Growing Your Financial Advisory Practice | Insights For Financial Advisors, Planners And Investment Managers

The biggest reason for clients to seek out financial advice is that they want clear answers to the big questions in their lives. This is especially true when the markets are volatile or take a downturn ‒ people usually have no idea what that might mean for their lives or their ability to retire. Today’s guest shows us that an effective and successful financial advisory practice must be based on demonstrating clear and measurable progress for clients. David Christianson is the Portfolio Manager and Senior Vice-President of Christianson Wealth Advisors at National Bank Financial. He was named one of the top 50 financial advisors in Canada by Wealth Professional Magazine in 2014 and 2017. David has written a course for advisors called The Structure of the Client-Centered Practice, as well as a book called Managing the Bull – A No-Nonsense Approach to Personal Finance. In today’s episode, David talks about measuring client progress, what it means to build a client-centered practice, and what Dav

More and more activities that previously took place in person are happening online these days. But is it possible to be an effective financial advisor and build strong relationships with clients online? Today’s guest believes that it is, and he has the experience to back that up. David Dyck is a Certified Financial Planner and a Chartered Investment Manager. He joins the podcast today to talk about working at the Canadian robo-advisor service WealthBar. David is a Financial Advisor, Portfolio Manager and Head of Client Services at WealthBar. David began his career in financial services with CIBC where he held a number of positions. He was awarded an Unsung Hero Award for his work helping clients and colleagues improve. In his current position at WealthBar, he works with clients all over the country and helps to develop technologies that will transform the financial advice industry. Topics Discussed in This Episode: What brought David to WealthBar Why planning is an important focus at WealthBar How t

Helping people improve their financial literacy and understand the best ways to use their money is a powerful way to help improve people’s lives. Often, the people who most need this kind of advice are those who are least able to afford financial planning services, or who are in demographics that may be ignored by traditional financial planners. Today’s guest is a money coach who feels called to use his considerable skill and knowledge to help others. Trevor Van Nest is a Certified Financial Planner and professional money coach who founded Niagara Region Money Coaches. Trevor has been the recipient of several awards for his unique education-based approach to financial planning, including Professional Services Business of the Year in Newmarket. Trevor was also a Finalist for Outstanding New Business of the Year for the Greater Niagara Region in 2015. Before becoming a money coach, Trevor spent 20 years at American Express – 8 of those years as Vice President of Marketing. In addition to his

Who needs financial planning advice? Realistically, everyone, no matter their income level, can benefit from financial planning advice – so why not make financial planning more accessible, even to people who aren’t necessarily in higher income ranges? That’s what Shannon Lee Simmons set out to do. Shannon is recognized as a trailblazer in the financial planning industry. She is a Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Investment Manager, and founder of the New School of Finance. She is also an author. Her book Worry-Free Money is a national bestseller. Shannon has built her career around helping ordinary people navigate the economic climate. Listen to today’s episode to hear more about how Shannon arrived at her business model, why she believes emotions matter in financial planning, and her unique approach to referrals. Topics Discussed in This Episode: What Shannon’s firm does and who they serve What prompted Shannon to start a financial planning firm How Shannon makes her

Building your own practice can be a delicate balancing act. You want to give your clients the best service possible while also expanding your client base and making enough money to cover your own needs and expenses. Today’s guest understands what it’s like to grow a business that does both: maintains high standards for serving clients and benefits from meeting those standards. Jamie List is the co-founder of the wealth management firm Bearing Capital Partners. Bearing Capital is a multi-disciplinary, team-based financial consulting practice. Jamie has many credentials and accreditations: he is a Certified Financial Planner, Canadian Investment Manager, Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute, Chartered Life Underwriter, Financial Management Advisor, and Chartered Professional — Strategic Wealth. Listen to the episode to hear about how Jamie’s firm works, how he developed high service standards, and what he believes helped him achieve success in his career. Topics Discussed in This

Financial advisors ask their clients to place a large amount of trust in them. When you’re advising someone about how to manage their assets and investments, they’re entrusting you with their future and with their security. To advise your clients effectively, you need to build trust first. Starting with financial planning lets you builds trust quickly.   Adam Schacter is a Financial Advisor with Mandeville Private Client Inc. and a Certified Financial Planner with Mandeville Insurance Services Inc. in Ottawa. Adam is an experienced financial advisor and financial planner. In today’s episode, he talks about his approach to financial planning and wealth management. Listen to the episode to hear why Adam recommends starting with financial planning first, what Adam teaches other advisors about compliance, and where advisors can add the most value for their clients.  Topics Discussed in This Episode:  Adam’s process for approaching financial planning with clients Benefits

  In order to be a successful financial advisor, you need to be able to find and acquire the clients who are right for your practice, service those clients, and manage your business efficiently. That can be harder than it sounds, especially for new advisors or for those who have hit a plateau in their growth. Today’s guest provides coaching services that are aimed at helping financial advisors manage their practices in a way that ensures they are prepared for the future. Grant Hicks, CIM, is an author, coach, and speaker. Before he began coaching financial advisors, he had his own successful advisory practice. Now he runs his own financial coaching and consulting firm, Advisor Practice Management, and speaks at conferences and workshops for financial advisors. His book Guerrilla Marketing For Financial Advisors is part of the Guerrilla Marketing series, which has sold over 21 million copies worldwide. Topics Discussed in This Episode: What Grant’s firm does and who they serve How practice ma

As a financial planner, you become accustomed to seeing certain types of financial situations over and over again. However, some clients have very complicated and singular financial situations that can prove challenging. For example, planning for elderly parents brings out unique challenges. Business owners often have more complex tax situations. Expats who retain investments in their home country may have a tangled investment situation. Today’s guest knows a lot about dealing with some of these more complex financial planning situations and most importantly he knows how to make the client engagements profitable. Jason Heath is one of Canada’s best-known fee-only financial planners. He is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) with Objective Financial Partners in Toronto, a personal finance columnist for the Financial Post and MoneySense, and a regular contributor at RetireHappy.ca. Jason has been providing fee-only, advice-only financial planning since 2001 and has a particular interest in working w

Insurance is an important part of financial planning and wealth planning. Technology can help insurance brokers more effectively bring useful products to their clients, which can in turn help those clients maintain and protect their wealth. Today’s guest understands how cutting-edge technology can help advisors streamline processes, manage tasks, and discover unexpected efficiencies. Most importantly, he recognizes the importance of maintaining a human touch in the process. Aly Dhalla is the CEO and Co-founder of Finaeo, a startup that was created to help insurance advisors thrive in a digital world. Finaeo provides advisors with a digital tool-kit and an on-demand concierge back-office. This enables advisors to create what Aly calls the Bionic Advisor – a human advisor empowered by technology. Listen to the episode to hear more about what Finaeo is all about, what a bionic advisor looks like, and how technology impacts the advisory field now and in the future. Topics Discussed in This Episode:

With 27 years of experience in the industry, today’s guest Rona Birenbaum explains the importance of technology in the financial services field, as well as how financial planners can stay relevant through all the changes. Rona is an honours graduate of York University’s Business School, a CFP, and an insurance advisor. In 2000, she founded Caring for Clients, a premier fee-only financial planning firm. In 2016, she started Viviplan, a low-cost, fee-only financial planning fintech company that’s the first of its kind in Canada. Wealth Professional Canada named Rona a Woman of Influence in Financial Services and one of the top 50 advisors in Canada for three years running. Rona is also a guest personal finance columnist for both The Globe and Mail and The Medical Post. Hear what she has to say about her two businesses, how she builds relationships with clients, and how she’s using technology to help bring financial planning services to more Canadians. Topics Discussed in This Episode:

Howard Dixon grew up in England and came to Canada as a W.H. Rhodes scholar in 1961. He holds a joint honours degree in physics and applied mathematics from the University of London, and he earned a Certificate of Education at Cambridge. He had a career in education before beginning his financial training as a rural agent for Mutual Life of Canada. He opened his own financial planning practice over 30 years ago in 1987, worked for two years as a senior financial consultant for MD Management starting in 1994, and became a Registered Financial Planner in 1996. In addition to running his practice, Howard has also taught CFP courses at the University of Victoria and created a certificate-level course called Financial Plan Development. Howard joins the podcast today to discuss retirement income planning. Listen to the episode to hear what Howard has to say about the financial planning process for retirement income planning, the importance of cash flow during retirement, and why retirement planning is an ongoing pr

John De Goey is a portfolio manager at Industrial Alliance Securities. He’s also an author and a recognized Canadian authority on the subject of professional, transparent, and evidence-based financial advice. John has received numerous awards for his contributions to the financial planning field, including the Donald J. Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award. He’s also been named one of the top 50 advisors in Canada by Wealth Professional magazine. In today’s episode, John will be talking about the assumptions advisors need to make when developing financial projections. Tune in to the episode to hear what John has to say about the key assumptions an advisor needs to make before developing any financial projections and advisors’ biggest mistakes when making assumptions. John will also share some information about his upcoming book. Topics Discussed in this Episode: The key assumptions an advisor has to determine before developing any financial projections for their clients How to come up

In today’s episode, I’ll talk to two financial planners who merged their individual businesses to create a new practice together. Julia Chung is a partner and senior financial planner at Spring Financial Planning. Julia has been working in financial services since 1997. In 2011, she left traditional financial services to form a fee-for-service financial planning firm in partnership with an accounting firm. She made JYC Financial entirely independent a few years later, eventually merging with Spring Personal Finance to become Spring Financial Planning.   Julia is also co-founder of Admin Slayer Services and a charter member of Lead Family Enterprise Advisors. She has co-authored several e-books, including “Women & Money,” “Art of Delegation,” and “The Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide.” Sandi Martin is a partner and financial planner at Spring Financial Planning. After joining the industry, Sandi quickly realized that she could either help clients or g

Today's guest is David O'Leary of Kind Wealth. His story shows that it’s possible to make a difference in the world through financial planning. In cliché fashion, David’s life was transformed after a trip to Africa. His ensuing soul-searching led him to quit his Bay Street career on a quest to effect positive change. Currently, there are three levers David is pulling to make a dent. As Director of Impact Investing at World Vision Canada, he is mobilizing capital to help the world’s most vulnerable people. He also founded Kind Wealth, a not-just-for-profit business helping millennials manage their finances in alignment with their values. David also sits on the board of Parker P. Consulting, a social enterprise helping organizations of all shapes and sizes achieve gender equity. David has lived, worked, and volunteered at various times throughout Africa. One of his proudest accomplishments is founding and running Grassroots Youth Development while living in South Africa. David is a freq

At its core, financial planning is about helping clients use their resources in a way that will effectively achieve their most important goals. This means that goal-based financial planning is a natural choice for advisors who want to ensure that their clients are having their most important needs met. Today’s guest is an experienced advisor who has a keen understanding of goals-based financial planning. Ethan Astaneh is from Vancouver and a graduate of the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. He is a Certified Financial Planner, member of the Financial Planning Standards Council, and Financial Advisor at RGF Integrated Wealth Management. RGF has 60 staff including 17 advisors, with $2B AUM. Listen to the episode to hear what Ethan has to say about goal-based financial planning. Topics Discussed in This Episode:     Goal-based planning and why it’s useful for clients and advisors     How Ethan was inspired to get into goal-base

In order to succeed in the financial advisory field, you need to be able to identify your own niche and keep abreast of larger trends in your field and how they might affect you. Today’s guest is an authority in the financial planning industry who understands the importance of clearly defining your own niche and scaling your firm using technology. Jason Pereira is a Partner and Senior Financial Consultant with Woodgate Financial Inc., which manages $200 million AUM across 180 families with three partners and four staff. He is a graduate of the Schulich School of Business' MBA program where he now teaches classes in Financial Planning. Jason holds an MBA, CFA, CFP, and RFP, among other designations. He has won and been named as a finalist for several industry awards and is Canada's only two-time winner of the PlanPlus Global Financial Planning Awards. Listen to the episode to hear Jason’s thoughts on finding your niche, using technology in your financial advisory practice, and understanding trends

We’ve talked about creating an advice-centric practice, articulating the value of financial advice, pricing and structuring your services, and conducting your first client meeting. Now it’s time to think about how you can use systems, tools, and referrals to predictably grow your practice. In the conclusion of my five-part series with John Page, Chairman and Chief Adjudicator of the PlanPlus Global Financial Planning Awards, we’ll be talking in-depth about the tools that you need to grow your practice. Listen in to hear John’s insights about how you can predictably grow your financial advisory practice. Topics Discussed in This Episode: How to track clients from prospect to engagement to first plan to review What happens after the first meeting with a client Why you should avoid making recommendations until you’ve established yourself as the client’s primary financial advisor How advisors can generate referrals consistently How an advisor can provide clients with an opport

Once you have a client in your office, what do you do with them? You want to convince them to engage you as their primary advisor and use your services if possible, but you also want to identify and weed out bad clients. In the fourth episode of my five-part series with John Page, RFP, CFP, RFC of Wealth Enhancement Academy, and Chairman and Chief Adjudicator of the PlanPlus Global Financial Planning Awards, we’ll be discussing the details of that critical first interview. What questions should you ask and what are the best ways to engage with potential clients? Tune in to find out. Topics Discussed in This Episode:      Why you should approach your first meeting by preparing before the meeting starts      How to ensure your clients have the information they need about you before your meeting      The importance of discovering a client’s values      The most important questions you can ask duri

Setting a price for your services can seem like a pretty basic aspect of getting started in your own financial advisory practice, but it can also be intimidating. How do you decide what to charge? How will your clients react to your prices? In the third episode of my five-part interview series with John Page, Chairman and Chief Adjudicator of the PlanPlus Global Financial Planning Awards, we’ll be talking about the ins and outs of pricing. Listen to the episode to find out more about how to set your own prices and what mistakes to avoid when doing so. Topics Discussed in This Episode: Different types of pricing models Importance of matching your services to the client’s problems Why failing to charge for financial planning is a mistake The importance of providing a menu of services, and what that menu should look like How to establish pricing based on the level of complexity of the client’s assets How John Page sets prices Why monthly fees are a better choice than annual fees What prices a

When you meet with a potential client, do you try to convince them of the value that they’ll receive from your financial advice? If so, do you find that you have difficulty in articulating that value? In the second episode of my five-part interview series with John Page, Chairman and Chief Adjudicator of the PlanPlus Global Financial Planning Awards, we’ll be talking about the process of properly articulating the value of good financial planning. Tune in to hear John’s insights about communicating the value of financial advice to clients. Topics Discussed in this Episode: How peace of mind and time saved, while difficult to quantify, can provide great value to clients Different ways that financial planners can help clients make the right decisions and avoid serious mistakes How to make a presentation that demonstrates the value of financial advice The importance of creating a sample financial plan that the client can relate to Why you should use studies as a backup, rather than leading with