Welcome to the Third View Perspectives Newsletter—your monthly source for financial intelligence and trusted advice to help you make more informed decisions on behalf of you, your family, and your legacy.

Forwarded this newsletter? Subscribe here to receive future editions.

Here’s a video update on the new office space we're building in Westport, CT. Zoltan posted a video preview on LinkedIn.

When you've built wealth, “opportunities” have a way of finding you. A friend's new startup, a colleague's can't-miss private deal, pre-IPO shares someone can “get you into.” We say “opportunities” because it's difficult to distinguish the real opportunities from the ones you should stay away from. The best way to tell? Pay attention to how much real work went in before anyone said yes.

We recently received an investment memo for a single opportunity that we were exploring on behalf of Third View clients. The memo ran 112 pages. To most people, that might seem excessive. We thought it was awesome.

The investment opportunity took one sentence to describe: purchasing a large, publicly traded company that buys independent wealth-management firms and lets them continue running their own practices.

Simple enough, right? But how can you tell if it's a good investment or not?

Well, that's what the remaining 111 pages were for. This is an example of how thorough investment memos are created and written.

Before saying much about the company, the memo sized the market around it. A $7 trillion slice of a $51 trillion market, why it was growing, whether pricing was holding, and how much room was left to consolidate a field of more than 10,000 firms. You can't judge a company without first judging the pool it's swimming in.

After they addressed the market, they shifted focus to the company itself. The memo separated growth that came from rising markets from growth the business actually created, went firm by firm through what it had bought, and brought in outside accountants to confirm the profits were real. It dissected the company from every angle, including revenue growth, company financials, valuation, and performance.

Numbers don't run a business; people do. So the memo made reference calls on management, surveyed the firms the company had acquired, and tracked how many walked away each year. It captured data on the key management team members and identified the strengths and risks that existed on the people side of the organization.

This is the part amateurs skip, and where the memo spent the most time: dissecting every major downturn since the 1970s, what a further 25% market drop would do, how comfortably the company could carry its debt, and which assumptions the outcome really hinged on. They painted a number of “worst-case” scenarios in a logical, unbiased way and demonstrated how those scenarios would impact overall performance.

Everything came back to what you'd pay. After the entire business case was thoroughly presented, the memo introduced the price. The shares were available at roughly half what comparable businesses fetched in private deals.

Notice what the memo did: it painted the complete picture of the industry and company performance, made the bull case and the bear case with equal seriousness, and tied all of that data to a price. That's the difference between “this looks like a great opportunity” and “this is a good investment at this price, and here's exactly how it could fail.”

We share this to illustrate how professionals approach and evaluate investment opportunities. So when your neighbor or co-worker comes to you with the next greatest “once in a lifetime opportunity,” think of this 112-page investment memo.

Have they put a similar level of rigor behind the investment thesis?

We're not suggesting you have to do this work yourself. It's just a good marker for how professionals evaluate opportunities. So, next time you are presented with an “opportunity,” ask for the investment memo.

And if you receive it, take a look for thoroughness and compare it to the memo we've outlined here. Of course, you can also send it our way, and we'll help you discern whether there's real substance behind it or it's missing a lot of meat. Either way, you'll decide with your eyes open.

A: Sooner than most parents think. The old playbook said to keep it secret so the money doesn't spoil them, then reveal everything once you're gone. That approach has aged badly. The research now points the other way: introduce your kids to wealth early and often, so they can learn while you're still here to guide them. Roughly 70% of families never discuss their inheritance plans, and that silence tends to create confusion, not protection.

You don't have to hand a teenager a balance sheet. Start with values and responsibility, then layer in specifics as each child matures. Share the “why” before the “how much.” Talk about what the money is for, and the role you hope they'll play in the family.

These conversations can be hard to have alone. Loop us in, we’ve got resources to help.

Have a question you'd like us to answer in a future newsletter? Simply reply to this email to submit it to us.

Third View Co-Founder, Frank McKiernan, recently joined Alyson Tucci on the Barron's Advisor Podcast to share more on his career story and beliefs regarding the future of financial advising.

Frank shares how the Third View team approaches the work of advising clients, from treating individuals like institutions to investing with a long-term, business-owner mindset.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

That’s all for this month. If you enjoyed the newsletter, the greatest compliment would be to forward it to someone you think would find it valuable. We’ll be back with more next month.
- Frank, Jerry, and Zoltan

Sign up here to receive future newsletter editions in your inbox.

Any media logos and/or trademarks are the property of their respective owners and no endorsement by those owners of the advisor or firm is stated or implied.

Past performance is not indicative of future results. The material above has been provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal or investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security or strategy. The investment strategy and themes discussed herein may be unsuitable for investors depending on their specific investment objectives and financial situation. Information obtained from third-party sources is believed to be reliable though its accuracy is not guaranteed, and Third View Private Wealth makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, which should not be used as the basis of any investment decision. Information contained on third party websites that Third View Private Wealth may link to is not reviewed in their entirety for accuracy and Third View Private Wealth assumes no liability for the information contained on these websites. Opinions expressed in this commentary reflect subjective judgments of the author based on conditions at the time of writing and are subject to change without notice. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission from Third View Private Wealth. For more information about Third View Private Wealth, including our Form ADV brochures, please visit https://adviserinfo.sec.gov or contact us at (203) 408-0098.