A private wealth practice on Mount Desert Island. Capped at fifty households. Principal attention in every meeting. Built around the long view that wealth is for the life it makes possible, not the activity it generates.
I spent twenty-two years inside a Boston multi-family office before starting Northwater. The last decade of that work was a slow attrition of presence — the firm grew, the meetings shortened, the relationships became something less than what they had been. In 2014, after my father passed, I moved to Mount Desert Island full-time and began the practice I wished he had had access to. Northwater caps at fifty client households. I am in every meeting. The model is principal attention. The framework I work from is what I call the tideline view — the idea that wealth's purpose is to create more space, not more activity. Most clients come for the planning. They stay because of the framework.
I spent twenty-two years inside a Boston multi-family office before starting NorthwaterRead the approach
My discipline shows in the numbers: smaller, longer, quieter.
Counsel is delivered as a single, integrated relationship — not a menu of services.
The core engagement. Investment design, tax-aware structures, household financial architecture — all built against a 20-30 year planning horizon. Reviewed annually; reconsidered every five years.
For families thinking across two or three generations. Governance structures, family meetings, the transfer of judgment alongside the transfer of assets. Most engagements continue across the second decade.
For households inside the window of a major liquidity event — business sale, inheritance, settlement. The first two years post-event are about integration, not deployment. We move at the pace the household requires.
Trust design, charitable structures, the conversation about what the wealth is finally for. Coordinated with your estate counsel; designed to outlast all of us.
Four commitments that shape every meeting, every recommendation, every decision.
Not the activity it generates, not the score it represents. The practice exists to produce a quieter life — fewer urgent decisions, more clarity about what matters, more of the things the wealth was supposed to enable in the first place.
The decisions that compound across decades are made slowly, deliberated thoroughly, and revisited rarely. We do not optimize for activity. We optimize for the rightness of the few decisions that actually shape the long horizon.
Northwater caps at fifty households so that I am in every meeting and every annual review. When the practice approaches capacity, it closes — and prospective clients are told honestly when a seat may open.
The framework moves slowly because the tide does. A long-horizon plan that reads exactly the same in year three as it did in year one is not a failure — it is the point. Steadiness is the deliverable.
I do my best work for a specific kind of household.
Second-, third-, or fourth-generation households continuing a family practice of stewardship. Most have a clear sense of what the wealth is for and want counsel that honors that.
First-generation wealth — typically late-career business owners or senior professionals — preparing to make the shift from accumulation to stewardship. The framework gives the long view they have not yet had time to build.
Within twenty-four months of a major transaction. The first two years are about integration, not deployment. We move at the pace the household requires.
Families with multi-decade wealth and an existing advisor relationship that no longer fits. Most transitions to Northwater begin with a single long conversation and a slow handoff.
How a relationship begins, deepens, and stays useful over decades.
A letter or an email. I read every one personally. If the fit is plausible, I respond within a week to propose a first conversation.
Two to three hours, usually in person on the island or at your home. There is no pitch. We talk about the family, the wealth, the long horizon. You will know if it is the right fit and so will I.
Three to four months. A full picture — assets, structures, family dynamics, advisor relationships. Slow on purpose. The tideline view is built in this period.
In our first meeting Henrik asked me a question I had been waiting fifteen years for an advisor to ask. By the end of the second meeting, I knew this was the practice I was going to spend the rest of my life with.
A short list of what prospective clients ask before reaching out.
We currently have three open seats. The practice caps at fifty households. When we reach capacity the inquiry form closes; prospective clients are told honestly whether and when a seat may open.
We do not publish a hard minimum. Most engagements involve households with $10M+ in investable assets, but the right answer is often "let us have a conversation." The minimum is, in practice, alignment around the long horizon.
A flat annual retainer based on engagement complexity. AUM fee on assets under our management, tiered down significantly above the first ten million. No commissions, no proprietary products, no insurance sales. Disclosed in our Form ADV every year.
Most first meetings happen on the island or at the client's home. Ongoing meetings happen quarterly, in person where geography allows, by video where it does not. The practice has clients across New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and a small West Coast cohort.
Yes. Most engagements begin with an existing advisor relationship. We are clear about transitions: there is no rush, and we make the handoff slowly and respectfully. Many of our long-term clients took six to twelve months to fully transition.
New relationships start with a half-hour conversation — no agenda, no obligation.
Every inquiry is read personally — I reply within one business day.