Mark Wickersham, Host 0:00

All right, Christi, welcome to the Wealth Tech Podcast. I am happy to have you on the show. I'm looking forward to today's conversation. One, it's always nice to have another podcaster on the show, but to talk about I want to talk about family office services, operational best practices, which I know you have a lot of insights there. So I'm looking forward to getting into it. Would you mind kind of giving an introduction of yourself and White River Consultants?

Christi Van Rite 0:30

Yeah, so I'm Christi Van Wright. I'm the founder of White River Consultants. We are an integrative family office. So we act as an integrator for the family. We're the um what I call the uh behind the scenes, the chief operating officer or chief of staff for ultra-high net worth families. Um, we don't manage investments or provide tax or legal advice. Our role is really to run the business of the family. So those day-to-day financial operations, you know, paying bills, cash flow, document and information management and flow, uh, project coordination, uh, things like things like that.

Mark Wickersham, Host 1:12

Now, all the stuff that can kind of get lost in the middle, too, right? You're helping to coordinate that against every ultra-high net worth family has lots of different advisors that they use that are specialized in different areas and they to have somebody that be that glue, that kind of middleware is got to be extremely helpful. Before we kind of get into um some of the key questions, I I whenever I have a chance to talk to a founder, I'd always love to hear that the founder story. So, what is why did you start White River Consultants? What was the genesis of you start going on in your own?

Christi Van Rite 1:50

So I my background uh is in financial service. It is it is where I grew up, as we like to say. Um, I had a family uh who we managed the investments for, and that family uh had a small business here in Austin, Texas. She was a serial entrepreneur, and um as her last business started growing, she started taking uh money off the table. And I started getting the questions Hey, how can you, hey, hey, how can I? Hey, can you take care of you know, those kinds of things? And my philosophy is I can do that. How hard can it be? And 95% of the time that has served me well. There's there's a little bit every once in a while that uh it comes back and bites me. But that that uh that initial those initial questions really were the catalyst for what White River is today. So as they that family continued to grow, I was fortunate enough to be along for the ride. And I got to do things that most certainly financial advisors don't get the opportunity to do and to be a part of from the ground up. And so that really um instilled in me the love for this kind of work and working with these families. Like at the end of the day, I'm a fixer. I that is just my nature. Um, I like to, I like to come in, I like to fix things and then and then you know, give them, give them back and say, here you go, call me if call me if you need me. And this work really um spoke to me in a way uh that gets me excited to get out of bed every morning. So it started with one family. And fast forward, uh, the things that I was doing for that family, we were we were elbowing out the compliance box because during that time I was still with a uh regulated entity. And um, you know, I knew we would get to that point. I started looking around for a firm who would be willing to do these services for this family alongside of me. Um, and I really couldn't find them. Or the ones that I found, you know, they were a little bit old school. They wrote checks and um they wanted face-to-face meetings, and that's not really what this family wanted. And so when I couldn't find it, I sort of said to myself, well, if this family wants it and needs it, hopefully there are other families out there that also want it and need it. And uh it was uh very quickly I transitioned out of investments, started White River, uh, and here we are 10 years later.

Mark Wickersham, Host 4:36

Um what are some of the common problems that uh clients uh kind of come to you with? And what are where do you see some of the common mistakes that ultra high net worth families and even family offices and advisors are making?

Christi Van Rite 4:51

Yeah. Um, I will tell you the the I think the crux of almost every family or family office that we have been able to step in and to talk to and work with is fragmented information. So there's not a clear, uh there's not a clear location for documentation. They don't even know if they have everything they need. You know, um, there's lots of advisors, there's lots of, you know, this person does, there's not clarity in roles. So this person does this and this person does this, and but there's not a there's not this centralized location for information and for data that everybody can come to or can get to to say, I have a question about this. Rather than going to that central location, they have to go to the to the uh de facto integrator, the de facto leader of the family office, and say, Hey, I saw this, I don't know what it is. You, you know, can you figure it out? Uh or I have a I have a concern, can you go figure it out? And that that person, that leader, says, Yeah, that's a that's a problem. You know what? I'll call the attorney about it next week. Next week doesn't come. And so there's just not, not for lack of intention, for lack of life is busy. Um, and a million things get stacked on a desk. And at some point, if you don't have relief to help get through that. And so having fragmented documentation, fragmented information, advisors and silos, those are the kinds of working in silos, those are the kinds of things that really will halt what otherwise is a wonderful family entity. It it will halt them in their tracks uh on moving forward.

Mark Wickersham, Host 6:53

So you've been at it for a little bit now. Have you you've seen expectations shift? If people come to you with different expectations, or are they coming to you with different problems that they're looking to solve, especially over the past couple of years, you know, post-pandemic?

Christi Van Rite 7:11

Yeah. The yes, I I think the biggest shift that we've seen over the last eight to 10 years is families are expecting visibility right now, and as well they should be. Um, but it's it's you know, if it's not real time, it's sure not 30, 45, 60 days in arrears. So it's it's real visibility. Um, it's clean reporting, it's organized. You know, I'm able to find what I need quickly. I don't have to go to three different people to say, hey, do you have that trust document? Hey, do you have that LLC document? It's easy to find. But also there's a there is a much higher bar now, I think, from a collaboration perspective. Again, they don't want to have to tell the same story three or four different times. They want that information to make it around. Um, and so I think, you know, but they don't know what that is or how to do that. We call that integration. That's why we are an integrative family office. But the reality is, even if they don't know that word, they want someone to be air traffic control, right? They want someone landing the plane, saying, No, I need you to go 10 miles that way and then circle back around because we've got to get this other thing up done over here. It's that kind of coordination that hasn't had, I don't think it's really had its uh, you know, moment in the spotlight, as it were, yet in our industry. And I think that is one of the things that is now really bubbling to the surface.

Mark Wickersham, Host 8:56

Yeah, I think family office services is is starting to people, it's like you said, it's a niche within a niche, but I think people start to understand what that is now more, and you're seeing it starting to see it be more common. I think you know, a lot of advisors in particular are trying to offer family office services to attract ultra high net worth clients. What advice or or what could be some of the uh where where can an advisor get tripped up? I mean, every advisor I'm sure loves the idea of being able to have an ultra-high net worth client as their client, right? But I think they underestimate the complexity that that comes with that. So, what advice would you give an advisor that really wants to enter into the true uh family office space?

Christi Van Rite 9:45

You're right. And family office, the word family office has definitely uh gained notoriety in the last couple of years. You know, my biggest advice for a firm who is looking to get into this work um is respect the operational load. And I know that's very broad, but it comes down to serving an ultra high net worth family is not just it's not just bigger numbers. It's not just we went from 10 million to 80 million to 150 or or more. It's it's more entities, it's more people, it's more emotions, sometimes bigger emotions. Um, and the expectations are much, much higher. So, you know, a family, once they have felt gotten a bit of a taste of some operational uh efficiencies, going back into chaos is is not operational chaos is not what they is not going to make them happy. And so what I would tell those firms is be clear on what your lane is, what you're going to do and what you're not going to do. Partner with others instead of trying to build it yourself. Um, I would say build your processes first, then go out and market your promises. Um, you know, don't market family office services if you don't have the infrastructure to deliver that level of experience. Again, partner. Um and then be transparent about what services you offer and understand where you fit in the Goldilocks and the three bears scenario, is what I call it. So there are levels of family office services. It's like the low, low, medium, or high. And the low is we do a little bit of this, we pay a few bills, we do a little bit of coordination, we're gonna make sure K1s get to where they go. That's sort of low entry. And some families, that's all they need. High is we do it for you. Our service, you know, fits into that high category. A lot of what some of the bigger banks or multifamily offices, they can kind of go between the three, but a lot of them fit in that middle ground, which is great. If that's what your family needs, that's the perfect place to be. But if you don't understand where your service fits into those three scenarios, which one you are, that is the thing that I see that creates the most cognitive dissonance for both the firm and the client. And quite frankly, is usually the determining factor of whether you are going to have a happy client in a happy, wonderful long-term relationship, or if it's going to be fairly short-lived and painful on both sides. So families feel the difference between we'll figure it out and we have a system for that.

Mark Wickersham, Host 12:40

I think those are all good points. I think obviously they're not just bigger clients in terms of AUM. There is a lot more complexity that's involved with them, a lot more specialized services. They're bringing in specialized advisors. Maybe you're dealing with clients that that have specialized, you know, tax requirements or tax advisors that you you weren't previously integrating with. I think the other one too is around, and I think it's a good point that you made around service creep. Um, certainly these are clients that are not used to hearing no, but if you don't put, if you don't clearly define your service offering, then you're you're you're setting yourself up to fail to a certain extent when you're not able to meet those expectations. You're not able to kind of put it in a box, you're not able to kind of put the compliance and the rigor and the systems in place that you need to be able to meet that service level. And then things just kind of will slide off the rails from there.

Christi Van Rite 13:35

And which is exactly where I found myself in the very beginning. Truly. I mean, you know, the I always say this is how we learn. This is how I learned.

Mark Wickersham, Host 13:46

Let's talk about outsourcing. Obviously, there's no family office can do everything. They they do need to outsource. I think the ability to outsource and where they should outsource is a key component to success. But how should family offices think about outsourcing?

Christi Van Rite 14:05

You know, I think when the system is in place, when there is an integrator, when there is glue, and the glue knows they're the glue, um, outsourcing can be really, really powerful when they need specialized expertise, when they're looking to build resilience into their family office. Um, and then scalability, you know, because you can get all of those things without hiring a full-time internal operations team. And you can get them when you need them for how long you need them. So, you know, wouldn't you rather, would you rather hire someone who sits at a desk all day, you're paying salary, you're paying, you know, benefits and doing payroll, everything that comes along with that, running a business. Or do you want to go find the person who is the very best at what they do for that project that you need? You use them, you pay them, you say, thank you so much, it's been great. We'll call you when we need you next. You know, you you give yourself the optionality and the flexibility to do that when you're willing to create an outsourced family office. But it really only works well. I've only seen it work well when there is a clear delineation for that who is in charge, who is air traffic control. And if there's no one on the team who set raises their hand and says, hi, I'm air traffic control, it's the family. And if the family doesn't know that, that's that's where you you know you tend to hear people say, Oh, we tried that, it didn't work. Okay, well, maybe they weren't the right partner. That's completely fair. But how are you making sure those coordination, that coordination and that information was flowing as well?

Mark Wickersham, Host 16:01

The problem still doesn't go away, right? So when it comes to you, okay, you've you said I want to outsource, I need to outsource. How do they go about selecting uh a provider? What recommendations would you give?

Christi Van Rite 16:17

I think they need to focus on on three areas. And the one, uh the first one is scope and role clarity. So before you go hire someone, anyone, internal or external, can you clearly explain um what that role is going to be? Who are they going to work with, and what are their responsibilities going to be? Where do those responsibilities begin and where do they end? So role clarity, again, anybody. Um when you're when they're talking to someone, then talk to them about how they actually work, especially if it's an outsource provider. Likely they will have some some work product, even if it is scrubbed and you know it's not, they're not gonna give you other families' names, most likely. But you ask for work product, see how it actually flows. Talk to them about how they do this work. Um, what are the control points? What are their documentation practices? What are their security protocols? Um do they store information on their server or are they going to store it on you store it on yours? Uh that's a that is a big one that I just quick squat side note. That is a big one that I hope to see families focusing on is um owning their owning their own information. Uh, but the the third one is cultural fit, right? Like when you talk to them, do you get the sense that they could fit into your family or they can understand your family's values? And I know everybody says that, and it's like everybody's like, of course they have to fit with the family. They do. There is a reason why before we have a before we even get to the point of putting a proposal together for a family, you know, they need to, I like to meet them in person. I I want them to see, like, put your hands on my face. Like, I am a real person. Let's, you know, like, do you want to take a call from me? Do I want to take a call from you? Um, and so, you know, if my communication style isn't the best for your family, let me make some other introductions for you. I would rather you had a good fit from the beginning than just said, we got you covered. We can take care of that, we can handle that. Like, you know, if if a firm says we can do it all, maybe just ask more questions.

Mark Wickersham, Host 18:54

Yellow flag at least.

Christi Van Rite 18:56

Um exactly.

Mark Wickersham, Host 18:57

Yeah, I think cultural fit, uh, it's that's it could be a little bit tougher to kind of quantify. I think it can be sometimes get overlooked. I think it's an important part. You gotta like the people you're working with, and you there needs to be some sort of absolutely for you know, you don't need to be best friends with them, but obviously there needs to be some sort of uh you don't want to dread to have to have a conversation with that person, and it should be some sort of solid working relationship. What would you say for family offices? You you select an outsource provider. How do you manage that relationship? What keys would you gotta say on the ongoing? You've you've you've now made the you made the hard decision. You're you're you're going with a particular provider. How do they manage that provider going forward?

Christi Van Rite 19:44

Yeah, I think you treat them as a critical team member, not a vendor. Um, treat them as if they are sitting in your office because for all intents and purposes, they are. They are sitting in your virtual family office. Um and so from the beginning, I think it is so incredibly important to set clear outcomes and metrics. So if there is a project, if there are monthly reports due, you know, timeline timeliness, accuracy, what are the response times going to be, what are the milestones going to be, and start building that regular communication rhythm. So, you know, maybe you don't do morning check-ins, especially depending on, maybe you do, depending on who they are, if it's your VA or EA or someone who's involved truly in a day-to-day basis with your family, but you know, weekly or monthly ops check-ins, um, deeper quarterly reviews where you're sharing context because so many tasks are not done because if someone doesn't have context, it's so incredibly important. And so you need to create those standing communication rhythms to be able to share contacts, context, not just tasks. Um and then I think uh one of the other things is from the family side, I think from a practitioner side, we all understand that scope is going to evolve, right? Like things are going to things are constantly changing. There's a reason that we do a scope update between our onboarding, uh, you know, we're finishing up onboarding and we're moving into regular service, uh, and then that we do it again twice a year because scope is going to change. But from the family's perspective, I don't know that that's always an expectation. And so expect the scope of work that you are handling with that provider to evolve as trust grows and as situations change. Um, I think the you know, the healthiest outsourced relationships feel like a true extension of your. family or your family office and they share responsibility for results. I think you know you got to manage your um you know my experience more on the tech side but anytime you you manage your um vendor as a partner versus a vendor you're gonna you're gonna have better outcomes that you should be looking at at you know the it's a there's two parts of the equation you know am I giving them the inputs that they need and on a timely manner am I getting the outputs that I need and the quality I want I think if you can't measure it you can't manage it so it's always good to have some sort of KPIs and and metrics around that and then just taking a step back and doing that quarterly business review the the QBR I think it's always good that you you get kind of lost in the details sometimes the the the task and getting the work completed that it's taking a step back and say hey how's the relationship going are we meeting expectations is scope changing has your situation changed um good chance to get an update uh on that as well as to give updates about any changes that the the the vendor may have i i think are always good practices too um it's they're easy to skip you just get you just get going and it's easy to look up and say oh it's been 12 months right yeah and you kind of miss some key conversations there right right when you start working with a new family or new new advisor what is that kind of is there a small tell is there a detail that that kind of tips you off about whether you know this is gonna be you know a smooth operating situation or something that can turn into a smooth operating system or or one where the the kind of the client's on the edge of chaos yeah um yes there are there are tells um the I'd say a few of the little indicators um how long does it take to find a document or a piece of information if it's a scavenger hunt and we're making two or three or four calls to find something that's that tells me something repeat over many documents right exactly uh that tells me something's off um when you know how when the question is asked what's the monthly burn on the ranch or the airplane or the boat or the whatever it is um or who owns this operationally this this property this asset if the answers are fuzzy or they're inconsistent there's some there's work to be teased out um and if someone says uh I sent a follow-up email I sent a uh you know rescinding in case you missed it um kind of email it it means work is not being managed it means it's being managed out of an inbox and not out of a system and so there are systems that need to be put in place um all all things that are incredibly uh figure outable but certainly you know get you to a point that you're like got it we're gonna need to to work some you know we're gonna need to work work a few things out uh and create the system put that into our operating model to know it's working what is if you can eliminate one thing that that caught a common mistake or or habit that you see that these families and family offices make over and over again that kind of holds people back what what would it be keeping their entire system in one person's head whether intentionally or unintentionally um there's there's almost always the the hero of the story or the central person um you know a spouse a longtime assistant a trusted employee um at one advisor who knows everything they run everything they literally have been around forever um that works until it doesn't and if that person gets sick they retire they burn out there's forced retirement um you know the family's exposed and often they don't realize just how exposed they are until one of those situations happen and now suddenly everything is up in the air you can't get reports you bills aren't getting paid they don't know where things are um so if I that's the that's the biggest one um if if we could just give a family or a family can understand having what I call bench uh in these roles and redundancy of where inform you know who knows what and and where information lies that would be it I think you see these we got see with single family offices quite a bit especially when they're in the buying process for technology that it tends to be somewhat an irrational buying process or really another way to look at it is that it's more event driven and the event is normally some some guy that or woman that had all the information in the in their head knew where all the bodies was buried knew how that Excel spreadsheet worked and every formula in it and how the the thing worked they leave you know that they got hit by the bus you know hopefully that it was more of a planned retirement or departure versus something catastrophic but some event happens they miss a tax deadline they have a key person that leaves they don't they don't have systems in place they they have people in place with knowledge in their head and then something happens some sort of turnover and that's causing them to scramble the when um use like a variety of technology in your your practice what advice would you give a family office as they're approaching building their their tech stack I think there is two essential questions to ask before you ever get online and start Googling technology or talking to your friends about technology and that is what problem are we actually solving and who's going to use this on a day-to-day basis right so much technology turns into a virtual paperweight uh because those two things aren't addressed in the in the beginning and so you know once you know what the product is supposed to do um then you kind of go into core categories right like so um what's it going to be for is it information and documents is it financial operations is it bill pay is it communication is it reporting um do you will it integrate with other systems uh at this day in this day and age I think having software systems that don't integrate you're putting yourself behind the tech curve at this point probably the the one of the biggest things though that is going to define whether that piece of software gets utilized or not is that user the reality of who those users are if the tool is too complex for the real users it's not the right solution no matter how impressive that demo was how many bells and whistles that piece of software has which is why it is so important to know what it is you need when you go into those demos and you go into looking at software A, it's expensive. I think people families also really underestimate what software in this tech kind of technology costs. And then they get in and they're like well if I'm gonna have it then of course I want this and I want that and um but the reality is if your people can't or won't use it it's not that helpful. The tech stack has to be designed to support the family operating system not the other way around I think uh it's good advice.

Mark Wickersham, Host 30:20

You you really want to start with what problem you're trying to solve and what does success look like in solving that problem before you get the vendors involved because then you end up you know chasing the sci shiny object syndrome right that's these these vendors will present to you impressive wares and and they're gonna put their best foot forward on these things and you you can get caught up in oh I like that and oh like that meanwhile you you got this drift because what you've what you originally set out to solve versus what you end up seeing just because you're getting vendors involved because you didn't do up that that upfront pro process can can kind of you can get what you want which is not what you need sometimes in in the the the vendor process.

Christi Van Rite 31:03

That's exactly right and let's face it every every technology or every software vendor that I've ever spoken to after a demo says it's implementation is so easy. It's it's so easy to run it basically runs itself I mean across the board that's like standard the reality is the implementations are not usually easy or straightforward there are training curves um and there is almost always ongoing stewardship of that information. So that's a big one.

Mark Wickersham, Host 31:43

Implementations at best are a struggle right they're hard I mean accounting ones in particular I don't care if it's financial accounting or investment accounting like they're hard. And you know a good one's still going to be hard uh process to go through I think some of that has to do with data requirements and how much backdated data that people want to go through. But the other one's change management right that it is a new process for somebody that you're asking your staff to go through something that that is different than what they do today. People still want to feel like valued and want to have contributions as part of that process. And the implementation a lot of them fail let's be honest and and it's not always a technology issue. A lot of them can be due to the people issue on both sides. I'm not saying that these vendors are not the blame um but that that that there can be struggles on on both sides of that. I think it's important to have like a super user right somebody that's gotta be you know hey I know the system like in internally I got my I I know what's going on with these guys I'm the point person for the vendor. I think that's all important to have as well.

Christi Van Rite 32:59

I agree. Yeah it's where the the technology is either going to thrive or it's going to die. And remember it's expensive. It was expensive to buy it was expensive to implement like don't let it don't let it die uh but you got a lot better chance at that happening if you know going in who the users are going to be and what it's supposed to be doing.

Mark Wickersham, Host 33:24

Have you seen what have you seen in terms of changes in the market as you've been looking at technology for the past eight years? What sort of trends or what are you what are you seeing from the from the vendors that that is different and what is new?

Christi Van Rite 33:41

Well I think first of all we are seeing the rise of tools that are specifically oriented to families and family offices um not just a corporate tool that gets adapted and kind of either watered down or you know segmented off for family offices. I think we're seeing more dedicated resources to families and family offices which is so incredibly needed. I hope we continue to see that trend um we're also I think now seeing that demand for that real-time visibility into cash, into capital commitments, uh into projects, you know, project management where is where are we on something uh which again I think speaks to just the evolution of where the industry is at and where families are at, quite frankly uh certainly the younger generations coming in, that they are very used to seeing literally everything at the touch of an app. There's an app for that. I mean that you know that's that's how they've grown up and that's what they know. And why wouldn't that carry over into all of their family work? And why wouldn't it be secure? You know I think we're you there has been a security awareness but I think we're putting more of a finer point on that now. Families are asking I I think smarter questions about data and access um and risk. And I do think this is one that I also hope hope continues to grow is the the recognition that technology alone isn't enough. You know there's a there is a winning combination there different for every family but the you know the right people the clear processes and the right tool that really can all work together to to support a family's operations um but it's you know I think I think we're seeing really great shifts you just have to be aware that every every technology most technologies want to be able to wrap everything around their system for your family. And that's not all that's not always the best case scenario from a pricing perspective, from a functionality perspective um so just being aware of that. But thankfully we're getting family office technology now.

Mark Wickersham, Host 36:08

I would definitely agree with that you're seeing a lot more family office specific products and in some cases they're being born out of family offices and commercialized um that are solving very uh specific problems where to your point previously you had to take something maybe from an adjacent industry or or more likely retail software that really doesn't meet the needs um that's right of the family office QuickBooks is a classic example of that classic we don't hardly even run it anymore because it's not what it's built for it's not built for you it's not scalable you don't have the permission it's not scalable yeah I think we could do another podcast on this one Christy probably yeah um you so you started a podcast the Family Success podcast can you tell me a little bit and tell the listeners a little bit about the podcast and what it's about and why'd you start it?

Christi Van Rite 37:03

Yeah so um you know family office success was started to bring uh bring information bring education and shine a light on a lot of the services that are available in the family office industry uh or for or to the ultra high net worth family that you wouldn't necessarily know about because they're not you know one of the the big categories it's not necessarily just accounting or uh just bill pay which are you know kind of the two that people think of when they think of family office. So I wanted to be able to shine a light on other services that are within our you know our family office world that really go a long way to support a family's um operations and operational systems and can can really take a lot of work off their plate. I mean that's you know we've done uh we do a lot of residential construction and I don't think families know about residential commissioning. Well it's the like it's a really great thing for a family who's building or renovating a very large home that has very specific requirements on how they want to use it and how they want it to function. But people don't know that that service exists. So there's things you know there are various things like that that um really family office success was meant to do and meant to bring uh meant to bring those services out in a in a way to just give some awareness that's really what Family Office success is meant to do. It's meant to educate and show advisors, practitioners and families what's available so you know that you can raise your hand and say, you know I'd really like some help with that. And there's someone out there.

Mark Wickersham, Host 39:01

It's a great podcast it's an educational podcast to your point um and it's you know it it's it's laser focused on on a particular niche but I think it's a valuable addition to the family office kind of ecosystem and um thank you available on YouTube and all your your podcast platforms so check it out the Family Office Success podcast. Christy I like to end the the podcast on a personal note with three questions that have nothing to do with wealth tech or in this case three questions that have nothing to do with family office services.

Christi Van Rite 39:33

You split your time between Austin and Colorado what what do you love about each we do um you know they both they play a different role for me in my life um Austin is about connections and energy you know food music uh a lot of my community a lot of my people are here and it's where I kind of plug into that Colorado is about space and perspective and um that's that's where I recharge I do my best thinking um and and grounding to really be able to to come back and be the cut for me to be at my best for families and for the company to be at the our best for our families.

Mark Wickersham, Host 40:15

I love it yeah I I have a little cabin up in Maine and half the podcast you'll see is is got like a wooden background and stuff like that. And that's like for me to uh get up there and kind of get that kind of space and quiet. But I also love the the Boston or you know spending time in New York City uh always good for me. Um is there a cause or charity that's important to you and why?

Christi Van Rite 40:41

You know one of the I have a couple of causes that are important but one of them specifically is financial education for um for families no matter the socioeconomic level uh I think we do not do a good enough job uh educating our children uh you know even starting with the school systems quite frankly uh about money and I believe that's why so many stories repeat themselves over the generations whether you're an entrepreneur or you know just or or you work at a at a job and um so you know I think I think we can change a lot of lives through education financial education.

Mark Wickersham, Host 41:23

So that's a big one we support financial literacies like it just doesn't seem like we even try. And especially when you you hit these kids that are in college or coming out of college without the basic understanding the how credit works, how to build credit, you know, those those type of things are or you know people to be able to live their their best lives need to be able to to manage their finances to the best of their ability. What book or podcast would you recommend to the listeners?

Christi Van Rite 41:52

Gosh there's so many um books that I but I that I'm loving right now. I I think Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy uh is one of the books that it doesn't matter what industry you're in, if you're a family, if you're you know solo, uh it's all about shifting your mindset from how do I do this to who is the right person to help me achieve this result. I think that one is one of the ones that certainly moved my mindset uh years and years ago about the core of how I think about how we run the business of the family, um not trying to do it all of our all ourselves and in my business, you know, I started out it was just me. And so who not how shifted my mindset about I don't need to be the one doing this. Who who is the right person to be doing this task? So who not how is my is my go-to all right I love it.

Mark Wickersham, Host 42:57

I'll have to check that one out well Chrissy I really appreciate you been on the podcast this has been a great conversation thank you mark I appreciate the time it's great chatting with you thank you for listening to this episode of the Wealth Tech Podcast brought to you by Seta AI. Seta is on a mission to modernize the family office. I really appreciate you listening and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. Talk to you soon