by Evan Harris, Vice President of Harris Private Wealth
People refer to me as the next generation of this firm. That may be true, but I spend nearly as much time thinking about our past as I do about our future. When my dad started this business in 1985, he was a pioneer and a groundbreaker. The kind of financial work we do wasn’t even being done then. His experience convinced him there was a better way, and he envisioned a different approach to helping people live the lives they want to live.
The type of financial planning we are doing today is built on his foresight and his hard work. Not to mention his ethos of trust and authenticity. That is something that will continue as long as we are in business. We center everything around what is best for our clients — those we’ve had for 40 years and those still to join us.
It’s about family, in all the permutations. At its base, our business model has the family we have built to serve our clients. That includes everyone at the firm, including Chris Lewis, who joined us as a shareholder last year.
“Harris Private Wealth literally started out as a family practice. It was my dad and me. Now we’ve grown, and we have Chris in our ownership group, and we’ve got more team and staff than we ever have before. Still, our clients can feel, when they walk into the office or they’re talking to any of us, that we are all part of one family here.”
In commemoration of our 40th anniversary, Chris and I sat down with our CMO, Karen Hebert-Gordon, to talk about how we got here and where we are going. Here’s our conversation:
Karen: Evan, why did you want to follow in your father’s business footsteps?
Evan: The thing that really drew me to this career is that I appreciated, while growing up, that my dad never missed a baseball game or a sporting event or a recital for my sister. He had the flexibility that being self-employed and building your own business affords you. That didn’t mean it was easy to do, but it meant that if he wanted to, he could work nights and weekends to make the time up for spending time with us and being very present in our lives. Now that I have my own family, I value that ability to be flexible — and present — even more.
When I was a little bit older, I worked with him for a couple of summers as an administrative intern. I helped build a birthday-card database and file and clean up paperwork. What I saw that really made an impact on me was not only how clients would talk to me about my dad, but — almost equally as impactful —colleagues of his would tell me how meaningful he had been in their careers with his guidance and mentorship. That really keyed me into not that just my dad is great, but that this job, if done right, allows you to make an impact in the community, in your professional pool of folks and, especially, in your clients’ lives. That was ultimately the thing that drove me to join him: The idea of being able to do good work, make an impact, have the flexibility to control my own destiny and getting the opportunity to work with my dad.
Karen: Chris, why did you choose Harris Private Wealth?
Chris: Right out of college, I joined my brother in his business at MassMutual as an independent insurance advisor. At that time, it was the same office that Steve and Evan worked out of, and I was very much interested in wealth management. At the beginning, I would do joint work with Evan, so I got to see, firsthand, how they treated their clients and ran their business in a way that was just, well, different from other advisors. The way they put clients at the center of every decision they make and everything they do had a tremendous impact on me. Our informal relationship grew, and I was able to join the firm full time in 2020.
Karen: The firm is celebrating 40 years this year. As we look toward the future, what is going to change, and what is going to stay the same?
Evan: What will always stay the same is our core principle of “do right by the client and the rest will take care of itself.” It goes back to what I was being made to understand when my dad’s clients and colleagues would talk to me about the work he did, whether it was a client or a colleague — a colleague who might otherwise be called a competitor. He viewed it as his duty and obligation to help others along the way. That will always be part of who he is and who he raised me to be — and who we’ve hired at the firm. Folks who believe in that same tenet. That will definitely always be the same.
Karen: In the past we have made reference to a type of family office. What does that mean in the context of a company such as Harris Private Wealth?
Evan: Harris Private Wealth literally started out as a family practice. It was my dad and me. Now we’ve grown, and we have Chris in our ownership group, and we’ve got more team and staff than we ever have before. Still, our clients can feel, when they walk into the office or they’re talking to any of us, that we are all part of one family here.
The second way is about folks feeling their families are part of this relationship. We work with clients’ younger children and grandchildren — even their parents — whether they have money with us or not. Their whole family is viewed as the client if they’ve got a relationship with us, not just the person whose name is on the account. It can be intimidating for younger folks, especially, if they feel like, “If I don’t have 10 million bucks or 5 million bucks like my parents have, nobody’s going to talk to me.” We want that to not be a thought in anyone’s head.
A third way is when a very wealthy family would have a company or individual that manages their investments, handles their legal matters, files their taxes, manages properties, all in one place. That’s the traditional family office.
We’ve adopted as our business model a similar model where we collaborate closely with the professionals our clients already have, or we bring in new trusted relationships they might need. It’s more of a concierge approach. That means the client can rest easily and focus on their life, passions, and their family, because they know they have a solid and trusted team that is coordinated behind them.
Karen: In the last newsletter, we heard from a client the firm has had for 40 years. Do you see the type of clients you serve changing at all?
Evan: We work with people who are planning for the distribution of their wealth in terms of retirement planning and making sure they’re secure in their future. We also work with folks who are acquiring assets and forming their financial foundation. It’s all about building good long-term relationships, so we can help them at every phase.
We heard from my dad’s first client, Stacey, last issue, and it made me think about my first client, Greg. He took a chance on me when I first started. He said: “I don’t have much right now. I hope to have a lot more in the future, so as soon as you’re up and running, we’ll work together.” That personal relationship, which started when we were kids, has grown, as has his business and our professional relationship. Folks like Greg have been instrumental in how we are growing this firm.
Chris: People do business with people who share their values and beliefs. Technology and processes may change — for the better, I hope — but as technology continues to advance, I really believe people want that human element and expertise of helping them make decisions that are aligned with their goals. AI and tech will never understand a person’s full financial picture. There will always need to be a human involved to help someone ultimately make a good decision for themselves. That isn’t going to change.
Karen: What’s your favorite part of your work at Harris Private Wealth?
Chris: My favorite part, honestly, is the collaboration. Not everything’s black and white. Not every situation is the same. Often, we figure things out as a group. I have my perspective on things, and I can bring that same situation to Evan and Steve and my other colleagues and say, “Hey, what are your thoughts?” I get a different perspective and ideas I may not have considered. The advice we are giving is comprehensive — that’s something that you don’t get as a solo advisor. It broadens my horizons as an advisor and a person.
Evan: Last night, I was talking with my wife, and I was overcome with this feeling of how grateful I am for the life we have and how much of that has been enabled and afforded by my partnership with my dad and how proud I am of what we’ve done together, how proud I am of him and what we’ve built — and what we continue to build.
Thank you for reaching out! We look forward to speaking with you and will be in touch asap. If you have an immediate need, please give us a call (408) 547-3390.