E6: Spotlight On Host Jane Mepham, CFP®
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In this episode of the International Money Café Podcast, we get to answer the question “What does Jane Mepham, CFP® do for her clients, and who are they?”
Tune in to find out more about Jane, learn why & how she launched her practice Elgon Financial Advisors, to serve foreign-born families and who her ICP (Ideal client profile) is, through numerous case studies, she’s come across.
You’ll learn what it takes to switch careers from high-tech to becoming a certified financial planner, and what it takes to start a Financial Planning and Wealth Management Firm as an immigrant. Once you hear her passion and understand her knowledge, you’ll understand why a lot of people with cross-border financial planning need to reach out to her.
The views and opinions are those of the speakers, and should not be considered financial, tax, or legal advice. Consult your advisor for any legal, cross-border tax, and financial advice.
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Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (00:01.486)
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the International Money Cafe. We are back with our Spotlight series and today the spotlight is on my friend and cohost of this podcast, Jean Meefin, Certified Financial Planner. In the last episode, um...
we heard and learned why I, Manasa Nadig, started my firm, MN Tax and Business Services. And today we are exchanging voices and I get to interview Jane and ask her all of the really nice questions and see and learn more about her and how Jane goes from a career in high tech.
to running her own financial planning firm. Then we'll find out who she works with, what she does for them, and what makes her get up in the morning and get her first cup of coffee and go to work. Right, Jane?
Jane Mepham, CFP® (01:13.782)
Sounds great, I'm ready. Let's get this show on the road. What questions do you have for me?
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (01:21.747)
So I have heard your story quite a few times, but I want to have listeners have the opportunity to do that as well. So let's talk about what Elgon Financial Advisors is all about.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (01:39.35)
Sounds great. So Algon Financial Advices is my fee only firm or wealth management firm registered in Texas. We are based in Austin, but I work with clients from all over the country. And I think what makes us unique is the fact that I focus on foreign-born families, individuals, you know, people who are here, the foreign-born, the green card holders, citizens, as well as people
visas, all kinds of, let's just say all kinds of temporary visas. And what I do for them, and I'm sure we'll get into more details on that, is really help them and kind of walk with them on their financial planning journey as they go about chasing, not chasing, but actually working on achieving the American dream. So I get the chance to really be their guide and I love, really love that opportunity to be able to walk with them.
on the path to achieving their American dream financially.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (02:44.398)
Cool. Now tell me a little more about Jane Neatham, the person behind Elgon Financial. Where did you go to school? Where did you grow up? And, you know, let's talk about what you came to the US to do and, you know, how you became a certified financial planner.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (03:09.422)
All right, I think we got like what another two hours. So anyway, it's a long story. And I like to think of it as every immigrant has their own journey in their own story of how we learn in the US. In my case, I came to the US as an F1 student on the as an international student. Won't bore you with all the details. But basically, I came in to pursue my undergrad.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (03:15.055)
Yes.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (03:39.256)
graduate degree in computer science on the F1 student. I went through the whole journey doing all PT, then got a company that hired me on the H1B visa. And one of the stories that I like to tell that really forms the genesis of Algon Financial Advices is when I started at this job, the HR person gave me this thing, which she told me was a way to really achieve
dream, because I kept talking about how do I make something out of my life? How do I save for my future? And this thing was the 401k plan, which I honestly had no idea one, whether I could save into it to what options I would select and even how much I could invest into this thing based on what my income was. And one of the things I like to call out is I'm big on when I get into a new
as much as I can. And one of the things that lands on my journey was you can't do anything. The one thing you don't wanna do is something that could end up messing your legal status because if that happens, you could end up getting kicked out of the country, which obviously I didn't wanna happen. And so the thing I remember is a sense of dread and I've been given this thing, but I don't know what to do with it. I've come so far, we all know some of the struggles international students go through.
have a chance but I don't know how to do it and so I resolved to go out and learn everything I could about personal finance in really helping people who were in my situation and so I like to say today I'm the guy that I wish that I had
in terms of walking along that journey. But back to my story, I got the H1B visa again, long story short, I got my green card and then I became a citizen. And at the back of my mind, I always had this thought of how
Jane Mepham, CFP® (05:42.978)
can I go back to helping people with their finances? Cause I can see that's an area that's not really being served. This is a group of folks that are not being served. Every advisor that I met that only talks specifically about people looking to retire, for example, in the U S but nobody was really talking about retiring, for example, outside the U S or what to do along that journey when you have all these other foreign assets, for example.
And so from there, I found myself thinking, what do I wanna do when I grow up at some point? And again, long story short, I went back to school. I already had my master's in computer science, but I went back to school for like a postgraduate.
whatever program did my CFP, ended up working with somebody who worked with a lot of residents, physicians, some of whom were foreign born. And really as I was doing all of this, that convinced me I needed to start something or a farm that would purely work with this group. Sorry, a bit long-winded, but that's how I ended up starting the farm.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (06:59.244)
That story is always amazing, Jane. It goes to show that...
There are so many people who come here on the F1 visa and that journey from being on the F1, going to school here in the US, getting used to a whole lot of new experiences and new ways of doing things, and then switching to another visa where now you have to learn yet another set of rules and have to deal with that and then get to where you are. I mean that...
I'm sure resonates with a whole lot of listeners who are either on this journey now or who have made this journey and have gotten to the other side. So
Absolutely. That's great to know. And I know that these are things that students on F1 visas and H1B visa holders, they have these questions about retirement plans. So I can imagine what you were thinking about at that time. So tell me a little more about
Jane Mepham, CFP® (08:10.936)
Right, right.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (08:16.434)
You know, I am always mesmerized by the name, Algon. And I would really like listeners to know what the story behind that is.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (08:28.502)
So when I started my company, one thing growing up, I always thought if I ever have something, I always had two names in mind. Okay. And one of them was Elgon. And I'll tell you why. And I had another name again. It's another mountain range. So Mount Elgon is a mountain between Kenya and Uganda.
and I remember learning about it from when I was about six, seven, eight. And I was just fascinated by the idea of this mountain. The reason being it's one that's very hikeable for lack of a better word. Just about anything can hike this mountain. It would take you a couple of days. But the other really cool thing about Mount Elgon is that it has the largest caldera in the world. This is an area where there was a volcano, but it's now
And once you get to the top of the hike, which normally with a lot of mountains when you're doing hikes, you get to the top and it's like, great, I'm on the top of the mountain. With Mount Elgon, that's not.
the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is you get to the hike and then you're descending to Caldera where they actually have some amazing hot springs. And so for me, the financial planning journey is again, I like to think of myself as the guide is we walk up this mountain. We're going to avoid some minefields, you know, with taxes and all the things that can go wrong.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (10:05.764)
Now let's sink into the American dream in the hot springs and just relax. And so when I got, when I had the chance to start my company, I didn't even think twice about the name. I knew it had to have an Algon and because I love the idea of really focusing on the, it's all wealth management, but I want to make sure we're talking about all the other things that go into your finances. I came up with Algon Financial Advisors and so here we are.
this amazing developer who put this logo together for you, which incorporates actually the mountain if you look at it. And so that's how we end up with Elgon Financial Advisors.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (10:48.478)
I love that story. Oh, I love that story. And everything that you talked about, oh, it's so close. Wow. Now, tell me a little more about how I know that you came to the US, you were on an F1, but you came here to study engineering, right? So how did...
Jane Mepham, CFP® (11:13.334)
computer science.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (11:15.838)
Yeah, oh, computer science, yes. So how did you go from being in tech to moving to becoming a financial planner? I know you spoke a little about the questions you had about 401k and all of that, but also if you can talk a little more about the training that you needed to go through to become a financial planner because obviously-
Jane Mepham, CFP® (11:17.642)
Yeah, yeah.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (11:32.835)
Mm-hmm.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (11:40.266)
Mm-hmm.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (11:43.93)
you had a master's degree and that's great. That wouldn't have been enough to be able to do what you do now. So yeah, if you can let us know how you did that, that would be awesome.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (11:46.078)
Mm-hmm.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (12:01.938)
Absolutely. So one of the things I love about the US is you can start in a completely different field. I started in computer science. I love programming. I did a lot of data engineering. I was a DB and then I did a bunch of programming. I then managed a whole bunch of groups. And so what I love about that, it's very technical. It kind of, I guess it's a whole different
of your brain that you use when you're doing that. But one of the things I always thought was, I love on the other hand studying all these other personal finance stuff. So if I wasn't looking at let's say an oracle or sequel book, you're likely going to find me with some financial magazine trying to understand the details of let's say like a raw diary or a safe diary or whatever the product may be. And like I said, what I found out was because I started going
back and I started learning everything I could and I would talk to people about money, people started asking me questions like, okay, how do I do this thing and how do I do this thing? And at some point I loved the whole personal finance journey, even though I'm in tech, but I actually started teaching personal finance classes at my church. The other thing about it was most of the people that I was working with, because again of
Jane Mepham, CFP® (13:32.052)
And so I could already see the challenges they were facing, again, challenges that I'd already faced, which convinced me this was a real, real problem. So the journey goes from, I have my undergraduate, I have my master's, I've got a bunch of certificates in the field, but in my mind, if I really wanna go into a new field, I figure out what the new training is, which is what I did. I found what's called a certified financial plan and program, and I went into it all in
I think it took me something like, I don't know, six, eight months to complete the course, but literally go all in, finish the coursework, took the exam, and I passed. Thank God, it's a hard exam, but I passed. And then after that, it was just a matter of getting, it's like 6,000 hours of experience to get into this. And part of it was I kept thinking, if I'm really going to be the guy that I wanted, I want to make sure I have the technical know-how.
to people about whatever it is, the technicalities of the issue at hand, I know exactly what I'm talking about. So that's how I end up getting the certified financial planner and really being able to start my own firm. And one thing I like to say is I love again, the idea of continuing education. And in this space, you do have to keep planning as much as you can. Again, I talk about like, you know, the tax residency and tax treaties and that kind of thing.
And so to really be successful, you have to be willing to put in the work for sure, but also be somebody that wants to keep learning new things, new ways of doing things. And as long as you have that curious mind, I think you can succeed in any career switch. And one last thing I'll say is one of the good things again about switching careers this late in my life was I was able to bring all that corporate experience, you know, relationships, dealing with people.
thing into the new space. So to me that prepared me for this new field. Does that make sense?
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (15:39.278)
Absolutely, absolutely. You know, we, when we are, and you know, you and I, both, we have our own practices, and we are always talking to people from all walks of life, and being able to have that personal experience and where we come from, and be able to bring that into our conversations, that just, you know, takes it up a whole notch, right? So, yeah.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (16:05.634)
Correct.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (16:07.67)
I know, I know. So yeah, that brings me to another thing that I'm curious about. You know, I know you said you work with people who have kind of like a footprint in two different or more than two different countries. And so tell me, who is your ideal client persona? What do you look for when you...
you know, when there's a client who wants to work with you.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (16:40.602)
So it really helps.
if they're foreign born. Being foreign born, I guess I lean that way heavily. And a big part of this is I want people who won't ask, which I think all financial advisors should do, who will take their cultural background into consideration. So think Simbedi, let's take, we'll call them John, right? He just moved to the U S he has some assets back in X, Y, Z country.
to start. He needs somebody that's going to be very patient with him, is willing to educate him on all the nuances of the US financial system. That's a great client for me.
Also think of, let's say somebody that's come in, a foreign national, because they are on, let's say a work visa, for example. There's so many nuances on how to go about saving, knowing you're here on a temporary basis. And that's an area that I've really, really been exploring. So again, somebody that's just come in, they have all these questions about the US financial system, they're not sure where to go, I love those people. Now, by default, a lot of people that come in
on visas tend to be in tech, which is where I started. So if we have somebody in tech, you know, there's always the idea of equity comp and that kind of thing. It's kind of expanded into folks who are in tech because that's where I started from. And I had to deal with a lot of these complexities. On the other hand, you could be here. You've been here a long time. You have foreign roots. Once again, you still want to think.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (18:28.364)
about your assets overseas or you're thinking about retiring overseas and you have these cultural nuances that you want somebody to take into consideration. So for example, now when I talk to people, before I used to ask, oh, do we need to support Finley overseas? But now I kind of just go, how much are we putting into support for the Finley overseas?
Jane Mepham, CFP® (18:58.665)
understand their cultural background and the fact that I would take that into consideration. Does that make sense?
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (19:06.018)
Absolutely and I totally get it. You know these nuances.
could be something that is unique to those of us who are here and have walked that path before. And like you said, you know, there are things about supporting aging parents back in our home country or other siblings or family. And, you know, that is something that could be just unique to your culture that is not expected from other cultures. So, yeah.
those nuances really, really understanding those nuances is important in our area of expertise, definitely. So, Jane, we know that you came from Kenya, you made your journey through being a student, and then you got into tech, and then you started working, now you're a financial planner, you have your own firm.
are some of the, if you have a case study or an anecdote even, what are some of the specific problems or challenges that people face that come to see you if you have a story for our listeners?
Jane Mepham, CFP® (20:29.026)
There's so many challenges. And in fact, I ended up taking one of the challenges because I didn't see anybody else doing it in the industry and writing an article for kids. Specifically foreign nationals who were here obviously on temporary work visas. And they're trying to figure out how to save for retirement, not knowing where they're going to be when they finally.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (20:32.921)
Yeah, a bit.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (20:59.34)
So here's John. I guess I like to use the name John a lot and John has Two kids they were born in XYZ country. He's here on
will say they all want visa. So the work visa, he's got a great job. He's making a ton of money. And he comes to me and says, I don't know one if I want to get a green card for one, two, I don't even know if I can get it.
Three, I really want to save for my kids' college. A lot of times you find immigrants and people who've come, especially those who came to the US at my age to go to school, we are big on school. My kids are gonna go to college, whether they like it or not. It's just a cultural expectation. And so John comes to me and he says, I need to save for my kids' college. I don't know if I can use, I've had of things like a 529,
Jane Mepham, CFP® (22:00.572)
But what's the best way of going about saving for this? Knowing by the time they go to college, I may not be here or not. And that's a case study, something I'm seeing a lot of these days where people are like, we know we want to save for college. How do we do it? Another one that I've seen is where
family overseas, I keep saying XYZ country, and they have their kids here, grown up kids, and now they really want to help them and they want to send them this $400K, $1,000 for them to do whatever they need to do with their lives. And so the challenge and the question these people will come to me for is how do we receive the money? Are there any tax implications to any of this? And what do we do with it?
about financial planning and that type of thing.
Another case study that I've seen is where, this is an interesting one, somebody came in as an F1 visa and they've been hired. And again, it's a great job. They're looking at me, be STEM or PT kind of thing. So they'll be here for a couple of years and they're wondering, should I be serving in the 401k? Should I be serving in the broth? And how do I go about maximizing my life?
be long lasting. And I can go on and on and on and give you more case studies and more stories like that. Does that make sense?
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (23:34.122)
Yes, yes, yes.
Totally. That's from all of these anecdotes, it's, you know, we, it does, we see that, you know, who you are and what are the people that you like working with. And, but, you know, speaking of working with you, working with a financial planner in general, I know that because you and I are in this field,
Jane Mepham, CFP® (24:05.694)
Mm-hmm.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (24:06.877)
taxes, financial planning, we are numbers people.
But numbers can be intimidating to a lot of others. They are not as comfortable, let's just say, around numbers as maybe you and I are or any financial planner or a tax advisor is. So they may come and say, hey, I think it's intimidating to talk to somebody or they may think that it's not time yet.
And there are all of these already kind of preconceived notions in their heads. So tell us like, what do you think is your experience? And then how do you go about these, this process of getting in touch with you? And how do you simplify this process? And do you simplify this process for your clients or your prospects?
Jane Mepham, CFP® (25:04.794)
So one thing I've always said to people is once you move to the US, if there's an issue comes up and you're not sure, we all have our friends, we all have our family, but reach out to a professional. And the example I'll give is, you know, when you're sick, you go to the doctor, you may have to do some shopping around to find the right doctor for you, but you absolutely want to go to the doctor and not just Google things. Right?
So one thing I know again based on where somebody is coming from, there's sometimes this misconception and I've actually had somebody talk to me and say, oh, I never thought I would ever work with a financial advisor because I always assumed you have to have millions of dollars to work with financial advisors. So there's that cultural background. There's also the sometimes the intimidation factor and also the fact that I get it, it's a business that we are running.
advisors who have started minimums. I do recall Ashley, let me tell you another story, because I really wanted to do this and I always knew I needed, we needed to get our finances in order and part of this is my spouse and I are from completely different cultures so we're combining his country, my country and the US, three countries, would reach out to a bunch of
financial advisors and one that we ended up talking to one time looked at us Put up I think a plan together for us and then when we came back to get the plan the first thing the person says to us is You guys are making a ton of money, but I don't know where your money is going. You're gonna be wasting it somewhere
And we looked at each other and we're like, Oh, this is terrible. And so we start like trying to defend ourselves in. We were like, Oh, you know, we travel a lot and the person says, Oh, to where more like thinking you could have asked us that question. When we came in the first time, obviously you do not take the time to really get to know us. And those would have realized every time there's a wedding, a funeral, we're buying tickets. It's a couple of thousands.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (27:24.752)
and that goes into some of this. So my whole thing is when you're looking for a financial advisor, it's intimidating. I get it. But I want you to have like a step of faith to say, I need to at least talk to somebody, but ask very specific questions to find out if they can solve your specific issue or your specific challenge. So in hindsight, this person, we took up the courage, we went and talked to him.
But he was not the right advisor for us because he did not take our cultural background into perspective. Didn't say anything about...
or overseas asset, didn't say anything about taxes, never even asked to look at all tax returns. So my take is, I know it's intimidating, but at least have the courage to just take that initial step, but interview as many advisors as you can. And most people now have a lot of stuff on the website. So you find one that you like, follow them for quite a bit, maybe on LinkedIn or social media, see some of the issues they talk with, but also come with
hope you can answer for me. We can probably do an episode where we talk about some of those questions, but it's important when you get to them to make sure they will address the questions that you raise. And you may have to talk to four or five advisors and that's okay. And again, part of the thing that I keep saying is you don't need to have a million dollars to talk to an advisor.
you just need to have the willingness and obviously be able to pay for the services. Once we get talking, a lot of people will walk away saying, oh, that was so good. I didn't realize I could do this kind of thing. So yeah, I encourage people go out, do your research, but don't be afraid to go out and talk to the advisors.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (29:17.151)
So we've gone through a bit of your journey today and you know well I know we spoke about your website and how you got the name Alvon but where else can people find you and how do they get in touch with you?
Jane Mepham, CFP® (29:37.494)
So the easiest way is go to my website, Algonfa.com, and right on the homepage it says,
or I think what I have is let's do your assessment to kind of assess whether we are a good fit for each other and that will lead you to my calendar and we can set up a time that way. Otherwise you can find me, I'm very, very active on LinkedIn. You can might find me there all on Twitter, but probably more on LinkedIn. And let's chat.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (30:13.622)
this was great Jane. Is there anything else that you would like to add that maybe I did not bring up?
Jane Mepham, CFP® (30:23.314)
So the only other thing I'd like to add is, again, don't be intimidated reaching out to a financial advisor. And when you do, it doesn't mean you're making a commitment to work with them initially. So I'll walk you through, for example, when people reach out to me, it's what I call a fake meeting. You're interviewing me, I'm interviewing you. Don't be afraid to do that. And we'll see what kind of music we make together.
I think I've talked enough.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (30:55.914)
This was lovely and you know of all these years that we've now built up this relationship, it's always beautiful to talk to you and have our listeners get to know the side of you, Jane. And to our listeners, you know, I hope you like this episode and I hope you will share.
and rate us and you know wherever you listen to your podcasts please give us a high rating and share this with all of your friends and family who you think will benefit from listening to Jane and I talk. Right Jane?
Jane Mepham, CFP® (31:36.278)
Sounds good. Thank you so much.
Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (31:39.81)
Thank you. Thank you for tuning in. See you all next time. Bye.
Jane Mepham, CFP® (31:44.459)
Bye.
