15 transformational advisers: Tim Kochis

Tim Kochis could be retired by now, satisfied with a successful career as a financial planning pioneer and entrepreneur.
But the 67-year-old, who left the firm he helped build, Aspiriant LLC, just over a year ago, now has his sights set on building an independent planning profession in the developing world.
Mr. Kochis is well-known for founding Kochis Fitz Tracy Fitzhugh & Gott Inc. in San Francisco in 1991. In 2008, he merged it with Los Angeles-based Quintile Wealth Management, a family office firm. Both firms had about $2.5 billion under management at the time. In 2010 the combined firm, with the new moniker of Aspiriant, bought Deloitte Investment Advisors LLC, adding another $3 billion in assets.
Aspiriant is now one of the biggest players in the registered investment adviser space, placing No. 9 in InvestmentNews’ rankings.
Despite his role in creating Aspiriant, Mr. Kochis may be better known for his leadership in the planning profession.

PHOTO GALLERY 15 transformational advisers

He serves on the board of the Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd., the international administrator of the CFP mark. He has served stints as president of the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. and as chairman of the International CFP Council, as well as the Board of Examiners of the CFP Board.
“He’s just been somebody who’s dedicated his life to the industry,” said Rob Francais, chief executive of Aspiriant and a co-founder of Quintile.
The 2008 Quintile merger, in fact, was something of a signpost for others on how to implement a succession plan that will survive the test of time.
“Long before it was fashionable, we decided to distribute ownership of our firm,” Mr. Kochis said about Kochis Fitz. “By the time we did the merger with Quintile, there were seven principals.”
The $7 billion-in-assets Aspiriant now has 42 owners, including Mr. Kochis.
Employee ownership and an internal succession process create continuity, which attracts clients, Mr. Kochis said. “You can have a pretty credible promise that you’ll provide [a high level of] service indefinitely because you don’t have third parties calling any shots.”
In addition to building his planning practice, Mr. Kochis has been a key player over the past decade in establishing the FPSB as the international regulator for the financial planning profession and for the CFP credential.
Since 1990, the CFP Board had been licensing the designation to foreign affiliates. But that effort was complicated and costly, Mr. Kochis said, and the CFP Board contemplated abandoning it. Mr. Kochis and others argued against giving up. Because of his vocal support for internationalizing the CFP, in 2002 Mr. Kochis was tapped as one of the 10 initial board members for the new FPSB. Two years later, a deal was struck to transfer the international CFP mark to the new organization.
But the FPSB had a problem: How would it pay the $1.5 million cost of purchasing the CFP mark? Foreign affiliates pitched in, but Mr. Kochis had to arrange a bank loan for the rest. To make it work, he and Indianapolis-based planner Elaine Bedel had to guarantee more than $1 million of the loan personally.
“[Mr. Kochis] just called one day and said, ‘Would you be willing to personally sign on a million-dollar note for the FPSB to purchase the mark?’” said Ms. Bedel, founder of Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. “Tim was always Mr. Optimism through every rough patch. That was a helpful trait, especially when you’re in uncharted territory.”
In 2005, Mr. Kochis served as chairman of the FPSB. The new international organization soon found its footing and ended up paying off the loan early. Last year, Mr. Kochis was invited to come back onto the FPSB board for a four-year term.
As of 2012, there were 147,822 CFP professionals internationally, more than double the 67,241 in the U.S., according to the FPSB. The most rapid growth in the number of CFP holders is in China, with India and Indonesia also coming on fast. Driving that growth is a swelling middle class.
Still not content, Mr. Kochis a year ago formed his own consulting firm, Kochis Global, to facilitate fee-based planning and open architecture in emerging markets.
“That business model doesn’t exist in the developing world, but I think it will,” he said. “I’d be happy if [I can] make it happen faster.”