Citywire Features Santiago Ulloa to Discuss WE’s Wealth Management Philosophy
February 27, 2019
Citywire recently published an article featuring WE Family Offices Founder and Managing Partner Santiago Ulloa, who shared an inside perspective on WE’s wealth management philosophy, an aspect that makes our firm decidedly different from other top multi-family offices.
According to Ulloa, one of the defining factors that make the firm stand out among others in the wealth management market is its unfaltering commitment to running clients’ assets with a non-discretionary approach.
“Being non-discretionary means we involve the families in the decision-making and learning processes. This allows them to be in control and to feel confident in the decisions they’re making for their wealth,” explains Ulloa.
In addition to a non-discretionary and client-focused wealth management style, full transparency is another aspect of the philosophy upon which the firm was founded. Ulloa, who has always embraced the fee-based advisory model for family offices, says that a couple of decades ago, the idea of investors paying for advice when they were used to the commission-based approach was a tough sell.
“The first time I pitched a family office business in Latin America 19 years ago, they didn’t know what I was talking about. They didn’t have a clue,” he recalled to Citywire.
Now, with 46 employees and 12 specifically focused on selecting investments and picking the best fund managers for their clients’ portfolios, Ulloa still believes that successful results can only be achieved if you hire people who believe in your wealth management philosophy.
“Of course, we have to make money, but we are very clear that the kind of returns and the kind of margins that we have in our industry are lower than in others. You need to have a very high-quality team of people, they need to be more missionaries than mercenaries and they have to believe in what we do.”
