Good help these days

• Published in: Canadian business (1977) 2000-08, Vol.73 (14), p.22
• Main Authors: Pritchard, Sandy James, DALAL, SUNTANU, WAHL, ANDREW
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attorneys; Belchetz, Steven; Canada; Divorce; Family law; Fear & phobias; Financial services industry; Investment advisers; Investments; Officials and employees; Plastic surgery; Practice; Pritchard, Sandy; Rich; Sadvari, Gerald; Surgery; Surgery, Plastic; Trials; Wealth; Wives
• ISSN: 0008-3100; 2292-8421

It was a decision he would live to regret. [Mariellen] had hired one of the country's top divorce lawyers, [Gerald Sadvari], to represent her. Sadvari set out to prove that Black was wealthier than he claimed to be. His cross-examination helped expose the intimate details of Montegu's fortune, his business dealings and his spending habits. After a two-week trial, Justice George Walsh of the Ontario Supreme Court awarded Mariellen $6 million -- at the time, the largest court-ordered divorce settlement in Canadian history. The case taught the nation's wealthy a couple of lessons about divorce. First, it's smarter to settle than to drag it to court. And second, it's better to have Gerald Sadvari fighting for you than against you. That's why the rich turn to people like [Steven Belchetz]. As senior vice-president of Ernst & Young Investment Advisers Inc., Belchetz counsels some of Canada's wealthiest individuals on where to invest their money, and monitors its performance once it's there. "I'm like a chief investment officer," says Belchetz, a 35-year-old whose calm demeanor serves him well in his role as financial confidant. "I do the day-to-day worrying, and then produce a report to the client each quarter." He's also the point man for an elite financial consultancy that devises strategies to keep that money in the family -- and away from the taxman. To hire Belchetz and his team, you need at least $5 million in your jeans, though the average is $30 million, and some clients have as much as $300 million. "We're not going after that mass market of million-dollar accounts," Belchetz says -- without irony. Belchetz's roster of clients includes New Economy millionaires and older members of the Canadian establishment. Most of them, however, are entrepreneurs in their mid-40s who have sold successful businesses. It's a pretty exclusive club. Belchetz has only 65 private clients -- and for good reason. Each time he accepts a new customer, he goes through an exhaustive process. Belchetz keeps a database of 5,000 investment managers from around the world. (They're mostly the same people who handle large pools of institutional money, such as corporate pension funds.) He and his colleagues comb through it and create a shortlist of candidates. Then Belchetz sits down with the clients and listens to one-on-one presentations from each manager. He helps them select three or four managers, at least one of whom is typically from outside Canada. "Our clients are global invest