Presented by SK Ventures
The conversation had reached the point where the question needed to be asked. In fact, it felt bizarre that the topic hadn’t been the first one broached on the call, but now it felt unavoidable, in addition to crudely direct and blunt. “I’m sorry to interrupt James, as this is all truly fascinating, but…how do you make YOUR money?”
It was some 75 minutes into a conversation with James Paul Luthardt, the 39-year-old founder and CIO of Kirtland Hills Capital. Over an hour had rapidly passed by as Luthardt enthusiastically shared countless stories of business successes, from real estate financing deals to the creation and development of high-performing family offices.
He spoke in-depth about the diverse people in his professional network (“my tribe” as he refers to them), and he described with excitement the projects and opportunities he had helped them analyze, finance and develop.
He proudly shared about helping educate his clients, especially the professional athletes who are prime targets for abuse by those seeking to financially exploit them, ensuring that they felt a sense of ownership and personal involvement in the investments they were making and had a better understanding of what their money was doing and why.
He also posited about the benefits of working away from the Wall Street behemoths of finance, and about the profitable ventures in which he had played a significant, albeit unofficial and unpaid, role. How instead of working at a big-name institution and having to rely on their in-house specialists, he can use his experience evaluating investment managers to find the absolute best firm or person in their field and bring them into his project or investment strategy. How he passed on the certainty of a career on Wall Street for what he saw as a far better option opening his own firm.
Luthardt spoke about how he consciously worked for years to increase his EQ. This enables him to both utilize big data and evolving financial tech as well as to connect with people in a way that most high-IQ, quantitative superstars do not possess the required skillset to accomplish. Having that high emotional intelligence not only enables him to build his large network of friends, clients and partners through trust, transparency and emotional connections, but to be able to present his quantitative and analytic research in ways most likely to achieve their desired impact and attract the right kinds of people into his “tribe.”
He leads a thriving investment and consulting firm, which helps advise a wide range of clients, from family offices and entrepreneurs to athletes and more, on all aspects of building an investment and financial structure that ensures not only the protection of wealth but the reliable growth of that wealth. But he wasn’t bragging about his wealth, or KHC’s growth or profitability; only about how it helped a client, partner or friend make wise investment choices.
While the conversation had been detailed about finance, investing and money management, and provided a glimpse into Luthardt’s incredible intelligence and self-awareness, he hadn’t yet mentioned a dime that went into his own pocket.
It didn’t feel like he was avoiding the topic, but rather that he genuinely had things he cared more about than his take home compensation. His own earnings seemingly hadn’t been on the list of topics Luthardt was most excited to discuss.
Clearly, this was a man with a different set of priorities than the stereotypical financial advisor, and a different set of principles as well. Principles that are pervasive and consistent in all aspects of Luthardt’s life and career; hard work, proven expertise, absolute transparency, common decency and an enthusiasm and energy for his career that far surpasses most financial professionals.
The simple answer, eventually unearthed, is that Luthardt is a proven global leader in public market investing, including risk management, passive income investments, third-party management analysis and quantitative analytics. In the most basic terms, he takes a percentage of the money he oversees in his specialized areas of investing and finance. But according to his clients, even this percentage is below market rates.
Even after learning the sources of his income, his motivations and guiding principles aren’t any more obvious at first glance. If anything, it only serves to reinforce the contrast between Luthardt and his peers in the wealth management and investment industry.
Those playing the “short game” live in a world of transactional business, trying to sell a financial product or attract investors and their money, looking to get their cut now with little or no long-term plan or strategy. Even those less short-sighted managers are still likely to be focused on maximizing their own benefit in the coming weeks, months, or in time for bonus season.
Luthardt is looking far past the foci of these traditional managers, not only in terms of timeframe for investments, but in the eventual payoff that he believes will result from his hard work, skillsets and patience. The specifics of the payoff are also seemingly not a priority, instead part of a confidence and self-belief that by doing great work, by working with great people, and by doing things the right way, that eventually the benefits will outweigh whatever immediate rewards he is forgoing.
The not so simple answer is that Luthardt is investing his time, expertise and energy in a very specific category of investments: people. It may not be a security found on the NYSE per se, but investing in people is an example of playing a long game that most financial experts don’t understand, according to Luthardt.
It was something reinforced in Luthardt by one of his business partners, Daniel Rotman. Rotman, who developed the pet health brand Pretty Litter before selling it to the Mars corporation for just under a billion dollars, is one of James’ current wealth management clients.
Luthardt proudly recollects, “Daniel’s brilliant, and he told me ‘James, I hired you because I bet on you. There’s something special about you. And I bet on talented people. The smartest people bet on people.’” Luthardt seemingly had found a kindred spirit, as he too chooses to invest in people, believing that in the long run, nothing could be of greater value than surrounding oneself with the best of the best, or “Pro-Bowlers” as James refers to them.
For his part, Rotman was immediately impressed upon meeting Luthardt at a Super Bowl event attended by both Luthardt as well as some of the athletes in his network, his “tribe.”
“James has a strong network, especially in the athlete community, and that’s where we met,” recounts Rotman. “He struck me immediately—super sharp, straightforward, and with an energy and intensity that is rare. Over time, I reached out to him for advice on wealth management and investing. Eventually, I set aside money to work with him on more concentrated, higher-risk investments and seek his guidance as I build out my family office. He’s incredibly passionate and research-driven, which I admire.”
It’s a prime example of how Luthardt’s absence of focus on immediate personal gain can lead to much larger benefits down the road. He cultivates a collection of clients who feel like family, trust him entirely and are a part of his beloved “tribe.” Put simply by Luthardt, “Your network is your net worth.”
His network is perhaps his greatest strength, and while not all of his activities will bear fruit as quickly as his work with Rotman has, Luthardt has a philosophy that underpins this philosophy of doing right by people and expecting the rewards to arise down the road. But this does take a certain leap of faith, or belief in oneself, to choose the future over any present gratification or reward.
Proudly referring to this confidence of eventual success as “delusional self-belief,” Luthardt has taken a big picture view that would be antithetical to most Wall Street types. He’s betting on himself, on his brain, on his work ethic and on surrounding himself with the best possible people in whichever field he’s considering investing.
“I don’t make anything doing connections and networking,” says Luthardt. “It’s over time. What happens is you build these long-term relationships. They’re like annuities and you invest in your growth. It’s just another form of compounding interest. So do I do a lot of things that I should be paid for? Absolutely! But if you want to get in with the right people, you have to demonstrate value and you have to build trust. You have to earn that right.”
“My clients always have people selling them stuff. You have to be different; you have to create value in their life. That means I’ll sacrifice, and I know I’ll lose money, or time, for the first years of our relationship. But when my client eventually sells their business or succeeds in their ventures, I’m then managing much of that money for them. That’s when it comes back to me. But you’ve got to earn that right and that trust.”
Born in Cleveland, Luthardt discovered his passion for investing and the public markets in his late teens, in part inspired by a mentor who encouraged him to go into finance and investing. Following graduation from college, Luthardt began a six-year stint at Janney Montgomery Scott, a wealth management and investment firm that serves many of the wealthiest people in the world and has tens of billions of dollars in assets.
It was here that Luthardt developed into a specialist in quantitative investing strategies and more, using his incredible understanding of big-data machine learning and all aspects of quantitative analysis to help him evaluate and select third-party money managers and investments, a task he still performs today for both his clients and his own firm. Now, he sits on the other side of the table and evaluates such “experts” to determine if they are indeed “Pro-Bowlers” he wants to work with, or simply mediocre salesmen with fancy investment products.
Luthardt loves to refer to the people around him as Pro-Bowlers, and not just the football players who actually were awarded as such. He considers himself a Pro-Bowler, but only in the areas in which he’s strongest, such as public markets or evaluating fund managers. This humility is what leads to his surrounding himself with top experts in whichever industry he’s seeking to invest.
In Luthardt’s world, a Pro-Bowler can be a real-estate developer, a top operator in private equity, or a serial entrepreneur. They can all be considered elite by James and included in his expansive network of industry-leading professionals. Essentially, James uses his skills learned in his early career evaluating money managers and similar experts to determine if someone is special enough, and trustworthy enough, to become part of his “tribe” and be his Pro-Bowler in their specialty. Mediocrity has no place in Luthardt’s world of meritocracy.
By forming his own firm, with open architecture and flexible structure, Luthardt also avoided being pigeon-holed into a single narrow role or set of responsibilities as he would have if he had stayed at a big Wall Street firm. Instead, Luthardt can be both client facing AND deeply analytical, without limitations on who he can work with or what kind of investments he can explore for his clients. He gets to wear many hats, which is priceless to James, as he prides himself on both his IQ (analytics, data, etc.) as well as his EQ, which enables him to connect, collaborate and work with his diverse portfolio of clients and the third-party advisors he meets. He’s unencumbered by anything that stops him from determining the best investment strategy based solely on performance and fit for the specific client.
A significant part of Luthardt’s network is former professional athletes going through the “transition” after their playing careers end. It’s no secret that many professional athletes go broke not long after they retire, as they don’t always have the same financial literacy skills as others and are public figures who are widely known to be multi-millionaires. Needless to say, they are targets for all kinds of sketchy and shady people asking them for money and for trust, both professionally and personally.
Players like NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Patrick Willis have joined on with Luthardt and KHC after having been taken advantage of by fraudulent advisors like so many of his former colleagues in the NFL and other pro leagues. Millions of lost dollars later, Willis was introduced to James by his former San Francisco 49ers teammate and fellow NFL Pro-Bowler Donte Whitner.
Willis himself is effusive in his description of Luthardt, explaining that “James is a real-life Pro-Bowler in both investing and personal character, and I’m deeply grateful to have him in my life. His leadership in managing my investments is nothing short of masterful—like having an elite quarterback driving his clients to financial success.”
Whitner had met Luthardt earlier in his NFL career and was well into their client and business relationship, leading Whitner to be involved with Luthardt and his “tribe,” serving as an incredible resource for Luthardt and others such as Willis. Whitner knew that he had once been as uninformed, and ill-treated, as Willis had been, and selflessly wanted to ensure that not only did Willis find someone trustworthy to help him invest wisely and safely, but help educate Willis as much as possible. That way, instead of being just the source of capital, Willis would be able to participate in financial meeting and other investment discussions despite not having the same expertise as the others in the room.
“James is exceptionally intelligent,” emphasizes Whitner. “He has a remarkable ability to simplify even the most complex investment concepts, making them easy for anyone to understand. Beyond explaining them, he consistently executes these strategies with a level of expertise comparable to an elite professional or Pro-Bowler. I’ve never encountered anyone who matches his skill and proficiency in the field of investing.”
No one is allowed to talk down to, or past, any of Luthardt’s clients. Luthardt encourages his clients to ask any and all questions they have, and expects whomever is across the table to both have the right answers and to treat Willis and others with the respect they deserve. This, a simple matter of respect and decency, perhaps as much as any return percentages, rings true with those who have joined his “tribe” from additional NFL players such as Larry Ogunjobi, retired Pro-Bowler Mike Alstott, and dozens of other pro athletes, to uber-wealthy sports executives such as Shane Boras, who oversees much of his family’s renowned baseball-centric empire, including its financial and real estate investments.
Being good at your job is important, but Luthardt also makes sure to be a good person and to only work with other good people, which enables him to easily move between different social, economic, racial, professional and education-level clients and partners seamlessly.
One such client is Boras, who in addition to serving as an agent in his father Scott’s famed baseball agency, oversees the family office protecting and growing the family’s wealth. So when the time came for the family to build out their in-house family office, Boras knew with whom he wanted to connect. Boras also knew that the Boras Corp’s in-house business advisory services, meant to help protect their wealthy athletic and entrepreneurial clients avoid financial pitfalls, could use someone with Luthardt’s abilities, character and no-nonsense principles.
“James and I met probably six or seven years ago through one of his athlete clients,” explains Boras. “Initially, we were more acquaintances, but after getting to know him better I realized he’s a relentless, data-driven kind of guy. He’s just nonstop—always collecting data, analyzing trends and strategizing. That’s what I admire most about James, his passion and dedication to ensuring his clients are invested in the right companies and projects.”
“I’ve been an agent for 13 years, but most of my time now is spent in the financial realm of the company and managing our family office. My relationship with James centers on building and refining our investment strategies, and he also works with some of my clients on the same things.”
Asked what makes Luthardt special compared to countless others in the industry, Boras insists, “James is great at building relationships and creating value. I’ve seen him take his Wall Street experience and apply it in ways that are unique and incredibly beneficial for his clients. He’s helped us develop tailored investment policies and explore allocation strategies. He’s passionate about his work and truly understands the nuances of investing. That depth of knowledge is rare. He’s definitely one of those people whose mind is always running on a different level. He’s a problem solver at heart.”
Perhaps then it isn’t a shock that when the US Armed Forces needed a world-class problem solver in their ranks, they turned to Luthardt. Luthardt has been a Direct Commissioned Officer in the US Navy now for almost a decade. Out of 600 applicants, he was one of 15 to be selected for this most elite of programs.
For those unfamiliar with this DOD initiative, essentially the military branches often have issues, problems, inefficiencies and more that require the smartest minds in the country to solve or improve. The level of minds usually found on Wall Street or in operating rooms, in science labs at universities or engineering the next big tech breakthrough. However, many of these candidates are civilians, like Luthardt, who usually are making money many times what the military can offer. So the DOD will seek out contributors and participants from the most elite of civilian experts, from logistics to finance, or from areas like medicine, where a neurosurgeon is unlikely to join the military but would be willing and able to contribute in a commitment which balances with his or her civilian life and career.
During his time serving alongside our nation’s best and bravest (he’s still active in the program and is a Naval Officer (Lt.), he has worked with and assisted the nation’s most elite special forces. His patriotic duty takes up what little free time he has, but he claims he wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Granted, his data-driven, no-nonsense approach has perhaps irritated some of the senior leadership, often in hysterical ways. It’s likely because he’s both a civilian in their eyes and a Naval Officer who must be listened to and respected. But there’s little doubt that he’s had a major impact on whichever units or projects he’s been tasked to evaluate, analyze and ultimately improve.
Bluntly, the DOD doesn’t get the specialists and highly sought-after professionals like Luthardt without the Direct Commissioned Officer program and certainly wouldn’t get those experts who also show the love of country, and devotion to service, that Lt. Luthardt has exhibited.
Luthardt is one of a kind, and that’s a real shame. The world needs more of him. He’s someone who uses his brilliance and work ethic to help those around him. He’s committed to serving his country and eager to assist his clients. He finds nothing odd about working 100-hour weeks or 20-hour days. He surrounds himself with good people and lets his intellect, curiosity and wisdom drive his daily success and long-term development, bringing those around him along on his successful ventures.
So why does he work so hard? It’s a valid question, as success is defined differently by each of us. He has made very good money in his career, despite his patient approach to business development and could easily go find a tropical island on which to relax and recreate away his days. But that’s not Luthardt; not even close.
Besides, for Luthardt even the money isn’t the driving motivator in his financial career. It’s the challenge that drives him, solving the puzzle that is the financial markets, and checking the metaphorical scoreboard at the end of the day that drives Luthardt to greater and greater heights. Of course, that could just be him going for a recreational skydive with his Navy Seal buddies on their day off.
After all…the sky’s the limit for Lt. James Luthardt.
