The Best Question to Ask Clients – And Yourself

By financial planning logo
February 28, 2019
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Written by: Chelsea Emery | Jeff Motske has one of the strongest ways to tease out client priorities I’ve heard in quite a while.

“What if?” Motske asks clients.

“What if one if your partner needs critical care? What if you want to move to Arizona? What if one of your kids starts a family on the other side of the country?,” the CEO of Trilogy Financial asks.

It’s deceptively simple, but an excellent method for getting at the heart of clients’ values and fears.

“These are critical questions,” Motske told me during a recent visit to Financial Planning offices in New York. “You want to ask them before things happen.”

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October 27, 2026

Irvine, California‑based Trilogy Financial launched Trilogy Tax & Consulting, an affiliated company that will provide tax preparation and consulting services for its clients.

Trilogy said the affiliate would help its advisors connect clients with tax professionals, identify tax planning opportunities and integrate tax mitigation strategies into financial plans. The firm said the services are intended for individual, family and business‑owner clients.

“We are excited to continue building out our capabilities available through our affiliated businesses with the addition of our new tax and consulting offering,” said Jeff Motske, Co‑Founder, President and CEO of Trilogy Financial. “As clients’ financial lives become increasingly complex, it is important to provide services beyond traditional investment management.”

Founded in 1999, Trilogy has 10 regional offices and more than $5 billion in advisory and brokerage assets.

In March 2024, Trilogy announced an investment by Toronto‑based private equity firm Peloton Capital Management.

“The launch of Trilogy Tax & Consulting reinforces our ongoing focus on partnership, organic growth and delivering differentiated resources to help advisors better serve clients,” Motske said. Read more here.

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By the ceo forum group logo
February 1, 2019

“We all must work together for the client, connecting and collaborating to help solve their problems.” – Jeff Motske

Robert Reiss: Let's roll back to 1999. Talk about your vision for Trilogy.

Jeff Motske: I created the model that we use at Trilogy Financial, which is the combination of tax, financial and estate planning. In my previous life I was in the retirement planning space, but I knew there was more out there. I was working with my clients, and I recognized they had needs that we didn't service. So, I built a little network to better serve those needs, specifically tax and estate planning. Then I realized that a more comprehensive solution needed to be created, and the only way to realize this vision was to start my own firm…and that was the very beginning of Trilogy Financial. The way I look at it, tax, estate and financial planning may be in different lanes, but they're all on the same highway heading toward our clients' final destination. We all must work together for the client, connecting and collaborating to help solve their problems.

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