My name is Jason Leder, and I am the founder of Leder Fiduciary Capital LLC. Previously, I had been a Portfolio Manager with the Invesco/Van Kampen Value Opportunities Fund and with the Invesco/Van Kampen Comstock Fund. At both Invesco and at Van Kampen, I served as Senior Portfolio Manager and as Managing Director. Prior to Invesco/Van Kampen, I served as Securities Analyst at Salomon Brothers, Fidelity Management and Research, Gabelli & Company, and Austin, Calvert, and Flavin. I earned an M.B.A. degree with Honors from Columbia University and a B.B.A. degree Magma cum Laude in Finance at the University of Texas at Austin with a concentration in Accounting. I graduated from St. John’s School. Interestingly, St. John’s School played a major role in sparking my deep interest in investments. I am a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder, a member of the CFA Institute, and a member of the CFA Society of Houston. I currently serve as the President of the CFA Society of Houston. I previously served as the VP Programming and as the Treasurer for the CFA Society of Houston. I am on the CFA Society of Houston Board of Directors. I am married, have two daughters, and live in Bellaire, Texas.
I have 29 years of in-depth experience researching investments, analyzing investments, and making investments. I have seen irrational, overoptimistic bull markets in many asset classes. I have seen irrational, overly pessimistic bear markets in many asset classes, and I have seen everything in between. Investing is a profound passion of mine.
I have known for some time that the “investment business” was not serving many people well. Many “advisors” had mediocre at best investment skills. I saw some “investments” that people had been “placed” into such as fund of funds, private REITs, high-cost share classes of mutual funds when lower cost share classes were available, closed-end funds at offering, and other overpriced and/or subpar investments. One commonality of many of these expensive and/or subpar “investments” was that the “advisor” had higher compensation from these vehicles. It sometimes seemed to me that some “advisors” in the “investment business” seemed more interested in their personal compensation and in the compensation of their firms rather than in maximizing their clients’ finances. This made me sick. It also made me mad. I strongly believe that people deserve better advice, counsel, and help.
The glaring deficiency was crystallized when I was discussing with my wife Norri what to do if I met an untimely death. I realized that in my opinion, all the advisors that I could think of did not have sufficient training in investing and their investment skills were not of a level of a professional investor. Other advisors were biased and may not put my family’s interests before theirs. In some cases, both of these problems existed. Despite being in the investment industry for over one-quarter of a century, the only three people that I could think of were a very successful international fund manager, a hedge fund manager on the East Coast, and a retired person who had a very successful career managing a very well performing mutual fund. None of these people would be available to an “average person.” It is possible that they would not have been available to my wife Norri if I had been “hit by a Mack truck.” I knew that there needed to be – desperately needed to be – a better solution for many, many people.
This was the genesis of the idea for Leder Fiduciary Capital. Our goal is to provide our clients well researched, well analyzed, thoughtful investments based upon sound investment principals. People need this and deserve this. People need low-cost investments so that more of their hard earned money works for them instead of “working” for their “advisor.” People need real advisors – fiduciary advisors – who always put their interests first and in all circumstances. They do not need “advisors” who may put their interests first some of the time. We firmly believe that advisors should never receive any commissions based upon product sales or any compensation from third party sources. Compensation from third party sources or commissions based upon product sales could bias – either explicitly or implicitly – an advisor to favor one “investment” over another not because it is superior for the client but rather because it increases the compensation to the “advisor.” People deserve advisors who are unbiased and who have zero incentive to invest client assets in such a manner that generates greater economics to the advisor.
We believe client assets should be separated from the advisor (Charles Schwab and Company is the custodian for our clients’ assets). Charles Schwab and Company physically holds all securities and funds for our clients. We do not have physical custody of any of our clients’ funds and/or securities.
We believe that your information is just that – your information. Our clients’ trust in us, our fiduciary status, and our internal moral compass all compel us to safeguard our clients’ information. We view client confidentiality just as a doctor would or a therapist would – it is paramount and it is fundamental.
Starting my practice, Leder Fiduciary Capital, allows me to foster two of my profound passions – investing and helping people. We believe that Leder Fiduciary Capital LLC is something special. We hope you do too.