Feature
Published: March 12, 2012
By Harriet Davies - Editor - Family Wealth Report
The sports industry in the US was worth some $422 billion in 2011 according to one estimate from Plunkett Research and creates some very wealthy individuals. With many athletes suffering from bad financial advice, there is an opportunity for the wealth management industry to raise its game.
To give a taste of some of the salaries athletes earn, the New York Yankees – which has the highest total payroll of the Major League Baseball teams – paid an average salary of 6.8 million in 2011, according to data from USA Today. In the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers – with the highest overall payroll - paid an average of $6.9 million in 2010.
Of course, for many sports stars their pay from playing may be a small component of their overall packet, with lucrative sponsorship and advertising deals on the table. But as wealth managers know, this kind of pay packet combined with media attention brings as many challenges as it does opportunities.
Many of these challenges are the exact same as those faced by other HNW individuals, with one big exception, says Paul Tramontano, chief executive of Constellation Wealth Advisors, a family office that works with sports industry clients.
That exception is that compared with a patriarch or matriarch, who has built a successful business over a long time, athletes are “more like lottery winners”: they have the monetary event early in their careers, and before they are well prepared with a team of trusted advisors, says Tramontano.
And he says that while oftentimes athletes are surrounded by a good support network of family, friends and an agent, when it comes to finances “the great majority is guided by the wrong people.”
“One of the greatest challenges that professional athletes face in their private lives is figuring out who they can trust,” agrees Richard Flynn, head of the Family Offices Group at Rothstein Kass and co-author of Fame & Fortune: Maximizing Celebrity Wealth.
“In 2008, we conducted a survey of 178 professional athletes and found that over 70 per cent believe that they have been exploited by advisors,” says Flynn.
One lawyer, Larry Landsman of Block Landsman, who has experience representing NFL players, says the stereotype of athletes being swindled out of their earnings by bad investment schemes is borne out by the reality.
He told Family Wealth Report: “The vulnerability of NFL players to fraudulent investment schemes is a cause of great concern to those of us who work with professional athletes. A confluence of several circumstances make many NFL players the target of a wide variety of investment scams: youth, lack of sophistication in financial matters, environment of trust and sudden wealth.”
For these players, their lives are “extremely focused on the demands” of their careers, and just 50 per cent graduate college, putting them at a disadvantage when it comes to finance and economics, explains Landsman.
Many players end up buying into high-risk private equity investments such as oil and gas limited partnerships, restaurants, entertainment facilities, car dealerships, airplane hangers, self-storage facilities, offered under misleading pretenses in terms of their liquidity and risk, says Landsman.
What makes this harder to recover from is that – in the case of an NFL player – the average career lasts only 3.5 years, according to Landsman, meaning that once earnings are lost it might be too late. He cites an eye opening statistic: 78 per cent of NFL players are either bankrupt or in financial distress within 2 years of retiring (source: Sports Illustrated).
Lifestyles of the rich and famous
Some of these post-career cases of hardship are not only due to bad investments but general mismanagement too, particularly on the spending side.
“Nearly 70 per cent of athletes we surveyed in 2008 reported that they lead a luxurious lifestyle. Though they recognize that this could be detrimental to their financial future, only a quarter of athletes reported that they are concerned about paying for that lifestyle,” says Flynn.
However, concerns about earning spans and long retirements are not unique to athletes, points out Tramontano, and may equally apply to people who get rich quickly through financial services, for example, such as successful investment bankers who burn out at a young age.
For any client vulnerable to this problem, Tramontano says Constellation now builds a simple graph, and explains to the client: “Here’s what you need to save to maintain your spending after retirement.”
Flynn points out the benefits of building a strategy for earning income outside of an athlete’s direct field by building a personal brand. Many superstars such as David Beckham and Tiger Woods have created huge brands in their own rights.
“Because of the visibility and popularity of professional sports, the athlete has unparalleled opportunities to generate secondary income. Respected athletes also have access to a wide range of second careers after they retire. Having the right advisors can help the athlete to make sound decisions in support of a comprehensive strategy,” says Flynn.
This tendency for a luxurious lifestyle and high spending means bill payment and tax filing are also important services for athletes, says Flynn, as is asset protection, as their high profiles often giving rise to lawsuits or divorce proceedings.
Another particular situation athletes face, says Tramontano, is that they often feel obligated to support their families – many of whom made significant sacrifices for the athlete along his or her way to success. Tramontano says he would never discourage an athlete from this view, but it’s important to make sure support is given in a strategic and efficient way.
In fact, it may be the case that it is necessary to distinguish more between financial help for families, and investments. For example, the Rothstein Kass research found that 78 per cent of surveyed athletes believed they had been exploited by friends and family.
Privacy and trust: the “lifeblood” of wealth management
It goes without saying that privacy and trust will be at the heart of any wealth management relationship, and in this light athletes are no different from other extremely wealthy clients.
“Many of our non-sports clients are household names and some of our sports clients aren’t,” says Tramontano. Whether you’re a billionaire business man or woman or a major league baseball player, privacy is of the utmost importance.
“The lifeblood of our business is confidentiality and trust,” says Tramontano.
However, it could be argued this goes one step further with clients such as athletes, as well as actors and artists, who attract the kind of media attention associated with A-list celebrity. They are extremely vulnerable in one sense: reputation damage can lead to the withdrawal of sponsorship contracts, as well as making life very difficult for the athlete (just think Tiger Woods).
“An athlete’s reputation is the most fragile aspect of the personal brand. It often takes a career to establish and can be erased by a single misstep,” says Flynn.
“Social media presents an opportunity for the athlete to connect with fans directly, but also poses risks – from hacked accounts to ill-advised ‘tweets’,” he adds.
Again, this might provide opportunities for wealth managers who include a lifestyle or consulting offering. Flynn says some services around brand management and business consulting can provide potential revenue streams for advisors, especially as less than 10 per cent of agents provide business venture support to clients.
Only fools rush in
It’s not a business that can be rushed into though. “It’s 100 per cent word of mouth and reputation,” says Tramontano. His firm has developed relationships with agents, lawyers and managers in the industry.
Also, it’s about cultivating quality relationships. “We’re not trying to handle every athlete…it’s a rifle approach rather than a shotgun approach,” he adds. With that said, he thinks it’s “a really important time for athletes and entertainers” because “over the last 20 to 30 years compensation levels have really ramped up.”
Tramontano points out that if you look back at the 1970s or even 1980s, players in the NFL didn’t make the kind of money that could set them up for life. “They worked extremely hard – it’s a hard job – but they didn’t make that kind of money.” Now, if they have a few successful years and the money is managed well they can change the rest of their lives and the lives of their descendants.
“If someone had plopped $20 million on my desk as a 20-year old I may not have done a brilliant job,” says Tramontano.
And this is why – when approached in the right way – the wealth management and sports industries can work together with benefits to both sides.

Published: October 12, 2012
The Wall Street Journal
By Laura Saunders
Never mind your income-tax rate for next year—what will happen to your deductions?
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney twice has raised the possibility of imposing caps on tax benefits to help lower tax rates. Instead of simply cutting the home mortgage-interest deduction or the write-off for charitable donations, lawmakers could allow each taxpayer one overall allowance to use as desired. Mr. Romney suggested options ranging from $17,000 to $50,000.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has repeatedly suggested capping tax benefits in the administration’s budget proposals.
Tax Associate Toni Roy, left, helps Martha Mendenhall file her taxes at an H & R Block office in Augusta, Ga. last April.
Of course, the outcome isn’t up to either candidate but rather to Congress, which faces many tough decisions about taxes next year. Still, taxpayers trying to plan for 2013 would be wise to take a hard look at their deductions as well as their income.
“It might be a good idea to accelerate large write-offs as well as income, while the law still allows them,” says Robert Gordon of Twenty-First Securities in New York, an investment firm specializing in tax strategies.
The idea of limiting tax breaks in order to raise revenue or lower rates, or both, isn’t new. Taxpayers who owe alternative minimum tax, or AMT, already lose benefits such as the deduction for state and local taxes.
The three biggest tax breaks are for employer-provided heath insurance, the mortgage-interest deduction and retirement savings. There is real revenue in capping such breaks—and real pain for those who lose them.
“In practice, it’s not an easy thing to do. These benefits are how we buy homes, get health insurance, save for retirement and give to charity,” says Michael Graetz, a former top Treasury official who now is a professor at Columbia University’s Law School.
Experts note that cutting tax breaks is often highly progressive, hitting higher earners more than people earning less. That is because upper-income taxpayers are more likely to make greater use of benefits by “itemizing” deductions and listing them separately.
According to the Tax Policy Center in Washington, only about 12% of taxpayers making less than $63,000 itemize, versus more than 90% of taxpayers earning above $150,000. The top 5% of taxpayers, who earn about $200,000 or more, on average have itemized deductions of 13% of income.
Mr. Romney hasn’t released details of which benefits he would cap or how. Elsewhere he has proposed across-the-board income-tax rate cuts of 20% (not 20 percentage points), while maintaining or lowering current rates on capital gains. He has vowed as well to preserve deductions for the middle class and avoid tax increases on it. An aide said Mr. Romney defines “middle class” as married couples with adjusted gross income up to $200,000.
President Obama’s proposed limits on tax breaks are both specific and expansive. They would affect joint filers with adjusted gross income of $250,000 or more ($200,000 for singles). In addition to cutting the value of itemized deductions to 28% or below for upper-bracket taxpayers, he calls for limiting breaks for municipal-bond interest, retirement savings, health insurance, moving expenses and more.
Taxpayers should prepare to act later this year if the situation becomes clearer. Some possible moves: accelerating state income- and property-tax payments; paying medical-insurance premiums or other deductible costs, if they are large enough to surmount the 7.5% hurdle; and making large purchases if you will be deducting state sales tax from your federal return, assuming Congress renews this break for 2012.
Also, pay special attention to investment-interest deductions and large charitable contributions, neither of which is currently limited by the AMT.
Proponents of continuing the current deduction for investment interest say a cap could distort investment decisions. “Leveraged investments will suffer, because their tax rate might rise just when the deduction drops,” Mr. Gordon says.
Charitable contributions, which are backed by a powerful coalition of nonprofits, are highly favored. Donations are fully deductible within certain limits, and givers also often get a full deduction for donations of appreciated stock or other property without first paying tax on the gains.

Daily News Analysis
Published: July 09, 2012
By Eliane Chavagnon - Reporter
Investors value performance, information transparency and unbiased advice the most, but these areas are perceived as asset managers’ weakest points, the Financial Times reports, referring to research by State Street’s Center for Applied Research.
A total of 2,700 investors were asked to single out the factors they valued the most from a 12-strong “wish list.” Of the three most popular responses, performance was top of the list.
“In the eyes of the investor, the investment industry is falling short on what investors value most,” Suzanne Duncan, global head of research at State Street’s new research center, was quoted as saying. Moreover, Duncan said asset managers were failing to understand what investors mean by the term “performance.”
State Street had not responded to a request for more information on the report by the time of publication.
Divergences
While the industry understood performance as delivering “benchmark-beating returns,” investors increasingly perceive it as either generating returns which outstrip the growth in their liabilities or by providing a hedge.
According to the report, some Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds want to protect against the risk of declining oil prices, whereas retail investors might want to hedge against a downturn in their industry, which could leave them unemployed.
Meanwhile corporate social responsibility and ethical investment were cited as weaknesses by only a few investors. This suggests asset managers “may have focused more on these areas than their clients are demanding,” the report said.
There is also a slight mismatch in terms of loyalty. While 87 per cent of providers believe investors are loyal to them, just 64 per cent of investors say they are, “potentially leaving a large slice of the $100 trillion industry up for grabs,” the publication said.

Feature
Published: June 28, 2012
By Harriet Davies - Editor - Family Wealth Report
Wealth managers need to take note of the behavior of widowed and divorced women who are taking control of their finances for the first time, according to a report from Spectrem Group.
About 41 per cent of first marriages end in divorce, and even more second and third marriages, the report says. About 7 per cent of millionaire households and 9 per cent of ultra high net worth households (with $5 million+) are divorced. Meanwhile, around 700,000 – 800,000 women are widowed each year, according to US Census data. Spectrem says around 7 per cent of millionaires are widows and 12 per cent of UHNW individuals.
The average age of millionaire widows is 70 and the average age of millionaire divorcees is 62. The average age of UHNW widows is 72, and for divorcees it’s 63. One thing the report notes is that most of these widows are retired, as are around three-quarters of UHNW divorcees. However, around half of millionaire divorcees are still in work.
Attitudes
The risk profile of an average male investor is quite similar to that of a divorced woman, the survey found. Slightly more men said they are “aggressive” while more divorced women are “moderate,” but the differences aren’t striking. However, widows expressed markedly more conservatism in their risk tolerance, with nearly a third saying they are conservative compared to just 15 per cent of men.
Again, wealthy individuals displayed similar attitudes when it came to involvement in their finances. Around 59 per cent of men like to be involved in the day-to-day management of their investors, compared to 47 per cent of divorced women, and 52 per cent of widows.
However, digging deeper, Spectrem found that the majority of widows were involved in day-to-day management because they are worried about their finances, not because they enjoy it.
Concerns
Most wealthy divorcees (86 per cent) and widows (88 per cent) feel they can maintain their standard of living despite the recession, but well over half of both groups are concerned about tax rises.
Most do not have major worries about debt levels, although some do. Among widows, 27 per cent are between mildly and very concerned. The figure for divorcees is much higher, at 41 per cent. Costs due to a divorce, the death of a spouse, a loss of income and unexpected medical bills are some of the causes of debt that worry these individuals. Educational costs also rank highly for divorcees, who are likely to still have children in the education system.
Advisor dependent
Fewer widows and divorcees are self-directed investors than men, according to the survey. For men, the figure is around 34 per cent, compared to 21 per cent for divorcees and 20 per cent of widows. Meanwhile, 29 per cent of widows and divorcees regularly consult with an investment advisor but make their own final decisions, and 21 per cent of widows and 16 per cent of divorcees describe themselves as “dependent” on their advisor.
Widows are in general happy with the service they have received from financial institutions and advisors since the death of their spouse, with only 13 per cent saying they have not received help and good counsel.
Online
The survey found that both widows and divorcees are active online, paying bills, reading blogs, and using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Because divorcees are more likely to be in work, they are more present on LinkedIn, while widows are more active on Facebook and Twitter, perhaps because they have more free time, the report says. Not many divorcees or widows use these platforms for financial information, however. On the other hand, around one-fifth of both groups rely on social media to keep in touch with people.
“If their older female investors are using these channels, it can be assumed that younger female investors have similar or greater expectations. Advisors should use Facebook and Twitter as platforms for highlighting expertise and proactively suggesting financial behaviors,” said Spectrem.

Daily News Analysis
Published: June 04, 2012
By Harriet Davies - Editor - Family Wealth Report
Wealth advisory firms are standardizing their processes across regions and offices, according to a new study from Family Office Exchange.
The study, called Enhancing the Client Service Experience, found that wealth managers are: automating processes, eliminating inconsistencies between regions and offices, and creating designated teams responsible for process improvements and consistency.
Firms are also doing more “to demonstrate the client experience in their sales processes,” said FOX. This includes adopting a “more involved needs assessment” during the sales process and aiming for “white glove” treatment in all aspects, from responsiveness to scheduling meetings.
“Standardization can help advisors become more efficient, while giving firms a more sustainable business model over the long term,” said David Lincoln, managing director of research.
A study released last week by Pershing said that, while some RIAs have regained profitability since the financial crisis, those who have failed to adapt are “literally paying the price.” Furthermore, the study said “most” RIAs had not made the necessary operational changes to tackle rising costs.
Among the suggestions for improving efficiency the Pershing study said RIAs should target more homogenous clients and create efficient and consistent workflow systems.

Feature
Published: March 21, 2012
By Harriet Davies - Editor - Family Wealth Report
The sports industry in the US was worth some $422 billion in 2011 according to one estimate from Plunkett Research and creates some very wealthy individuals. With many athletes suffering from bad financial advice, there is an opportunity for the wealth management industry to raise its game.
To give a taste of some of the salaries athletes earn, the New York Yankees – which has the highest total payroll of the Major League Baseball teams – paid an average salary of 6.8 million in 2011, according to data from USA Today. In the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers – with the highest overall payroll - paid an average of $6.9 million in 2010.
Of course, for many sports stars their pay from playing may be a small component of their overall packet, with lucrative sponsorship and advertising deals on the table. But as wealth managers know, this kind of pay packet combined with media attention brings as many challenges as it does opportunities.
Many of these challenges are the exact same as those faced by other HNW individuals, with one big exception, says Paul Tramontano, chief executive of Constellation Wealth Advisors, a family office that works with sports industry clients.
That exception is that compared with a patriarch or matriarch, who has built a successful business over a long time, athletes are “more like lottery winners”: they have the monetary event early in their careers, and before they are well prepared with a team of trusted advisors, says Tramontano.
And he says that while oftentimes athletes are surrounded by a good support network of family, friends and an agent, when it comes to finances “the great majority is guided by the wrong people.”
“One of the greatest challenges that professional athletes face in their private lives is figuring out who they can trust,” agrees Richard Flynn, head of the Family Offices Group at Rothstein Kass and co-author of Fame & Fortune: Maximizing Celebrity Wealth.
“In 2008, we conducted a survey of 178 professional athletes and found that over 70 per cent believe that they have been exploited by advisors,” says Flynn.
One lawyer, Larry Landsman of Block Landsman, who has experience representing NFL players, says the stereotype of athletes being swindled out of their earnings by bad investment schemes is borne out by the reality.
He told Family Wealth Report: “The vulnerability of NFL players to fraudulent investment schemes is a cause of great concern to those of us who work with professional athletes. A confluence of several circumstances make many NFL players the target of a wide variety of investment scams: youth, lack of sophistication in financial matters, environment of trust and sudden wealth.”
For these players, their lives are “extremely focused on the demands” of their careers, and just 50 per cent graduate college, putting them at a disadvantage when it comes to finance and economics, explains Landsman.
Many players end up buying into high-risk private equity investments such as oil and gas limited partnerships, restaurants, entertainment facilities, car dealerships, airplane hangers, self-storage facilities, offered under misleading pretenses in terms of their liquidity and risk, says Landsman.
What makes this harder to recover from is that – in the case of an NFL player – the average career lasts only 3.5 years, according to Landsman, meaning that once earnings are lost it might be too late. He cites an eye opening statistic: 78 per cent of NFL players are either bankrupt or in financial distress within 2 years of retiring (source: Sports Illustrated).
Lifestyles of the rich and famous
Some of these post-career cases of hardship are not only due to bad investments but general mismanagement too, particularly on the spending side.
“Nearly 70 per cent of athletes we surveyed in 2008 reported that they lead a luxurious lifestyle. Though they recognize that this could be detrimental to their financial future, only a quarter of athletes reported that they are concerned about paying for that lifestyle,” says Flynn.
However, concerns about earning spans and long retirements are not unique to athletes, points out Tramontano, and may equally apply to people who get rich quickly through financial services, for example, such as successful investment bankers who burn out at a young age.
For any client vulnerable to this problem, Tramontano says Constellation now builds a simple graph, and explains to the client: “Here’s what you need to save to maintain your spending after retirement.”
Flynn points out the benefits of building a strategy for earning income outside of an athlete’s direct field by building a personal brand. Many superstars such as David Beckham and Tiger Woods have created huge brands in their own rights.
“Because of the visibility and popularity of professional sports, the athlete has unparalleled opportunities to generate secondary income. Respected athletes also have access to a wide range of second careers after they retire. Having the right advisors can help the athlete to make sound decisions in support of a comprehensive strategy,” says Flynn.
This tendency for a luxurious lifestyle and high spending means bill payment and tax filing are also important services for athletes, says Flynn, as is asset protection, as their high profiles often giving rise to lawsuits or divorce proceedings.
Another particular situation athletes face, says Tramontano, is that they often feel obligated to support their families – many of whom made significant sacrifices for the athlete along his or her way to success. Tramontano says he would never discourage an athlete from this view, but it’s important to make sure support is given in a strategic and efficient way.
In fact, it may be the case that it is necessary to distinguish more between financial help for families, and investments. For example, the Rothstein Kass research found that 78 per cent of surveyed athletes believed they had been exploited by friends and family.
Privacy and trust: the “lifeblood” of wealth management
It goes without saying that privacy and trust will be at the heart of any wealth management relationship, and in this light athletes are no different from other extremely wealthy clients.
“Many of our non-sports clients are household names and some of our sports clients aren’t,” says Tramontano. Whether you’re a billionaire business man or woman or a major league baseball player, privacy is of the utmost importance.
“The lifeblood of our business is confidentiality and trust,” says Tramontano.
However, it could be argued this goes one step further with clients such as athletes, as well as actors and artists, who attract the kind of media attention associated with A-list celebrity. They are extremely vulnerable in one sense: reputation damage can lead to the withdrawal of sponsorship contracts, as well as making life very difficult for the athlete (just think Tiger Woods).
“An athlete’s reputation is the most fragile aspect of the personal brand. It often takes a career to establish and can be erased by a single misstep,” says Flynn.
“Social media presents an opportunity for the athlete to connect with fans directly, but also poses risks – from hacked accounts to ill-advised ‘tweets’,” he adds.
Again, this might provide opportunities for wealth managers who include a lifestyle or consulting offering. Flynn says some services around brand management and business consulting can provide potential revenue streams for advisors, especially as less than 10 per cent of agents provide business venture support to clients.
Only fools rush in
It’s not a business that can be rushed into though. “It’s 100 per cent word of mouth and reputation,” says Tramontano. His firm has developed relationships with agents, lawyers and managers in the industry.
Also, it’s about cultivating quality relationships. “We’re not trying to handle every athlete…it’s a rifle approach rather than a shotgun approach,” he adds. With that said, he thinks it’s “a really important time for athletes and entertainers” because “over the last 20 to 30 years compensation levels have really ramped up.”
Tramontano points out that if you look back at the 1970s or even 1980s, players in the NFL didn’t make the kind of money that could set them up for life. “They worked extremely hard – it’s a hard job – but they didn’t make that kind of money.” Now, if they have a few successful years and the money is managed well they can change the rest of their lives and the lives of their descendants.
“If someone had plopped $20 million on my desk as a 20-year old I may not have done a brilliant job,” says Tramontano.
And this is why – when approached in the right way – the wealth management and sports industries can work together with benefits to both sides.

Daily News Analysis
Published: March 20, 2012
By Eliane Chavagnon
While 80 per cent of ultra high net worth American families say wealth creation requires a fervent work ethic, innovation has emerged as equally essential in safeguarding long-term wealth across generations, according to a poll by SEI.
A substantial 95 per cent of UHNW American families regard innovation as a key factor in their ability to continue being successful, and these families have simultaneously come to realize that doing so requires an ability to adapt to “changing conditions,” including the potential reinvention of business/financial strategies.
“Wealthy families are craving new ways of communicating and collaborating with their advisors, and new strategies for building and sustaining wealth,” said Michael Farrell, managing director for SEI private wealth management. “After everything that’s gone on in recent years, they understand that sometimes it takes a different approach to be successful.”
However, the consensus is less uniform on where this innovation will come from. Under half (41 per cent) of respondents believe that professional advisors are the “most likely source of innovation”, while over a third (37 per cent) expect innovation to stem from those in business, and a further third (36 per cent) expect innovation to come from younger family members.
The issue is important as, due to the way families expand over generations, combined with the difficult environment for generating reliable income, families are realizing the importance of inspiring younger generations to maintain living standards
Interestingly, despite the prevailing expectation that professional advisors are the primary source of innovation, the survey revealed that just 2 per cent of respondents consider wealth management as the most innovative industry (although only 34 per cent said the wealth management industry is not very innovative). Moreover, the survey indicates that there is “no real consensus” among wealthy families in terms of which areas of wealth management have seen the most innovation.
For example, according to 11 per cent of those polled, investment products are the area that has seen the most innovation. The poll underlined that investment advice was the area of wealth management that has seen the least innovation, as stated by 14 per cent of respondents, followed by reporting (12 per cent), and education and family communications (both 11 per cent).
Again, these findings highlight the importance for firms to develop new services such as goals-based planning and family dynamics offerings - an approach many are moving towards at the moment.
In response to the study’s findings, SEI has identified some of the innovative practices which are emerging within the wealth management industry, including:
- Real-life advice: it is important to take into account qualitative factors such as behavioural and decision-making process, as opposed to focusing solely on quantitative measures such as financial calculators and mobile phone apps;
- Designer investments: a new definition of investment, advocating objective, targeted and risk-adjusted strategies, as opposed to a “one-size-fits-all” approach, and
- Reporting progress: investors should have access to balances and transactions.
The survey involved over 100 individuals, representing families with at least $20 million in financial assets. It was carried out by independent research firm Scorpio Partnership.