About Safebridge
Safebridge is a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor. It is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia and is able to work with people anywhere in the United States.
Safebridge’s Form ADV Part 1 and Part 2 and its client contracts are available to read through the FAQ page.
So, too, is information about Safebridge’s founding (why it exists), what its typical clients “look like,” and who its ideal clients are.
About Me, Professional
Legally, I am John Harrison Zarinsky (but please call me Jack).
I am the founder, Chief Compliance Officer, Lead Advisor, and an Investment Advisor Representative of Safebridge.
I am a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional and life insurance and annuities licensed, but I do not accept commissions.
There are more interesting tidbits about me below.
My Take on the Financial Advisory Business
I believe the two most important virtues of a financial advisor are the two least prevalent ones in the financial advisory industry: professional excellence and integrity.
To borrow a notion and some words of a hero of mine, the late, great Vanguard founder, John Bogle, I love the work of financial advisory, but have a lover’s quarrel with the industry. Done well and delivered fairly, good financial advice is more valuable than its cost, and is worth buying. But the industry is flush with companies and professionals far more focused on their own best interests than their customers’ best interests.
Evidence of this includes both the stunning amount of commissions made on sales of high-cost (and highly-lousy) financial and insurance products, and the exorbitant fees extracted from customer accounts as a percentage of their assets, even and especially by self-proclaimed “fiduciaries." These things are especially widespread among advisors purportedly "helping" people plan for their retirements.
Customers deserve better. They deserve advisors focused on stewardship, not salesmanship. They deserve advisors who live up to their highest potential of fulfilling their fiduciary duty. They deserve full disclosure, advice in their best interest, and a fair shake on their fees. There is plenty of money for advisors to make doing business that way.
About Me, Human Being
Born in 1970 in Edison, NJ, at JFK Medical Center.
Raised in New Jersey, having lived in Morris Plains, Dover, Cranford (1st Grade to early 5th Grade), Summit (early 5th Grade to early 7th Grade), Berkeley Heights (early 7th Grade through high school), and having spent significant time with family in Metuchen, Watchung, and at Cranberry Lake.
Graduated from Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights in 1988.
Attended Duke University, in Durham, NC, on a baseball scholarship.
Pitched and lettered four years at Duke, won Outstanding Pitcher freshman year, was a team captain senior year, and was a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference Honor Roll junior and senior years. (Yes, I hoped to play professionally; no, I wasn’t quite good enough.)
Graduated in May, 1992 with a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
After working for years as an engineer, graduated from Thomas Aquinas College, in Santa Paula, CA, in June, 1998 with a BA in, essentially, the Great Books.
Additionally…
I’m a sports fan, and across all sports, my favorite team has always been the New York Yankees (and Reggie Jackson my favorite athlete).
I’ve always been very interested in food and its effects on our bodies. Therefore, I enjoy talking different dietary approaches to health, strength, and longevity. And I love a great meal.
My favorite meal is some kind of fatty meat (short ribs, ribeye, that sort of thing) and some kind of creamy or cheesy potato. (But a stack of pecan pancakes with plenty of butter and syrup runs a close second.)
My favorite dessert is a hot fudge sundae with vanilla ice cream (whipped cream and cherry, too, of course). Real strawberry shortcake and pecan pie tie for second.
I maintain the (elusive) dream that I can make myself a better golfer, and often practice hitting or putting balls (to the same avail as most amateur golfers).
I love, respect, and enjoy being in all of nature: beach, mountains, and everything in between, and I revel in seeing and hearing the non-human creatures in all of those locations.
Among the words and phrases (in English) that I wish were far more common are “hello,” “may I,” “please,” “thank you,” and a sincere “I’m sorry.”
Among the things I would ban forever, or at least outlaw, if I were “king for a day” include speakerphone usage (especially when other people are within earshot), drivers not using turn signals (especially when approaching other cars), and drivers clogging center and left lanes on highways, preventing faster drivers from passing.
As a young boy, to pass time, my dad took me to the train stations in Metuchen and MetroPark, NJ, and to Newark Airport (when one could walk right up to the gate windows without a ticket). I still enjoy watching trains and planes just as much as when I was a boy-some things do not get old. I lament the rapidly declining number of 747s in the sky, but am anxiously awaiting the formal introduction of Amtrak’s Avelia Liberty on the Northeast Corridor.
As an early-teenage young man, my favorite sport was fishing. I loved fishing and dreamed of fishing for elusive species in exotic places. I never did. But it’s “on the list” to rekindle that wonder and joy.
As a younger adult, I was an enthusiastic athlete and completed 20 or so triathlons (not Ironmans-no way). I was also a passionate CrossFitter years before it became cool to be one. As a less-young adult, while I enjoy talking about those pursuits (and their cool equipment), I am content to walk, hike, or golf.
I “inherited” my dad in 2013 when, after a lot of medical bad luck, he could no longer live independently. In a role-reversal 45 years in the making, he sometimes asked me if he had to finish his dinner (“Yes!”) or if he could have another piece of pie (also “Yes”).
He lived with me through April, 2021, when, for both of our sakes, I placed him in an assisted living house nearby. Among the many virtues of his new residence was that I was able to visit him whenever I wanted, which was every single day he was there. He passed away on May 22, 2021. I loved him dearly and miss him terribly.
I live in Denver, NC, where most of my family lives. Denver is northwest of Charlotte, on the west side of Lake Norman.
The video just below, while dated (it was made in 2017), shows a bit of the behind-the-scenes of my life, and co-stars my dad.
