Advice over Products

I am passionate about helping people make better decisions with money. One of the challenges is finding good unbiased advice in an industry that primarily compensates and motivates financial advisors with commission. As a result, too much of the industry is product focused as opposed to advice focused.

I am not against products and I am not against professional advice. I just think planning and advice should come before products.

The problem with the conventional model is in order to get paid, you have to sell financial products like mutual funds, GICs, stocks, insurance, etc. You can have great intentions but in the end, you still have to make the sale to make a living. I know because I used to be one of those licensed advisors.

In 2007, I sold my business for a number of reasons, one of which was I was frustrated at how the regulators were starting to dictate how financial advisors could run their business and force everyone to manage money the same way. As a result, all investing is starting to look the same.

Paying for time, expertice and knowledge

Today, I still work with clients but only on a fee basis. In other words, I do not sell products, I only offer advice and people simply pay me for my time. I guarantee you that you’ll get your money’s worth.  In fact, I have never had a client where I did not make back the fee they paid me and more by helping them reduce the fees on their investments, recognize tax savings strategies, create more efficiency with their financial assets, recognize where financial products are more sizzle than substance, and more.

I am passionate about education and knowledge. I have committed so much time through my articles, workshops and products to help people make better decisions with their money. People can pay me to develop complete plans but I think they can save a lot of money by just booking an hour and a half meeting to learn more and take away an action plan of things for them to work on. This model has helped hundreds of people and they do not need to pay thousands of dollars for me to create a plan.

My goal is not to sell you financial products. My goal is to make a difference. Here’s my motto “Give someone a fish and they eat for a day. Teach someone how to fish and they eat for a lifetime”.