Schechter Investment Advisors is a third-generation wealth advisory and financial services firm, based in Birmingham, Michigan. For 80 years, Schechter’s multidiscipline team have been advising wealthy families on financial matters such as institutional investment advisory services, private capital, and alternative investments, as well as advanced life insurance planning, income and estate taxes, business succession, and charitable planning.
In 2014, the firm set out to add investment advisory services and formed an RIA inside the firm partnering with its primary custodian. Schechter found that with its growing investment practice they needed a more flexible, powerful, and robust reporting system as their needs began to evolve. Particularly as the firm was growing quickly via organic growth— increasing assets under management from $400 million at the start, to today's $2 billion.
“Our philosophy when it comes to technology is to have ‘best-in-class’,” said Aaron Hodari, managing director and chief investment officer for Schechter. “For every touch point we have with clients we want to provide the ‘wow’ factor, and this has served us well in how we select and deploy technology.”
As part of that process, Hodari looked at all of the leading portfolio management and performance reporting systems and selected the Black Diamond® Wealth Platform for its functionality, data quality, and best-in-class client portal, along with its tight custodial integrations. “Black Diamond looks great, has excellent data, and fantastic visuals, which provide an incredible client experience and really delivers the ‘wow’ factor that we are always looking for.”
Hodari and his team appreciate Black Diamond’s ability to incorporate outside assets and private equity in order to provide a more holistic view of the clients’ holdings. “The feedback has been amazing, so much so that we have stopped using our pitch deck when meeting with new prospects. We simply show them how we work with clients through Black Diamond so they can immediately see the level of reporting and advice we can provide. This has been instrumental in our business development efforts,” Hodari said.
The Black Diamond solution has been so transformative that Schechter is now piloting a new fee-based revenue service for other advisory firms and family offices to outsource reporting to them via their Black Diamond solution. “I just had a new family office client mention to me that through this new service, he has more clarity into his balance sheet enabling him to make better financial decisions. This is really the highest compliment you can receive,” Hodari noted.
Going forward, Hodari is looking to expand their usage of the Black Diamond Client Experience portal by rolling out the Vault and Relationship Timeline features. “Ultimately, what clients are looking for is transparency and clarity around their wealth. As an advisor, we are able to make more informed decisions when the data is readily available and accurate and we can leverage innovative technology,” Hodari said. “Black Diamond has really changed our business.”
Regardless of your size or structure, the Black Diamond® Wealth Platform has the flexibility, infrastructure, and power to support your unique wealth management business. Learn more by requesting your personal demo, call 1-800-727-0605, or email info@advent.com.
