Ep 474: Gaining The Skills, Experience, And Team Needed To Serve UHNW Clients Effectively with Blair duQuesnay
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
4.7 • 719 Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2026
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Serving ultra-high-net-worth families requires more than technical expertise. It demands deep attention to detail, a strong supporting team, and a planning approach capable of navigating complex tax, estate, and investment structures. This episode explores what it really takes for advisors to successfully move 'upmarket' and support clients whose financial lives involve high stakes, fast-moving parts, and opportunities measured in millions.
Blair duQuesnay is a Lead Advisor at Ritholtz Wealth Management, an RIA based in New York City that oversees $6.5 billion in AUM for 3,900 households. Listen in as Blair shares how she transitioned from working with traditional wealth-management clients to serving ultra-high-net-worth families, and what she learned about applying advanced expertise in real-world scenarios where accuracy and timeliness are critical. You'll hear why flat-fee models often make more sense than AUM fees at the highest wealth levels, how she demonstrates multimillion-dollar planning value through sophisticated tax and estate strategies, and how UHNW clients' biggest fear isn't running out of money but making a catastrophic financial mistake. We also discuss how Blair manages impostor syndrome, the confidence that comes from having a strong team behind her, and why advisors can thrive with any client segment as long as they intentionally choose the work they enjoy most.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/474
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with |
| 0:07.1 | financial planner, speaker, and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading |
| 0:12.4 | financial advisors navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success |
| 0:17.4 | and get insight from leading industry consultants about how to break through to the next |
| 0:22.2 | level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome, everyone. |
| 0:28.9 | Welcome to the 474th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast. My guest on today's |
| 0:34.2 | podcast is Blair Dukene. Blair is a lead advisor at Ritt Holtz Wealth Management, an RIA based in New York, New York, |
| 0:40.1 | that oversees approximately $6.5 billion in assets under management for 3,900 client households. |
| 0:47.4 | What's unique about Blair, though, is how her career has evolved from serving traditional |
| 0:51.5 | wealth management clients to working with ultra-high net worth clients, |
| 0:54.8 | giving her firsthand experience and understanding the skills, experience, and team needed to make |
| 0:59.6 | this transition effectively. In this episode, we talk in depth about how Blair learned that |
| 1:04.6 | while she already had much of the book knowledge needed to serve the wealthiest clients, |
| 1:08.7 | in part by earning the CFP and CFA certifications, |
| 1:11.8 | putting this knowledge into practice is a particularly time-consuming and high-stakes endeavor, |
| 1:16.0 | how Blair finds that in attention to detail, particularly when it comes to advanced tax and estate |
| 1:20.7 | planning opportunities, is a key part of being successful serving this client type, |
| 1:25.2 | and how Blair has a much more frequent meeting cadence with these clients, |
| 1:28.3 | given the many moving parts in their investment portfolio and cash flow. We also talk about |
| 1:33.1 | how Blair and Ritholt structure their teams to serve ultra-high net worth clients, with a lead |
| 1:38.2 | advisor supported by a co-pilot and a client service associate and backed by centralized service |
| 1:42.9 | support, how Blair finds that while |
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