For songwriters, it’s about perfect-pitch planning

investmentnews.com:

Working out of Nashville, Tennessee, David Adams has a lot of experience dealing with rock stars.

As the founder of Adams Wealth Partners, he says that living in the heart of ‘Music City’, seeing pop stars and country music legends is commonplace – as is having them on his books.

“We’re in the heart of the city. I [handled] two or three big songwriters early in my career, helping them through catalog sales and [ultimately] became close with business managers in town which naturally led to referrals in such a tight knit circle.”

Working and living in the close-knit community means that successful writers will always talk to other writers – leading to a mass referral list that saw Adams’ business boom. 

“Early on, that became our largest niche – the music industry,” says Adams. “It’s probably still only 1/3 of our overall business, as we cater to business owners, divorcees, retirees, and corporate executives”

But dealing with creative types means understanding the importance of uniqueness – both in their songwriting and in their planning. For Adams, this begins with creating a customized plan which adheres to the celebrities’ fast moving, and often unpredictable, schedule.

“If we have a songwriter, they have very unique needs. They have periods of time where they have no income, and then they may write or produce a number one hit and then all of a sudden come into a chunk of money. Then there’s the sporadic royalty payments that we have to work around too, which can be consistent, but also unpredictable at times.”

Ultimately, this means adopting a holistic approach to financial planning – one which encompasses much more than portfolio management. For songwriters, this means looking at tax efficiency issues as well as