As a Wealth Strategist at Northern Trust, Michael Goldberger specializes in providing holistic wealth management services exclusively for high-net-worth families. In his role, he leads a team of experts dedicated to understanding and achieving your most meaningful financial goals. His teams approach involves assembling a bespoke team tailored to each client's unique needs, ensuring a comprehensive and coordinated strategy. This includes everything from complex financial and estate planning to tax optimization and multigenerational wealth management.

 

Describe your role at Northern Trust

I lead a team of experts dedicated to understanding and achieving a family’s most meaningful financial goals.

Our approach involves assembling a bespoke team tailored to each clients unique needs, ensuring a comprehensive and coordinated strategy. This includes everything from complex financial and estate planning to tax optimization and multigenerational wealth management.

 

Describe your team

As one of the largest financial firms in the industry, we offer clients the best of both worlds: a personalized, boutique-style experience backed by the extensive resources of a large institution.

My team comprises leading national and local experts, including 45 team members in our Newport Beach office alone - spanning portfolio managers, trust officers, private bankers, and wealth advisors, each specialized in their respective fields. This collective expertise allows us to deliver top-level advice and service.

Additionally, our teams have direct access to national experts and resources, ensuring that we address clients’ needs with the highest caliber of guidance.

 

Take us through how you ended up at Northern? What brought you to Northern Trust?

As a fourth generation member of a family owned business, I had the unique opportunity to experience the process of selling a business firsthand.

Following the sale of that business, I became interested in investments and began my financial career on the institutional side as a wholesaler. In that role, I was responsible for educating financial advisors on how specific mutual funds could enhance their clients’ portfolios.

Through this experience, I gained insight into the many conflicts of interest within the industry, as well as important distinctions between broker deals and fiduciaries. I also realized the value of working with a large organization that focuses on wealth management - unlike larger banks, where wealth management can be a smaller, less central part of their overall mission.

 

What are you most proud of in your career at Northern Trust so far?

I’m proud of many aspects of my career at Northern, but one moment stands out. A few months ago, I was having dinner with a client who leaned back in his seat, holding his glass of wine, and told me, ‘I know I’m not your largest client, but I truly appreciate everything your team does for my family. You make us feel valued.”

His words resonated with me because they reflect our commitment to serve every client with the same dedication, regardless of account size. It’s moments like these that make me especially proud of my teams dedication to our clients.

 

Can you describe a particular project you’ve worked on that you loved and what was great about the experience?

As a trust company, many families name us as their successor trustee, and we always encourage them to keep us informed so we can maintain a connection until the time comes for us to step in. Our office launched a campaign to reach out to families who nominated us years ago but with whom we hadn’t connected in some time.

Through this outreach, I was able to reconnect with families who had experienced significant changes since we last spoke. These conversations opened up new opportunities for us to support them in meaningful ways now.

 

What’s a typical “day-in-the-life” at Northern Trust look like for you?

An average day for me includes anywhere from one to five meetings with clients, prospective clients, and other professionals such as attorneys, CPAs, and investment bankers. In addition, I regularly attend community involvement events each week.

 

 

When did you realize that Northern Trust was a good fit for your career?

I knew Northern was the right fit for my career when I had the opportunity to work alongside my colleagues to support a client.

Many clients have shared that, unlike other firms that tell them what they could do, Northern stands out by guiding them on what they should do. The level of expertise and tailored advice we offer is truly exceptional, and I’m proud to be part of a team that prioritizes our clients’ best interests in this way.

 

What technology/technologies have you been excited to work with here at Northern Trust?

Northern has made significant investment in a proprietary platform called Goals Driven Wealth Management, which serves as a foundation for helping families make better informed financial decisions.

This platform allows us to input a family’s complete balance sheet, including expected future inflows and annual spending needs, to create a visual projection of their wealth today and in the future.

It opens the door for deeper planning conversations and helps families address the ‘what if’ questions - enabling them to see the potential impact of various scenarios, such as changes in spending, market conditions, or major life events. This is invaluable for families with both simple and complex financial situations.

 

How do you keep your skills fresh? How does Northern Trust University help you build your skills?

Northern continuously keeps our partners informed with updates on the economy, markets, legislative changes, software, and cyber security.

We have daily calls, email updates, and a dedicated training website called Northern Trust University (NTU), which offers a wealth of information that we can leverage to stay current and enhance our service to clients.

 

What’s unique about Northern Trust’s culture that enables you to create, innovate, make an impact or lead effectively?

Our business model is unique in its focus on service rather than sales. This approach attracts individuals who are passionate about serving families, not just selling to them, and it’s incredibly rewarding to work within a team that shares this commitment. While other firms may claim to offer similar services, they often can’t match our quality.

For example, many firms might say they can serve as a successor trustee, but may have only one trust officer covering the entire SW region.

Here, we have six trust officers just in our office, which significantly enhances the quality and responsiveness of our service. This dedication to high-quality, personalized support is a big reason why I think we have one of the longest average employee tenures in the industry.

 

What has surprised you most about life at Northern Trust so far?

What’s been most surprising to me is the warm, Midwestern, family-oriented culture here.  Everyone is always eager to help one another, creating a truly supportive and collaborative environment.

 

How do you create a balance between work and home?

In this role, there’s a natural blending of work and home life. I try to include my wife and children in events where other professionals may be present. I’ve even organized a monthly Saturday morning hike where colleagues bring their kids and pets. It’s a great way for us to connect on a deeper level, not only getting to know each other better but also building relationships with each other’s families.

 

What would you say to someone considering a career at Northern Trust?

I would encourage anyone who is optimistic and driven to pursue a career here.

One of the best pieces of advice I received early on was to find a mentor and stay open to ongoing learning and fresh ideas. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of learning from many mentors, and I’m still committed to growing in my role by exploring new approaches and continually improving.

 

What advice would you give to Northern Trust partners beginning their career at Northern Trust?

Take the time to get to know the people in your office and understand the processes behind how things are done. Learn about the offices history, ask questions, and look for ways to support the team as a whole.

 

Fast Facts

Name: Michael Goldberger

Role:  Wealth Strategist

Business Unit: Wealth Management

Geographic Location: Newport Beach, CA

Career Level: Vice President

Education: BA

Hometown / where are you living now - Yorba Linda, CA

Do you have a pet(s)? – One Golden Retriever named Missy

Where do you volunteer your time? / Cause that you’re passionate about – Habitat for Humanity

What are you reading / podcast recommendation – Anything about History

Favorite sports team - NY Yankees

Comfort food – Italian

Best icebreaker to start a meeting - If you could instantly become an expert in any skill, what would it be?

Best advice you’ve received (work or non-work related) – Always be nice.

If you could have dinner with any person alive today, who would it be – Elon Musk

Describe Northern Trust in one word: Trustworthy

 

Careers at Northern Trust

Come find your greater at Northern Trust. Review our open roles here.