Wisconsin firm uses early warning system to protect client wealth

Monitoring the market’s daily convulsions can leave investors stressed and overwhelmed – and bringing in a financial advisor on short notice to troubleshoot after a sudden loss isn’t always possible, either.

Point Wealth Management, LLC, protects clients from unexpected market swells with WealthGuardTM, a powerful early warning system designed to detect drastic portfolio fluctuations and loop in an advisor when needed. The system often allows advisors and investors to communicate and act before losses accumulate.

“It starts the conversation before [a downturn] even becomes a problem,” Jeremy Reif, founder of Point Wealth Management, LLC, told The Suit Magazine. Reif, who values the role technology can play in wealth management, believes WealthGuardTM allows his firm to shore up clients’ wealth faster than competitors can.

Reif leads Point Wealth with partner Jere Smith, CFP®, CLU. The Wausau, Wisconsin, firm serves clients throughout the state, but Reif wants to expand their success to clients nation-wide. Reif and Smith specialize in creating financial independence for pre-retired and retired clients. The typical minimum to invest is $100,000.

Reif – originally drawn to wealth management by a “fake stock market” game in his high school economics class – made his first investment during high school. The late-1990s dotcom bubble pushed Reif’s first few dollars through the roof – that is, until the market turned.

“I thought I was a genius, originally. And then when I went to college and 2001 happened, I realized I didn’t know as much as I thought I did,” Reif said.

Reif spent several years post-college successfully working for a large brokerage, a life insurance company, and a registered investment advisor. Experience taught him that technology can enhance the client-advisor relationship; success taught him to trust his own instincts.

But to enhance doesn’t mean to replace, Reif is careful to point out.

Younger, do-it-yourself types may gravitate toward robo-advising and online solutions. But even digital natives who grew up in the cloud will want questions answered – or life will become hectic enough that they need help. The older generation, meanwhile, still wants to speak to an advisor, but the technology is there to help.

WealthGuardTM develops a risk profile for investors and creates a “red line” at the largest loss they are willing to take. Once a portfolio dips below the red line, alarms ring for both the advisor and client.

The risk profile provides each investor with a tailored solution – something Reif strives for.

“Since every client is different, the advice for the situation should be equally different,” he explained.

Technology remains just a tool, however. Reif – who prides himself on acting as a fiduciary to clients – said that creating custom retirement plans for clients, developing long-term care strategies and asking whether he would recommend investment choices to his parents, still require that human touch.

“Yes, the technology is great, but it certainly has its limitations,” Reif noted.

For more information about Point Wealth Management, LLC, visit: www.pointwealthmanagement.com

To learn more about WealthGuardTM see: www.pointwealthmanagement.com/wealthguard