Jan Schalkwijk kicked off his financial advisor career in the traditional mold. But after a sweeping tour of the world in 2005, he came back energized to approach his career life with new vision for how to keep moving people toward sound investments but with an added criterion: to invest in companies and ventures that have the sustainable ethic in mind. With so much investing being the race to earn a quick buck, Jan set his sights on a larger goal: to find the best intersection of a worthy return and support for companies that see sustainability as the only way to go, if the long run is of any concern.
Jan spoke with Lee Van Ham for this episode and tells the story about how he spanned the chasm and embraced two forces that people often don’t see in any alliance. Jan discusses how he gets a feel for the real goals of an investor to decide where they are on the continuum of risk, and then match that with as many funds as possible that include strong green and sustainable values. That is the art in Jan’s practice: finding the right balance for a given investor.
Jan’s firm is JPS Global Investments, in San Diego.
