FJY in the News

But housing futures are not a market for the novice, the broke or the faint of heart, finance experts and financial planners say. Home is "a place you live in, not an investment you need to hedge against," said Marjorie Fox, a financial planner in Reston.

Whether it makes sense to swap the two depends on the interest rates, says Marjorie Fox, a certified financial planner in Reston, VA.

What does the next generation of planners need to learn about the reality of practice today? What do they hope to accomplish? In this economic climate, are firms easing up on hiring? What do firms need to do to retain talent and create rewarding opportunites for younger planners? Financial Planning's Marion Asnes leads this discussion on career transitions in today's economy with a roundtable of current students, established advisors (including Fox, Joss & Yankee's Jon Yankee), and Schwab's director of practice management.

Fox, Joss & Yankee evaluates the success of its advisors on the basis (among other things) of how they fit into its existing team culture, whether they are receiving positive feedback from clients and other employees, and whether the firm's lead planners are aware of an obvious savings of their time because of the assistance they get from the new hires.

Fox Joss & Yankee, which now employs seven, wants to retain its staff for the long term. The firm developed a career path for new advisers, who start as associates for one to four years and then move up to financial advisers, senior advisers and eventually partners."We wanted to build a firm where people wouldn't leave," said Mr. Yankee, whose firm manages $250 million in assets. "We never wanted to build a company that would be sold to a bank; we want one that could have an internal succession plan."

Recruiting students from Texas Tech has been a great experience, said Laurie Belew, associate planner at Fox Joss & Yankee LLC in Reston, Va."We were impressed with the students' technical knowledge, their knowledge as to what has gone on in the industry, and their confidence and eagerness to join the organization," she said.

But trouble with the [money market] funds is rare. Marjorie L. Fox, a financial planner with Fox, Joss & Yankee, said the firm received reassuring e-mails from the custodians of its money-market funds -- Schwab and Fidelity -- stressing that investors were not facing losses in their funds. Fox said that Schwab's and Fidelity's exposure to Lehman Brothers' debt, which was behind Reserve's difficulties, is minimal. She added that large investment management companies typically stand ready to pump money into weakened money-market funds."Name institutions have come to the rescue of their money-market funds in the past," she said. "I see the stability of a Schwab or a Fidelity as a backstop."

"There is a lack of financial discipline among the Generation X and Yers," said Jon P. Yankee, partner at Fox Joss & Yankee LLC in Reston, Va., and a Generation X adviser himself.

Marjorie Fox, a lawyer and certified financial planner in Reston, said that recently, more of her clients have been expressing an interest in paying off the mortgage on their primary home or on their vacation place. More of them have been noticing that the rate they're paying on their mortgage is higher than the return they're bringing in on their investments, making mortgage prepayment tempting.

When I had Fox on the phone, I asked her about all the herd selling.

Fox, Joss and Yankee, a fee-only RIA in Reston, Va., with $250 million in assets, connects with colleges like Kansas State, Texas Tech and Virginia Tech which offer financial planning studies. Last year, the firm spent a full day at Texas Tech (its personal financial planning program is the only CFP Board-Registered program in the nation to offer degrees at the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. levels) to interview financial planning students.

This is the second consecutive year that FJY has been listed in the influential report, which ranks wealth managers according to their high-net-worth clientele base.

Daniel Joss, of Fox, Joss & Yankee, in Reston, Va., says that a growth stock may be in a rapidly expanding or developing field or industry and may be characterized by quick growth of market share or size of company.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for our high-income and high-net-worth clients,” says Marjorie L. Fox, principal and CEO of Fox, Joss & Yankee, an advisory firm in Reston, Va. Fox estimates that the firm’s 200 clients may convert as much as $10 million. “We like to be proactive, so we’re encouraging clients to start thinking now about what accounts they want to convert, so they’re prepared two years from now."

"Set aside a specific amount each month as play money," says Jon Yankee, a CFP based in Reston, Virginia....With an allowance, says Yankee, your indulgences will stay within your family's budget. You do have a budget, don't you?

“We’ve certainly had clients ask for socially responsible investments,” he [Jon Yankee] said. “But we think the impact could be greater if clients just put their money where their mouth is and volunteer or donate directly on the charitable side.”

Saving for the long term isn't easy, however, when you're shelling outfor piano lessons, soccer tournaments, toys, clothes, and everythingelse three growing kids require, not to mention paying off a first andsecond mortgage, two car loans, and two credit cards, plus saving foremergencies and retirement. Overwhelmed with the task of doing it all,the couple called Dan Joss, a CFP with Fox, Joss & Yankee inReston, Virginia, who often works with clients by phone.

Daniel D. Joss: I recommend saving 10% of your income from your first pay check and then increase that percentage with each raise. If you are diligent in saving/investing, you will have many options in your later years. You may be saving well over 20% of your final paycheck.

Fox said that having a diversified portfolio spared her clients from having to take losses in the bear market of 2000 to 2002.

Retirees and would-be retirees should have enough cash on hand to cover expected and some unexpected expenses for a year, and possibly up to three years, said Marjorie L. Fox of Fox, Joss & Yankee, a financial planning and investment firm in Reston.