Meyer Handelman Company

There aren’t many investment management firms able to trace a direct company lineage across four generations, beginning as far back as the 1930s. But for US RIA Meyer Handelman Company (MHCo), this origin story — steeped in history and family — is crucial to the fabric of the business.

The original iteration of the family business was first founded by Senior Managing Partner Rick Handelman’s grandfather, Meyer Handelman. Today, Rick works alongside his son Scott Handelman and nephew Zach Handelman, both Managing Partners, who play an integral role in the firm’s ongoing growth.

With assets under management worth around $3.1 billion, MHCo has proven its new approach — merging tradition and modernization — is paying off. The firm’s investment in best-in-class technology has helped to attract and retain the wealth of new generations, while its dedication and commitment to legacy clients has ensured it remains a trusted advisor for its long-standing clients.

“We knew we did not want to become a massive team of advisors and inevitably lose touch with individual clients,” says Zach Handelman. “When it comes to clients, we always wanted to be one family, working for another.”

For MHCo, history is echoed in its client base; the firm is proud to service up to five or six generations of the same families over the many decades it has operated. Now, with the rapid advancement of technology occurring while the Great Wealth Transfer looms — and the Millennial and Gen-Z children of wealthy clients prepare to receive a record transfer of wealth by 2030 — MHCo knew that implementing a successful modernization initiative was more important than ever.

                      FIRM
                    
                      Meyer Handelman Company, LLC

                      LOCATION
                    
                      Rye Brook, NY

                      LEADERSHIP
                    
                      Rick Handelman
Zach Handelman
Scott Handelman
                    

                      ESTABLISHED
                    
                      1933

                      CURRENT ASSETS  UNDER ADVISEMENT
                    
                      $3.1 billion

                      TEAM MEMBERS
                    17

                      TECH PARTNER INTEGRATIONS
                    
                      eMoney
Blaze Portfolio
Wealthbox
                    

THE CHALLENGE

Modernizing legacy systems without disrupting tradition

When it came to modernizing the firm’s systems, MHCo needed a technology solution that could address a number of challenges.

For Zach, the priority was ensuring the firm could achieve significant organic growth, attracting new customers including younger generations. MHCo’s legacy systems created obstacles when it came to growth — through inefficient operational processes, time-consuming workflows and a lack of sufficient functionality in areas such as reporting, communication and analysis. With a background in systems engineering, Zach knew that investing in best-in-class technology was the solution to increasing capacity, appealing to future generations and scaling their business.

When it comes to clients, we always wanted to be one family, working for another.

Zach Handelman, Managing Partner

For Rick, the real challenge lay in change management. The firm needed to minimize disruption while carefully balancing modernization and tradition — meeting evolving client demands without alienating those who valued the status quo.

“The younger generation is the ‘now’ generation. They don't wait. They want to know right now about their transactions and what their portfolios are worth,” says Rick Handelman. “In our old system, there was no such capability. Addepar has allowed us to appeal to a younger generation by showing them that we're keeping up with the latest in technology.”

Zach Handelman adds: “One of the big missions of our firm is the multi-generational transfer, preservation and accumulation of wealth. But people of my generation and younger expect an app on their phone, an online portal, more transparency and more engagement. We needed to find a technology solution to ensure we could offer that.”

And for Scott, the challenge lay in preserving the family-run nature of the business  and scaling the quality, white-glove client services that make up MHCo’s unique selling proposition. With many clients coming to them for more than just investment conversations, Scott wanted to ensure that when they opened the door for new business, they would still deliver the personalized, high-touch service they were  known for.

With Addepar, Meyer Handelman Company  has experienced:

29%

Increase in  AUM

50-70

New accounts added

75%

Reduction in time spent preparing reports

THE RESULT

Scaling multi-generational wealth management and achieving organic growth

Despite the typical risks around costliness and disruption that arise when investing in a new technology solution, the decision to adopt Addepar brought immediate improvements for the MHCo, and has played a crucial role in the firm’s ongoing mission to scale their ability to serve families through the generations and support the successful transfer of wealth.

“Before, everything worked, but it wasn’t scalable,” says Zach Handelman. “We were downloading data from each custodian, and manual reconciliation was causing errors. Also, the cash transaction processing and categorization central to our family office administration was taking an inordinate amount of time.” With Addepar, the firm streamlined and modernized its processes, reducing the time spent on manual tasks by 75%. They could now efficiently handle more clients without increasing headcount. “Addepar has really allowed us to add accounts of all sizes. Before we wouldn’t take on smaller accounts because of the burden on our workflows,” says Zach. “Now, adding new accounts is easy.”

In the end, what came together was kind of the perfect blend of old and new.

Zach Handelman, Managing Partner

The improved efficiency freed up time for the team to focus on delivering more personalized services, work closely with new generations of clients and address their evolving needs.

Functionality has also improved — particularly when it comes to viewing data and its impact on analysis capabilities for the firm’s advisors. “Before, everything was a report. If you wanted to see data, you had to generate a report,” Zach Handelman says. “Addepar’s analysis view changes this. The information is in front of you, and you can look at it from different angles with different columns and filters. You can pull out certain layers or filter certain attributes. It’s a huge improvement.” Being able to offer this more immediate and comprehensive view has been vital in meeting the expectations of the firm's technologically-advanced younger generations.

When it came to looking long term, integration was of paramount importance to MHCo — who knew modernization was a process that continued indefinitely, as technology advanced. This meant Addepar’s open architecture and ecosystem were of huge appeal. The firm knew that for a successful transition, and to enable optimal future systems, choosing a solution that integrated with the established and changing tech stack was vital.

As the firm continued its modernization, it focused on reeducating its clients about the changes. They wanted to ensure their clients understood their new capabilities and how they could benefit from them.

“In the end, what came together was kind of the perfect blend of old and new. After all, the biggest challenge was making sure we did not alienate the legacy client base while modernizing a platform for the next generation,” says Zach Handelman.

Case study