Father's Day special! Here's what financial advisor father/son teams have to say about each other

This one is for the financial advisor fathers and sons working shoulder-to-shoulder every day in the wealth management business.

Father’s Day 2026 is almost upon us, so we here at InvestmentNews wanted to do something special for all the dads out there in the financial advisory arena. And what better way to do that than to reach out to a few of them who work alongside their kids to see how it all works out.

Larry Heller, managing partner at Savant, works with his son Ian Heller, a financial advisor at the firm.

What's the best thing about working with your son?

Larry/Dad: Working with my son is incredibly rewarding. I love partnering with him on new opportunities, sharing the presentation process, and seeing the confidence he brings when discussing financial plans. Watching his professional growth firsthand and succeeding together as a team is the most fulfilling part of the experience.

What's the toughest thing about working with your son?

Larry/Dad: The biggest challenge is balancing our family relationship with our professional one. I’m mindful of treating him the same as every other team member and ensuring there’s never any perception of favoritism. And while it still feels a little strange hearing him call me “Larry” instead of “Dad” at work, those professional boundaries have helped us work effectively together and earn the respect of our colleagues and clients.

What’s the best thing about working with your dad?

Ian/Son: The best thing about working with my dad is learning from the person I look up to most every day. I have tremendous respect for the business he has built, and for the way he discovered wealth management, helping his mom and sister navigate financially after his father's passing at a young age. Seeing how he turned that experience into a career dedicated to helping others inspired and reinforced my own desire to work with him on making a career focused on supporting clients with their financial planning needs. Working alongside him gives me the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to the firm while learning valuable lessons about leadership, client service, and building lasting relationships.

What’s the toughest thing about working with your dad?

Ian/Son: The toughest thing about working with my father is that there is always something to learn and improve upon. Since he has seen my strengths and weaknesses firsthand, he isn’t afraid to give honest feedback or challenge me. While it can be demanding, it gives me access to invaluable mentorship and helps me become a better advisor and professional. Having the opportunity to learn from someone with his experience has made me more confident, accountable, and committed to continuous improvement.

Barry Frantz, regional director of Tax & Consulting at Savant, works with his son Alex Frantz, a tax associate at the firm.

What's the best thing about working with your son?

Barry/Dad: The best thing about working with Alex is watching him grow and develop professionally.  There is a unique pride in seeing Alex’s work ethic, decision-making, and confidence develop day to day.  At the same time, it adds a deeper level of trust and communication because I know Alex so well. I coached Alex in youth sports, and over the years I learned which buttons to push in different situations. That experience has carried over to his profession.  I have a good idea of when to mentor Alex and when to leave him alone and let him learn on his own.

What's the toughest thing about working with your son?

Barry/Dad: The toughest thing about working with Alex is making sure I separate the roles of parent and colleague. I want to support and mentor Alex but also hold him accountable and treat him like any other professional on the team. It takes extra awareness to avoid being too lenient or too tough. The other tough part of working with Alex is his expectation that I will make his lunch or buy him lunch every day. We have developed a great working relationship, which allows us to still have our father/son time away from the office.

What’s the best thing about working with your dad?

Alex/Son: Knowing how he operates and using that to be as efficient as possible. There's lots of times I know what he's going to ask or need before he says anything. This helps stay proactive with many tasks as they're already done before having a discussion about it.

What’s the toughest thing about working with your dad?

Alex/Son: We can butt heads quite often. We work through things and look at challenges in different ways. While we'll end up with the same result, we get there in drastically different ways. This can often cause conflict as neither of us wants to admit the other might be right.

Tim Courtney, senior investment strategist at Savant, works with Ben Courtney, an investment research analyst at Savant.

What's the best thing about working with your son?

Tim/Dad: Aside from being able to spend time with my son every week in the office and work on projects together like most families did before industrialization, I'd say the best thing is having a front row seat in seeing him progress in his expertise and career. We talk about markets and our industry and are a good sounding board for each other's ideas. It is also fulfilling to have some of the high school math/analytical tools like regressions that I told him he would need (but he had doubted he would ever use) being a part of his work nearly every week!

What's the toughest thing about working with your son?

Tim/Dad: Maybe it's when one has a tough day it is tough on both. It could also be that there is a tendency to talk shop at family dinners and vacations while the rest of the family wishes the work talk would end. 

What's the best thing about working with your dad?

Ben/Son: One of the best things about working with my dad is his deep knowledge of investments and his willingness to answer questions anytime - I started interning with Savant in high school and reviewed research and investments with him asking questions constantly and getting helpful exposure to wealth management. Another benefit is that it's very easy to communicate and work efficiently since we know each well. It's also great to be able to pop into his office on a break and talk about sports, politics, or anything else.

What's the toughest thing about working with your dad?

Ben/Son: I really don't have many issues working with my dad. I guess the toughest part is that because he does know me well, he knows what I'm capable of and has high expectations in terms of my work and development, but that's partly positive as well. We do have a tendency to take the work home with us sometimes though, and if I'm at their house having a family dinner, we'll typically start to discuss markets and see my mom and sisters tune us out.