OakTree Strategic Leverage
Building Wealth by First Eliminating What Destroys It
Most financial strategies begin with one question: “How much can I earn?”
After 35 years as an investment advisor, I learned a more effective question is the inverse: “What quietly destroys wealth over time?”
Market losses. Interrupted compounding. Taxes. Poor timing. Emotional decisions. Leverage done wrong.
I built and led Jim Barlow Advisors for over three decades (now Plan 4 Wealth), immersing myself in investment research, due diligence, and advanced education. Even in retirement, I remain active as a FINRA Dispute Resolution Arbitrator and serve on the advisory board of a private equity fund. That experience taught me something critical:
Most financial outcomes are not determined by brilliance —they are determined by structure and discipline.
When I later revisited life insurance strategies through this inversion lens, I discovered Kai-Zen — not as a product, but as a strategic leverage framework. Kai-Zen is designed to remove failure points first, then allow growth to occur inside a controlled structure. It institutionalizes discipline, eliminates personal guarantees, protects compounding, and uses leverage conservatively — the same way large institutions do. This is why OakTree Strategic Leverage exists.
Our focus is not on speculation or forecasts. It is on engineering certainty, improving outcomes conservatively, and helping clients deploy capital with intention — whether the goal is:
- Supplemental retirement income
- Executive and employee retention
- Generational wealth transfer
- Business succession planning
- Tax diversification and risk management
In my judgment, Kai-Zen represents not just a better strategy — but the most disciplined use of leverage available for those who qualify.
If you’re interested in understanding how inversion thinking and strategic leverage work together in practice, I invite you to learn more.
Our Vision at OakTree Strategic Leverage
At OakTree Strategic Leverage, we believe better financial outcomes come not from prediction—but from structure.
After 35 years as an investment advisor, I learned that most wealth plans don’t fail because markets are unpredictable.They fail because of avoidable failure points: losses, taxes, emotional decisions, poor timing, and leverage applied incorrectly.
Retirement didn’t end that learning—it sharpened it.
Our vision is built on inversion thinking: before asking how to grow wealth, we eliminate what quietly destroys it.That philosophy led us to Kai-Zen—not as a product, but as a disciplined leverage framework developed and administered by NIW Companies. Kai-Zen uses a carefully structured, maximum-funded indexed universal life insurance design combined with institutional-grade lending to create a conservative 3-to-1 funding structure—without personal guarantees or speculative risk.
The objective isn’t complexity.It’s efficien
Through this approach, Kai-Zen helps qualified individuals and businesses:
- Preserve compounding by eliminating market losses
- Reduce tax drag through tax-advantaged structure
- Use leverage conservatively and intentionally
- Create flexible retirement income
- Transfer wealth with greater efficiency
- Strengthen executive and employee benefit plans
- Support long-term business succession planning
At OakTree Strategic Leverage, we do not offer dozens of financial products. We focus on one strategy, deeply understood and precisely applied.
Our role is education—challenging conventional thinking and helping clients see how disciplined leverage, when designed correctly, can improve outcomes while reducing risk.
Looking ahead, our vision extends beyond individual clients. We are committed to training and empowering like-minded professionals who share our philosophy of structure-first planning—replicating a proven, compliant approach that expands access to strategic leverage without sacrificing discipline or integrity.
Our goal is simple and enduring:to help individuals, families, and businesses achieve stronger financial outcomes by first eliminating what causes failure—smarter, safer, and built to last.
Board of Advisors
Dan Briggs
Director of Capture and Planning at Northrop Grumman
Dan has worked at Northrop Grumman since 2010, where he currently directs major capture activities for the company’s pursuit of Department of Defense programs. Dr. Briggs began his career at Northrop Grumman as an electrochemical systems engineer and subsequently accumulated expertise across program and capture management, assuming technical, cost, and program leadership roles on programs and large competitive bids. Most recently, he was responsible for program execution, financial outcomes, and portfolio growth for a program supplying complex structural spares for the F-5, T-38, E-2 and C-2 air platforms. In his capture roles, he has been responsible for strategy, proposal development, business unit investment planning, allocation and performance.
Dr. Briggs holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP™) and was awarded the Northrop Grumman President’s Award for Excellence for his role in leading the capture and award of a $3.9B Department of Defense program.
Joshua Barlow
Managing Director and Founder of Valhalla Fiduciary, LLC
Valhalla Fiduciary’s primary business is providing independent non executive director services and operational due diligence consulting.
Mr. Barlow previously was at PAAMCO from March 2006 through June 2018. Mr. Barlow was the Head of Operational Due Diligence and Accounting and the Chief Financial Officer of PAAMCO Select where he was responsible on a global basis for operational due diligence on new and existing investment fund managers and for all aspects of fund accounting, and where he served as a member and head of PAAMCO’s Valuation Committee.
In addition, Mr. Barlow served as board member on PAAMCO’s fund vehicles. From 2007 to 2008, Mr. Barlow was the Chief Financial Officer of PAAMCO Europe, during which he led Business and Investment Operations for both PAAMCO Europe and PAAMCO Asia, and helped to launch PAAMCO’s Singapore office. Prior to PAAMCO, Mr. Barlow was a Senior Auditor at Deloitte & Touche, LLP. Mr. Barlow holds the following certifications: Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA). Mr. Barlow graduated from Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business with a BS in Accounting.
David W. Barlow
founder of The Law Offices of David W. Barlow
David W. Barlow is the founder of The Law Offices of David W. Barlow. Mr. Barlow is admitted to the Hawaii State Bar and the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. He is on the Board of Governors of the Hawaii Association of Justice, and he is a member of the Hawaii State Bar Association. By invitation of Hawaii State Chief Justice Recktenwald, Mr. Barlow is an Arbitrator for the Hawaii State Court Annexed Arbitration Program. Mr. Barlow clerked for Chief District Judge Gary Nafziger of the Second Judicial District of Kansas.
He earned his Juris Doctorate Degree from Washburn University School of Law and his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Weber State University. Mr. Barlow was Student Editor-in-Chief of the Family Law Quarterly, a publication of the American Bar Association. He served as President of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society, Washburn Chapter.
