In the News: Charles Brighton on Hedge Funds, Clients’ Emotional Wellbeing
In recent articles published by Barron’s, Brighton Jones co-founder Charles Brighton weighed in on the evolution and utility of hedge funds, as well as the attention we pay as a firm to our clients’ emotional and social wellbeing.
Fire Your Hedge Fund, Hire an Advisor | June 26, 2018
“… A certified financial planner (or a CPA/PFS, a certified public accountant who is also a personal financial specialist), whose job isn’t to herd you into risky assets, will help you achieve your long-term financial goals.
“The uncool CFP will help you avoid pitfalls and attend to the necessary but perhaps boring aspects of your financial life, such as ensuring you have sufficient life insurance or figuring out how to juggle the needs of your aging parents and your young children, all the while making sure you can retire at some point …
“Charles Brighton, a Barron’s top-ranked advisor in Washington State, used to use hedge funds for diversification, but has moved away from them because of their cost and long lockup periods. He argues that he hasn’t sacrificed diversification, only saved clients a ton of fees. ‘There are so many ETFs where you can replicate a lot of the risk/reward scenarios we used to get from hedge funds,’ he says.”
Bourdain, Spade, Advisors and Suicidal Depression | July 12, 2018
“The back-to-back suicides in June of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain were a jarring reminder that material success is no shield against inner turmoil …
“So what are financial advisors’ role and responsibilities against this backdrop? I asked three top firms about their practices.
“‘People that are successful and have a lot of money, like those two, are a really good lesson around the fact that money doesn’t buy you happiness,’ Charles Brighton, CEO of Seattle-based Brighton Jones told me.
“Brighton Jones has a ‘chief compassion officer’ on staff to focus on clients’ emotional wellbeing. The firm often hosts social wellbeing events, and through its CRM system, it tags 20 clients a year for extra engagement. Advisors have referred multiple clients to clinical psychologists and family therapists.
“‘We’ve learned we have to really help with the emotional and social stuff,’ says Brighton. ‘I wish I had a degree in psychology more than a degree in finance.'”
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