MichaelFliegelman.com

Jonathan Gassman

Jonathan is Director of Wealth Management at G&G Planning Concepts, Inc., one of the leading wealth management firms in New York City. He is a uniquely talented man who runs his own CPA firm which was started by his grandfather about 100 years ago when the tax code was first being developed. His father developed the firm with some tremendous clients from all walks of life, corporate executives, CFOs, CEOs, CIOs, and business owners of small, closely held corporations.

Jonathan grew up in a CPA culture and environment and as he grew with the firms clients he yearned to do more than just provide tax compliance work for these clients or people. As their client base matured and began to amass more wealth, he asked them what more could we do to help them beyond just merely preparing their income tax returns? Their answers helped drive the firm in creating a financial advisory business. Jonathan sought out becoming a Certified Financial Planner and a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy so that he would be best suited to deliver the highest quality of service that these very high end clients wanted and desperately needed.

About ten years ago I met Jonathan while conducting a seminar on how and why accountants and CPAs should consider offering financial services and financial planning, and money management to their clients etc. and there began a relationship. That relationship now has matured over the years into a collaborative partnership with clients. The results are astounding for clients when you have a team of advisors from different disciplines all working to serve one common dream for the client. A good quarterback is key to fulfilling the clients’ goals and aspirations. Jonathan and I continue on the path of collaboration, coordination and integration. We believe that when you make a decision in your financial life it is always at the expense of another decision and having the ability to see how one decision effects another is so valuable to the people we serve. We bring that comparative analysis, that scientific viewpoint, so our clients can see things from an opportunity cost basis. For example:

• If I choose to put my money here, then I can’t place it here.
• If I did a shorter amortization on my mortgage it would cost me more money and therefore maybe I can’t invest as much into my business, or other investments

Every decision is at the expense of another and when you bring in other disciplines, other people, they see more choices which is ultimately what we want to create for our clients; more options, more choices, more flexibility because at the end what creates disappointment or stress is not having choices in life, feeling that it is only going to be one way. We strive to avoid that feeling of helplessness for our clients by getting them to see things from a perspective where they have options and choices, and that they are doing good planning, planning that allows them to take care of first things first.

 As we have talked about in the past, our idea of first things first is foundational. First you have protection – - you make sure the foundation is built – - proper car, home, liability insurance, disability, life insurance, wills, adequate savings, liquidity, proper titling of assets, proper legal documents, etc., so that you are protecting the wealth that you are simultaneously building. Once the defense has been formulated, then and only then will you be able to properly move forward for the offense. And that is why the process of collaboration, coordination, and multi-disciplinary practices adds tremendous value for the clients we serve.