Building a Successful Practice That Is a Good Fit for You Advisors need to be able to help their clients meet not just their short-term goals, but also their long-term wealth management goals, and that means building strong relationships with clients and having a...
Grow Your Practice by Closing Estate Planning Gaps for Clients Financial advising isn’t just about what an individual should do with their money while they’re still alive. It’s also about their family and what happens to wealth after an individual passes away. Wills,...
How to Create a Value-Based Portfolio that Performs Well Is it possible to make investments and get good returns while investing in assets that reflect your values? Today’s guest says that it is. Tim Nash is the founder of Good Investing, an investment planning firm...
How to Build a Successful Practice by Swimming Against the Tide Sometimes, you may encounter an idea or opportunity that hasn’t yet been adopted by the mainstream, but you just know that it makes sense. Having the vision to know when something makes sense for your...
How to Use Financial Storytelling to Help Non-Traditional Clients People in different fields and with different types of learning styles think about finances in different ways. There is more than one right way to talk about finances and financial planning – the...
How to Help Your Clients Visualize Their Financial Success with Dashboards What does it mean to think outside the box when it comes to financial planning? And what do financial advisors need to know about working with clients through turbulent and volatile events,...
Practical Ways to Keep Improving your Skills as a Financial Planner In theory, everyone wants to constantly be improving their financial planning skills, but what does it mean to put that into practice? Today’s guest is a relatively new financial planner who has...
How to increase the value of your financial advisory services by educating your clients When it comes to the question of how open to be with clients, at what point of the spectrum do you fall? Do you teach them enough that they feel invested in the plans that you...
Building a Referral-based Financial Advisory Practice Financial advising is a profession that draws in an eclectic mix of individuals who come from different backgrounds and whose career paths haven’t always been straightforward and predictable. Today’s guest...
A Smart Approach to Balancing Risk and Return for Your Clients Higher returns often mean higher volatility — so how do you know when it’s worth it to be more aggressive and when you should settle for a lower, but more stable, return? And how can you help clients trust...
Full Practice Management Platform for an Independent Financial Advisor Eight years ago, it would have been nearly impossible to imagine the incredible impact fintech would have on the financial services industry today. And even now, we’re just scratching the...
Busting Your Myths and Misconceptions about Financial Advising It’s one thing for the general public to misunderstand what financial advisors do or be mistaken about important principles of personal finance. But what about financial advisors? What myths and...
Unraveling Cross-Border Financial Planning What unique financial planning challenges do individuals face when they live full- or part-time in the US but have Canadian citizenship (or vice versa?) How can you help clients who straddle two countries? And more to the...
Transforming the Financial Planning Industry into an Evidence-based, Fiduciary Profession It’s one thing to build up your own practice. But as we approach the end of the year, we’re taking a step back to look at what it takes to build an entire profession. Today’s...
Transitioning Family Wealth: How to Increase the Odds of Success Family businesses inevitably come with complex scenarios for a financial advisor to sort through. But the biggest complications may not be what you expect: the emotional aspect of family, business, and...
The One Change You Can Make to Your Financial Planning Practice to Really Put Clients First Everyone says they put their clients’ best interests first, but what’s the best way to set yourself up for success in this regard? By introducing portfolio management companies...
How to Grow Your Practice from $30 million to $150 million AUM and Exit - On Your Terms When growing your book of business, you can either build it from scratch yourself or join up with another advisor and purchase their practice. Today’s guest is most...
What constitutes good financial planning? You’re an expert in your field, but what do you do when you come across a planning situation that’s out of your depth? Today’s guest works with advisors and their clients to create better financial and retirement plans....
Life-first Financial Planning: Helping Clients Look at the Big Picture Helping people succeed financially isn’t about dollars and cents or numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s really about uncovering and understanding where clients are in life and how they’re feeling...
How to Protect Your Clients’ Financial Futures in a Divorce Most people know that divorce can take a financial toll. So what’s the best way for clients to protect their assets during a divorce? And more importantly, how can you help your clients plan for the...
Leveraging Your Experience as a Business Owner to Help Business-minded Clients What’s the best way to offer financial advice to business-minded clients? For starters, it helps to be clear on what it means to be a business owner yourself. Today’s guest has...
How to Build Wealth for Families over 4 Generations For many families, the wealth-building process is one that crosses several generations. It’s just not always easy to keep everyone on the same page. However, the benefits of building on family values and past...
How the Charitable Giving Niche is Underserved by the Industry How does charitable giving factor into wealth management? How can you help your clients pursue their charitable goals and earn great financial returns? Today’s guest has mastered helping clients...
Compliance for Insurance Advisors: How it Can Help You Run a Better Practice Compliance has a bad rap in the financial services industry, but today’s guest has a unique perspective. Now a compliance officer, he actually started his career in the financial...
Transitioning your Financial Advisory Practice to a Fee-Based Model (Without Losing Revenue) The conflicts of interest within embedded compensation models are well known, but how can you actually get away from it and maintain a stable and comfortable revenue...
How to Successfully Prevent Clients’ Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes Estate planning can cause rising tensions within a family. It’s not necessarily that people don’t know what needs to be done (though that can be an issue, too); it’s that the decisions are...
Offering Clients Alternative Investment Opportunities as a Financial Planner The vast majority of consumers, other than those in the high net worth segment, will only ever know about investing in the public market. However, alternative investments can diversify a...
A Value-First Approach for Working Effectively with Clients (and Other Professionals) Working well with other professionals is critical to helping your clients and growing your financial advisory practice. But how can you earn the trust and respect of specialists...
The 1 Page Marketing Plan for Your Financial Advisory Practice How much have you thought about marketing your practice? Do you have a plan for finding potential clients, building trust with them, and retaining them? Maybe you’ve resisted because you think a...
How Wealthy People Approach Building Wealth Everyone wants to build wealth for their family, but so many investment portfolios have nothing to do with clients’ lives and the goals they are trying to achieve. Too often, advisors just sell financial products...
Keeping your clients happy while navigating transitions in your business You’re a pro at helping clients handle change in their financial plans, but how can you navigate major transitions in your own business? As an entrepreneur and advisor, you have to continue...
Delivering what you charge for: How to earn your clients’ fees You can promise a lot as a financial advisor, but do you always provide the value your clients are paying for? Today’s guest, Dean Trudeau, thinks the key is as simple as setting out clear...
Setting yourself apart with an unbeatable client experience When it comes to building a successful wealth advisory business, most advisors have the planning and one-on-one relationship side down pat. But what they’re often missing is the business know-how and the...
Estate Planning in Accordance with Clients’ Values An effective financial advisor does more than help their clients prepare for their own futures: they also help them allocate their assets in accordance with their values. Today’s guest is here to share how he...
The major drivers of Advisor business growth Growing your advisory practice is certainly challenging, but there are some clear differences that separate out the most successful advisors from everyone else. Today’s guest is an expert in how advisors rise to the...
What you can learn about building and managing a successful investment firm from Steadyhand’s Tom Bradley Building and managing a successful financial investment firm is easier said than done, but today’s guest has the experience and actionable tips to help you...
More education can give you more prestige as a Financial Advisor, but even more importantly, it gives you the knowledge and skills to better meet your clients’ needs. But what’s the best way to gain these skills for your Advisory practice? When is the right time...
The comprehensive services offered by family offices have traditionally only been available to high-net-worth individuals. But today’s guest, Marc Lamontagne, was determined to offer full-service fee-based financial planning to the emerging affluent ‒ folks who...
Because many people mistakenly believe their money is safer with big banks than with independent financial planners, it’s important to show clients the benefits of a more personal touch. Today’s guests had a vision for differentiating themselves from bank-owned...
When an individual seeks out financial advice, they want to know that their Financial Planner has more than just the expertise needed to help them with the numbers. They also want to know that they can be fully understood without being judged and that their...
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...
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 trust and strong relationships with clients online? Today’s guest believes that it is, and he has the...
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...
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...
Building your own Advisory 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...
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,...
In order to be a successful financial advisor who isn't totally reliant on referrals, 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...
How can complex financial planning be tackled profitably? 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...
Financial technology, aka FinTech, is how we describe technology that is used to improve and automate the delivery of financial services. Insurance is an important part of financial planning and wealth planning. Technology can help insurance brokers more...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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. We are going to be talking about aligning your finances with your values. In cliché fashion, David’s life was...
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...
In order to succeed in the financial advisory field, particularly in the Canadian HNW segment, 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...
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...
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. You want to maximize conversions if you...
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...
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...
When you want to build a thriving financial advisory practice, it helps to have advice from those who are experienced in the field. Today’s guest, John Page, RFP, CFP, RFC of Wealth Enhancement Academy, as well as Chairman and Chief Adjudicator of the PlanPlus...