‘Living the Fiduciary Life:’ Tobias Financial Advisors

Some new clients come to Tobias Financial Advisors on the advice of existing clientele. Others seek out the services of the Plantation, Fla. firm after seeing Benjamin Tobias in the local newspapers and on television. “I have a very high-profile reputation here,” he says. And over different periods since he founded the firm in 1980, he has been a leader of local financial planning organizations.

Tobias Financial’s typical clients are retirees or those who are about to retire. They tend to be small business owners or professionals with investable assets of $3 million to $5 million.

Tobias says his firm distinguishes itself from its competitors with its client services. “We focus on our clients and nothing else. We work with a relatively small number of clients—about 100 clients’ households. They know us individually. Again, it’s putting your clients’ interests first, living the fiduciary life. That, in the long run, is what makes for good business and good client relationships.”

But the intimacy the firm has achieved with its clients has become a factor in what Tobias sees as its biggest challenge going forward. “We’re facing pressures as far a growth is concerned, and deciding if we want to grow.” Up to now, Tobias Financial has grown incrementally, he says. But moving to the next level through more aggressive growth would mean bringing new staff on board, says Tobias, and that could lead to a less hands-on approach to its clients. “These are some of the trade-offs we might have to do.” 

Like many veterans in the financial planning business, Tobias is also thinking about the future of the firm when he is no longer a part of it. He says that succession planning is currently underway. “It’s absolutely necessary.” —Michael S. Fischer

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