Why Jonathan Shiffer & Journey Capital Advisers

POLISHING CHRISTMAS PENNIES ON THE RUG…MY GRANDPARENTS' GIFTS CAST THE MOLD FROM WHICH MY LIFE’S WORK WOULD EMERGE…

Swiss-Danish heritage and Great Depression experiences converged to steep my grandparents' consciousnesses in the mindful shepherding of assets.  Always valuing and appreciating their possessions, their gratitude for, and humbling awareness of, what was necessary to provide for their family became an emotional, moral, and philosophical touchstone for me.  They shaped the way I would live my life…and build my life’s work.

When we were children, Grandma and Grandpa always put a penny, sometimes a few coins, in our stockings at Christmas. Excited by our gifts and heart warmed by the love in our grandparents' eyes as we received them, our anxiousness to add those pennies to our piggy banks was tempered by Grandpas' admonition that we slow down, that we make sure the pennies were properly cared for, that they were shown the proper respect before being deposited.  Kneeling on the floor, we would lovingly rub our coins on the carpet till they shined—gleaming little tokens of the generosities we’d received, and the care with which we should afford them. 

My relationship with my parents was more difficult.  By the time I was 16 it was clear: my path in life would be one on which I struck out on my own.  Leaving home that year meant finishing high school and then enrolling in, and completing, both undergraduate and graduate degrees without the support most young adults took for granted. Fending for myself forged the discipline, endurance, and critical-thinking skills that led to the successful development of both a personal real estate portfolio and a commensurate career in asset management.  While that 25-year career, working with and for some of the US's most prestigious asset management firms has been meaningful and gratifying, it’s been, until recently, a career evolved around my employers' needs-- to serve their needs first, often with the needs of their clients, second.

Now, the next evolution: my own firm, serving clients directly--putting their needs first, without compromise, without conflict, and without condition.