Broadband and cell towers are essential for advisors on the road. But they’re useless when in the middle of the ocean, which one advisor learned when he and his family cast off for a three-year, round-the-world journey.
Scott Leonard—the founder of Trovena, a fee-only firm with over $400 million AUM—relies instead on a satellite Internet and phones to keep in contact with clients and colleagues when he is far from port.
It’s “indispensible,” he says. He and his family can surf the web, email, Skype and send documents over the Internet just as if they were home in Hermosa Beach, California.
Satellite-based internet service is provided via geostationary satellites, making it better option for those travelling in remote or unpopulated areas, but can be about 25 times more expensive than more traditional internet access over DSL or cable.
The family will switch over to land-based Wi-Fi networks when they can—assuming the technology at the more “exotic” ports of call is up to par—beause these connections tend to be faster. “Sometimes I feel like I’m sending e-mail by sea turtle,” he says of satellite speed.
