It is the passion for helping others that drives Michael E. Jaspan to offer his services as a financial professional at no cost to his customers. Such a statement may seem too good to be true, as many of his clients have stated to him in the past, but Jaspan’s model of business for his company Safe Money Advisory provides an environment where everyone involved is intended to win.
A graduate of Penn State University and co-author of The Secret to Lifetime Financial Security with more than thirty years of experience in his field, Jaspan is one of 200 financial professionals in the entirety of the United States to have completed the training to become a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor. The title offers his perspective – to become your own bank instead of relying on greedy privatized or government industries to handle your money for you. Financial literacy, or the knowledge to manage your money, is what Jaspan offers. At this point in history, it is more important to have this knowledge in your arsenal than ever.
“We are subject to an invisible tax, and it goes by a name called inflation,” Jaspan said. “We are looking at the highest inflation rates we’ve seen in this country for forty years. If you have the same amount [of money] but the costs of goods and services continues to go higher and higher, what that means for people like you and me is that the money that we have is not going to go as far as it used to go.” Jaspan then humorously remarked, “You end up in a situation where you say, ‘I have too much month at the end of my money.’”
His service relies specifically on being able to pay the costs for what he calls lifetime milestones. College, weddings, buying a house, providing for your family, and eventually retirement. These milestones are not cut and dry on when they might occur, but they can be a high expected cost that one can prepare for. The prospect of these costs on top of everything else life can throw at you makes money a word that induces anxiety, but consulting with Jaspan can provide the knowledge on how not only to overcome these costs, but to have full control of them. “I help uncover inefficiencies within a family or a business’s monthly cash flow,” he said. “Often times, there are dollars that are unknowingly and unnecessarily lost.”
Jaspan’s model of business is unique to each client he works with. It all begins with an initial consultation to understand your current financial situation and where you would like to go with them. Knowing your specific situation allows Jaspan to search for the resources that will get you to that goal. “I believe everybody has their own unique financial fingerprint,” he said. His work is providing you with the knowledge and resources to take control of your money for yourself instead of handing over your assets to a financial advisor, who takes a cut of your earnings whether their methods succeed in making you money or not. “You take this information from that point to the end of your life,” he said. “It’s a true circle of life.”
ADVISOR VS PROFESSIONAL
Jaspan stresses the important difference between a financial advisor and a financial professional. An advisor’s interests may not be completely aligned with yours, as they win their cut of your profits either way with no risk to them. This can be detrimental to your own finances in two out of three scenarios. If your account value goes down, you lose money. Not only does your account balance decrease, but your advisor is still taking their cut of 1% or more of your earnings. If your account balance remains at a flat rate, meaning it has not increased or decreased, you are still losing money due to the fee you owe your advisor. And even if you do succeed and gain a higher account balance, some of that is still taken by the advisor.
As a financial professional, Jaspan only succeeds if the knowledge he freely provides pays off. “I say that if I want to be part of something, it’s gotta be a win, win, win. Not two wins, but three wins,” he said. “I never charge for this service. It’s my passion, I freely give this information to people to do what they want with.”
WIN, WIN, WIN
It may seem like a strange business model to offer financial management knowledge for no cost except for some time in conversation, but Jaspan’s model has promoted profit for all based on the success of the client.
When Jaspan learns of your individual financial situation, he will know what companies to reach out to that will be able to offer you the best aid on your journey. Jaspan himself is a source to a vast network of connections on hand to be the best fit for your needs. “When I bring business to the companies, in appreciation for me selecting them vs their competition, they pay me,” he said. “My client never has to pay me a dime. The client and company both get what they need. I get paid on whether or not the customer sees value on what is presented in that first meeting.”
With this model, the only outcome is for everyone involved to win. The financial success of the client is the most important part of the process.
THE PHILOSOPHY FOR HELPING OTHERS
Jaspan has dedicated his life to the philosophy of improving the lives of everyone he encounters. “Even if it is as simple as making someone smile when they seem down,” he said. Jaspan opened up about his reasoning for dedicating his life to giving others the power of financial literacy at no cost after such knowledge saved him when he lost nearly everything. “I realized I didn’t have a lot of people who cared about me,” he said. “I went through a very dark period, from being very productive with my passion and suddenly everything just stopped.”
He credited his financial knowledge to his survival and ability to rebuild. “I thank God every day that I had done what I did because it enabled me to survive to this point. If I had not done that, I shudder to think at what might have become of me,” he said. “I am very empathetic to the plight of anyone who has gone through that kind of experience. I did this because I wanted to give my children something. We’re here on this earth to help as many people as we can.”
Jaspan said that many clients come to him after their success wishing they had gone to him sooner. “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago,” he said. “The second best time is today; now.”
