A Note From Gratūs Partner, Skip Johnson

Financial advisors bear a massive responsibility. If you’re a financial advisor, then more than likely your goal is to not only deliver great returns to your clients but to do so while minimizing downside risk to your clients’ investments. It’s a tenuous balancing act, one that every advisor knows well.

So, let me introduce myself. My name is Skip Johnson. I’m a partner at Gratus Funds, and I know this balancing act. A large part of my role at Gratus is to help integrate our funds into your investment process.

Often, when I discuss real estate investments or other alternative investments with advisors, I hear fairly consistent feedback.

“I love the idea of real estate investment for my clients, but . . .”

“My clients would love a more dependable cash flow, but . . .”

“My clients are worried about the stock market, but . . .”

I understand the hesitation. I’ve been there. For more than a decade, I have served as a financial advisor and as a principal in a fast-growing advisory firm. During that time, alternatives and real estate investments were attractive to me. So attractive, in fact, that I personally participated in an early Gratus Fund and invested in other private placements.

I just didn’t know how to bring those investment opportunities to my clients.

In my journey of attempting to offer clients quality alternative investment opportunities, I was met with resistance and industry barriers, ranging from compliance, billing, custody, high minimums, “accredited only,” and the list went on.

So, I stuck with the status quo—a low-cost, diversified portfolio, comprised mostly of stocks and bonds. These offerings faced significantly less resistance. So, for the most part, I simply let alternatives fall to the wayside.

At Gratus, we have worked hard to address these challenges. Gratus was built to partner with you, to help you provide your clients with investment opportunities outside of the industry’s standard offerings.

Our aim at Gratus is to expand access to quality alternative investments, so your clients can directly invest in real estate deals and other alternatives. And they can do it with you—under your careful guidance—as part of a cohesive plan. Connect with us at GratusFunds.com and start integrating alternatives into your investment process today.