Practice

Experts discuss risk – Part One

Clients witnessed risk in action in 2008, but have these lessons lingered? Risk is a layered concept. Although individual investors—even high net worth clients—acknowledge their balance sheets, do they truly recognize the forces behind them or even their own risk thresholds?

By Terri Goveia |January 26, 2011

8 min read

Planning and Advice

YOU need a social media strategy, not your business

In the late 1990s, legendary management consultant Tom Peters had a prescient idea. No longer would business be dominated by established mega-brands. The future would be dominated, trumpeted Peters, by The Brand Called You.

By Jay Palter |January 26, 2011

2 min read

Industry

Advisors make the CFP grade

According to the results of the first ever Financial Planning Examination, financial advisors really know their stuff. Of the 455 advisors who wrote the Level 1 exam, 346 passed (76%).

By John Powell |January 25, 2011

1 min read

Industry

Fee vs. commission not clear cut

Establishing the compensation model for services rendered amounts to one of the most difficult decisions for members of any profession and normally flows from client preferences, the professional’s needs and his or her perceptions of the market. The professional needs adequate compensation while the client may or may not grasp the value of services rendered. […]

By Al Emid |January 25, 2011

3 min read

Book tackles lessons from school of hard knocks

Nineteen tales, two tellers and one tome. What I Have Learned So Far… And How It Can Help You illustrates how you can never count on life to unfold as expected. The collaborative work by Al Emid, a seasoned journalist and occasional Advisor.ca contributor, and Paul K. Bates, a financial services professional, is a tribute […]

By Vikram Barhat |January 21, 2011

1 min read

How to rein clients in

What’s the most important thing a financial advisor does for clients? Provide sound investment advice and financial planning that clients can rely on? Maybe. That is, after all, the primary role of the financial advisor.

8 min read

Money behaving badly, the 35-million-year-old problem?

25 years ago the missing link between humans and monkeys was unearthed by an amateur fossil hunter. With no one knowing the value of the discovery, the remains of the 45-million-year-old lemur were hung on a collector’s wall. They remained there for 20 years. Eventually, the lemur or “Ida”, as she is now known, found her way into the proper hands and since has been used to prove the theory of evolution.

3 min read

Keep your finger on the market pulse

With the markets slowly emerging from the recession, consumers take a cautious approach to investing their hard-earned dollars. For financial advisors, the pressure is on not only to sell financial planning and investment services, but also to sell themselves – both to their clients and to their employers – and gain their clients’ and employer’s confidence and trust. In a slowly recovering economy, a strategic approach to education is the single critical factor for professional success – even more so if you find yourself out of a job or embarking on a new career.

5 min read

Mallard wins a round in fight with regulators

A Saskatchewan court has dismissed an attempt by regulators to derail a lawsuit brought forward by Saskatoon-based advisor Brian Mallard. Mallard is seeking damages from the Mutual Fund Dealers Association and the Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission, alleging unlawful interference with economic interests. Mallard has had a long-running battle with the two regulatory bodies – arguing […]

By Doug Watt |January 7, 2011

2 min read