Advisor Success Story–Frank Ortner III

A holistic approach to investments and client management makes all the difference for Frank Ortner III and his partners.

The Ortner, O’Brien & Ortner Advisory Group in Malvern, Pa., is focused on the cutting edge of finance: wealth management. It’s been an evolution­ary process, aided by top industry consultants and supported by the determination of the principals to give their clients the best products and services in the most effective manner possible. “We strive constantly to be the best,” Frank Ortner III explains. “Only by pushing ourselves and extending our knowledge base can we be confident that we are doing everything possible to care for our clients and justify their confidence in us.”

Ortner himself used to be a certified public accountant before becoming involved with insurance services; his father, Frank Ortner Jr., is an attorney as well as a registered rep; and third partner John O’Brien was focused on branch management and mutual funds. In 1989, the three set up shop together and gradually converted their disciplines to strategic wealth management. “We didn’t come up with our approach all at once,” says Ortner. “Like the industry itself, we have evolved our concepts and services over time. And while we used to provide a considerable range of insurance-related products and services, that’s not a significant portion of our business these days. We’re focused on wealth management—that’s our niche, and it’s working very well for our firm and, importantly, for our clients.”
The Ortner, O’Brien & Ortner Advisory Group may be an example of the way industry best practices have taken hold. The trio started by “dialing people down a notch” when it came to the go-go tech investing environment of the late 1990s. This cautious approach actually set the tone for the firm: The principals, having established a responsible investment direction, continued down this path, exploring and implementing both wealth management and modern portfolio theory (MPT) approaches. They started their own registered investment advisory firm and began to work directly with Dimensional Fund Advisors.

In addition to using leading MPT concepts, the firm has put into place a consultative wealth management model with three components: investment consulting, advanced planning and relationship management. The investment consulting aspect seeks to provide clients with a comprehensive road map. For top financial advisors, the days of offering discrete products are likely long gone. The benefit to the client lies in an individual or a group offering a holistic perspective on finance that seeks to control most if not all financial positioning. The idea is that risk can be better controlled this way and that the client’s value system can be best supported with this approach.

In order to find out how a client can be best supported by its services, Ortner, O’Brien & Ortner conducts a comprehensive interview with prospects—a process known as the Discovery Meeting. Once the investor’s predilections, values and risk horizon have been analyzed, a strategy can be developed and presented. Further conversations will help ensure that the prospect is ready to make a commitment to participate in such a strategy and that it does indeed reflect his or her fundamental aspirations and values.

At any time during this process, the firm, the investor or both may decide to discontinue the conversation. Wealth management is a particular kind of service, notes Ortner, and the partners are well aware that everyone involved must be in agreement about its utilization and application to end up with successful results that truly add value. Once a relationship has begun, regular progress meetings are scheduled to provide due diligence, monitoring of goals and quarterly performance reporting.

The second component of the firm’s wealth management approach is advanced planning, which addresses the range of financial needs that clients have beyond investment consulting. The firm provides clients with centralized financial management services including estate planning, income tax planning, asset protection and charitable giving. An individualized tax plan is designed and revised as needed. Estate planning includes an estate plan and a review of estate documents. Asset protection includes a review of insurance policies, asset titling and development of an overall risk management plan. Finally, charitable giving addresses an array of gifting options.

The third aspect of the wealth management process, relationship management, involves regular interviews with clients as well as ongoing monitoring of their life stages, changing financial needs and values evolution. This type of holistic wealth management approach is quantitatively and qualitatively different from the typical advisor’s methods.

With more than 100 clients and over $120 million under management, Ortner, O’Brien & Ortner continues to grow as its methodology produces results. “We’ll never stop evolving as the industry itself provides new disciplines and better ways of helping clients achieve their goals,” Ortner says. “We are dedicated to staying at or ahead of the curve whenever possible. By doing so, we’re giving clients the best value available, and we’re continuing to add value to our own services, which translates into continued growth.”

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