Joe Martinez, Managing Partner, Krilogy Texas

The key to a successful financial advisory firm is to integrate financial, estate, and tax planning, Joe Martinez, managing partner of Krilogy Texas, told Invest:. “I think more and more clients are showing an interest in having those services integrated by their wealth manager,” he said.

What have the significant achievements and highlights for Krilogy in North Texas?

Most importantly, we added another team member at the beginning of the year. At the end of the year, we are expanding our office space and moving into a nicer building with a great common area to entertain our clients and our prospects.  This new space in Uptown has nice new offices with a view of downtown Dallas for our recruited team members.  

We have ambitions to expand in Texas, and we’re attracting other financial advisers to join us because Krilogy is just a great place to build a financial advisory practice. There are many talented financial advisers in Texas overall, and some of them want to move to Texas. We’d be open to that, too. If they’re a good adviser, we’d like to talk with them, whether they’re already here or if they’re moving here.

How does Krilogy differentiate itself from other competitors in the region?

First and foremost, it’s the culture of our company. We have a very values-based culture. Those values are dedication, abundance, leadership, and respect. We incorporate those values into everything we do, both in the way that we work together as a team, how we engage with clients, and how we engage with people looking to join us. 

Krilogy is unique in the financial advisory space in that some firms are less collaborative. We have more of a team-based collaborative approach, with a lot of support internally. Not only does that benefit advisers who want to join us, but it benefits our clients. Our financial advisers have a lot of support behind them as far as the resources of a large firm with a strong capital base like Krilogy.

How do you plan to accelerate your growth in Texas?

There are three areas we are focused on. First and foremost is adding new clients just based on the great service that we provide and the tremendous value we provide for clients. Secondly, we are attracting new advisers. That’s a big focus as well. Thirdly, we have a very strong 401k offering. It’s called our K-Plans offering and we’ve invested new money into that platform. In the last 12 months at the Krilogy level, we have added executives to help companies build out a quality 401k program or improve the service on their existing plan. 

What trends are you observing in terms of client needs and expectations?

The first thing that comes to mind is that I think more clients want financial planning, which is one of our big areas of focus at Krilogy. When we deliver a financial plan to clients, many want it integrated into their estate plan and their income tax situation. Because Krilogy has both of those capabilities in-house, it reduces the friction in getting all those things done for clients. 

Across the industry overall, clients want integrated solutions that include both the tax planning side, the estate planning side, and financial planning. We believe there are four main elements. You have investment management, you have financial planning, you have estate planning, and you have tax planning. Within the industry overall, certainly in DFW, more and more clients are showing an interest in having those services integrated by their wealth manager.

How are you leveraging technology to drive efficiency and enhance client outcomes? 

The technology investments that we’re making enable us to provide a higher level of service for clients. Krilogy has a branded mobile app; we find clients love having that quick access to their investments on their phone. When it comes to convenient meetings, sometimes a face-to-face meeting means over Microsoft Teams because clients want that more than they want to get in the car and drive to our office to see us.

The other thing that comes to mind is that we have a dedicated trading team, and that trading team uses technology to help us make certain that when we do a rebalancing of a portfolio, it’s done at a time that is opportune for the client. When the market goes way up, that might be an opportune time to sell some stocks at a high and buy some bonds if they might be low. Then vice versa, when stocks are down a lot, that might be an opportune time to rebalance.

How are you advising your clients on fluctuating interest rates, inflation concerns, and other challenges?

We have seen inflation come down, which has been a nice development. Our Krilogy investment team is monitoring whether inflation stays down because sometimes it comes down and then it goes right back up. 

The Federal Reserve is being cautious in not wanting to lower interest rates too fast. They should only lower interest rates at a pace that will assure inflation remains under control. If they lower them too fast, we could have inflation again, which would be bad for not only consumers but also businesses. It would be bad for the whole economy. The Federal Reserve feels that inflation is under control. We want to make certain that they believe or continue to believe that it remains under control.

What are your top priorities for Krilogy over the short term?

I would say the top priority is growth in Dallas, both in clients and personnel. Because of our strong culture and the great work environment that we offer, our momentum is building. . We’ve had people interested in joining us just due to our strong, team-oriented culture.

Dallas is just such a great place to do business. It has an entrepreneurial business atmosphere, and the people are wonderful. It just makes it an exciting place to be a wealth manager because there are so many interesting people, and many of them need a lot of help with their finances and their tax planning and all these things I’ve talked about. 

We’re reaching out to a lot of folks, helping a lot of these people and driving a lot of value. There’s a lot of opportunity in Dallas. It’s an exciting place to be.