-Doug Liptak

Doug Liptak spent close to three decades helping families build wealth before he set out to write about what happens after the building is done. He co-founded SignatureFD, an Atlanta firm that co-stewards more than $11 billion in client assets, and across that career he kept returning to one conviction:

Accumulation is the part most successful people eventually figure out. The structure the money lives inside, and the question of what it is all for, is where the harder work begins.

Doug traces that conviction back to his twenties. At the time, he was a staff accountant and the firm's most successful clients kept finding him after hours with questions their other advisors couldn’t answer. As he puts it, "A job is something you do. A calling is something that does something to you."

The idea behind the book

‍AutographFD grew out of that mission. Doug built the division to give affluent families access to a wealth structure that large institutions and family offices have used for decades, pairing private placement life insurance with private-market investments so wealth can compound without the annual tax drag a taxable account takes. 

The idea is easy to misunderstand and often assumed to be too good to be true, so he wanted a way to explain it plainly and earn trust before the first conversation with a client. He wrote the book himself, six full drafts by his team's account, before he brought it to anyone. He wasn’t chasing a bestseller. He wanted the clearest possible account of an idea he had spent years refining.

Working with Author.Inc

When Doug came to Author.Inc, his first conversation with co-founder Miles Rote settled it. Then his manuscript evaluation came back strong, so he moved straight into editing. When the team sent structural feedback, he took it and rewrote the sections himself, with his firm's compliance team close throughout the process.

The result is Intelligent Wealth By Design: Structure Before Strategy. 

How he's using it

The way he put the book to work is the most instructive part. Rather than chase sales, Doug is making it the centerpiece of a high-touch program for the trusted advisors closest to the families AutographFD serves. The firm also built two AI guides, one that educates prospects and one trained purely on the book. All proceeds go to Heart for Africa, an organization Doug helped build from its early days.

Early response on his book has been warm, with positive reviews, thoughtful emails, and handwritten notes. The program is only a few weeks old, so the outcomes that matter most to Doug are still ahead.