Collin D. LaFollette, CEP^®
Financial Advisor, Founder - Bent Tree Trust Advisors, LLC

With more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, Collin LaFollette founded Bent Tree Trust Advisors as a registered RIA (registered investment advisory) firm in 1996. At that time, he had already been working in the field for several years. In fact, he had become an IAR (investment advisor representative) back when there were very few in the industry—many financial professionals worked as brokers. Collin wanted to do things differently from anything he’d seen before, so he started his own firm.

“I became an entrepreneur and formed my own independent RIA firm because I was disenchanted with what seemed to be an industry of ‘salespeople’ who weren’t necessarily transparent or completely truthful about what they were selling. Financial advice should be just that: Advice. Not someone trying to use the latest sales techniques to influence someone. I wanted to include more services. I wanted to disclose all fees, commissions and examine the costs of every investment. I wanted to help mitigate the tax ramifications. Our firm functions as a fee-based, fiduciary firm with a legal duty to do what is in the client’s best interest at all times, and as an independent firm, Bent Tree Trust Advisors has access to hundreds of strategies and we can take a completely unbiased approach. We answer to no one except our clients,” Collin says.

Bent Tree Trust Advisors handles investments and assets under management (AUM) using third party custodians which Collin feels is an important layer of protection for clients. “Your money is held in your account in your name and can only be withdrawn by you. As an RIA, we cannot make commissions on equity trades. In fact, we disclose all forms of compensation with complete transparency. People are sometimes surprised when they learn that even inside so-called “no-load” mutual funds, there might be a lot of trading going on inside the fund. This doesn’t help performance, in fact, quite the opposite. It lowers their overall return. We look closely at everything when we work together,” he says. “Furthermore, when it comes to investments, being fee-based means we can only earn more when you earn more. Brokers can have a conflict of interest because they make a commission each time there’s a stock market trade. We are deliberately structured differently,” he says.

But the thing that makes Bent Trust Advisors really unique is that they combine financial planning, innovative and little-known tax strategies, and advanced estate planning techniques together to help clients in a truly comprehensive fashion. “It’s really important that all disciplines work together—your estate attorney, CPA, financial advisor, property & casualty agent, investments, and life insurance—in order to build, protect, and retain the most wealth possible for both the short and long term,” Collin says.

Collin has a keen interest in doing more than just investing for clients, so he made it a point to learn more about tax planning so that he could team up with CPAs. “A lot of advisors say they do tax planning, but we seek to implement tax solutions. For instance, before you retire, many advisors suggest you do a series of Roth conversions—converting taxable to non-taxable funds. That’s fantastic, paying no taxes during retirement is a great idea. But unfortunately, those Roth conversions create taxable events in each year that you do them. So why not find a solution to mitigate those taxes, too? We did find a way to do this. In fact, that’s the sort of thing we do that few other firms offer,” Collin says.

One of the things Collin really enjoys is getting introduced and then working closely with CPAs and estate attorneys to implement perfectly legal strategies but little-known like certain trusts he’s found that can help clients save money on taxes now, and on long-term capital gains or estate taxes for the long-term. He pursued and earned his CEP® (Certified Estate Planner™) certification so that he could learn more about the ways people can pass on more tax-advantaged wealth to their chosen beneficiaries or charities while mitigating taxes.

“I enjoy coordinating all the disciplines. I help tax professionals get trust returns and Schedule A information, along with other information they need to do their jobs every year. And we work with estate attorneys so that they can complete accurate trust documents,” he says. “We also look ahead to find ways to reduce taxes in the future.”

As Collin puts it, “The kind of work we do takes time and a lot of analysis. I’m dedicated to clients for the long haul and I have a long-term focus. But it all starts with listening. I try to listen rather than talk. I have to know a lot in order to put everything together, and I need to see statements and tax returns.”

“Customized and thorough planning requires that I understand the complete picture. I realize some people are uncomfortable with that at first, before they actually know me, but we want to truly serve your best interests. Other advisors may just be out to sell you something—that’s not our approach. Growing assets, saving on taxes, and protecting money properly requires a lot of data. Don’t bring your checkbook; financial planning isn’t about a transaction or purchase—it’s about creating a comprehensive plan with investment, tax and estate strategies that make sense for you.”

Collin comes from a family of educators, so explaining the “why” behind financial strategies comes very naturally to him. “I want you to know what you are doing,” he says. “I like to make things easy to understand, whether it’s investing properly, using charitable trusts, creating a plan for long-term care expenses in retirement, doing Roth conversions to save on taxes, or a hundred other strategies that may work for you,” he says. “Explaining things is one of my superpowers, and my goal is absolutely no surprises. My clients are all my friends. There is complete transparency about all fees, anticipated returns, and costs.”