Firm: UBS
AUM: $592.42 million
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska
Age: 37
Jonathan Beukelman recalls when he started his career, right out of college, and was admittedly not doing very well. “I would get to work early and start calling people,” he says. “One day I called an executive with a local company here in Lincoln, at 6:30 a.m. He said he would never give me any business but he would talk to me if I came to his office in an hour.”
Beukelman showed up, and a series of monthly meetings began. “We’d sit and talk,” Beukelman says, “and he’d tell me what wealthy people need. I learned a lot, thinking how I could fit in. After eight months of this, at the end of the year, I received a card from him at my home—he said he was going to give me some business.” Years later, this client is still with Beukelman.
Now, it’s often Beukelman who is dispensing advice, based on his experience. “When I talk to clients,” he says, “the subject of their kids always comes up. Clients tend to be very concerned that their children won’t do as well as they have done. Or, they might say that two of their children are doing well but the other one is struggling.”
Clients’ children are often around Beukelman’s own age. “Our team provides full family services,” Beukelman says, “so we’ll offer to meet with the children and educate them on basic financial matters, should they lease or buy a car, for example, why compounding returns is so important, and other matters. The children may relate to me as their peer.”
And some of these lessons have been taken to heart. “I know of three cases in the last year or so,” says Beukelman, “where clients’ children have received significant amounts of money and made wise decisions.”
What’s more, building relationships with clients’ children has generated tangible benefits for Beukelman’s team. “They have seen what a good job we do,” he says, “working with the entire family, and they’re less likely to take their own assets to a different firm.”
