It’s hard to be a one-man band in wealth management these days, says Michael J. Ricca of
Morgan Stanley
.
Wealthy clients now expect a complex mix of services—everything from managing cash and banking needs to budgeting, gifting, educational planning, and trust planning. “The idea that any one professional can provide all those areas of expertise is just unreasonable,” he says.
Years ago, Ricca started building a team that could handle those varied needs, and The Ricca Group in Florham Park, N.J., has since grown into a 21-person team. Along with partners Mary Guza and Diana L. Chaney, Ricca explains how their group’s structure benefits both clients and younger colleagues, and what investors should look for in an advisor.
Barron’s: Can you tell us how your team came to be?
Michael J. Ricca: I joined what was a predecessor firm of Morgan Stanley in 1991 as a sole practitioner. In those days, the business was fairly one-dimensional and focused on transactions: stocks, bonds, mutual funds. As the industry became more focused on holistic wealth management, I saw an opportunity to build a team that would cover all areas of financial planning and focus on superior service. So, we started adding tenured professionals.
Mary Guza, my partner, joined us in 2007 as a client-service associate. We recruited her from a financial-planning firm where she focused mainly on insurance planning. She became a managing director and the team’s retirement-plan specialist. My other partner, Diana Chaney, was a portfolio manager at U.S. Trust, then became a mom and took some time off. She became a client of ours, and soon after that joined the group to run our investment management team. Since then, we’ve added six other financial advisors. We are all adamant, though, that what has enabled us to be a top team is our 12-person service team.
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