Late Night Viewing: Prenups

 Working under the BMO "Ultra High Net Worth" umbrella brought me in contact with many different types of clients over the years. While some CEO names are instantly recognizable, there are many names you wouldn't know nor have heard of, if I were to mention them. That was one of the interesting parts of my job: I got to meet “everyday” non-celebrity clients who made/continue to make a difference in the lives of billions. Men who have car warehouses and collections that rival Jay Leno’s, but you’d never know it if you bumped into them at the corner store, based on their appearance.

On that note, here’s a funny client meeting story... I had diligently prepped for a meeting for a client who I’d only previously interacted with on email. I was walking through our front lobby and mistook the client for a delivery man when he showed up, based on his casual demeanor and dress. It was a funny in-person introduction moment, for sure. Another reason, if you care about a person's title / status (which many do… for the wrong reasons, often, I’ve discovered) and making a good first impression, never judge someone based on thier looks: you don’t know who you’re meeting. But gosh, everyone likes to judge these days, am I right? I’ve always been someone to treat everyone with kindness, not immediately dismissive, based on their looks. Others, not so much.

Taking a step back, you may wonder what "ultra high net worth" means versus "high net worth". Well, to give you an idea, my lowest net worth client was about worth (net) $20 million, having gained their primary wealth from Google’s IPO in 2004 - as many of our clients did.

Although, initially, I never felt it was my place to judge/direct where their money should go, many of my peers and colleagues did. Eventually, I could see their point (the blazing light truly came to me in early 2023) - for these “business leaders” to not only be able to promote, but fund and support, a corrupt business model (including the US legal system and many state and federal agencies ), while exploiting others. To possess confidential knowledge that could greatly improve our world, but repeatedly choose their greedy self-serving agendas over impactful community efforts. To be willing to show both their local communities and entire the world one face to maximize personal profits (with their dirty egos taking over...), but all the while not truly care about making a long-term positive difference. It kind of makes sense why Elon jumped in on the political action, doesn’t it?

Coming to these realizations explains particular projects/analyses I was asked to do by our senior managing director over a decade ago. He is one of Jim Clark’s BFs! For those of you who don’t know who Jim Clark is, let me share a few interesting notes. At one point he owned a 295-foot yacht named Athena, where he’d sail the world with supermodels. Oh, he is also the co-founder of Netscape Navigator, the first commercial internet browser. Fascinating how money, greed and tech go together, isn’t it?

Reflecting, it makes sense why this ultra high net worth client base was eventually completely spun off from the Bank of Montreal in early 2019… way too much liability & wrongdoings happening in the US. Question is: when will the tight silver handcuffs and shackles replace the golden versions? I was hired by Catalyst Family Office, LLC in early 2019 and spent a few months sharing office space with Rosewood Family Advisors, LLP. Basically, the BMO ultra high net worth client base was divvied up between these two companies. My new company stayed put in Palo Alto, until our new buildout was ready in Menlo Park. To summarize the shared office vibe in Feb 2019… well let’s just say it was a stressful vibe, which I didn’t actually make complete sense of until last summer, after deep reflection. It felt like a bad break-up, where employees were stealing coffee pods and tea bags from the kitchen (very territorial behavior) and there was a general undercurrent of stress and anxiety. At the time, I was friendly to Rosewood employees, as I had worked closely with many of them for years, but it was definitely a weird vibe.

What has become blatantly obvious to me is we living in a world where the majority of current leadership is more invested in their reputation than their character.

K-more story time!

Over 10 years ago, I sat in my Palo Alto Office, working away on my client load. So much data to sort! But always focused, I organized my ever-increasing workload and diligently chipped away - on a quiet Saturday night. I ventured over to a shared printer and noticed a pre-nuptial agreement splayed out. If I told you who this was, you'd be impressed I didn't make a copy and sell it to the press IF that were the type of person I am, but no. I scratched my head at out how irresponsible the person on the account was, given the sensitivity of this information and put it in the shredder.

The client who this belonged to often publicly touts themselves as a humanitarian, but if you got a glimpse at this prenup agreement (yeah, I took a small peek out of curiosity!), you'd see they do not like women at all. A certain strong woman's article I had read a few years earlier from Vanity Fair suddenly flooded my mind and my compassion for her deepened. As I've stated before, it took me a while to fully reflect and understand the types of clients we serviced. One of my bosses would often ask me if I knew any women for some of these clients... the same boss who would often request my office to be right next to his. (Again, folks, I had thought my intellect was being valued and appreciated more than my looks, but nope, I've always been surrounded by greedy, chauvinistic men.) Difference is, today I can see them for what they're worth.

I'd like to close on this sentiment: I've shared many laughs and good times with some of these men I’ve mentioned in my posts, but that doesn't discount the fact they did not help my son and I at our time of greatest need. Rather, they chose to go about their soul-sucking, greedy ways and leave me/us in the dust. But as we know, that's corporate America, for the most part! Used me up and tossed me out.

May you have a peaceful day, meet good souls & have better luck than me in the workplace!

With Aloha,

Heidi