Succession planning starts from 'day one'

Vanessa N. Martinez, CEO and co-founder of Expressive Wealth, a Chicago-based RIA which launched this past spring, believes succession planning - and communication - should be a top priority for all advisors.

She’s focused and determined to create a generational wealth firm going forward.

“I don't focus on generational wealth because I know that there's this big transfer of dollars, but I know that there's all those other pieces that people are forgetting to transfer,” she says. “As important as it is for most advisors that might focus on dollars, that's not the whole story.

“Internally, as a business, succession planning starts from day one.”

Martinez asserts that while most advisors do tend to focus on the client’s generation and the ones they’re supporting, they often forget about the future generation in the planning process.

“We don't all come from multimillion dollar families where it's always an inheritance that builds the net worth of yours on top of whatever you've done in your life, it can go the opposite, where now it will deter from what you've built. But if it's part of your financial plan, then you have an option and you have a strategy to help build that solution,” she added.

Martinez’s approach to running Expressive Wealth is twofold: not only does she focus on succession planning and generational wealth, she also highlights the one key aspect of the firm is communication.

“Communication is the laggard in all families,” Martinez admits. “If you think about any relationship and if you tie it down to what's the problem, it's communication. The more we understand everyone's communication style, the more we’ll be able to move it forward. We need to incorporate that piece.”

That's why generational wealth is so important, Martinez noted, because “we don't want to leave it behind,” highlighting great stories from past relatives that we lose, because they're never shared.

Another aspect of running Expressive Wealth, Martinez says, has been the inclusion of a chief clinical psychologist, Dr. Patricia Villarreal. This decision came after years of family meetings at her former practice where family members would have difficult conversations around monetary assets.

“It's a lot of opinions and a lot of different ways to communicate, it's a lot to sit in that room and give them the space they need, but then also to be able to navigate the conversations. Because I became so involved with the families, I was like that other sister.”

Martinez admits it was difficult to be in the room. She couldn’t take an objective view nor was she trained to be able to tell someone when to take a breather.

“That's when I knew that when I would launch my own practice, I would need someone who was educated and had experience in that field to help me navigate those waters. Having [Dr. Villarreal] gives us, the advisors, more training on how to understand the different ways that people communicate, creating more flexibility.”

Hence the name and creation of Expressive Wealth. Having a clinical psychiatrist on the team also permits Martinez to act as her role as financial advisor and not as mediator within the family meetings.

When asked if her niche is serving Latinx clients, she points to starting a Latino financial planning group called Summit. But despite being Latinx herself, she admits she serves those “who want the help.”

“That keeps me going. I thrive off their energy when they say ‘Okay, Vanessa, I finished this. Now, what do I do? And what's the next step?’”

Martinez’s final words to advisors correlates to her belief of having a proper succession plan in place.

“Always be a mentor and have a mentee,” she said. “Having someone to count on and someone that can count on you will bring you success.

“I would love for me to be able to train someone to be better than me because then I can ride off into the sunset and know that the family that I cared for, for so many years, is well taken care of.”

Name: Vanessa Martinez
Position: CEO and founder
Company: Expressive Wealth
Founded: 2024
AUM: Approximately $200 million