Ian taught political science at State. He’d helped with the governor’s campaign, and with other associated candidates, in the voter registration drive we’d done at the campuses in the spring. Ian had helped one of the presidential hopefuls with some strategic planning, but his candidate had lost. Brook had told me he was itching to get involved with something. I figured with my parents, grandma, and Ian that we had a good team running Duke’s election bid. If I were running for office, they would be the first people I would call.
◊◊◊
After the election talk, everyone left except Dad, Caryn, and Megan.
“We talked to Brook about her wealth management ideas,” Caryn said. “Brook talked to her grandmother to find out what services her current provider offers to her and other family members. She told Brook that the usual services included financial and investment advice, accounting and tax services, retirement planning, and legal or estate planning, all for one set fee. What we offer includes day-to-day management of people’s affairs and also the PR side.
“One investing specialty that Mass Investments offers that most others don’t is REITs, or Real Estate Investment Trusts. These allow an individual to buy into a trust that invests in income-producing real estate properties. REIT investors avoid tax liabilities they would incur with other investments. That’s because the government put in place rules where REITs must pay out an amount equal to at least 90 percent of their taxable income in the form of dividends. Just like a mutual fund, you reduce your risk because the REIT holds multiple properties.
“Jack Mass talked to Brook’s grandma to see what her interest level was in the types of financial services Mass Investments provides. When she said that we did pretty much the same thing, we took the next step.
“Frank called her to explain that someone like Haley Durham would need 24/7 spin-control. Even though Grace isn’t Haley Durham, something like a simple DUI or other issue could be mitigated with the help of our PR expertise.
“Kent was up next and explained the types of things a manager can do. In its most basic form, their sole function is to provide guidance. They don’t pick investments or negotiate contracts. They are there to point their client in the right direction. He explained that a lot of actors tended to spend their money when they first get it. His job was to help them make smart decisions that didn’t leave them broke. Brook’s grandmother was receptive to that idea because Brook and many of her cousins her age or younger and would be coming into their trusts soon.
“Kent then explained the day-to-day tasks a good manager and his or her assistants could do to help someone keep organized, find information, and make things happen. He said to look at it this way: what was her time worth? Did she need to be setting up a meeting with her attorney when she could be doing more important tasks? It made sense to let her manager handle the little things that cluttered up her day.
“Once she had the full picture, it was my turn to talk to her. All that we’re missing is estate planning and insurance. Jack Mass circled back and cleared up the estate planning. It turns out Mass Investments does that from the investment side. We called Ms. Dixon about setting up trusts and the like to help create the legal framework. Brook’s grandmother pointed us to her insurance company, which specializes in serving the wealthy. She was impressed and plans to move funds over and start using our other services,” Caryn explained.
“Cool, what else did you do? How are your parents?” I asked.
Caryn looked at my dad, and he just shook his head.
“You realize that we might have opened up a whole new market segment for several of your companies, and it could make you a lot of money?” Caryn asked.
“Actually, Brook did. We need to figure out some way she can benefit from this. I’ll leave the details to you,” I said. “How’s your mom and dad?”
This was, in part, payback to my dad for being dismissive with me earlier and Caryn not taking Duke’s candidacy seriously. The other part was that this was precisely the type of thing I expected everyone to take care of. I didn’t want to get sucked back into the details of empire-building.
“Good,” Caryn said, looking dejected.
I realized she’s like the rest of us. An occasional ‘attagirl’ sometimes goes a long way.
“Caryn, don’t take my teasing too seriously; you did a fantastic job. I want you to know how much I trust you personally. I trust you to do what you think is best to make sure everyone else is doing what they need to do,” I said.
“Thanks. I keep forgetting you told me that before,” Caryn said.
I smiled back at her while making a note that I needed to do something soon to remind Caryn how much I appreciate her. That was something I should be doing more of.
“I have something else you need to know about,” Megan said. “I think I messed up.”
