Once you've made it, how do you keep it - and, just as important, how do you make it grow?

That's where personal wealth managers come in, or at least where they should come in. Wealth managers provide a comprehensive overview of a client's financial situation and help develop a strategy to manage that wealth over the near and long term. Too many highly successful individuals often neglect to work with these experts, believing that, because they earned their own way into the highest tax bracket, they should simply stick with what works.

However, that kind of laissez-faire attitude often falls short when it comes to the intricacies of managing wealth, especially across generations.

"The wealth needs of Washingtonians are very complex," says Marco Abbruzzese, senior vice president and regional manager of Wells Fargo Private Bank. "There is so much wealth that is accruing and so much of the wealth is first-generation, so they are grappling with these issues for the first time. The need for comprehensive wealth management is largely a function of the fact that there is a lot more that can be done today in terms of technology than was done 20 years ago."

Kristi Mathisen, managing director of tax and financial planning at Laird Norton Tyee in Seattle, agrees. "Wealth management goes well beyond managing wealth. People create lifetime wealth planning, making sure that your financial assets are in place to do all that you want them to do."

Thinking through a strategy to help the client focus on their needs, Mathisen says, is "really big-picture planning." This may include scheduling regular seminar sessions for the children to explain how to make the most of inherited wealth, researching char- ities that fit a family's interests, even sending the client books that detail germane topics of wealth management.

"One of the rewarding and challenging positions is to work with a parent about how to talk to their children about money," Mathisen says. "Interestingly enough, the wealthier the individual, the more their reluctance [to talk] tends to increase."

PUTTING TRUST IN A TRUST

Some families ultimately decide that the route to better management lies in creating a family trust. Creating a trust eliminates some of the mystery of inheritance, though one must always remember that the trust director can change the conditions of the trust at any time. For this reason, Mathisen says, families often select a non-family member, frequently the wealth manager they currently use, to execute the trust.

"A family trust enables a parent or grandparent to spread income over a number of generations in which you are able to add a level of protection for your family and yourself," she says. "Using a non-family member takes the hand of managing a trust away from a family member and places it with the fiduciary expert. Adding a professional also provides a different perspective. A non-family member is also usually more comfortable with telling your children 'no.'"

With a trust, Mathisen says, "You can do anything you want. It is the most flexible tool a person can use to make sure what they want to happen with their money actually happens. The hard part for people creating them is getting clear on what they really want. You have to be very clear about directing a trust."

But it is not just children who benefit from a family trust. Taking care of the parents has emerged as an important area of wealth management, says Abbruzzese, especially as more people establish large portfolios at younger ages.

"We feel that there is an important segment of the market that needs help with elderly family members ... focusing on fiduciary responsibility for the elderly so that they receive the adequate financial management care they deserve," he says.