(VIDEO) Reflecting on 10 Years of Family Wealth Management

We hosted a special event a video retrospective marking our 10-year anniversary as a firm; with a timed premiere:  Reflecting on 10 Years of FAMILY Wealth Management.  

In 10 minutes, we covered more than the 10 years of our business history. We also shared the meaning behind our Jason Howell Company:

• Why it started
• What we care about
• Why we incorporate unique services like family governance

We decided to repost it here. We hope those new to our firm will see how our founder's earlier work in banking, accounting and campaigning for public office shaped his financial and service-oriented mindset. And of course, how his partnership with Doug Tees evolved into creating a truly comprehensive wealth management firm worthy of your family’s trust. 

More than anything, our 10 years in business (so far) is a celebration of our family of clients. Together we’ve survived more than a few contentious elections, Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, US debt downgrades, interest rate surges, a banking crisis, DOGE, life and unfortunately, death. And we’re still here supporting each other. 

We’re building a firm for the next 10 years (and the next 10 after that and after that…). We just wanted to mark this milestone with you.

Here it is:

Jason Howell Company is the family wealth management firm that serves successful families overwhelmed by the emotional and “weird weight of wealth.” We understand that “millionaire problems” are still problems -especially when juggling family dynamics, taxes, imposter syndrome and charitable decisions (without a roadmap).

We integrate family governance (dynamics), philanthropy, and sustainable investing because our clients are just as concerned about personal growth and family preservation as they are about capital gains and wealth preservation. 

Jason J. Howell, CFP®, CPWA®, CSRIC® and Douglas W. Tees, MBA, CFP® CAP®, CBDA have spent decades working with families in the Washington, DC area and understand the unique ways wealth is experienced here. Successful entrepreneurs and family business owners often feel they must continually prove themselves; government contractors worry about the next contract; former Capitol Hill staffers and former agency employees privately question how to reconcile public service with private sector success. Similar tensions arise among professionals at our region’s many corporate headquarters. These unspoken dynamics can make it difficult for families to talk openly about money or make confident long-term decisions. Through a family governance approach, we help families create clarity, alignment, and structure—bringing together values, decision-making, and philanthropy so wealth can be stewarded thoughtfully across generations.

Our typical client families include dual income parents who work, have saved (or inherited) well and have just the right amount of fun! Prospective clients may be about to sell land or a business for an extraordinary "liquidity event." Regardless, we focus just as much on family preservation as we do wealth preservation. Our prospective clients recognized they:

• Need to “do something” with the cash in their checking/savings
• Need to start tax planning instead of just tax paying
• Need to reduce the isolation, guilt and decision fatigue
• Need to separate but align family wealth and individual wealth
• Need to reduce financial miscommunications between family members
• Need a plan to provide space for both family and individual philanthropy
• Need to separate business finances from personal finances
• Need to eventually diversify their portfolio away from the family business
• Need an investment strategy for income, “up” and “down” markets
• Need a plan to mitigate market, credit, inflation, and political risks
• Need to be sure they are choosing the right work benefits
• Need to plan for money while alive before what happens after death