Jake Mason joined Pinnacle Advisory Group as a Wealth Manager in 2007. After receiving a degree in international finance from Georgetown University, he worked in several investment-related positions. Though Jake enjoyed aspects of what he did, he felt drawn to the combination of analytical work and face-to-face client relationships found in financial planning. He earned his designation as a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and found Pinnacle soon after.
What surprises clients about financial planning?
In many people’s minds, a financial planner is little more than a number cruncher. While that’s certainly part of it, the job involves a lot more than that. We walk side by side with our clients through all the important events of their lives—often, across multiple generations. We help them when a child or grandchild is born, when they get married to the man or woman of their dreams, and when a loved one passes away. We are there with them in the good times and the bad.
How do you work with clients?
My goal is to bring my client a plan that is easy to understand and easy to implement. In this industry, you’ll see 150+ page financial plans. That’s not what I do. People come to us because they’re busy, so I try to take the mounds of data we collect, and turn it into a clean action item list, so they can understand what they have to do, and why. And then I follow up to help them put their plan into operation.
What’s the greatest benefit of financial planning?
I’ll have people look at the numbers and say, ‘So that’s where the money is going.’ They had no idea. I get a lot of feedback from clients who tell me that they have more comfort and confidence in knowing that they’re doing the right things financially. That’s one of the main benefits of financial planning—it reduces your stress and it frees up your time to do the things that are really important to you.
