FAQ

A family office is a private wealth management firm offering a range of personalized services that go a step further from a typical financial advisory relationship. These services include investment management, tax and estate planning in conjunction with clients’ CPAs and tax attorneys, full insurance review, education planning, private banking strategies, charitable strategies, customized reporting, and more.

Stokes Family Office serves high-net-worth families, corporations, and foundations.  Stokes also provides advice to trustees of corporate retirement plans through its Stokes Institutional division.

We work with clients of all different ages. Our typical client is in their 50s or 60s.

Stokes serves clients around the country. The vast majority of our clients come from the following states: Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, and Montana.

Stokes provides custom-built investment strategies for its clientele that conform with a client’s return objectives, risk tolerance, and liquidity needs.

We are different from a National wealth management firm in 4 ways.

1. Independence – Stokes is an independent organization, and we only work for our clients, not a bank. We utilize Fidelity and Schwab to custody or clients’ assets.  We are here to serve and to be advocates for our clients.  Unlike banks, we would never push our clients into investment, insurance or banking products that aren’t in the clients best interests.
2. Agility – the world is moving at a fast pace – your finances are no different. We are agile and can make changes that we think will benefit our clients rapidly. We adopt new technologies on a regular basis. We are constantly analyzing unique and innovative investment strategies in an attempt to enhance return or reduce risk. Banks are bureaucratic and can take years to implement seemingly self-evident changes.
3. Expertise – The Stokes team has a deep bench of professionals, multiple CFP®s, attorney, CFA® charterholder.
4. 55 – A Modern Mindset – The national average age of a financial advisor is over age 55. The average age of our advisors is under 40.

Stokes and its predecessor firms have been in practice since 1987.

David Stokes cofounded a registered investment advisory firm in New Orleans in 1987. In 2019, the Stokes team spun off from its predecessor firm to create Stokes Family Office.

Our primary services are investment management, financial planning, tax and estate planning, charitable giving, and 401k investment management.

Stokes and its predecessor firms have continuously been in business for 35 years.

Stokes Family Office is 100% family-owned. David Stokes is the Founder and Chairman, and Douglas and Gregory Stokes are the managing partners of the firm.

Stokes Family Office does not prepare tax returns or draft estate planning documents; however, we work closely with clients’ tax professionals to develop and implement tax savings strategies. Additionally, Stokes Family Office does not sell insurance or banking products; however, we work with insurance and banking professionals to source solutions for our clients.

Individuals must have $1 million in order to be clients of the firm. We sometimes waive this minimum based upon a variety of factors – relationship with existing clients, future earning potential, etc.

Stokes Family Office clients have direct access to a team of seasoned professionals on demand to answer any of their pressing financial questions. We are selective around the clients we work with in order to maintain this high touch approach. As a Stokes client, you will receive

1. a proactive hands on approach,
2. the industry’s best technology experience,
3. 24/7 access to the owners of the firm, and
4.  unique tax, estate, and investment strategies with the objective of enhancing return, reducing risk, reducing taxes, or protecting your estate.

The best way to contact us is via 504-399-4100 or requesting a meeting here.

We serve many clients in New Orleans metropolitan area, Metairie, Northshore, Baton Rouge metropolitan area, Bayou Parishes, Jackson metropolitan area, and Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Stokes Institutional is a fiduciary advisor to corporate retirement plans (401ks, etc.) – we help the trustees of these retirement plans to develop, manage, and oversee investment options for their employees.

We work closely with a variety of business owners to select a 401k recordkeeper, identify 401k plan design strategies, build an investment lineup for the 401k plan participants, and benchmark the 401k plan’s cost and fund performance against peers.

As business owners ourselves, we understand the unique problems, challenges that business owners face. We work to develop a plan and strategy that takes into account the client’s business, its role in generational planning and/or a potential liquidation event.

Stokes works hand-in-hand with clients’ attorneys to make sure that they are operating in a compliant fashion according to the directives of their tax and estate-planning counsel.

Tax is one of the primary concerns in any investment strategy. We work with our clients’ CPAs to ensure that we are operating in a tax-efficient manner, and to also make sure that clients are capitalizing on any and all available tax-planning opportunities.

Yes. Stokes is 100% family owned. David Stokes is the Founder and Chairman, and Douglas and Gregory Stokes are the managing partners of the firm.