Cadillac banking: private bankers offer top financial services.

• Author: Mischel, Marie
• Position: Focus

It's a national trend we've seen in previous recessions: in an economic crisis, people cut their spending, protect their capital and become very conservative with their investment portfolios, including the wealthy. While Utah's private bankers understand that impulse, they're encouraging their clients to buck the trend, albeit cautiously.

"A lot of our clients have spent a lifetime growing their net worth to where it is and they come to us to help preserve their capital," says Matt Krull, CFP, of J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Management.

To grow your wealth, fleeing the stock market isn't the answer, even with the current fluctuations in stock prices, Krull says. "It's our mandate to help preserve our clients' capital, and by moving into and out of portfolios aggressively or into and out of the market aggressively tends to detract from our clients' returns. Part of preserving their capital is preserving the right asset allocation."

Rees Petersen, regional investment manager for Wells Fargo Private Bank, agrees that investing in diverse assets is a key philosophy in his department. "For the last two years, we've really been working to make sure all of our clients have diversified exposure in the four asset classes: equities, fixed income, alternative assets and real assets including real estate as well as cash and cash equivalent," he says.

While private bankers recommend investors continue pursuing long-term investment goals, they also realize that some clients are less aggressive than others with their investment philosophy, particularly in the current economy.

"Our advice is going to vary by client," says Michael Poulter, a market leader with U.S. Bank Private Client Reserve. "We're going to look for whatever the client needs, so our recommendations are going to be very different, depending on the risk tolerance of the client and what their long-term goals and dreams are."

Stick it Out

Unless a client's financial circumstances have changed, Krull, Petersen and Poulter say they recommend that investors follow the plan that they've already established. This can be difficult, especially when the market gyrates daily. To deal with this, Petersen suggests clients check their portfolio's status no more often than once a week.

"For some clients, that's not something they can look at every day," Petersen says. "It's not avoidance, it's just necessary to maintain their emotional well being. We also recommend that our clients avoid the urge to just do...