The prolonged slump in U.S. real estate hasn't made Darius Michalski's clients more interested in stocks or bonds. They want to invest in property, gold and other tangible assets. Period.

Many "have two or three homes rented out and consider those monthly checks their retirement," says the Summit, N.J., planner, who serves several hundred Polish-American and other Eastern European immigrant clients with a net worth of $100,000 to $1 million. While Michalski, who works from an independent office of Cantella & Co., urges his clients to diversify, it's also clear he understands how hyperinflation or rampant corruption made them leery of financial markets. "A lot of them come from countries where everything collapsed, so they fear losing everything," Michalski says.

Such fears highlight the specific challenges faced by planners whose practices focus on clients from immigrant communities. Trust is paramount. Or, as Michalski puts it: "My immigrant clients are my children."

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Planners say that, to serve wealthy immigrants, you'll need to provide family-style attention. "Our clients call us on the weekends and evenings," says Sanjeev Sardana, CEO of BluePointe Capital Management, a wealth advisory firm in San Mateo, Calif., that caters to the Indian diaspora.

"Nobody will give you money to manage if they don't know you," adds Naim Syed, managing principal at GHS Financial Group in Santa Clarita, Calif., who works with Pakistani-Americans and other Middle Eastern immigrants across the U.S. He spends six to seven weeks a year traveling to meet clients in person, and another five to six weekends a year at clients' family weddings, anniversary parties and other social events, even if he must fly to New York, Michigan or Texas.

The strength of the communities they serve keeps these planners on their toes. "If somebody's unhappy with us, everyone will hear about it quickly," Sardana says.

When he first meets a prospect, typically at a family event or charitable function, he knows his reputation comes with him. "There's probably a maximum two degrees of separation between us," he says.

FAVORING FEE-ONLY

Some of the prospective clients he meets have been burned by a financial planner in the past. "We are a fee-only firm because we found we could not do commission business and persuade our clients that their interests were on top," says Sardana, who charges fees based on assets under management.

In addition to attending more than a few weddings, many planners serving a large roster of immigrants do pro bono work, helping less fortunate members of their communities and local charities. "Middle-class, legal immigrants get lost in the system. I try to help them with green cards, getting mortgages and making investments," says Michalski, who, with his fiancée, Margaret Chudziak, founded the nonprofit Forum Organized to Protect Poles. The group has helped Poles obtain refunds from banks that overcharged them on their mortgages, he says.

GENERATION GAP

As Syed begins to advise his clients' children, he often sees a "total disconnect," he says, in the values of the two generations. Many immigrants, for instance, assume their adult children will care for them at home as they age. "We are not used to the concept of sending parents to retirement homes, even though there are now places that cater to immigrants with ethnic foods and holiday celebrations," Sardana says.

As they get older, his clients wrestle with whether to retire to India or stay in this country. "Five years ago, people used to say they couldn't afford to retire here. But in countries like India and China, where there has been substantial growth and inflation, it's becoming as expensive to retire there as it is here."

The younger generation also may choose careers that seem outlandish to their parents. Immigrants from India are often entrepreneurs - they founded more engineering and technology firms from 1995 and 2005 than immigrants from China, Japan, Taiwan and the United Kingdom combined, according to a study at the University of California, Berkeley. However, Sardana says, "Our clients' kids have been educated in the U.S. system. They don't want to be doctors or entrepreneurs like their parents."

He recounts the story of an Indian-American engineer whose son decided he wanted to work in the film business. "Initially, the father said, 'No, you have to become an engineer,' " Sardana recalls. After his son spent a few years making independent films, however, the father recognized that his son's ambitions weren't all that far-fetched.