Our Origin Story
Born from an idea in 2016, but rooted in a long career focused on serving others, friends Jon Peyton and Bruce Klemm decided to disrupt the investment industry by creating a financial advisory firm dedicated to supporting Entrepreneurs & Executives through the use of traditional and alternative investments backed with fundamental and technical research.
But why?
After working at “big box” investment firms for over a decade, Jon and Bruce regularly experienced significant investment and planning limitations while helping clients at big box firms. For example, after completing a planning engagement with a client a question was always posed to the client "Do you want to be responsible for managing your portfolio or would you feel more comfortable handing the account(s) over to a professional money manager?" In many instances the client elected to hire the big box firm's professional money manager. Unfortunately, when comparing the client's personal return requirement with the professional manager's historical return, there was usually a mis-match - and not usually in the client's favor.
This mis-match led to the creation of Different Investments™, the place were Investing different requires thinking different™! Through the use of traditional and alternative investments, backed by technical and fundamental research, our team seeks to pursue portfolio returns that match your financial plan's required rate of return, over a full market cycle. This approach allows clients to focus on how their portfolio(s) perform as they relate to their goals and dreams rather than comparing the performance to a mis-matched set of indices.
Who We Are
Designed to align with our client's complex planning needs, the team at Different Investments™ focuses on providing active research in order to pursue an active return that closely mirror's the financial plan's required rate of return. Additionally, using our proprietary research processes for public and private investments our team works to integrate and manage portfolio risk along with volatility in order to smooth out the bumps.
Finally, in addition to two decades of professional management experience our team also holds many credentials like a bachelor in Economics, MBA, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, and more.
Why We Serve
When Harry Markowitz hypothesized the Modern Portfolio Theory he did so with the belief that asset allocation and diversification were two of the central tenants that explain how a portfolio of traditional asset classes will perform. At Different Investments™ we decided to build on this concept by including different alternative investment strategies with traditional asset classes to help manage portfolio volatility. These alternative strategies can include, but are not limited to, managed futures funds, master limited partnerships funds, real estate investment funds, long short funds, global macro funds, commodity funds, hedged strategy funds, and market neutral income funds. However, expanding our investment methodology to include alternative investment funds was not enough.
Since our team does not subscribe to the “buy and hold” methodology, due to the historical proof that an investment’s purpose and characteristics can change over time, we wanted to couple a more expansive list of investments with an active management approach; which is why we screen over 20,000 investments every year and track over 500 investments monthly.
With an expansive investment list and an active management approach we focus on creating a client’s personal rate of return.To do this our team will evaluate a client’s resources and future goals, understand how much portfolio volatility their plan can accept, and most importantly, how much time is needed to attain their desired goal.
Continous Learning
To believe the knowledge we have today does not require us to learn anymore is akin to saying “We have reached the pinnacle of knowledge and there is nothing more we can offer our clients”. For us, that is a death sentence. Between years of experience, degrees and credentials our team consistently looks for opportunities to improve our thinking in order to bring our clients a higher level of value as they acquire, invest, and protect their wealth. Today our team holds the following degrees and certifications:
- Bachelor Degrees
- Master Degree
- CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™
- Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Level 1 Candidate
Relentless Accountability
Have you heard the adage “The best laid plans…”? If not, it’s a proverbial expression that is used to signify the futility of making detailed plans because the outcome of said plans is uncertain and is usually dependent on your ability to forecast and execute them perfectly. This is where our team steps in…
In order to measure your investment progress, as it relates to your financial plan, we use our macro and micro research to guide our investment thesis. That said, we understand things come up and the market changes on a whim (i.e. COVID, war, inflation, etc). For this reason our proprietary research process is flexible enough to adjust with market forces, or changes, allowing our team to better manage market volatility in the pursuit of market performance.
The flexibility of our process and our team's rigorous research helps us stay accountable to the desired outcome from one quarter to the next.
Intentional Integrity
A textbook example of a company’s core values is “Integrity”. It may even be over used. However, at the Different Investments™ this core value is the reason clients know they do not have to worry about being promised things that are never delivered. Stated simply, if we cannot offer value or cannot provide an investment strategy designed to help you pursue your long term goals then we will be the first to raise our hand and tell you we are not a good fit. Our ability to provide high quality advice and maintain a strong reputation is of the utmost importance to us.
Finally, to aid in our goal of providing the highest level of integrity, we seek to provide transparency into how we operate, the fees clients pay, and the services clients should expect to receive. At all times clients should feel confident that the advice our team provides is in our client’s best interest.