As a writer I am always seeking interesting stories to investigate. One day after reading a story about the enormous success of the summer blockbuster, The Dark Knight, it peeked my interest about celebrities and sports stars, the money they earn and how they manage it. We have all read stories about the financial disasters of rock stars and rappers who made millions and lost it. I believe celebrities are wiser today and call on skilled professionals to handle their money managing. I made some calls and was told a rising star in the financial managing field is Jason Hill, founder of Hill Financial. I contacted him and he agreed to answer a fascinating Q and A.

Q: What is the name of your company?

A. The name of my Company is Hill Financial, LLC. I actually have a few companies. BayHillinvestments, was my first company. I then opened Hill Financial, and BlakeHill Financial Group. Hill Financial is the company I use for my entertainment clients. I'm located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.( Securities Offered Through Centaurus Financial, Inc. Member FINRA & SIPC. Supervisory Branch Office, 333 City Blvd. West, Ste. 2010, Orange CA 92868)

Q. How did you get into this business?

A. I actually got into this business the hard way. I was good with numbers, and I knew I wanted to do something where I could help people. I started with a bank as a part time teller. I had to quit college because my wife was pregnant with my oldest daughter. I had to support my family. In essence I had to grow up fast for my unborn child. This was in 1996. I watched the employees of the bank very closely to identify the different areas of banking. I met with the financial adviser at the bank and asked to talk with him. I knew that was an area I was very interested in. I wanted to help people achieve their financial dreams. I worked my way up the ladder faster than any other person in the banks history, and after many, many no's and rejections, I was finally sponsored by the bank to take my test to become an adviser. I accomplished that in 1998.

Q: What kind of clients do you represent?

A. Starting with Bayhillinvesments - I started servicing all kinds of clients when I first launched my business. As I started becoming more in demand I had to start increasing the levels my clients needed to open an account. Eventually, I started managing money for extremely high net individuals, business owners, CEO’s etc., and after many years of relationship building I started managing investments for high profile people in the entertainment industry.

Q: What makes you stand out of the crowd?

A: According to my clients, I'm different from any other adviser they've ever worked with because of the relationship I have with them. I'm very close with all my clients. I have and/or develop personal relationships with everyone I help. I make it a habit to know everything I can about them. I know their fears, their ambitions in life, whether their dog is having surgery, their favorite uncle may be ill, and can't find a specialist to figure out why, etc. I know these things and I talk to them about it. As I said, I'm very close with my clients. I treat them like family. I treat them the way I want to be treated. I look at every situation as this; what would I want this person to do if I was them and I had to rely on me for my financial security.

Q: What can you offer celebrity clients, being you are in Oklahoma, versus an LA based advisor?

A: Well, honestly as cliché as this may sound, I can offer them me. What does that mean to someone who doesn't know "me" though? It means that from all media, interviews, or any publications I've ever seen, trust isn't a common trait with most of the people the celebrities are dealing with. It's more of a Dog Eat Dog environment; watch your back, atmosphere. That's not me! I don't live in that life day after day, evolving into what the L.A. based company employees have to evolve into in order to survive in this business.

I'm not a product of having to survive in that world day in and day out. As a result of my upbringing, not having anything monetarily, the only thing we had to rely on was loyalty, trust, a person’s word, and in general doing the right thing for others. That is all I know, that's the only way I know how to treat people. So, that's what I bring to the table with the celebrity clients. A friendship, a relationship, a sense of trust, a sense of piece of mind that they are not use to having. I regularly have clients calling me at 11 or 12 o'clock at night...The reason, they feel comfortable with me, see me as a friend, and feel that no time is a bad time to call me if something is on their mind. I want them to feel that. The closer I am with my clients, the more personally involved with their lives, then the better our outcome will be. It's human nature, if you have any feelings at all as a human being, the more you know someone, the stronger your relationship is with that person, then the more thought you will put into what you advise that person to do. You think about all the things they fear, all the people it would affect if something went wrong, and how it would build or destroy this person’s financial life if you don't get it right.

Q: What makes a good adviser?

A: Honestly, they are few and far between to find good ones. Most advisers in my opinion rely too much on credentials. What I mean by this is they forget that this is really a business of relationships first. You can't teach someone to care about another. It's either in you or it's not. There are a lot of qualified people in this industry on paper, but getting them to put you first is a whole other issue. In my opinion, they hide behind their accomplishments on paper and avoid the real questions that need to be addressed. Which are, can I trust you, can I rely on you, can I confide in you, and are you going to put me at all times? A good adviser will always put the client first. Example, as an adviser, when you are faced with a situation that you can place a client in investment A, which is good for the client and pays the adviser a high percent of return, or place the client in investment B, which is a better avenue for the client but pays the adviser much less, what is your advisor going to do? The sad truth is most clients never know what the answer to that question is, and will more than likely never know if their adviser did choose option A. In my opinion, the best way to resolve this issue is to tell the client up front, you have two options as to how you pay me. I'm going to make more with option A, and I'm going to make less with option B. If I were you I would chose option B. This does wonders for your relationship with your client and everyone sleeps better at night.

Q: How can you determine who is honest and has a good track record?

A: As far as determining who is honest? In the beginning that is really a difficult thing to do. I always recommend people having some form of basis for dealing with a new broker. (Such as being referred by a friend or family member who has dealt with the adviser. With that said, you should never rely solely on that source. I have to deal with this issue regularly, as a result of the skepticism and lack of trust that comes with dealing with high profile clients. I tell people to perform a background check through the FINRA(Financial Industry National Regulatory Authority) FINRA.ORG website as well. This will give a pretty in depth picture as to the type of person you're dealing with. I tell my clients in the end they are going to have to make a gut decision, and go with their heart at the end of the day, based off the background check and referral sources. There is no magical document that will give a person the full proof answer they are looking for. They are going to have to go with what they feel at the end of the day. Typically if a person has a clean track record, then you can probably count on the things they offer you will fall along the same lines. If they have an unethical track record then who knows what to expect from them. As far as finding out about good track records? Track records are important, don't get me wrong, but people really put too much emphasis on this. As we all know, numbers can be skewed in any way people want them to look from a potential investors standpoint. In my opinion, this is why it's more important to look at who you're dealing with and not what you're dealing with. If a person is still in this business after 5 or 6 yrs, then they are probably doing something right. Everyone is going to portray this and that as far as how they perform better than this adviser or that adviser. Truth be told, they may outperform someone else, but this only applies to those seeking to hit the big one in the markets. The kinds of people I deal with are really looking to protect what they have. The people I deal with aren't trying to strike the big one. They've already built their wealth. They want to protect what they have, generate additional income streams, decrease their exposure to taxes, and minimize their risks while doing this. In essence I build them a Financial Road Map. I show them where they are starting from, where they told me they want to go, and show them how to get there in the most time and cost efficient way. I show them what roadblocks may be in the way, how to avoid those roadblocks, etc. Everything is mapped out. This really comes into play with younger athletes, models, actors, musicians, etc. The worst thing that could happen to them is to fly by the seat and at the age of 57, they realize they are flat broke. Now what? Go get a job! That's not an option; I show them the shortcoming they may be faced with, how to avoid them, and how to create life long income streams they won't outlive.

Q. What are the goals for your company?

A: I want to show as many people as I can in the entertainment industry that there are people in this world you can still trust, when it comes to money. So many people see green when it comes to dealing with money. Greed set's in, and the worst possible person comes out of others, when if the circumstances were different they would probably be decent people. I only take 2 new clients per quarter because I don't want to dilute the service my clients are getting and deserve, and quite honestly the types of clients I'm dealing with have many issues at hand which take quite a while to address and get nailed down. Every client I've had, at some point has either personally told me or written me a letter telling me how grateful they are to have me in their life. That they had never dealt with anyone like me before I came along, and they have noticed a positive change in their life as a result of me being in their life. First of all, the feeling is mutual; I grow so much as a result of the relationships I've built. In the end that is such a euphoric feeling of since of accomplishment. I want to spread that to as many people as I can who have currently put walls up so high that they live in a world within themselves as the only person to trust. I can relate to them and those walls. As time has gone by and my clients have rebuilt some of my trust in others, as I in them, I want to return the favor.

You can contact Jason through his Publicist: Karen Ammond – KBC MEDIA kbcmedia@att.net