Meghan Railey, CFP, is the co-founder and CFO of Optas Capital. Meghan specializes in equity compensation and customized financial planning, including tax and estate planning. She met Optas co-founder Fritz Glasser, CIMA, at UBS Financial Services in 2008. Together, they joined Wells Fargo Advisors in 2010 before establishing Optas in May 2019 to fulfill their shared vision of serving as independent financial advocates and wealth stewards for their clients.
Russ Alan Prince: Tell us about Optas Capital and why you started the firm in 2019 with your business partner, Fritz Glasser.
Meghan Railey: By 2019, Fritz and I had spent a combined three decades in the industry at large firms. We were continually frustrated with the “one size fits all” client experience and a lack of client-centricity at those firms. We also realized that over the past three decades we had developed a client experience and solution set that was truly designed not for, but by, our clients. These became our founding principles which we had developed over the course of many long-term client relationships.
Prince: You work with a lot of self-made earners, founders, and builders. What makes their financial needs unique?
Railey: First-generation wealth creators are unique because their newfound wealth typically occurs much earlier than the “normal” retirement age—the mid-60s. This means the planning and solution set must be extremely flexible, long-term-focused, and employ more variables.
Additionally, there are multiple discovery phases we use with our clients due to continuous change in their lives, families, and interests between wealth creation and the “end of their plan.” Finally, first-generation wealth does not come with the multi-generational biases of legacy portfolios. While a clean slate sounds attractive, it can be overwhelming when faced with a glut of optionality. We focus on honing in on what clients are truly trying to accomplish, in order to educate and partner with them on ways to customize their financial toolkit.
Prince: How does the newfound affluence of the self-made earners, founders, and builders you work with affect their personal relationships, and how do you as an advisor help them adjust to these new dynamics?
Railey: This is one of the most complicated things for individuals to understand until it is personally experienced. First-generational wealth is exciting, lonely, and overwhelming, and at times it causes or exacerbates negative family dynamics. On the positive side, newfound wealth certainly gives clients a toolkit to think purposefully about how to utilize their assets to make a difference in their communities and to accomplish audacious or resource-intensive goals.
Prince: You are personally very passionate about financial literacy and advocating for female advancement within the industry and beyond. Can you expand upon what you are doing?
Railey: Optas is committed to expanding representation in both racial and gender diversity in the wealth management industry. Currently, Optas Capital’s team is made up of professionals from various ethnic backgrounds, as well as members of the LBGTQ+ community.
The Optas team is also 50% female. Additionally, I as Co-Founder and CFO are a staunch advocate for female advancement. I am a member of both the Board of Directors and Finance Committee at ICA Cristo Rey Academy, an all-girls college preparatory work-study high school for underserved young women in San Francisco. Through my volunteer work with the Peninsula College Fund, I also serve as a mentor to a young woman who is the first member of her family to attend college.
To support growth within the firm we have developed an associate training program that focuses on learning and development in the subject areas of wealth management and financial planning. Each of the principals on the Optas team has experienced or been witness to “big firm training programs.” We are dedicated to putting in the time and diligence it takes to grow and nurture talent within the firm and construct an inclusive team that represents the population of people with financial planning needs—that is everyone.
Russ Alan Prince is the executive director of Private Wealth magazine and one of the leading authorities in the private wealth industry. He consults with family offices, the wealthy, fast-tracking entrepreneurs, and select professionals. Connect with him on LinkedIn.com.
