Jeff Brooks of Janus Henderson - King Lear, Tony Soprano and the Lessons of Wealth Transfer

May 20, 2025

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Today on the podcast, Rusty and Robyn are joined by Jeff Brooks, Senior Wealth Strategist with the Specialist Consulting Group at JanusHenderson Investors. Jeffrey R. Brooks is a Senior Wealth Strategist with the Specialist Consulting Group at Janus Henderson Investors. Jeffrey brings to his role years of experience in both the practice of law as well as the financial services industry, working together with financial advisors and their high-net worth and ultra-high-net worth clients. His knowledge and real-world experience are invaluable for advisors and investors facing hurdles in the quest to achieve tax, wealth transfer, family governance, business succession, and philanthropic goals. Prior to joining the firm in 2023, Jeffery served 24 years in similar roles at Capital Group, UBS, and Merrill/Bank of America. Before entering the financial services industry, he was a partner in a boutique estate planning firm in St. Louis, Missouri, and spent five years clerking for the judge of a probate court. Jeffrey earned both an undergraduate degree in journalism and a law degree from the University of Missouri at Columbia. He holds FINRA Series 7, 63, 66, and 24 securities licenses. Jeffrey and his wife live with their 5 dogs on a small ranch in Southern California.

Key Takeaways

[05:33] - Jeff’s professional background and career highlights
[06:39] - More on Jeff’s current role at Janus Henderson
[08:49] - What inspired Jeff to connect cultural icons, like King Lear and Tony Soprano, to modern wealth transfer planning?
[09:43] - How do these fictional stories exemplify the complex family dynamics of wealth transfers?
[12:26] - What are some of the most common mistakes people make in their wealth transfer plans that mirror the tragic flaws of Tony Soprano, King Lear and other fictional characters?
[15:47] - What is “The King Lear Effect” and what are some real life examples of estate battles that illustrate it well?
[17:40] - How has the increasing complexity of modern families complicated wealth transfer planning?
[19:40] - How can financial advisors facilitate the often difficult conversations necessary for estate planning?
[23:40] - In Jeff’s experience is poor technical planning or unaddressed emotional issues a greater threat to familial wealth?
[28:35] - What has Jeff found to be effective in helping parents with the concern that their children will be negatively influenced by their inheritance?
[31:42] - How should families balance their desire for equitable treatment with the reality that different heirs have different needs and capabilities?
[34:51] - What blindspots do financial advisors often have when they guide clients through the wealth transfer planning process?
[38:03] - What are some tips to help financial advisors preserve not only financial capital, but everything else?
[42:26] - What trends is Jeff seeing in how the next generation approaches inherited wealth compared to previous generations?
[44:56] - How are differences in investor preferences among generations going to shape wealth transfers going forward?
[46:00] - What role should philanthropy play in a comprehensive wealth transfer strategy?
[47:23] - If Jeff could leave our listeners with one actionable strategy to improve their wealth transfer, what would that be?
[48:29] - What is currently Jeff’s favorite investment idea?

Quotes

[11:37] - “I have run into clients who have had a bad experience, most recently, and decided they want to change…their wills and trusts in order to be able to include or exclude certain individuals who may have had an immediate and short-term influence on them. As a lawyer, when that happened, I would counsel them to think carefully. It’s not my job to talk them out of it, but it certainly is my job to put it into perspective and help them see the perspective of good estate planning rather than to make it on an immediate incident.” ~ Jeff Brooks

[40:15] - “I love to talk about family governance with clients, because that’s such an amorphous term - it’s very squishy, we don’t know what governance is…The way I describe it and clarify it for my clients is: family governance is setting up a structure to make decisions when your family members don’t agree. They’ve gotta have a contract, or a constitution…or whatever you want to call it, but there’s a rule book because children will not always agree, not with their parents and not with each other, and some wait until after parents are gone to really let those disagreements fly. However, if you have an agreement in writing, you can control a good deal of that conflict.” ~ Jeff Brooks

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