Evan Harp sat down with Fiduciary Financial Advisors Senior Wealth Advisor Jeffrey Janson to discuss his career, currency, and investing.
Evan Harp: You are part of Fiduciary Financial Advisors. What is their investment philosophy?
Jeffrey Janson: The focus of my practice under Fiduciary Financial Advisors dealing with pre-retirees and those who have just retired. I work on setting them up with a long-term, inflation-adjusted, paycheck replacement plan and handling that transition into retirement from working life.
Regarding how I invest — for the lion’s share of my clients’ invested assets — I use a combination of index funds, buffered ETFs, and a smattering of disruptive technology investments, which I think offer the opportunity for an asymmetric payoff as the world transitions into using these new technologies. The technologies that I’m referring to regarding the asymmetric payoff would be AI, robotics, quantum computing, and bitcoin.
Harp: How did you become involved with Fiduciary Financial Advisors?
Janson: I haven’t been with them very long. This is the third organization that I’ve been a part of for my entire over-30-year career. I got my securities license back in 1987, so I’m an old guy, but I’m very young at heart and enamored of disruptive technology. I’ve seen a lot over that timeframe! I became a CFP back in 1991, primarily for personal benefit. Then I realized, “Hey! I should be using this knowledge to help other people.” So, I joined an RIA firm in 1995 and I’ve been dealing with high net worth individuals and business owners ever since, doing comprehensive wealth management. I also have extensive experience in the corporate retirement plan space going back 30 years.
Harp: What is something happening in the markets right now that you think not enough people are paying attention to?
Janson: I believe bitcoin is becoming mainstream right before our eyes. Quite honestly, I feel that most of the financial advisors that I’m speaking with aren’t really up to speed on that development just yet. I feel like I was a bit early to that story. In fact, I was the first financial advisor in the United States to get certified in blockchain and digital assets through the Digital Assets Counsel of Financial Professionals (DACFP). This goes back to 2021. But I do think that this is an area that deserves a lot of attention.
In fact, all these currencies that you see framed on the wall behind me are examples of defunct currencies. I’m a bit of a monetary historian, and I think bitcoin has a place in that hierarchy, and that our money system, as Lyn Alden states, is broken. I believe that bitcoin can play a role as a digital gold. I’m not exactly sure where that’s all going to land, but there’s all sorts of new information coming out, like bitcoin being possibly considered as a strategic reserve asset on the balance sheet of the United States government. I think this is all interesting and exciting. We’ll see where it goes from here.
Harp: What’s the biggest obstacle you had to overcome, and how did you do it?
Janson: That first RIA firm that I was a part of, I was there for 20 years, and I needed to gain my freedom. The only way that I was able to really do that — because of a geographically restrictive covenant and a non-compete agreement — was to move to a different state to gain that freedom, which I did. I’m very glad that I did.
Harp: It’s very easy to be stuck in one place for too long! I can see how that might be a challenge. One more question for you — who is another financial advisor that inspires you and why?
Janson: This is a great question. There’s so many people who I could name for various reasons, but I have to say that when I really think about it, it’s actually my colleague (and also my daughter!), Kristiana Daniels. She became a Certified Financial Planner and an Enrolled Agent and started in the business over 10 years ago. She has educated herself and learned every aspect of the business. The thing that I really appreciate about her approach, which is very different from pretty much everyone else’s that I know in our industry, is that using her Enrolled Agent (EA) designation, she focuses on tax reduction over a client’s lifespan, as opposed to tax reduction in just one year at a time. I think that’s a unique and needed perspective for clients!
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