Another adviser recently described the $100K–$500K income bracket as “a wasteland”, a place where, as they put it, “it’s hard to show what value a $10K accountant brings.”
I’ve heard this before.
I left a career serving clients with higher income levels to focus on this exact market, families and small business owners earning between $100,000 and $500,000. My peers warned me. The author of biographical “The Drowning of Money Island” interviewed my friends and family, who nearly all said the same thing: serving working-class coastal communities was a mistake.
They said the money wouldn’t be there.
They weren’t wrong about the challenges. Large, institutional financial firms have failed to find sustainable models to serve this group. But that doesn’t mean there’s no value in this work.
Here’s what I’ve found instead:
• This group is underserved, not unworthy.
• Many of them are builders of families, homes, marinas, docks, restaurants, and powerful service organizations.
• Their decisions matter. Their planning gaps are real. Their financial vulnerability is often higher than that of wealthier clients.
• They deserve advisors who respect the stakes, not just the size of their accounts.
• Packaging services into minimally price subscriptions expands access to a CPA.
• Building my skills in providing support from a financial coaching perspective, rather than a representation or compliance approach, adds significant value.
• Designing services and personal access ‘on call’ suits this market better than rigid work flows.
• Most importantly, a focus on boosting their profits, savings, business security, and supporting their life goals is the only way to justify the cost that it requires to keep me employed!
No, I haven’t found all the answers. I’ve made choices on lifestyle that other CPAs would not make in order to have the freedom to serve these clients. But I do know this: calling this part of the market “a wasteland” says more about the adviser than it does about the clients.
This isn’t a wasteland. It’s the frontline of small business America. And it’s worth showing up for.