Elke Rubach aims at younger, early-stage-wealth segment of family office market

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As a Certified Financial Planner who speaks four languages, Elke Rubach prioritizes honest and free-flowing conversations with her diverse clients. Yet the 2012 founding of her namesake multi-family office, Rubach Wealth, was prompted by something much more calculated.

In preparing to launch her business, she performed a branding exercise. “It came to light that my mission is to normalize the money conversation – to give meaning to family wealth,” Rubach recalls. “The most important thing for me is to have a real connection with my clients, and to be as resourceful for them as possible.”

Before that realization, Mexico-born Rubach had taken an unusual route to becoming a lawyer. After earning a Chevening Scholarship to study law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, she joined the Toronto-based law firm McCarthy Tétrault LLP intending to return to Mexico in a year to become a partner. One year stretched into two, and then into eight when Rubach was hired by the Bank of Nova Scotia.

It was there that she observed the life-changing impact of sound financial advice and began building her expertise in optimizing income and tax efficiencies, achieving cohesiveness in financial and estate plans, and providing asset management strategies that foster wealth accumulation and growth.

Rubach spent the good part of a recent afternoon with Canadian Family Offices talking about Rubach Wealth, the value of candid conversations with clients, and the challenges and opportunities ahead for Canada’s wealthy – but not extremely wealthy – families.

What shaped your attitudes and approaches to wealth? Who were your greatest influencers?

Until I did the branding exercise, I was convinced that wealth management was purely professional. Cut out the jargon and complexities for the client, and if they still don’t understand, don’t invest.

But that changed as I worked through the fact that when I was little, my dad didn’t plan. Then my dad died, and my mom had to figure everything out on her own. We had assets and we were initially okay, but if my dad had done some of what I do for clients, the entire family could have been spared a lot of stress.

If you don’t plan, you can leave a mess behind. Don’t look at it as asset management, look at it as stewardship, as legacy. It’s peace of mind for current and future generations, it’s harmony, it’s family values, it’s insurance conversations, it’s tax efficiencies that prevent you from leaving money on the table.

How is Rubach Wealth different from other family offices in Canada?

The families we serve tend to be less affluent. In terms of multifamily offices, there’s a massive gap between firms that serve young professionals and business owners with $5 million to $10 million, and those that serve the ultra-wealthy.

You shouldn’t have to be a massive name to have access to a family office. You owe it to your children to do some planning, but we’re not here to change dynamics in the family. Rather, we’re here to demystify the whole concept of financial planning.

The people we work with best are like me: professionals who are really good at what they do but don’t have time to properly look after their own financial affairs. They might follow the advice of a buddy at the golf club, but there are a lot of elements that go into planning that you (and your buddy) might not think about. So we peel back the layers to figure out what our clients need, and to make sure they know where everything is and which buttons to push in case of crisis.

I see it as an eternal challenge to figure out a better way. How can we simplify a potential solution? How can we make it more efficient, or more tax-efficient? How can we engage the next generation? How can we maximize the value of a venture? These are not just for me to answer, these are questions I ask my clients.

Your multi-family office is described as “European style.” What does that mean?

It’s about getting rid of the concept of not talking about money. Life goes really, really fast, and while you’re trying to build your network, build your business, get that next sale at the manufacturing plant, or land that new client, a lot of loose ends can get left behind.

You shouldn't have to be a massive name to have access to family offices.

Elke Rubach

In Europe, the fee model is more per project, per service or per package, with clarity of fees disclosed. So we do that. Also, most multifamily offices start at a lower wealth threshold because they see the value in planning early.

Every generation has its own characteristics. What do we know about the emerging generation of wealthy Canadians?

They want peace of mind, simplicity, clarity, and knowing there’s somebody they can trust. We seem to have a special power to be able to convey complex concepts and make them relatable to people. This is how you build trust. You have 20 minutes of someone’s time, and after that their attention span is gone. I’m not here as a cheerleader, I’m here as a family advisor. And it’s in the best interest of those involved to be involved.

Everybody wants to know they’ll be okay, that their kids and the next generation or their parents will be okay. That they’ll never outlive their savings, that all the years of hard work mean something. If that’s not something they want, and they don’t value harmony in the family and open conversations, then we don’t take them on. We don’t hide assets, we don’t trick people.

With the right advice, everybody has a shot. Many immigrants to Canada have done really well, or at least a lot better than they would have done in their home countries, and they just need guidance. It’s about taking the time to guide them, and figuring out what they have, what they want, and where they want to go.

What kind of assets or investments can clients access through Rubach Wealth that they wouldn’t be able to access so easily on their own or through another firm?

I don’t touch Bitcoin or anything like that, because I know from experience that overnight wealth can disappear just as easily. We have access to institutional investments, and are working with other asset managers more and more. I get pitched 24/7 around the next available fund, but it’s really about finding the asset class that people understand and that suits their needs. How much do they need to maintain their lifestyle, and to make sure they’re never financially dependent on anyone? What’s the most tax-efficient way to achieve this?

When you think about all the wealthy families you’ve worked with, what are the common mistakes you see?

The most blatant one is not having a will or power of attorney. That drives me bananas. Of course, my role is not to judge or shame. My role is to help, and if they’re here, it’s either because they see an issue, or they need someone to figure out what kind of issues they may face.

If there are no issues, then great, that’s a win. Then again, I’ve had people who have grown a $70-million company and don’t have a shareholders agreement. I have spouses with powers of attorney who are at home with Alzheimer’s.

A big one involves people who have never talked to their kids about their business.

More from Canadian Family Offices:

• Should you donate to a charity that’s flush with cash?
• The mid-market M&A opportunity for investors
• Be a female-friendly investment advisor: Communicate in her language
• ‘Soul-baring experience’ needed for proper onboarding of clients

Do any especially memorable family interactions stand out?

There was one situation where a group of siblings were fighting and insulting each other. So I asked the family to give me a tour of their manufacturing plant.

Dad walked me around and was clearly super-proud of his company and its products. The siblings were following along behind, and I asked, “How did the company start? How has it grown? What challenges has it faced along the way?” And the dad started talking about sleeping in his car because he couldn’t make payroll and pay for a hotel. I turned around, and his full-grown adult children were all in tears. “Dad,” they said, “you never told us any of that.” The next day, everything was in order.

What are the key challenges and opportunities ahead for Canada’s wealthy families?

If you can’t engage the next generation, you are lost. I often say, “You’re not the client, your children are.”

For me, the worst is when a client says, “This is what we’ve always done.” So I ask them, “Will money ever be a problem for your family?” The absence of money clearly is an issue, but excessive money can be just as serious when you don’t know what’s going on. Lack of clarity is a big problem.

We don’t want your kids fighting over the casket, because what happens then is that everybody lawyers up, and the cake shrinks fast because of professional fees, valuations, lawyers, forensic accountants, specialists, witness experts and on and on. Simply having a conversation about money early on prevents things from getting nasty because everybody knows what’s going on.

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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