As if advisors did not have enough to worry about in the final quarter of 2025, they also need to wrestle with giving the perfect gift.
Ho-ho-ho! The season of giving has arrived both on Main Street and Wall Street. And many wealth managers will be merrily sending tokens of appreciation to their clients or service providers.
Finding the perfect token, however, can be a timely, all-consuming chore in itself. And based on the recent troubles at First Trust Portfolios, those gifts need to be not only thoughtful, but legal.
In case you missed it, First Trust Portfolios agreed to pay a $10 million fine and submit to censure earlier this week after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) found the firm provided excessive gifts and entertainment to representatives of retail broker-dealers, in violation of industry rules.
Finra Rule 2341 prohibits member firms from making or offering non-cash compensation, except for certain limited exceptions. These include gifts that do not exceed $100 per person annually and occasional meals or entertainment, as long as they are not tied to sales performance.
Despite these restrictions, First Trust’s practices apparently went well beyond permitted boundaries. For example, two wholesalers provided client firm representatives with more than 25 pairs of courtside basketball tickets, each pair costing about $3,200. In another instance, a representative received tickets to over 20 concerts and sporting events, valued at more than $31,000, over an 18-month period.
Yes, courtside basketball seats are definitely over the top. So how about giving something cozy, comfortable and legal instead?
Every holiday season, thousands of boxes of the same old peanut brittle and branded chocolate tins make their way to clients’ doorsteps. It’s a kind gesture, but not exactly memorable.
Rather than sending the same gift to everyone once a year, Merritt Carew, client service associate at Amplius Wealth, likes to surprise clients with “thoughtful, personalized items” throughout the year that reflect who they are and what matters to them. She says the key is to focus on choosing pieces that people genuinely want to use, whether or not their logo is on them.
“Our swag often aligns with the season, think high-end vests, golf shirts, pullovers, or cozy winter hats. When we discover a quality item, we add it to the mix, like a canvas messenger bag or a branded backpack,” Carew said.
And she definitely does not give the same gift for everyone! That’s a no-no.
“When someone retires and starts planning world travels, we might send custom Italian leather passport covers and monogrammed luggage tags. If a client finally buys that dream beach house, we’ll celebrate with a handcrafted charcuterie board made by a local artisan from the same small town,” Carew said.
And as for balancing something memorable with compliance and budget constraints, Carew says it’s not about how much you spend, it’s about how well you listen.
“A thoughtful gift shows that you truly hear your clients,” Carew said.
Alex Landry, marketing manager at Cyndeo Wealth Partners, agrees, saying that if a gift is tailored to the client, it doesn’t need to be expensive.
“A prospective client once mentioned that our lunch meeting coincided with his son’s birthday. We found his son’s interests on social media and collaborated with a local bakery to create cookies themed around those interests. Although it was a low-cost gift, the personalized touch made a significant impact,” Landry said.
Birthday cookies are special, but cookies from Santa each year may get lost in the shuffle, according to Landry. As a result, she prefers to minimize the number of gifts the firm sends during the holiday season.
“We've found that people receive so many gifts at that time that the impact is often diminished. For some of our key centers of influence, we send a gift in the summer instead, as they typically don’t receive many items then, which helps us stand out,” Landry said.
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