“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”
~ William Bruce Cameron ~
We see this truth in our work every day.
As an independent fiduciary, WE Trust Company is required to put the needs of our clients above all else. This sacred duty sometimes puts us in direct conflict with a more traditional definition of success.
In our “win at all cost world,” success is often defined solely by financial prosperity, material possessions and social status. With that as a lens, one might think that successful trust administration always leads to asset growth. But serving as a trustee and fiduciary is far more nuanced than just growing a portfolio. Sometimes success comes with making different choices: housing a beneficiary, paying medical costs to stabilize health or helping clients deal with past issues to prepare for a better future.
Let me give you a few examples how WE Trust has “successfully” administered trusts.
The beneficiary of trust created by her deceased stepfather, we found Alison at Harborview Medical Center. She struggled lifelong with bi-polar disorder, was injured and was without housing. Trust assets left to her were modest but potentially life changing. When asked what she needed, her response was “I need a phone.” The trust bought her a phone which allowed us to stay in touch as she recovered.
After recovery, she had nowhere to go. So, the trust paid for a hotel room and then employed a private social worker to assist with a long-term housing search. Alison applied for every possible subsidized housing option in King County and was told the wait lists were years long.
Facing time back on the street, we decided to use trust funds to rent a studio apartment, providing her with time and space to start healing from years of instability. She took her medication, adopted a dog for companionship and just as the trust funding was nearly depleted, she received the call from Seattle Public Housing. She moved to a subsidized one-bedroom apartment where she continued her journey from the streets never to become homeless again.
Did we grow the trust fund assets? No but I cannot think of a more successful outcome for Alison.
We never met Patricia in person as she lives in New York. Her father died in Seattle, leaving her the proceeds of a life insurance policy in trust. The first call with her was tough. She was just entering adulthood, grieving deeply from the shocking loss of a parent, and struggled mightily with her mental health.
We understood as trustees we needed to balance her immediate and long-term needs. The trust funds would be of little use if she succumbed to her precarious mental health, but they also were meant to help establish her in life. We worked with the financial advisory team to invest trust assets for both competing needs. Patricia was hospitalized three to four times within the first two years of working with her. The trust paid all her living expenses throughout this time.
Slowly but surely, she grew more stable, confident and determined. She went to college and earned a degree. By the time the trust distributed fully, on her 25th birthday, she was fully employed, ready to handle the responsibility of a modest inheritance and understood that remaining trust funds distributed to her could help with the down payment on a house or future education needs but would not support her for the rest of her life. She was ready and is now thriving.
Peter inherited funds from his parents when they passed away. They knew their son was immature, impulsive and didn’t have the best track record with managing money. They left funds to him in trust and named WE Trust Company as the trustee.
He wasn’t thrilled with this arrangement but once he understood that WE Trust is collaborative, he began to work with us. His biggest need was to purchase a home for his growing family. Being “in charge” was very important to Peter and he immediately balked at the idea of the trust owning the house rather than him owning it outright. But Peter had admitted to us that he owed federal and state taxes and hadn’t filed his returns for several years.
As trustees, we knew that individuals owning a house with unpaid taxes and unfiled tax returns could lead to a lien. It was better for the trust to own the home until he cleaned up his act. We struck a deal with Peter. Let the trust buy the house. As the beneficiary, he and his family moved in.
We helped him get on a stable path with the IRS by resolving his overdue taxes and paying off some debt. Once this happened and he reached a certain age, the trust distributed the house and remaining funds to him outright and closed the trust. The trust gave him a runway to grow up a little bit more.
While growing financial assets is definitely a part of being a good trustee and fiduciary, it isn’t the whole of it.
There is often more to the story which requires involvement with the beneficiaries, creative thinking and problem solving, compassion and success that may look different from different angles.