In 1995 I had been working as an institutional investment professional in New York for nearly 20 years. My wife and I were going through our annual process of formally reviewing our finances, and consulting with our “team” of advisors – attorney, insurance agent, and accountant – to reconcile and integrate our financial life. I found the process frustrating because our team was not really a team. Each advisor was an expert in his or her field, but no one was coordinating the process. Even for myself, a seasoned investment professional, creating coherency from the input of all these individual experts was a struggle.It seemed that this should not be so difficult, so my wife and I sat down and outlined what we needed to give ourselves clarity in our financial affairs. We needed: - objective advice - that integrated all aspects of our financial life into a coherent whole - from someone who could explain the issues clearly- and who would take into consideration not only our money, but who we are and what is important to us and our family. I realized that if my wife and I were having this issue, other people who did not have my investment expertise would be in even greater need. Sensing an opportunity, I resolved to start the kind of firm that my wife and I would want to hire for ourselves. And thus Integris was born in 1997, with the guiding principal being the thoughtful and comprehensive integration of our clients’ financial lives with their goals and values – the kind of firm that we would want to hire for ourselves.UPDATEMid 2020, I retired from Integris and am no longer involved in client relationships. I do, however, participate as a member of Integris' Investment Committee.