The fee economics of private wealth management price on assets already under management, a model built for clients who arrive holding liquid capital. Equity-rich employees at Anthropic and OpenAI are testing the limits of that structure: their wealth is largely held in private company stock, and it remains on paper until a liquidity event converts it. Wealth managers are cutting fees to compete for this cohort before that conversion happens.
The "paper millionaire" label is precise about the mechanics. An Anthropic or OpenAI employee may carry significant equity value on a private company's cap table while holding limited access to the actual cash those stakes imply. That illiquidity has historically kept advisers in the stronger position during fee discussions: a client whose wealth cannot yet be moved brings limited assets to the relationship, and advisers could price accordingly. The rise of equity-rich workers at both companies has shifted that balance. These prospective clients understand what their future liquidity is likely worth and are pressing for fee concessions before it materializes. The concentration of this cohort at Anthropic and OpenAI is large enough that wealth managers are treating it as a discrete client segment rather than a scattered pool of prospects.
Where the fee concession sits in the advisory economics
An adviser who wins the relationship before a liquidity event manages relatively little in the near term. The fee cut is a cost of client acquisition, set against the expectation that the employee's equity eventually becomes a deployable portfolio. Wealth managers competing for Anthropic and OpenAI workers are, in effect, buying a forward position in a queue for assets that have not yet converted to cash.
That dynamic inverts the usual sequence in private wealth management, where prospective clients most often arrive after a windfall. The clients now pressing for fee cuts are doing so from a position of anticipated liquidity rather than current holdings. The willingness of multiple advisers to compete on price signals their view that Anthropic and OpenAI equity is a reliable enough bet to discount into today's fee schedules.