This article appeared Monday, January 21, 2002

in the Business Section of the Gainesville Sun.

Jeff’s Ark

By JOE COOMBS, Sun business writer

On a place called Jeff’s Ark, there’s no room for day traders or hotshot investors trying to make a one-time, quick buck off the newest tech company.

You see, to earn a spot on Jeff’s Ark, you have to be willing to stick around for a while. The captain of the ship is Jeff Davis, president of Falcon Financial Management Inc., and he’s only looking for people who want to build a serious relationship that’s centered on a lifetime of financial investments.

“My best clients are those that I meet with on a regular basis,” said Davis, 49. “I like to see a client in person once every six months or at least once a year. I use the analogy of an ark. I have about 200 or 250 seats available, and I probably can’t offer ongoing planning for more people than that. At some point, the boat will be full.”

Davis, a certified financial planner, estimates that his ark has gotten “about two-thirds full” since he started Falcon Financial Management in January 1994. And with more people approaching retirement age, Jeff’s Ark figures to be boarding quite a few more passengers in the near future.

With people retiring at an earlier age and often starting new jobs and activities during their golden years, Davis said the role of financial planning has become more important today than in the past.

“Retirement isn’t what it used to be,” he said. “It’s no longer about people climbing into a rocking chair. For the first time in their lives, many of them are doing things they’ve always wanted to do. That’s probably the top concern right now - ‘Will I have enough money when I retire?’”

During his days at the University of Florida, Davis didn’t spend much time thinking about retirement, but he did have an important life decision to make following graduation. Davis spent four years on UF’s wrestling team, and was the squad’s assistant coach until 1979, when the university dropped the program.

He had fallen in love with one of the former wrestling scorekeepers at UF, and Davis is quick to mention that the courtship happened “after I stopped wrestling,” to dispel any notion of favoritism while he was on the mat. But he needed to determine a career path that would support him and and his new partner, Donna, who he would eventually marry. “It was either become a gym rat and try to work my way up in coaching, or do something in finance,” Davis said. “So I got started in the insurance business.”

Davis took a job at a firm owned by the late Jack McGriff, a former chair of the state’s Board of Regents. He and McGriff developed a financial advisory arm of the insurance firm, and Davis began to learn about financial planning. Rather than operate on a salaried basis, Davis said he realized the need to move to a fee-based system of service for financial planning. He completed a certification program for financial planning, and in 1989 opened his own firm, which was a partnership with two other financial planners.

When the partnership went sour - “it just didn’t work out,” Davis said - he started over on his own in January 1991. For the first few years, he sold investments on a commission basis, but Davis began to desire stronger relationships with his clients. “Stocks and bonds are commodities, they’re bought and sold, and that’s it,” he said. “The integration of planning and managing money is where the magic happens. One of the things I want to know is, ‘What wakes you up at two in the morning?’ Are you concerned about how you’re going to pay for the kids’ college, or will you have enough for retirement? Maybe you’re wondering about how much insurance you might need.”

As a result, Falcon Financial Management was born in January 1994 as a full-service financial advisory firm. Davis has four full-time employees at his Gainesville office, and he manages a total of $60 million in assets for his clients. Davis and his wife also host a call-in radio show on WSKY-FM called “Dollars and Sense,” and it airs weekly on Saturday mornings. Davis also hasn’t been too shy about imparting his financial advice on some of his business colleagues. Dan Chalmers, a managing partner with local accounting firm Stormant & Chalmers, handles Davis’ taxes and accounting, and said he was encouraged by Davis to enter the realm of financial planning. “On Jeff’s advice, I went out and got my license to be a securities dealer,” Chalmers said. “As a CPA, it became an extra credential that I could offer to my clients. Jeff is truly concerned about the well-being of his clients, which is pretty rare today. A lot of people out there are doing what Jeff is doing, but he makes it fun.”

The fun stopped for a little while on Sept. 11, Davis said, during what he described as “an amazing week.” Davis only fielded about five phone calls from concerned investors, but he contacted nearly all of his clients through e-mails and letters to let them know that “things were OK.”

“It was never a concern about how much money people would lose,” he said. “It was more about what they should be doing at that time. People’s needs always change, and that’s one of the most important things I have learned. Planning isn’t a one-time thing.”