ptoffel@sagehilladvisory.com

Phil Toffel is Managing Partner and Founder of Sage Hill Family Office. Sage Hill acts as counsel and family office to 20 families throughout the country. Phil and his Sage Hill team represent highly successful families in such professional areas as business succession planning, estate planning, investment portfolio management, and franchise agreement representation, and in coaching the family through the family – family business issues.

Over his career of over 30 years, Phil has advised Fortune 500 CEO’s and executives, multi-generational families, professional athletes, and entrepreneurs in the United States and Western Europe. Phil’s clients have been from such organizations as General Electric, the Boston Red Sox, Federated Department Stores, Ceridian, and Mellon, to name but a few.

In Sage Hill’s close client relationships, Phil and his team have a unique understanding of financial, legal, tax, and personal family factors in developing and maintaining a sustainable personal financial and legacy strategy. In addition to client representation, Phil is a frequent speaker and author relating to such issues. Phil is the author of ‘Recent Musings From My Practice of Representing Successful Families’ (Amazon…January, 2014).

Phil combines a distinctive ability to use his technical and interpersonal skills to guide his clients toward their individualized goals. These goals are oftentimes unearthed through Phil’s patient listening and probing confidential process. His approach encourages clients to explore areas which they might have previously avoided, such as business succession and business partner mediation, philanthropy, and family financial ‘functionality.’ For example, many families’ multi-generational wealth management warrants the establishment of a system of family governance to establish processes for decision-making and sharing of intellectual capital within families. Defining himself as a parent, as a friend, and as a trusted confidante, Phil’s work with client families is closely linked to his everyday life. Phil strongly believes that good planning comes from sound communications among the family, himself as the facilitator, and the family’s various tax, insurance, legal, and investment advisors. He creates a common theme and employs a businesslike approach to ensure that all key people are informed and working towards the same goal.

Prior to founding Sage Hill, Phil’s career has included being regional counsel for a significant real estate syndicator, being a key professional with a division of Goldman Sachs and in the development, management, and sale of a successful wealth management practice for 15 years in Boston, Massachusetts. Phil re-located to Saratoga Springs, New York from Marblehead, Massachusetts for family reasons in 2002. Phil and his wife Heather now divide their year between Saratoga Springs and Delray Beach, Florida.

Phil graduated with honors from Siena College and was awarded membership in Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities. He did graduate work at Bowling Green State University and achieved his Juris Doctorate from Albany Law School of Union University. “My studies and my tremendous professional ‘basic training’ with Ayco gave me the toolbox … my active listening to my clients has been the game-changer …”

Over the years, Phil has road-biked through the mountains of Utah with a client and enjoyed being challenged by a variety of golf courses with clients throughout the country. Phil and his wife Heather, a yoga instructor now after 32 years in dentistry, pride themselves in regularly participating in various fitness regimens. Son Ryan has begun a tremendous career start in Advertising in Boston and hopefully will accompany Phil in Sage Hill in the future. Phil has also been generous with his time and financial contributions with such organizations as Boston Children’s Hospital and the First Presbyterian Church of Delray Beach, Florida.