to try to collaborate here – with CPAs or attorney’s offices - to ensure that we've gone through the process to prep them, walking them through what the potential opportunities ultimately are.”

And this approach at the Ameriprise Financial Services affiliated practice seems to be working. Recently, Kuttin, who is based in Hauppauge, NY, dealt with what he refers to as a “blended family situation” – a second marriage of each spouse, both of which had children.

“Both the husband and wife had been very successful in building their own personal wealth,” he says. “They also thought to have a prenuptial agreement before they actually got remarried. The husband owned, in his name, a pretty extensive portfolio of rental real estate businesses. [Sadly], he actually had some health issues – but we were able to help them through it. He's come out the other side of it, but it expedited the planning process a little bit.”

Ultimately, Kuttin’s collaborative approach meant that they were working closely with everyone involved – including attorneys and lawyers – ultimately creating a qualified personal residence trust.

“We try to take more of a multidisciplinary approach in which we collaborate very closely with their estate planning team, their CPA firm and so on. And when all was said and done, we were able to help them get the estate in order, mitigate potential tax liabilities and get to the other side of it. [That meant that] as he was going through a really hard time with his health, he was able to ultimately focus on his spouse and his children - not so much on all of the financial stress that comes along with it.”

All of this, as Kuttin keenly points out, is only possible thanks to his team of superstars. Having made several strategic hires recently, he says the future is looking brighter than ever for Ameriprise.

“We've got this dream team,” he says. “The way we look at it is when a client has a sophisticated issue, and we deal with a fair amount of high-net-worth and ultra-high net worth folks, we want to have those resources internally. [We also rely on] folks outside of Ameriprise who have their own businesses and specialties in different areas that we call upon for questions. [But] ultimately, it’s the client’s decision as to who they engage outside.”

Looking ahead, Kuttin believes that this focus on client options will only continue to rise in importance. The changing nature of client expectations, especially with the advent of AI and new tools into the sector, are also set to transform how firms work.

“I believe technology is one of the most leverageable resources that we have in the wealth management industry. As a large enterprise, we've intentionally built out a team of advisors and experts inside of our business to leverage their own unique skill sets in the industry. Ameriprise, as a broker dealer, has truly invested hundreds of millions of dollars into technology - that spend really helps us build a much more scalable business.”