Financial Advisor Magazine - April '17

Bunker Time by Thomas Kostigen

Joel Smernoff, chairman of Black Umbrella, a New York City firm that creates custom emergency/safety plans and curates disaster kits for executives, families and businesses, says wealthy individuals and their extended families view uncertainty and risk through a different lens than average people.

“I think risk mitigation is very important to them,” he says. “That’s why many have family offices and focus on capital preservation. So in following the concept of being able to protect what you have, I think they also over-index in preparedness. These are people that are used to having insurance for everything. One way to look at emergency preparedness is as physical insurance.”