THE FOCUS:
To protect, utilize and grow wealth for current use, future vitality and longevity.
THE OBJECTIVE:
PERFORMANCE - Tangible Results + Desired Outcomes.
THE REQUIREMENT:
When substantial assets and wealth are involved, “STEWARDSHIP” is mandatory.
In today’s world, “managing assets” is not enough, "Stewardship" must be THE guiding principle.
The highest privilege: Assisting an individual, family or trusted advisor in their “stewardship"”.
"Stewardship" requires different thinking and different actions.
Sizable wealth and the possession of substantial assets, whether created or inherited, brings a level of complexity that requires going beyond conventional approaches typically characterized by "standard wealth management". In fact, traditional thinking often leads to greater risk, complacency and under-performance. The process of executing "stewardship" fosters inspiration, innovation and creativity, that catalyzes consistent high-level execution, eliminates rhetoric and delivers results. This positions an individual, family and an advisor to be as equally prepared for day-to-day issues as they are for the future challenges, adversities and threats that are certain to come in the protection, preservation, performance and perpetuity of wealth.
Execution in the “stewardship of wealth” is inherently unique just as is each individual and family.
The "process of stewardship" surfaces complex, highly personal issues involving idiosyncratic preferences, priorities and constraints, which is why two (2) core beliefs are stringently held:
"Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice".
“Seek to understand before seeking to be understood”.
To that end, an essential ingredient in the execution of "Stewardship" is CANDOR.
With CANDOR, problems are identified quicker, solutions achieved faster and executed better. CANDOR prevents wasted time, effort and resources. Lack of candor is a killer to achieving results. The highest degree of candor fosters clear communication and accountability, which leads to development of bespoke high-efficacy solutions, appropriate action and consistent high-level execution, all essentially crucial to the preservation, protection, expansion and perpetuity of wealth.
Candid conversations are opportunities for an individual or family to attain an acute understanding of "fit" as well as efficacy, efficiency and effectiveness. Among the points strongly emphasized: The BEST decisions result from candid conversations that enable careful consideration to meet the challenges of a fast-changing and capricious world with dynamic and volatile financial markets.
"Stewardship" necessitates collaboration with trusted advisors and complementary specialists who are completely free from conflicts. Working efficiently and effectively with such professionals in all disciplines an individual or family may employ is fundamental and a significant responsibility.
Before any decision regarding a relationship can be reached, a progression of conversations is initiated to intimately discern an individual or family. This facilitates a deep understand of what’s truly important and how that forms a distinctive worldview expressed within assets and wealth.
25+ years of "hands-on" experience provides the perspective that assets and wealth often span generations to include long-standing operating companies, entrepreneurial activities and traditional assets (equities, fixed income, real estate and natural resources such as oil, gas, minerals, timberland and water) along with esoteric areas (antiquities, art, wine, numismatics, automobiles, other collectibles and more recently, digital assets). Consequently, financial and investment experience, expertise and skill in tandem with close attention, careful consideration and thoughtful execution in launching new ventures, private investing, liquidity events, initial public offerings (IPOs), succession planning, portfolio management, asset allocation, wealth creation, wealth preservation, asset protection, philanthropy and tax minimization are a core quantitative strength and competency.
With respect to "alternative investing", whether on a direct, pooled or product basis, employing a "principal mindset" is crucial. Far too frequently, individuals and families are inundated by "pitches" from salespeople with "conflicted opportunities" that are merely "best-of-platform". Candidly, the proliferation of "alternative investing" has made the evaluation and selection process crowded, confusing and complex in identifying managers and opportunities that are "best-in-class". The conflating of "popularity (brand)" and "performance" is a significant issue in manager selection.
With that said, a crucial aspect of alternative investing is "performance dispersion": The differential in returns of top-quartile managers vs bottom performers is considerable. To illustrate: In Private Equity, there was a 17.27% difference between top and bottom quartile vehicles with 2005-18 vintages—the largest gap between the top and bottom performers of any asset class other than VC, according to the Q1 2023 Global Fund Performance Report from Pitchbook.
As a result, the focus must be identifying managers and operators who are "properly-aligned and best-in-class". However, they are difficult to find, largely unknown and often not accessible via "platforms". Such individuals and firms are experienced in defined niche areas of the capital markets with rigorously "due diligenced" qualitative and quantitative track records.
A key factor to success in working relationships with individuals and families is practical frontline experience in "knowing" the complexities of stewardship go far beyond financial and investment acumen but extend to qualitative aspects of intra-family, inter-personal and generational issues that surface sensitive issues about "purpose and meaning" requiring distinctly different but equally careful, attentive and thoughtful processes as well-executed as those focused on financial and investment performance, with a primary objective: Tangible results and desired outcomes.
STEWARDSHIP. EXECUTION. PERFORMANCE.
When these three (3) essential components are consistently and appropriately combined, the result is an unparalleled level of clarity, confidence and conviction about the necessary actions for an indvidual, family or family office along with their trusted adviors to achieve the permanence of wealth and establishment of legacy that has continuity, distinction and longevity.
WELCOME TO JOHNSON PARTNERS
