As investment funds become more of a commodity, financial planners and investment advisors can end up with two or three fund companies that score equally well after screening. When Jason Chepenik AIF, CFP, found himself there, he chose a provider that gave him access to information that could improve the lives as well as portfolios of his staff, his clients and their clients.     

Chepenik, a managing partner in the Winter Garden, Fla.-based Chepenik Financial, chose Janus Capital Group because of the “value add” he gets free, as a Janus investor, through the provider's Janus Labs. Janus, a publicly traded company based in Denver that’s perhaps best know for its Janus family of mutual funds, established the Labs in late 2005 to help clients manage their practices and distinguish Janus in the advisor channel.

But the Labs have since evolved from just advice on how to ask clients for a referral. In addition to offering practice management tips, it provides information on handling family stress situations caused by diseases like Alzheimer's that sap everyone's productivity, according to Janus Labs' executive director and public face, John L. Evans Jr., himself a former RIA with then-CNL Bank Wealth Management.

Chepenik shares these tips with his clients, he says, “who want to know where I get so many new ideas and information.” He discovered the Labs at a point in his life when he was “tired all the time,” carrying a 30-pound girth through the throes of a divorce with children and a dependence on french fries and other unhealthy comfort food, he says. By adopting some of the tips the Labs offers on “how to manage your energy -- not just your time,” through informed food choices, such as food that fuels the brain, and scheduling exercise time, he saw that he could sustain “a higher level of energy throughout the whole day,” he says. He dropped 30 pounds and lowered his risk of heart disease. “Now, I love fries – not so much,” he jokes.

He also used ideas there to help clients reduce stress. “When you get people more comfortable about their financial situation, health improves,” he says. “When there's less stress they drink less, exercise more, and overall wellness goes up, absenteeism goes down and productivity goes up.” And, the cost of his clients' health insurance goes down, says Chepenik. What makes them more comfortable is getting control over money matters that play on their minds, such as saving more, taking care of insurance, writing that will, securing the college tuition. “In our business, people focus on 401(k)s separately. But my job is to bring it all together.”

Chepenik had also wanted “to hear a different message,” he says. With the responsibility of running 401(k) plans for his clients' 30,000 employees and providing health and wellness insurance for 5,000, Chepenik had a lot of information he needed to pass on to clients. “Let's face it, most of these topics are boring,” he says. Through the Labs' financial educational workshops, Chepenik gains “ideas on how to make a boring topic more relevant,” he says. Janus recently introduced the 'Art of Wow' program,  which, Chepenik says, “really tells you how to make the presentation pop for your client.”

To keep his staff current, Chepenik books monthly retreats, which may feature Evans' team, author and motivational trainer Heidi Hanna, or Liz Davidson, founder of Financial Finesse, a financial literacy consultancy, in El Segundo, Calif. Hanna developed the Brainworks concept, while working for the Human Performance Institute, which the Labs has licensed and incorporated into its suite of programs. In order to fit more staff and clients, Chepenik recently rented out a lounge in the Hard Rock Hotel, at Universal Orlando.

Janus Capital Group offers the Labs to advisors within its “Top 11” partner firms, who  include several planner advisor firms and one regional broker-dealer, explains Robin C. Beery, executive vice president, US Distribution. Beery also is a member of the executive committee, which reports directly to Janus' CEO Dick Weil, former COO for Pimco.

“There’s not an 'official' number an advisor must hit in order to experience our Labs programs,” Beery says. “We’re available to partner with all advisors currently doing business with Janus, as well as advisors who are willing to do business with Janus in the future, assuming they reside in one of our Top Partner firms. We do prioritize our efforts on the larger advisors, due to human capacity constraints of delivering and supporting the Labs' content.” The Labs also does one-off presentations for select clients, makes portions of its programs available to non Top 11 parties and develops programs based on real-time needs of advisors and their clients. "For example," says Beery, "'The Energy for Performance' program was launched post the 2008 financial crisis." Beery's team also attends the Labs' workshops. "We've adopted the 'Art of Wow' on a firm-wide basis."  
    
Similarly, Chepenik doesn't seek fees from presenters he introduces to his clients. "Jason's a visionary," says Finesse's Davidson. When employees understand money management better, they save more, she reasons. With higher balances, plans get the best fees possible. "Jason puts those puzzle pieces together," she says.

Perhaps she has something there. If Chepenik's health information leads to lower insurance payments for his clients, the saved money could increase the amount clients have to place under management with his firm in the future.