The Discerning Investor: Personal Portfolio Management in Retirement for Lawyers (and Their Clients)

by Julie Jason

Overview

Winner of the 2023 EIFLE (Excellence in Financial Literacy Education) Award for Adults’ Book of the Year: Investing & Retirement Planning

 

“A clear, concise, and wise guide to retirement planning.” – Kirkus Reviews

The Discerning Investor addresses the critical time in your investor life cycle: your transition into retirement.

Never having retired before, you may continue managing your investments as you did in your 40s and 50s, not realizing that handling finances in retirement calls for a completely different approach, one that secures 30 years with no paycheck.     

The Discerning Investor lays out the framework for conceptualizing a retirement portfolio, with an emphasis on anticipating and thus avoiding mistakes such as misjudging risk.

Part I of the book starts with basic principles, introducing personal portfolio management and examining how to manage uncertainty, which is part of every investor's life.

Part II focuses on the “personal” part of portfolio management, helping you understand your “numbers” and needs, including how to calculate your retirement income gap, how to judge the source of cash flow to fuel withdrawals, how to project future needs and how to set investment objectives and monitor progress.

Part III provides insights and tools for understanding the experts who offer retirement portfolio management services, as well as for comparing firms based on their service models, with a special focus on conflicts of interest that get in the way of unbiased advice. The author’s unique perspective and expertise are particularly apparent in her detailed overview of Form CRS, a disclosure document mandated by the SEC that was rolled out in June 2020. Form CRS can help you to quickly grasp what your client experience might be like with a given brokerage or investment advisory firm.

Part IV returns to personalization and offers self-assessment tools to help you flesh out your investment strategy and move from planning to action. An innovative assessment tool (Know Your Representative Rule), modeled on the brokerage industry’s Know Your Customer Rule, helps you put things into perspective based on your own personal views.

The Discerning Investor gives you insights and a framework upon which to shape your own way of managing your retirement portfolio.

Kirkus Reviews concludes:

“Jason’s presentation is intellectually rigorous—instead of self-help-style nostrums, she furnishes concrete, actionable advice substantiated with empirical data. Moreover, despite necessary excursions into technicality, this is a thoroughly readable book that will be entirely accessible to those with a limited understanding of investment strategy.

“Another of its virtues is that it never dispenses hyperbolic promises and unflinchingly confronts the reality of risk: ‘In my experience, the most satisfied investors are those who embrace the investor’s dilemma, understanding that risk (uncertainty) and reward (high returns) are forever and always intertwined.’

“Overall, this is an impressively informative book that attests to the author’s 30-plus years of experience in the financial industry.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639050628
Publisher:	American Bar Association
Publication date:	04/28/2022
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lawyer and seasoned investment counsel, Julie Jason, JD, LLM, runs a high-net-worth fiduciary boutique that specializes in retirement portfolios. Her most recent investment book is The Discerning Investor: Personal Portfolio Management in Retirement for Lawyers (and Their Clients). 

For Jason’s current virtual CLE lectures, see the ABA's Recognize and Avoid Conflicts of Interest Before Referring a Financial Adviser to Clients; Lawline’s SEC Disclosure Tool (Form CRS) Helps Attorneys With Their Due Diligence When Referring a Financial Adviser to a Client; and the National Academy of Continuing Legal Education’s Form CRS: Practical Considerations for Attorneys. Julie Jason currently resides in Stamford, Connecticut.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents:

1. Introducing Personal Portfolio Management
2. Avoiding Mistakes: A Historical Perspective on the Stock Market
3. Uncertainty: The Investor’s Dilemma
4. Measures for The Risk-Averse Investor
5. Turning Inward: Preparing for the Future
6. Creating Investment Objectives
7. Setting Strategy Based on Three Goals
8. Reports and Reviewing Progress
9. Financial Firms: Who’s Who and What to Expect as a Client
10. Do Standards of Care Matter? Should They?
11. Expect to Experience Conflicts of Interest: But Choose Not To
12. Form CRS is Key
13. Let’s Talk: The SEC’s “Conversation Starters” and More
14. Introducing the “Know Your Representative Rule”
15. The Future is Yours: What Will You Do Next?

Editorial Reviews

"Jason’s presentation is intellectually rigorous—instead of self-help-style nostrums, she furnishes concrete, actionable advice substantiated with empirical data. Moreover, despite necessary excursions into technicality, this is a thoroughly readable book that will be entirely accessible to those with a limited understanding of investment strategy. Another of its virtues is that it never dispenses hyperbolic promises and unflinchingly confronts the reality of risk: “In my experience, the most satisfied investors are those who embrace the investor’s dilemma, understanding that risk (uncertainty) and reward (high returns) are forever and always intertwined.” Overall, this is an impressively informative book that attests to the author’s 30-plus years of experience in the financial industry. . . The book concludes with self-assessment tools to build a synopsis of one’s financial health and future aspirations, and it’s a lucid, concise questionnaire that, in itself, makes this volume a worthwhile resource. ”

Kirkus Reviews 

“Retirement is frightening, especially for those of us near—or at—retirement age, on at least three levels—it presages a potentially dramatic change in the remainder of our lives, it requires us to confront the last, or terminal, phase of our existence and, for attorneys, it forces us to recognize that we have been procrastinating about this critical subject for most of our professional lives. Now, there is a solution. Instead of continuing to procrastinate, read Julie Jason’s excellent guide, The Discerning Investor.

 

Written with true insight, understanding and an overarching goal of helping lawyers and their clients confront a difficult topic, this book provides a wealth of information in a readable, understandable and useful format that will warm the hearts of all lawyer-procrastinators. If you read one book on retirement, this is the one, and you should read it now!”

Harvey L. Pitt, former SEC Chairman;

CEO of Global Business Consultancy, Kalorama Partners, LLC

 

“As a consultant to law firms, I can give it to you straight: You’ve had a successful law career and you’ve built your nest egg. Don’t screw it up in retirement. Read The Discerning Investor for its valuable tools to help organize priorities and focus those priorities on actionable steps. Julie has her own distinct conversational voice and way of making complex concepts come alive. The tone is very direct and devoid of ‘investment-speak,’ i.e., no jargon. Every partner of every large law firm should not only read The Discerning Investor for his or her own benefit, but also provide a copy to every new partner and associate.”

Peter Giuliani, Career law firm business consultant, Partner, Smock Law Firm Consultants (smocklawfirmconsultants.com).

Author of Passing the Torch Without Getting Burned, ABA, 2013

 

“As an investment management lawyer representing investment advisers and broker-dealers servicing primarily retail investors, I have seen it all. From overreaching sales practices and unfair marketing to outright fraud. The Discerning Investor lays out the law governing the investment advice industry and will help you make one of the most difficult decisions in your life—selecting a financial institution and financial adviser to help with your investments.”

Max Schatzow, Esq.,

Co-founder & Partner of RIA Lawyers, LLC

 

“As former Wall Street litigation counsel to a major broker-dealer, arbitrator, and mediator, and a life-long investor, I recommend Julie Jason’s book to lawyers who are approaching retirement. If you are—or wish to be—a ‘discerning’ investor in your retirement, this book will serve you well.”

Richard P. Ryder, Esq., Founder,

Securities Arbitration Commentator, Inc.

 

“Julie Jason’s The Discerning Investor offers solid advice for retirees and pre-retirees. Julie takes much of the mystery out of personal portfolio management and helps the reader understand many of the mechanics without complexity.”

Russell L. Abrahms, CPA, CPA to highly successful individuals, families and businesses for more than 25 years

 

“Who would benefit from reading The Discerning Investor? A lawyer who wants to enjoy retirement having accumulated wealth the hard way, by working at it. There is more involved than meets the eye. It’s more than picking stocks. It’s more than working with a broker. Creating cash flow to support a lifestyle takes some time to organize. Strategy needs to be set (Chapter 7 is an eye-opener). Monitoring needs to follow. Choosing investment advisers takes some knowledge and due diligence. Freedom from conflicts of interest becomes more important. All of these factors come together in Julie Jason’s The Discerning Investor, culminating in my two favorite chapters. Chapter 14 introduces an innovative “Know Your Representative Rule.”  Chapter 15 takes readers through a creative self-assessment leading to getting to know yourself better as a retirement investor. Who should read this book? I can’t think of any lawyer, young or old, who wouldn’t benefit.”

Manny Bernardo (retired attorney), Former Director of Employee Benefits Tax Services for Deloitte & Touche Tristate,

Benefits Specialist Attorney, and Human Resources Benefits Executive

 

“As lawyers, we are always so busy keeping our clients on the straight and narrow that we sometimes neglect to tend our own gardens. Every good lawyer knows only too well what he or she does not know. We would never think to help our clients choose investments for their portfolios, as there are other professionals who specialize in that. But sometimes our clients want us to make recommendations. How do you pick the right investment professionals for your clients, or yourself? Too many of us rely on country club cronies, college classmates, people we meet at the gym, or (increasingly) online profiles we stumble across on social media, without even knowing if anyone’s financial future should be trusted to them. Hats off to Julie Jason for finally demystifying the process of selecting an investment adviser, using new SEC Form CRS as a guide. The Discerning Investor will help you look beyond a professional’s veneer and ferret out what is important that will help you or your client determine if he or she is the right fit. Any lawyer familiar with business due diligence will savor this book.”

Cliff Ennico, lawyer, nationally syndicated columnist and author of 16 books, including The Crowdfunding Handbook (HarperCollins 2016)

 

“In The Discerning Investor, Julie Jason helps readers cut through the noise and hazards of investing and retirement planning. The issue for many is that we are overloaded with news of each day’s market fluctuations and experts’ opinions on how the day’s economic and political events contributed. Julie Jason explains why smart investors take a steady, measured, long term approach. She walks us through important decisions and identifies pitfalls that can cause us to veer off course. For those interested in ways to measure portfolio composition and performance, she explains analytical tools professionals use. She lucidly describes the proper role and responsibility of financial advisers and provides a guide for finding the right financial firm and individual. It is never too early to think about retirement planning. The Discerning Investor is a road map to long term retirement planning success that everyone should read.”

Clifford Alexander, Partner, K&L Gates

 

“Julie Jason’s The Discerning Investor meticulously explains the various issues that must be considered when formulating a successful financial retirement plan. From identifying one’s goal to the various options for achieving those goals, Julie has clearly articulated what one must consider with or without a financial advisor. For the uninformed, her words are informative when deciding whether or not they need a financial adviser and, if one is needed, what one should expect from an adviser upon which great reliance and trust will lie.”

Jay Sandak, Partner, Carmody, Torrance, Sandak & Hennessey LLP

 

“Selecting the right financial professional can be challenging, but new SEC disclosures are now available. Julie Jason uses her extensive knowledge and experience to highlight the key topics and questions to bring up when meeting with a current or prospective financial professional. This book provides you with the framework for determining whether that professional is right for you, or is someone you should avoid.”

Charles Rotblut, CFA, V.P., American Association of Individual Investors, Editor of the AAII Journal, Author of Better Good than Lucky: How Savvy Investors Create Fortune with the Risk-Reward Ratio (Traders Press 2010)

 

“Preparation helps avoid pitfalls. Julie Jason offers the reader a dose of “virtual valium” through stock market history and practical recommendations to help stop the nervous investor from allowing their emotions to become their retirement portfolio’s worst enemy.”

Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist, CFRA Research, 

Author of The Seven Rules of Wall Street: Crash-Tested Investment Strategies That Beat the Market (McGraw-Hill Education 2009)

From the Publisher

2023-05-20
Attorney and investment counsel Jason presents a thorough guide to investment with a specific view toward retirement.

The author astutely observes that retirement has only become more challenging as lifespans have increased, and consequently, “your retirement planning will encompass a much longer period of time than you might first envision.” Moreover, she asserts, one can’t procrastinate and expect to prepare for retirement properly; the author notes more than once: “This is not the time to learn through trial and error.” Although these are universal truths, “retirement security” is largely about personal customization, Jason points out, as not everyone will have the same goals to achieve or the same hurdles to clear. Her aim is to help readers retire “on [their] own terms,” and to that end, she provides both a general conceptual framework to understand retirement investment, as well as specific, practical counsel regarding the formulation and execution of a retirement plan. She covers a wide swath of analytical territory—volatility and risk, diversification, the ways one should choose a financial expert to assist with investment and other areas of interest. The book concludes with self-assessment tools to build a synopsis of one’s financial health and future aspirations, and it’s a lucid, concise questionnaire that, in itself, makes this volume a worthwhile resource. Jason’s presentation is intellectually rigorous—instead of self-help-style nostrums, she furnishes concrete, actionable advice substantiated with empirical data. Moreover, despite necessary excursions into technicality, this is a thoroughly readable book that will be entirely accessible to those with a limited understanding of investment strategy. Another of its virtues is that it never dispenses hyperbolic promises and unflinchingly confronts the reality of risk: “In my experience, the most satisfied investors are those who embrace the investor’s dilemma, understanding that risk (uncertainty) and reward (high returns) are forever and always intertwined.” Overall, this is an impressively informative book that attests to the author’s 30-plus years of experience in the financial industry.

A clear, concise, and wise guide to retirement planning.

Kirkus Reviews