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ADVISORS The time has come to recognize the country’s finest planners as we unveil Wealth Professional’s inaugural list of the top 50 financial advisors in Canada. In a trailblazing initiative, the industry’s top performers are finally being rewarded for their excellence
Too often the tireless and vital work that financial planners perform is overlooked in terms of recognition. Wealth Professional would like to put that right. This issue is dedicated to making heroes out of the most hard-working and successful advisors in Canada, which was the driving force behind this presentation of the top 50 advisors in Canada. Of course it fell to you to make a submission, but what was the methodology behind the rankings? The results are purely objective and based on fixed criteria of performance. The first two aspects we ranked were the increase of assets under management (AUM) in the financial year ended October 31, 2013, and revenue the individual contributed to the business. Due to their vital role, these aspects of performance were given heavy weighting.
Other aspects ranked were client retention, new clients introduced to the business, new business as a percentage of total client base and AUM per client managed by the individual planner. This is all designed to provide a good cross section of well-rounded planners. Thanks to all the advisors who took the time to enter and congratulations to all those who made the cut. As part of Wealth Professional’s wider ethos to not just inform our readers, but also actively find ways to improve their business and profitably, we hope making the rankings will have a profound impact on your reputation. We hope you enjoy the rundown and if you did not enter this year, we hope that you will do so the next time.
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THE TOP 50 BY THE PROVINCE Ontario: 20
Quebec: 5
British Columbia: 14
Alberta: 6
Saskatchewan: 1
Manitoba: 3
AVERAGE YEARS IN THE BUSINESS
18 YEARS
AVG. AUM GROWTH YOY (%)
GENDER DIVIDE
20%
80%
MONEY MATTERS
25
P.E.I.: 1
$1.2M AVG. REVENUE
298
40 VS. 10
AVG. NUMBER OF CLIENTS
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TOP 50 Advisors OVERALL RANKING
NAME
BROKERAGE/DEALER GROUP NAME
COMPANY
AUM GROWTH REVENUE CLIENTS YOY (%) CONTRIBUTED ($) OCT. 31, 2013
1
Bill McElroy
The William Douglas Group Inc.
Manulife Securities Incorporated
87
500,000
2
Léony deGraaf
deGraaf Financial Strategies
MGA - Gryphin Advantage
50
250,000
1200 225
3
Nathan Leibowitz
Assante Wealth Management
Assante Wealth Management
32
350,000
250 925
4
Anita Dalakoti
Dalakoti Financial & Insurance Services Inc.
Sun Life Financal
25
2,500,000
5
Charles Jiang
Queen Financial Group Inc.
Queen Financial Group Inc.
19
280,000
330
6
Nick Bakish
Investors Group Financial Services Inc., Financial Services Firm
Investors Group Financial Services Inc., Financial Services Firm
17
600,000
1103 115
7
Stephen Jones
Assante Financial Managment Ltd
Assante Financial Managment Ltd
34
600,000
8
John De Goey
BBSL
BBSL
49
440,000
85
9
Cyrilla Saunders
Saunders Wealth Advisory Group (SWAG)
CIBC Wood Gundy
43
1,200,000
250
10
Tim Kelly
Tim Kelly Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial
20
2,600,000
800
11
Gene Kim
Summit Private Wealth Inc.
Manulife Securities Incorporated
25
500,000
100
12
Don Taylor
Taylor Spies Wealth Management
Nesbitt Burns
37
1,600,000
260
13
Eva Rubinstein
RD Wealth Management
BMO Nesbitt Burns
16
850,000
450
14
Luke Kratz
Kratz Group
CIBC Wood Gundy
29
1,077,865
205
15
Chad Price
Odlum Brown Limited
Odlum Brown Limited
21
480,000
110
16
Shafik Hirani
Shafik Hirani Private Wealth Managment
Investors Group
43
4,000,000
610 725
17
Reg Jackson
JMRD Wealth Management Team
National Bank Financial
16
2,000,000
18
Peter Boronkay
The Boronkay Team
Raymond James Ltd.
25
350,000
67
19
Chet Brothers
Brothers & Company Financial
FundEX Investments Inc.
14
625,000
238
20
Rob McClelland
The McClelland Financial Group
Assante Capital Management Ltd.
19
3,000,000
694
21
Laurie Bonten
The Bonten Group
National Bank Financial
22
1,300,000
250
22
Brian McGorman
The McGorman Investment Team
CIBC Wood Gundy
31
2,295,135
345
23
Wolfgang Klein
Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management
Canaccord Genuity
29
1,200,000
190
24
Michael Trklja
CDSPI Advisory Services
CDSPI Advisory Services
11
650,000
218
25
Mike Lakhani
Tax Matters for Dentists (TMFD)
Assante Wealth Management
28
2,800,000
376
26
Paul Johnson
Johnson Legacy Wealth Management
Raymond James Ltd.
28
1,000,000
125
27
Elie Nour
Elie Nour Group
Manulife Securities Inc.
36
2,000,000
140
28
William Vastis
The William Vastis Wealth Management Group
RBC Wealth Management Dominion Securities Inc
50
5,100,000
115
29
Eric Davis
Davis Wealth Management Team
TD Wealth
25
1,400,000
200
30
Brian S. Jones
Brian Jones Wealth Management
TD Waterhouse/ TD Wealth
18
1,100,000
205
31
Rona Birenbaum
Caring for Clients
Queensbury Strategies Inc.
16
850,000
155
32
David Christianson
Christianson Wealth Advisors
National Bank Financial Wealth Management
21
1,100,000
78
33
Penny Meadows
CIBC
CIBC Imperial Investor Services
20
682,921
245 140
34
Gillian Stovel Rivers
Assante Financial Management
Assante Wealth Managememt
19
1,253,862
35
Neil R. McIver
McIver Wealth Management Consulting Group
Richardson GMP
21
1,310,000
84
36
Kevin Webber
Webber Brodlieb and Associates
BMO Nesbitt Burns
17
2,370,000
248
37
Joel David
CIBC Wood Gundy
CIBC World Markets Inc.
19
1,013,000
27
38
David Allard
Navigation Wealth Management
ScotiaMcleod
14
1,150,000
105 500
39
Ronald Rusnak
Rusnak Financial Ltd.
Manulife Securities
20
550,000
40
Amod P. Lokre
Edward Jones Investments
Edward Jones Investments
57
300,000
250
41
Jeff Watchorn
CIBC Wood Gundy
CIBC Wood Gundy
33
750,000
200 200
42
Oliver Gilbert
CIBC Wood Gundy
CIBC Wood Gundy
33
1,000,000
43
Jim Baumgartner
National Bank Financial
National Bank Financial
0
741,000
163
44
Brian Lonsdale
Lonsdale Financial Group
CIBC Wood Gundy
8
700,000
400
45
David J. Ritcey
The Ritcey Team
ScotiaMcLeod
5
725,000
221
46
Terry Heavisides
Prarieview Wealth Management
ScotiaMcLeod
13
1,558,345
380
47
Lyle Rouleau
Rouleau Investment Group
CIBC Wood Gundy
1
1,465,000
220
48
Jack Panteluk
The Panteluk Wealth Advisory Group
BMO Nesbitt Burns
8
1,200,000
210
49
Paul Hurwitz
Raymond James Ltd.
Raymond James Ltd.
0
1,040,000
215
50
Glen Lyster
Lyster Financial
SunLife
30
750,000
N/A
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Name: TIM KELLY Company: Sun Life Financial Investments Revenue: $2,600,000 Clients: 800
Q. What makes a good advisor? A: I believe a good financial planner must be client goal-driven. This means the planner and his client share the same financial goals and objectives.
Q. What do you like most about being an advisor? A: The satisfaction of helping people reach their goals. Providing clients with wealth-building, asset preservation and lifetime income.
Q. What is your top tip for other advisors? A: Listen! Listen! Listen! to your clients’ needs. The advisor in our Top 10 with the most revenue was Tim Kelly with $2,600,000
Q. What are your top tips for gaining, and retaining, clients? A: Client service and a disci-
Tim Kelly
plined approach to regular communication. My office is always dialoguing with clients! Recognizing their milestones and celebrating with them.
Q. What has been the biggest challenge for advisors in the last 12 months? A: Tempering client excitement. Let’s face it, markets have been quite volatile up until last year. Clients must be reminded above-average returns cannot happen every year. It’s my job to reassure them to maintain their goals.
Q. How do you plan to adapt to the many regulatory changes that are set to affect the industry? A: I am already adapting. My dealer and retailers have done an exceptional job of informing us about the upcoming changes. And if clients need to understand any of the changes I will be prepared for them.
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Name: CYRILLA SAUNDERS Company: Saunders Wealth Advisory Group (SWAG) Revenue: $1,200,000 Clients: 250
Q. How do you plan to adapt to the regulatory changes that are set to affect the industry? A: We have already embraced the full disclosure of fees strategy, where for the past eight years, we disclose to each client relationship via our customized IPSs, the fees they are paying on each strategy in each account. Additionally, if the fees are intended to be used as a tax-deductible expense, we council our clients to discuss this matter with the tax accountant/advisor. In the past, as additional regulatory changes became mandatory, we have always found a way to encourage client participation in gaining knowledge.
Q. What makes a good advisor? A: An individual who has the ability to be trusted and draw appropriate information from clients, listen carefully to their responses in both language and feeling and then be able to interpret this into a “financial plan” that is credible and easy to understand for the client. Finally, the actual implementation and subsequent timely follow-ups to ensure the path still suits is the key to success.
Q. What is your top tip for other advisors? A: It is all about the client. Stay true to your core beliefs. Knowledge and education will always serve you and your clients well. Create a circle of knowledgeable professionals around you, both in-house and in the community you serve . . . these people will benefit your clients.
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Name: JOHN DE GOEY Company: BBSL Revenue: $440,000 Clients: 85
Q. What is your top tip for other advisors? A: Use reasonable assumptions when doing your illustrations. In particular, if you’re using high-cost products, make sure your projections take those costs into account. If your projects cost 1 per cent less and your fees are the same, it stands to reason that your clients’ returns will be about 1 per cent higher – which is massively impactful over an investor’s lifetime.
Q. What makes a good advisor? A: I incorporate actual empirical evidence, peer reviewed research, into my recommendations. That means using reasonable assumptions and teaching my clients about the importance of cost. I’m also a big believer in informed consent, meaning I try hard to help clients understand the trade-offs involved in the choices in front of them.
Q. What do you like most about being an advisor? A: I like that I can help people achieve their goals – not only the financial ones – on their terms and based on their values and priorities. I get to work with people who have a wide range of perspectives and experiences. Many are experts in their fields and it is a treat to be able to work with people who
are obviously competent in their field, yet simultaneously in need of advice in something that isn’t second nature to them.
Q. What has been the best thing about the last 12 months? A: The fact that people out there seem to “get it” now. I’ve been talking about professionalism, transparency and the alignment of advisor and client interests for over a decade now. I’m finally getting the sense that the message is taking root. I love it when a plan comes together!
Q. What are your top tips for gaining, and retaining, clients? A: Pay attention and stay connected. Clients need
John De Goey
to know that you’ve got their back and that you’re always making recommendations based on what’s best for them.
Q. What targets do you have for the coming year? A: Play a significant role in getting the industry to ban embedded compensation and adopt a statutory best interests standard. Admittedly, this might take more than a year, but these are big and impactful goals, too.
Q. What has been the biggest challenge for advisors in the last 12 months? A: Nothing springs to mind. I suspect it’ll be important to temper expectations.
The Top 50: Average AUM – Oct. 31, 2012 $107.42m
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Name: STEPHEN JONES Company: Assante Financial Management Ltd. Revenue: $600,000 Clients: 115
Q. What has been the best thing about the last 12 months? A: My investment style (a
conservative, globally diversified, tax-optimized program) has yielded tremendous result. In a year Stephen Jones where bonds are negative, and Canadian equities earn ~ 6 per cent, we have provided returns at much higher levels, using a pension style approach that incorporates both low-cost indexes provided by DFA and active management through CI’s Evolution program.
Q. What makes a good advisor? A: A good advisor must have a servant’s attitude, and an open mind. We are here to help, using our experience, ideas, and sound judgement to present the best ideas possible. The client then decides what is best for them, and what can be done today versus tomorrow.
Q. What is your top tip for other advisors? A: I often say that I am in “the client retention business.” Focus on activities today that lead to clients who will be there 20 years down the road.
Q. What are your top tips for gaining, and retaining, clients? A: I take the time to do “my homework.” This means looking at every detail of a client’s financial situation. For example, where many advisors looks at CRA tax assessments on, I need to review the full tax return, and all of the slips. And not just for mom and dad, but for the whole family as well. This extra time allows me to make better recommendations.
The Top 50: Average number of clients lost (FY 2013) 4.7
6 Nick Bakish
Name: NICK BAKISH Company: Investors Group Financial Services Inc., Financial Services Firm Revenue: $600,000 Clients: 1,103
Q. What are your top tips for gaining, and retaining clients? A: Being consistent in your work ethic is a main tip for retaining clients but even more so is servicing your clients and following up with those services. Following up with clients has been one of the best ways for my team and I to grow our practice and maintain our clients. Alongside those points, understanding your target clientele and where your strengths lie is one aspect that can allow an advisor to grow yearly.
Q. What makes a good advisor? A: I have always felt listening was the main characteristic defining a good advisor. A good advisor will not only listen to his client’s needs, but will always pay close attention to detail, maintain a high level of professionalism and integrity for every client and prospect.
Q. What do you like most about being an advisor? A: There are many aspects I enjoy but the biggest reward has always been seeing people reach their retirement goals. Knowing I played a small role in allowing people to retire comfortably has always been extremely enjoyable. In addition to that, I have always felt a great sense of accomplishment helping young professionals understand and develop ways to reach their financial goals.
Q. What has been the best thing about the last 12 months? A: In the past 12 twelve months my team and I have expanded and grown in various ways. I think developing new strategies and enhancing our team dynamic has had a positive influence with regards to our public appearance and has had a tremendous effect on how we conduct ourselves throughout this business.
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Q. What is your top tip for other advisors?
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Name: CHARLES JIANG Company: Queen Financial Group Inc. Revenue: $280,000 Clients: 330
Q. What makes a good advisor? A: A good advisor should love his or her job, and be
able to provide some good, solid advice. He or she should be experienced, knowledgeable, professional, holding industry standard designations, a member of a leading professional organization, and embraces continuing education and attends conferences. A good planner takes a holistic, planning based approach, designs appropriate asset allocations and follows a process for discerning the clients’ needs and offering recommendations. He or she should always be an objective and independent advisor.
The Top 50: Average AUM – Oct. 31, 2013 $142.16m
through market turmoil during the financial crisis. I convinced them to stick to their goals and the objectives we set for them during the first few meetings.
Q. What has been the best thing about the last 12 months? A: The market has been recovering and the leading markets in the U.S. and Europe have been performing well. Investors are feeling better now that they see the recovery. The leading indicators in USA and Europe are relatively positive. Many new jobs have been created and the unemployment rate in the USA has been decreasing.
Q. What do you like most about being an advisor? A: I feel great when my advice and professional
Q. What are your top tips for gaining, and retaining, clients? A: Ultimately, service is what differentiates a good
service really helps the client to solve their financial problems and provide solutions to reach their financial goals. I feel great when I am respected for a professional job I’ve rendered to my clients. I feel great when I could guide clients, to walk them
advisor from a mediocre one. Good service will help to gain and retain clients. Good service will also help to get referrals from trusted clients. By the same token, bad service will lead to loss of clients and assets.
Charles Jiang
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Name: NATHAN LEIBOWITZ Company: Assante Wealth Management Revenue: $350,000 Clients: 250
Q. What has been the biggest challenge for advisors in the last 12 months? A: Interest rates. For most of our
4 Anita Dalakoti
Name: ANITA DALAKOTI Company: Dalakoti Financial & Insurance Services Inc. Revenue: $2,500,000 Clients: 925
The Top 50: Average revenue per client $6,456
Q. What do you like most about being an advisor? A: Being an integral part of my client’s lives. Providing solutions for financial problems and realities - preparing them financially to face whatever life may throw at them. Preparing a plan to suit what the client wants and needs and watching those plans materialize through life events of the birth of a child, professional growth, promotions, marriages, teenager pains , growing older, retiring and finally passing away.
Q. What makes a good advisor? A: A good listener with a balanced and practical approach. The planning approach should take into consideration mathematical realities of a situation and at the same time incorporate the dreams and aspirations of our clients, finding a realistic path to achieving those dreams and aspirations. Creating an achievable financial plan empowers our clients and sets them up for continued success.
Q. What has been the best thing about the last 12 months? A: Unsolicited positive feedback from my clients is an affirmation that I am on the right track. I think that is by far the best thing that can happen to me in any given year. It did this year, too.
Q. What are your top tips for gaining, and retaining, clients? A: Empower yourself with knowledge so that you can add value to the services you provide your client. If you don’t do that you are simply an intermediary and can be replaced by another intermediary. Do not mistake the word advisor to mean “salesperson.” I don’t believe one can replace a knowledgeable advisor — a wise client can certainly add to their repertoire of advisors, but will not replace you if you add value. It is very easy to replace a salesperson, though, because they are intermediaries. Be a knowledgeable Advisor.
portfolios that have a balanced mandate, the choice of how to structure the fixed-income aspect has been challenging. The correction Nathan Leibowitz mid-year highlighted the risk inherent in bonds. Moving out on the risk curve may mitigate the interest rate risk, but does not provide protection from market corrections. I see this as being the biggest challenge moving forward as well.
Q. What makes a good advisor? A: A good advisor is a good friend. Getting to know and understand your client’s situation and profile is critical. Using a needs-based approach to formulate their plan is what the clients appreciate the most as there will not be any surprises. Finally, it is protecting them from their own potential mistakes.
Q. What do you like most about being an advisor? A: People. I enjoy the diversity of people and helping them get where they only dreamed of by taking small steps at a time. We never try to reinvent the wheel overnight. In an industry that clients have many trust issues towards, it’s nice to hear clients praising the fact that you are trustworthy and introducing you to the next generation of their families.
Q. What has been the best thing about the last 12 months? A: Seeing the markets provide significant returns and we were still able to attract many new clients. This highlighted the fact that our approach is not only about investment returns. Our value-added approach is appreciated by clients and the referrals are starting to generate themselves.
Q. What is your top tip for other advisors? A: Wealth management is all the craze now, but I think the most critical is to find a niche that will drive your practice and allow you to spend your time ensuring that you are up to date on all facets of their needs, not only directly related to their financial planning.
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Name: LÉONY DEGRAAF HASTINGS Company: deGraaf Financial Strategies Revenue: $250,000 Clients: 225
tion over the past two years.
Q. What is your top tip for other advisors? A: If you listen to your clients and always put your clients needs first, you can’t go wrong!
Q. What targets do you have for the coming Q. What are your top tips for year? gaining, and retaining, A: I am looking forward to 2014, increasing the number clients? of education seminars I offer, touching base with A: I offer a complimentary concentres of influence and increasing sales to at least $300,000 of income.
Q. What makes a good advisor? A: A good advisor listens to what the client says, or doesn’t say, and formulates recommendations to best match the client’s goals and family dynamics. A good planner is knowledgeable, trustworthy and client focused.
sultation so the client and I can get an idea if we are a good fit for each other. Once they are a client, they know they can reach out to me for guidance on any financial matter. I pride myself on ...treating clients how I would like to be treated, as a valued client.
Léony deGraaf Hastings
Q. What has been the biggest challenge for financial planners in the last 12 months? A: The unknown of how industry changes will affect our
Q. What do you like most about being a practices and our ability to deliver comprehensive advice to all clients of all asset levels. I don’t require minimum financial planner? A: I like the satisfaction I receive from clients when account sizes, as I believe no matter how much someone I have put their minds at ease over their retirement or estate plans. They are typically very grateful for the guidance, experience and solutions I can provide.
has been able to save, that is all they have and it is very important to them. I believe all clients deserve the same level of advice, regardless of their asset base.
Q. What has been the best thing about the Q. What are the biggest issues facing the last 12 months? financial advice industry today? A: That it is over! Sentiment over the past year seems A: I don’t feel regulators are obtaining enough input to have been a little gloomy. I’m also happy to have my CFP studies behind me, which have been a big distrac-
from advisors in the field on how or if the industry requires changes.
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Bill McElroy
Name: BILL MCELROY Company: The William Douglas Group Inc. Revenue: $500,000 Clients: 1,200
Q. What makes a good advisor? A: A good advisor listens to clients and talks to them at their level. I have acquired many large clients and the complaints that they have about the previous advisor are usually one of two things: the advisor doesn’t understand what the client is looking for; the client doesn’t understand a word out of the advisor’s mouth. If you have the credentials, you don’t have to impress the client with your jargon and a bunch of graphs and charts. The client can’t trust you if they don’t feel comfortable with you. That means listen and communicate on their level.
Q. What has been the best thing about the last 12 months? A: A lot has happened: I bought an existing practice, moved my office to a larger location, got my CIM and qualified for Manulife’s prestigious Five-star Master Builder award. It’s been a year of change for me. I would say that the best thing has been my renewed enthusiasm for this business. It can be very exciting and fast paced if you work at it.
Q. What is your top tip for other advisors? A: Diversify. I have built a multi-income-streamed office by focusing on the three things that are important to businessowners: Life insurance, investments and Group Benefits. When the financial markets are not attractive to investors, I always have something to fall back on. I have become the “go to” person at my clients’ company. Whether it’s a buy/sell, group benefits, pensions or the personal needs of the staff, I can help them out.
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them money, saving them taxes or providing them with viable solutions to improve their financial situation. Whatever it is I do for my clients, I enjoy the personal satisfaction of being appreciated for what I do for them.
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Q. What do you like most about being an advisor? A: I like helping people, whether that means making
A D V IS Q. What are your top tips for gaining, and retaining, clients? A: I would say the number one tip is get IIROC licensed. Clients are becoming more sophisticated and want more out of their advisors. If you cannot provide them with stocks and ETFs you will surely lose them over the long term. My second tip would be to develop and nurture as many COIs (centres of influence) as you possibly can. These people are the gatekeepers to potential new clients and if you have their blessing, you don’t even need to be a great salesperson, just deliver the product/solution.
Q. What targets do you have for the coming year? A: I hope to increase the size of my business by a minimum of 10 per cent in assets per year not includ-
OR
There are going to be a lot of questions asked of advisors and the big one is going to be “What am I paying you for?”
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A: I have made a conscious effort since the tech bubble
ing market growth.
Q. What has been the biggest challenge for advisors in the last 12 months? A: The biggest challenge has also been the biggest opportunity. Although many people are still concerned about the markets, and cash flow into the markets by the retail investor is still low, there are many potential clients out there with complacent agents. Either they are not contacting the clients or they are only reactive to client calls. Whether it was poor investment choices or home-country bias that has caused a potential client’s portfolio to perform poorly, there are so many options and alternative solutions to prove your worth to prospective clients and quickly gain their trust.
Q. How do you plan to adapt to the many regulatory changes that are set to affect the financial planning industry?
to invest all of my clients in either a 0% front-end fund or a fee-for-service account. I do not sell anything on a deferred sales charge basis. I think going forward, there are going to be a lot of questions asked of advisors and the big one is going to be “What am I paying you for?” I personally feel more comfortable explaining my 1 per cent fee on a million-dollar account than I would trying to explain a 5.5 per cent upfront commission plus a 0.5 per cent trailer to any client.
Q. What are the biggest issues facing the financial advice industry today? A: I think there are several problems out there. The biggest one is churning followed by DSC (deferred sales charge) sales method. I prefer to be transparent, our offering consists of investments we think will outperform the market and I choose the one’s that I think will benefit the client the most based on their risk tolerance. WP
The advisor in our Top 10 with the most clients was Bill Mcelroy with 1,200
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9.50%
10.94%
4.62%
--
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@NEIinvestments
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09/01/2014 2:21:29 PM
14 20
WEALTH P R
SPECIAL REPORT
ESSIONAL OF
A D V IS
OR
TOP 50 INSIGHTS GILLIAN STOVEL RIVERS
Q. What makes a good advisor? A: Use of smart technology,
sometimes more than one if it means a clearer message to the client that can create momentum and confidence. This means the momentum and confidence also has to come from the practitioner, which in our case, we believe that means the Advisor’s team. We leverage smart planning and communications technology and software, a 4-person client process, and ultimately a dashboard based set of communication tools to explain matters to clients. The result is simplified statements of the information, clearly stated options for discussion, so that the client can select their own focused pathway forward with confidence and momentum. TIM KELLY
Q. What do you like to do outside of the office? A: I’m a big sports fan so I golf quite a bit in the
summer and follow the NBA and NHL during the winter- especially the Toronto Raptors and The Montreal Canadiens. JEFF WATCHORN & OLIVER GILBERT
Q. What are the biggest issues facing the financial advice industry today? A: We see a lot variance in
advice across the industry, however at the higher end of the advisory market, the advice tends to be more consistent and generally of higher quality. I think there are issues surrounding regulation and transparency of fees, but rather than issues we see these as making the industry better for advisors and clients. Moves toward transparency are good for our industry. CYRILLA SAUNDERS
Q. What targets do you have for the coming year? A: Professionally, growing my practice: AUM at
approximately $120 million, Gross production $1.7 million; encouraging my team members to attain more knowledge through education; contining to have great client retention and satisfaction. And to continue to be the rock that stays focused on the needs of both my team and our client relationships Personally: to spend more time with my family; pay attention to my physical and mental wellbeing by slowing down, practicing yoga and using my sauna on a frequent basis. LUKE KRATZ
Q. What are your top tips for gaining, and retaining, clients? A: Establish a belief system
based on your strongest convictions and then consistently communicate what you believe and what you stand for, letting the chips fall where they may. Many advisors fall into the trap of attempting to be all things to all people. It is much better to be all things to a set number of people – those who share your principals and value what you do for them. JOHN DE GOEY
Q. What targets do you have for the coming year? A: Play a significant role in getting the industry to ban embedded compensation and adopt a statutory best interests standard. Admittedly, this might take more than a year, but these are big and impactful goals, too. CHAD PRICE
Q. What are the biggest issues facing the financial advice industry today? A: Too much information. We
live in a world where you can watch global news 24 hours a day. You can also watch your investment portfolio by the second and that causes many investors to panic and react to breaking news which can lead to a desire to liquidate their portfolios at the wrong time.
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14 20
WEALTH P R
SPECIAL REPORT
ESSIONAL OF
A D V IS
OR
STEPHEN JONES
Q. How do you plan to adapt to the many regulatory changes that are set to affect the financial planning industry? A: Our industry’s biggest challenge moving forwards is “fee disclosure”. We will spend the next two years, using many different methods, to show our clients our value. LAURIE BONTEN
Q. What is your top tip for other advisors? A: Look at the big picture and
don’t focus on the short term. Build solid relationships with superior service. Know all the rules surrounding the industry along with the types of service and advice you can provide. You cannot control the markets so control what you can....your knowledge. NICK BAKISH
Q. How do you plan to adapt to the many regulatory changes that are set to affect the financial planning industry? A: Adapting to the many regulatory changes that will affect this profession will happen in a few ways. Staying on top of legislation will be one of them, in addition utilizing internal and external communications and staying compliant at the minimum cost to the business. ROB MCCLELLAND
Q. How do you plan to adapt to the many regulatory changes that are set to affect the financial planning industry? A: Luckily we moved to a
fee-based practise in 2008 and have always provided detailed financial planning to our clients not just investment advice. CHARLES JIANG
Q. What has been the biggest challenge for advisors in the last 12 months? A: These are challenging times for financial
advisors, who are not only trying to navigate choppy markets but also maintain strong ties with their clients. These challenges include: increasing compliance requirements and the volatile market during the year. Increasing compliance demands and requirements force advisors to do a better job. But it is definitely good for the clients, and eventually good for the advisors and the industry. The US budget impasse and the tapering of monetary stimulus
caused market nervousness and concerns among investors. PETER BORONKAY
Q. What do you like most about being an advisor? A: The knowledge and
experience to strive to make a difference in our clients lives. We cannot control the wind but we can adjust the sails to best align our work with the needs of the client. This profession gives us a clear canvas to make a financial painting for our clients. We have the freedom on how we apply the strokes to this painting. ANITA DALAKOTI
Q. What has been the biggest challenge for advisors in the last 12 months? A: I’m not sure about other financial planners. I
suppose you are talking about the economic climate. Well, to me those are a given and I don’t consider them challenges -- we have good times and we have bad times, this is a historical fact. Look at an [Morningstar] Andex Chart – a seasoned planner know how to deal with these challenges. For me, every client is a challenge and an opportunity. These are perennial challenges not restricted to a 12-month time frame. A challenge because I wish to create a plan that they can identify with and implement without taking away the their joys of living - easier said than done. An opportunity because every client is different and, in dealing with them, I get to learn skills that can be implemented with other clients. NATHAN LEIBOWITZ
Q. What are the biggest issues facing the financial advice industry today? A: Being able to maintain and grow your practice while properly servicing your existing clients. With client needs changing, and the expectation that advisors should handle all aspect of their situation – such as insurance, will planning, charity etc. you need to automate your practice and have seamless communication with all members of your team. This will be a key differentiating factor as more firms offer the total wealth management package. LÉONY DEGRAAF HASTINGS
Q. How do you plan to adapt to the many regulatory changes that are set to affect the financial planning industry? A: I have been proactive with clients in helping them understand their choices and what they are paying for. WP
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