On June 17, we hosted LNW clients in the San Francisco area at an in-person gathering focused on navigating life’s transitions. The venue was the 1904 Merchants Exchange Building on California Street, a Beaux Art wonder that made it through the 1906 earthquake and many other historical events over the past century. As with our client event in Seattle during May, the weather was again sunny as were the conversations and sense of community shared by the more than 100 people who attended.
A Personal Take: Doing What Is Meaningful to You
LNW CEO Kristen Bauer welcomed everyone, noting that the evening would start with a candid conversation with two people she admires greatly because they have chosen to do truly impactful things with their lives: Maggie Kaplan, a prominent international philanthropist, and Deb Wetherby, retiring this month after starting and leading for 35 years Wetherby Asset Management (WAM), one of the predecessor firms of LNW.
Over time, Maggie and Deb each narrowed their focus on what was truly meaningful to them and would allow them to make a positive difference. Maggie went on to focus on global philanthropy, including starting Invoking the Pause (ITP), an environmental small grants program that enables cross-disciplinary collaboration to advance public awareness about climate change. Deb started a wealth management firm that served its clients at the highest level, allowing them to pursue what is meaningful to them.
To paraphrase Deb: We tend to think of transitions as beginning, middle and end. But transitions are really end, middle, beginning. They start with an ending and then you go through the middle part, where you might feel you don’t belong and you have to sit in that discomfort; and then you have the beginning of your next chapter.
A key point made by Maggie: The challenge is to have the discipline to pick a focus so you can have a greater impact.
Group Conversations with LNW Experts
Following the talk with Deb and Maggie, we invited everyone to participate in one or more roundtables hosted by LNW experts on topics of interest. At one table, LNW Wealth Managers Jen Chan and Lyssa Grimaldo Holman led a discussion on raising children with affluence. Carla Wigen, President Trust Services, led on the topic of family history and stories, and Wealth Managers Christy Covalesky and Laura Pantaleo focused on philanthropy. LNW CIO Ron Albahary, CFA was there to answer questions on markets and investing, while our Chief Impact Officer Justina Lai led a group talk on impact investing.
As people participated in the roundtables and/or strolled around the marble pillars and floors, we heard some initial reactions about this gathering, most of them about how great it was to meet in person and connect.
This was the second of what we hope to be more in-person gatherings focused on bringing together the LNW community at the local level to share information, gain insights and hopefully come away feeling that they are part of a group that can help each member navigate through life transitions, be it starting a company, becoming empty nesters or creating a multigenerational family legacy.
Given the great uncertainty in the world today — political, economic, geopolitical – we have been communicating with our clients more frequently on portfolio positioning and investment strategies. But we also want to be here for them as they and their families face major life decisions and transition points.
