Wealth management: what it is and why you may need it.

• Author: Held, Shari
• Position: WEALTH MANAGEMENT

YOU'VE WORKED WITH a financial professional. You have a portfolio and a financial plan and you're following it. You're all set. But are you sure? You just might be short-changing yourself if you haven't investigated working with a wealth manager.

"Wealth management, particularly at Old National Bank, is a high-touch, high-service approach to managing all things financial for our clients," says Jeff Jackson, divisional sales manager, wealth management at Evansville-based Old National Bank. "In our world, the team is quarterbacked by the client advisor and that client advisor has at their disposal product specialists in ... traditional banking products, insurance, mortgage products and retirement planning products, both wholesale and individual level."

There are different levels of wealth management to accommodate clients' individual needs. And offerings often differ from company to company.

"Wealth management encompasses the financial planning aspect, investment management aspect, estate planning and even doing what we call a 'family office' where the wealth manager takes care of all the client's financial problems or situations, maybe obtaining mortgages or loans for them and paying bills," says Edward "JR" Humphreys, managing advisor, BKD Wealth Advisors.

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Based in Springfield, Missouri, BKD manages $1.6 billion throughout the Midwest and more than $200 million in its Indianapolis office.

"A wealth advisor is going to be able to work with a team of experts on liabilities, banking, insurance, work with a client's attorney on issues such as power of attorney and wills as well as the investment piece of it," says David S. Alexander, private client advisor for Wells Fargo & Co.'s Indianapolis office. "If it is an a la carte approach, what ends up happening is that the left hand doesn't talk to the right hand and the solutions aren't necessarily what is best for the client. They all really need to be coordinated. Organizations that can provide a multitude of services to their clients are going to have the competitive advantage."

Headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo manages $250 billion nationwide and $2.5 billion in Indiana alone.

Defining "wealth." You don't have to have to be a Rockefeller to secure the services of a wealth manager. "A lot of wealth managers will advertise that they only work with portfolios of $1 million or more, but in this business, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to taking on...