Altman Advisors

06/15/2026

Before you invest, spend, or make any big decisions with an inheritance, pause. The biggest mistake we see is not what people do. It is how quickly they do it.

Inheriting money is rarely just a financial event. It almost always arrives alongside loss. And in the middle of grief, the pressure to do something with the money can feel urgent, even when it is not.

The families we work with who navigate this best share one quality: they give themselves permission to slow down before they act. Not indefinitely. Just long enough to understand what they have, what it means for their financial plan, and what they actually want it to do for their lives.

That clarity is harder to reach than most people expect. An inheritance can arrive in many forms, cash, retirement accounts, real estate, a brokerage account, each with different tax treatment and different implications. Decisions made quickly and without that understanding can be difficult to undo.

Ryan Safko, our Advisor and Family Office Planner, wrote a short, practical guide to the steps that matter most in the months following an inheritance. It is written for the person receiving, not the person planning the estate.

Full piece in the comments.

05/04/2026

When a serious offer arrives, the question changes.

It's no longer "Can I sell?" Most owners at this stage already know the answer to that. The harder question, the one that tends to keep people up at night, is "Should I?"

Buyers can usually be found. What's far more difficult is knowing whether the offer in front of you is truly sufficient. Sufficient to fund the life you want. Sufficient to remove the risk of waiting for something better that may never arrive. Sufficient to feel like the right decision five years from now.

At Altman Advisors, we work with business owners through this exact moment. And what we've found is that the owners who navigate it most clearly are the ones who defined "enough" before the offer came, not after.

That definition isn't just a number. It's a combination of after-tax proceeds, deal structure, personal priorities, and an honest accounting of what comes next.
Ben Altman wrote about the framework we use with clients at this stage, including the questions most people don't think to ask until it's too late.

Full article in the comments.

04/24/2026

Quick question:

When was the last time your investment advisor, your CPA, and your estate attorney were all in the same conversation?

For most families, the answer is never.

They operate in separate lanes. Your CPA knows your taxes. Your investment advisor knows your portfolio. Your estate attorney knows your trust documents.

But nobody knows the whole picture.

That's not a people problem. It's a structure problem.

A Multi-Family Office is built to solve exactly this — one coordinated team that sees everything, plans everything, and keeps it all aligned as your life changes.

We've been doing this for families with $5M to $50M+ in assets since 1991.

If this sounds like something worth exploring, we'd love to have that conversation.

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For many successful families, wealth brings increasing complexity, but not necessarily clarity. The question becomes: how do you access institutional-grade investment expertise, coordinated planning, and high-touch service without building and managing a $5 to $10 million-per-year infrastructure?

04/23/2026

Most "financial advisors" aren't advisors.

They're salespeople with licenses.

They're legally allowed to recommend investments that benefit them more than you—as long as it's "suitable."

Real fiduciaries are bound by law to put your interests first. Always.

But the industry doesn't advertise this difference because most firms profit from the confusion.

04/22/2026

Client needed $225K for a real estate deal.

Selling stocks would've cost $20K+ in taxes.

Instead, we borrowed against the portfolio at 4.6%, kept everything invested, and five months later the portfolio was up 10%+.

The loan was repaid. The gains stayed. The taxes never happened.

Most advisors don't even mention this option:

When our client needed $225,000 to help fund a real estate venture, selling investments would have triggered over $20,000 in capital gains taxes. Instead, we arranged a low interest portfolio line of credit using their investments as collateral, preserving both their

04/21/2026

The families we work with don't just write checks to charity.

They create "The Family Charitable Fund" and involve their kids in deciding where money goes.

It's not about the tax break—it's about teaching the next generation what matters.

One client's 16-year-old just recommended a $5K grant to a local animal shelter. She researched it, presented to the family, and they approved it together.

That's not philanthropy. That's building legacy.

04/20/2026

There's a point in building wealth where your financial situation quietly outgrows your financial advisor.

Not because they're bad at their job. Because the job has changed.

You need more than someone managing a portfolio. You need a team coordinating your investments, your taxes, your estate plan, and your family's long-term goals — together, as one picture.

The challenge? Building a private family office to get that kind of service costs $5–10 million a year to run. For most families, that's not realistic.

That's exactly why the Multi-Family Office model exists.

Same institutional quality. Same coordinated planning. A fraction of the cost.

We recently wrote about what this actually looks like in practice — and who it's designed for. Worth a read if you or someone you know is at that stage.

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For many successful families, wealth brings increasing complexity, but not necessarily clarity. The question becomes: how do you access institutional-grade investment expertise, coordinated planning, and high-touch service without building and managing a $5 to $10 million-per-year infrastructure?

04/17/2026

Your financial advisor just recommended a mutual fund.

Did they recommend it because it's best for you—or because it pays them the highest commission?

If they're a broker, they only have to prove it's "suitable."

If they're a fiduciary, they're legally required to put your interests first.

Most investors don't know which one they're working with.

Read full article here:

In 1991, our Chairman, Sheldon Altman, made a bold and forwardthinking decision—to build a fee-based advisory service to fully align with his clients' best interests. What was a trailblazing idea then has since become the guiding principle behind everything we do at Altman Advisors.

04/15/2026

Your HR department told you the 401(k) limit is $23,500.

They're wrong.

The employee deferral limit is $23,500. The total contribution limit is $70,000.

The gap between those two numbers? That's where the Mega Backdoor Roth lives.

Most high earners never ask about this. The ones who do are building tax-free wealth faster than their peers.