As a Managing Director and Head of the Asset Management and Financial Principals coverage team for J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Connecticut, Justin Nelson leads an office with 20 professionals and guides some of the most powerful people in finance, including hedge fund leaders and heads of private equity and real estate.
Nelson’s team at J.P. Morgan manages over $15 billion in assets and offers services in wealth management, estate planning, lending, banking and many other areas.
Outside of that leadership role, Nelson serves as a senior Private Banker at the firm, responsible for the overall relationship with high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and institutions in New York and Connecticut. With a deep and multidisciplinary background — including a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and economics from Tufts University and an MBA from Columbia University — Nelson has synthesized his unique knowledge into a strategic approach to wealth management and, indeed, all of his professional endeavors.
Nelson is dedicated to the service of his alma mater both in and out of the classroom. He’s the driving force behind J.P. Morgan’s undergraduate recruiting for Tufts and a member of the Advisory Committee for the Tufts Financial Network. He sits as a member of the Breast Cancer Alliance, having served as Treasurer and on the Board of Directors.
In 2009 and 2020, Justin Nelson was recognized by ranking on Barron’s Top 1,200 U.S. Financial Advisors list and as a Financial Times 400 Top Financial Adviser in 2020.
Outside of work, Justin Nelson is motivated by podcasts on staying positive and health-focused strategies as a way of making negativity and obstacles more conquerable.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
My typical day starts early with a 530am workout, followed by reading several newspapers — WSJ, NY Times, Financial Times, Bloomberg and the NY Post. I get into the office around 730am and review my to-do list for the day, which includes things I owe people and things I need people to get to me. I come in with an agenda everyday but really it’s my clients’ agenda. If I can get a few things done that I want to accomplish that’s great, but I rarely can control what happens throughout the day. It’s the uncertainty that makes my job fun. I typically meet with 2 to 3 clients every day in person or by Zoom and speak to several others throughout the day. My day usually ends around 630pm and then I often log in from home for an hour or two to finish up work.
The key is to stay organized through the day, track what you do, and always have a plan, one that’s tactical and strategic.
How do you bring ideas to life?
At work we come up with custom solutions and presentations for clients. While we have a lot of great tools and models, sometimes we have to create things from scratch. I love technology and I’m generally paperless. But when I need to share a new idea, concept or design with someone, I go back to a clean sheet of paper and a pen so I can draw it out. My handwriting is horrible but the the tactile experience does something with my brain that makes me more creative.
What’s one trend that excites you?
I’m not going to say artificial intelligence! Although that is very cool and probably the most interesting and promising trend to most, for me, personally, its electric vehicles. I enjoy and respect internal combustion engines, but electric vehicles deliver the performance, technology and low maintenance that is changing the auto industry. We have a long way to go, but who wouldn’t want a pickup truck that goes 0-60 mph in 3 seconds?
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
I think I’m really good about accomplishing a lot in a day — making decisions and moving on to the next task. I don’t get caught up in the weeds on something unless I really need to. I’m also lucky to have great colleagues who help me get things done. But the ability to jump from one item to another quickly is key for my business.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I would tell myself that the most important skill is listening. When we are young, we are so focused on getting things done that we sometimes miss the bigger picture, someone’s issue or what a client needs. I wanted to share my ideas and talk a lot. I’ve learned over time that listening and focusing on EQ skills is the most important thing. If you can do that and ask good questions, you can really understand people and take what you are trying to do to the next level. Listening doesn’t also always lead to a solution to someone’s issue — maybe you can fix it, maybe you can’t. But it allows you to make a connection that will help you in business and in one’s personal life.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
There are ups and downs every day with any job and career. Great things can happen in a day but also you accumulate a lot of negativity. You get told no a lot. When you wake up in the morning, put all of that behind you and start fresh. Carrying negativity or anger with you only makes the next day worse. Now you don’t need to forget that those things happened — just don’t let it affect the next day or week. Use it in a way that’s drives you.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
I love to play strategy-focused video games that require focus. They really help me reboot my mind and stay fresh. I’ve recently been playing too much Balatro. I’m a big poker fan and this game takes the game to the next level. It requires luck, as all card games do, but you need a plan to win. Every game is different.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
I think that the most important strategy is to have one — you need a focused business plan and then the right amount of persistence to go after it. It helps to have a niche, a defined group of potential clients and a roadmap of how you will get there. Basically, its project management. But you need to have the drive and “polite persistence” to follow-up with the right people with the right cadence.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
When I was an apprentice for a group of senior bankers, I got to see how several experts ran their business and dealt with clients. All of them had very different personalities and approaches. Some meshed with mine and some did not. You could say that a few of those relationships crashed and burned. Two of them told me that I should think about another career and I wasn’t cut out for this. At the time I was angry and frustrated and but it forced me to make a decision — should I take a risk and keep pushing down this path or leave and/or switch jobs? I decided to stay with it, made some changes to my approach, and it was the best decision of my career. Looking back it was probably some of the best advice I could have received — it made me improve, take a risk, and it put a chip on my shoulder to work even harder to succeed.
What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I know this will sound boring, but long-term, tax-efficient compounding is the best investment strategy. Over my career I’ve personally invested in a lot of one-off Investment ideas that haven’t worked out. While it’s easy to buy things, its really hard in general to sell. Timing is hard and its emotional. Stick with a diversified strategy that you can add to over time and let it ride. You can rebalance it here and there but if you have time on your side, don’t mess with it. If you can do it in a tax-deferred or tax-free environment, even better.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
I love Microsoft OneNote. It lets me share files in real time with my teammates. It’s great for to-do lists so everyone knows their next steps and follow-up.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
I really enjoy Peter Attia’s the Drive podcast. I have been trying to stay focused on my health and have gotten into bio hacking. Our most important asset is our health. I find it surprising that we don’t really think about it too much until we have an issue. It’s in our power to do more to improve ourselves on that front and I think Peter has a great mindset to help people do this.
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
I really enjoy the Netflix series Drive to Survive. I love all things that relate to cars and F1 is really the pinnacle of racing. It gives you a sense of how much goes into each race, how much they do to push the limits, and of course the drama and politics that go on behind the scenes. There are a lot of similarities here to everyone’s lives, plus who doesn’t like cars screaming down the track at 200+ mph?
Key learnings
- Have a daily routine where you work hard but find time to focus on your health, friends and family. Find time for you — we all need to recharge.
- Have a business plan and a strategy to execute on it. You can’t do it yourself, so engage your team mates to drive success.
- You will get told no a lot (as we do in life). Stay positive and driven and don’t be afraid to take risks. Sometimes all you need is one yes out of 100 no’s.