Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason and Joe Rehfeld.
Jason and Joe started Brentwater Partners in 2010 in response to a growing need to serve individuals and families in the entertainment industry and other service sectors as their personal chief financial officer. Our clients are involved in everything from composing music, acting, producing films or building their own small businesses. For many people who quickly develop their earnings capacity and start to accumulate assets, they’ve never had the opportunity to learn the best ways to continue to grow their earnings while protecting what they have. Not only is education important, but a team they can trust to serve their best interests.
Our business began with a couple of individuals who wanted a trusted source to review their financial situation and helping them navigate through some important decisions that could ultimately help them with their long-term financial health. Sometimes, this process needs to be simplified and streamlined, while other times it requires a deep expert analysis of the opportunities and pitfalls.
Brentwater has grown from our first two clients to where we are today primarily through word of mouth testimonies and referrals. We offer a full slate of services to many of our clients that include gathering data, reporting, oversight, budgeting, cash management and strategic planning. We also serve clients as consultants, working on a variety of types of finance and business projects. The ultimate goal is having our clients freed up to spend more time on what they do best while we take care of their finance and business matters.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
This has generally been a smooth road. However, working with a variety of types of people and personalities always comes with its challenges.
One of the biggest challenges is helping people see what their future self would appreciate about the decisions they make today. That takes a lot of thought and cannot really be rushed. Many of us want immediate gratification, especially after we hit a major financial milestone or start making or accumulating a lot of money. It’s difficult to step back and think about our future goals – what do I want for myself 10 or 20 years down the road; will I have a family, and if so, how do I want to take care of them; what do I want to do if I had free time and money never said no (time is always a restriction, even if money is not).
Another challenge is helping people realize there are a variety of paths forward, whether that means coming out of a difficult situation for which they might not see an exit, or planning for something they really want to do but helping them understand that could take on a variety of shapes and sizes – or happen within an assortment of timelines. Sometimes, people think primarily in a binary fashion – it’s either this or that. When actually, there are often many solutions. Understanding peoples’ deeper needs, goals, ideas, and just how they are wired is an important part of helping people achieve their objectives while at the same time enjoying life.
Brentwater Partners – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We oversee our clients’ financial matters and business affairs both on the personal and business sides including loan out companies for entertainment clients.
By providing a more complete financial, business, and operational perspective, we position our clients to be well informed and equipped to accomplish their objectives and free them up to focus on what they do best.
Our services include tactical and strategic business and financial thinking and planning, cash management for current and long-term obligations. We assist on budgeting to help achieve financial goals, data gathering and analysis that can be reported to the client in an understandable fashion, oversight of financial, tax, legal and other professional advisors. Additionally, we take care of on-going day to day financial services such as bill payment, banking and monitoring important dates that in some way impact business and financial affairs.
We are best known for our ability to assess a client’s current situation, understand where they’re trying to go, and build a blueprint for them to successfully get there. We’re not only designing this path forward, but we’re helping to execute it along the way, in a sense being both the architect and general contractor in their financial life.
We are most proud of being able to genuinely help our clients achieve their objectives while protecting what they’ve already built. Plus, we have developed close trusted relationships with each of our clients and really enjoy working alongside of them.
What sets us apart? Not only do we genuinely care for our clients, we really do keep their best interests in mind ahead of our own. Because we’re only paid by our clients and receive no referrals or kickbacks from business partners or others who might sell products or services to our clients, our only interest is seeing our clients succeed – putting the best team of people in place who can work for them in all capacities. We are also really efficient. We utilize technology in every aspect of how we run the business which allows us to operate an almost paperless office while giving clients access to all their important data on a moment’s notice. We’re also able to track and collaborate on pretty much anything that’s of importance and have immediate access to all of this from anywhere at any time.
Our clients also appreciate our discretion – everything we do is kept confidential.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success for us is helping our clients succeed in meeting and exceeding what they want to accomplish. This isn’t always monetary. Sometimes, other factors like balanced family/work life, free time, passion projects, or pursuing a hobby in-depth play an even bigger role. If our clients are achieving the things they’ve set out to do and we can help educate and take care of them in the process, we’ve succeeded. The markers are different for every client, but it takes time to understand what’s really important to each one.
It’s also about clients feeling more confident about the decisions they make – not only are they more informed, they have the right context.
Another success factor for us is how long clients remain with us. Many of our clients have been with us for the better part of our ten years of history.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.brentwater.com
- Phone: 323.723.3050
- Email: [email protected]
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