Quora Answer: As a Financial Advisor, Who was Your Most Memorable Customer?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “As a financial advisor, who was your most memorable customer and why?”

I have had the pleasure and privilege to have had many interesting clients, particularly among the ultra-high net worth, and I have learnt much from them over the years.  One of my clients owns a hotel chain.  My first meeting was with his financial team, when they wanted to restructure a deal.  We all came in suits.  He came in shorts and a simple t-shirt.  We dressed to impress; he had no need to impress anybody.

Another of my clients works as the economic advisor to the government of a neighbouring country.  From him, I learned how export credit agencies work, and how to utilise them to fund infrastructure development projects.  If there ever was a person who understood macroeconomics in a crisis, it is this man.  I sat in on meetings with him, as we arranged reinsurance coverage on a massive scale to cover projects worth billions, and learned how to break up such contracts, and play one insurer against the other to get a better price.  The role of these polices is to mitigate against political and other risks, such that should the project fail, he still gets paid.

Perhaps one of the most interesting was a man who is a self-made billionaire. he told me how, when he was still climbing the ladder, he made sure to never outshine the boss.  He always bought the second most expensive car, he made sure his suit was a slightly lower quality, and even his watch was never of the same range as the boss’.  He eventually took over the business.

From another client, who was the senior vice-president of a major bank, I learned how investment-linked insurance policies really work, and how banks manipulate rates to make a profit between the buy and sell.  He was the one who said, “Poor people have savings accounts; rich people have investment or current accounts.”  He also taught me how trust funds are excellent vehicles to mitigate tax and other exposure, how foundations are vehicles to reduce tax liability and how fine art is a means to launder money.  Finance, for the ultra-wealthy, works differently from finance for ordinary people.  When people have that level of liquidity, and own that amount of assets, they also have access to that level of financial and tax expertise.