Choosing an investment advisor is a big decision, and it’s important to do your due diligence before making a commitment. Not only do you want someone skilled and experienced, you should look for a good personal fit in terms of shared goals and clear communication.

A dedicated advisor or portfolio manager who has your best interests in mind will be happy to answer questions while getting to know you, your family and your goals. Here are some questions every advisor should be able to answer—and some answers from our team. If you’d like to learn more or arrange a consultation, please contact us. We’d be pleased to hear from you!

1. What are your qualifications? Are you regulated by any organizations?

Our team is comprised of three Portfolio Managers, four Chartered Investment Managers (CIM®), two CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals (CFP®), one Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), one Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP), one Master Financial Advisor_ Philanthropy (MFA-P™), and four Insurance Advisors. ShortFinancial with iA Private Wealth Inc. is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. ShortFinancial is backed by iA Private Wealth, the sixth largest financial institution in Canada.

We are regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), the Provincial Security Regulators in each province where we service clients, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, FP Canada, and CPA Canada.

In addition to these professionals, we have enthusiastic team members who actually answer the phone during work hours.

2. What experience do you have?

Our team of three Portfolio Managers has cumulatively achieved over 63 years of wealth management experience. In addition to our advisory team, our licensed assistants have over 23 years of combined experience.

3. What services do you offer and how often will we meet?

We provide holistic wealth management for our clients based on our Personal Financial Action Plan (PFAP) that covers 43 separate topics detailing all aspects of your financial circumstances, guiding us to make recommendations in anticipation of your future needs. This unique plan includes objectives based financial plans as well as portfolio investment management and insurance services*. (Please see below for an outline of this plan.)

Typically, we hold quarterly meetings for the first year as we get to know you and complete the financial planning part of our work with you. Subsequently, meetings are held at least semi-annually, or more frequently if your circumstances dictate. Because of our discretionary portfolio license, we do not contact our clients individually to make changes in their investments.

Our financial plans are not created once and then simply filed—they are dynamic and will evolve according to our clients’ life circumstances, and are commonly referenced during regular meetings with our clients. The ‘getting to know you’ process is not only critical in setting those objectives but is instrumental in implementing the strategies.

If clients are looking for someone to execute a transaction, we are not it. We design the plan and implement the strategies for our clients. We do not have customers; we have clients that are looking for a long-term advisory relationship. Some of our relationships go back three generations in the same family.

As Portfolio Managers, we have an added fiduciary responsibility to act with care, honesty and good faith and always in the best interest of our clients. It is important to note that fiduciaries are held to a higher standard of conduct, require more education and experience, and must provide more detailed reporting than retail advisors. As fully licensed Portfolio Managers, we take this responsibly very seriously.

4. Are you licensed for ALL stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds & insurance?

Yes.

5. Will you be the only person working with me?

ShortFinancial has a robust, highly educated team of dedicated professionals backed by iA Private Wealth. Each member holds a different role in taking care of you and your family. The bench strength of our team members is crucial in delivering top-notch, holistic wealth management for our clients. One of the most important people you will speak to is the one who initially answers your call. They take pride in ensuring that your reason for calling is brought to the attention of the person most capable of addressing your need. Each team member is empowered to assist you. Sometimes new clients are surprised by this level of care and attention by our frontline staff. This is just one of the many ways ShortFinancial is different.

6. Do you have error and omission insurance?

Yes.

7. How will I pay for your services? What are ALL the fees I will be charged?

We are paid based on the fees we charge for managing your money. All fees are disclosed in plain English and clear, uncomplicated language (not financial jargon!) before any services are rendered. Our fee schedule is provided to you as part of your investment policy statement.

There are 43 topics covered in the Personal Financial Action Plan (PFAP), of which managing your money is one topic. The other 42 topics including financial plans, tax reduction and risk mitigation strategies, are necessary for us to complete the holistic wealth management service for you. There is no extra charge for these services.

8. Do you have a sales quota to meet? Will you qualify for a bonus by opening my account?

No, ShortFinancial operates as a truly independent practice with no requirement to sell iA Private Wealth products.

9. Are you a fiduciary or are you a salesperson?

We are a fiduciary. We have a fiduciary duty as Portfolio Managers to put our clients’ interests ahead of our own.

Fiduciary is one of those complicated terms in our industry, that simply means a person obliged to act in your best interest. This means they must put your interests before their own and before the company that employs them. If they do not, they could be subject to judicial proceedings, loss of license, sanction and or fines.

The opposite of being a fiduciary is being a salesperson, who is looking to maximize revenue for themselves and the company they work for. This means they may have a conflict of interest in recommending what is best for you vs. what is best for them.

10. What is the most used tool to cause a client to select an investment advisor?

The proposal. A proposal is a series of recommendations from the investment advisor that outlines what they would have done previously if they were working for you. It involves the advisor stating or showing how well their investment would have worked out for you, if only you had started investing with them sooner.

11. Do you have an audited track record to back up your recommendation or are you selecting the best investments based on hindsight?

An audited track record is an independently verified series of reports showing how the advisor had actually managed their clients’ money. It should include risk indicators such as how much the investments fell during major market downturns. It is the only way to show that an investment advisor is presenting to you a proposal based on what they actually had recommended in the past—not by selecting the best investments using hindsight. Many sales presentations are prepared with recommendations based on hindsight.

11.5. Can I have these answers in plain English, in writing and on company letterhead?

Yes, ShortFinancial will always agree to this.

This is the most important question of all. Putting these responses in writing helps to ensure you will not be misled. Written answers to these questions on a company letterhead will bind the company, now potentially liable in the event the advisor has misrepresented some of the answers. Many companies require a manager to sign any document going out on letterhead as part of a sales proposal. It is important that you not accept brochures as a way of response to these questions and insist on this step being completed as requested. You should reject individuals who will not attest to their answers confidently.

While we’ve answered a lot of questions here, we understand that you may have more. Please contact us if you’d like to discuss your financial plan or investment needs—we’d be pleased to hear from you.

This information has been prepared by Larry Short, Kimberley Short and Curtis Porter who are Portfolio Managers for iA Private Wealth Inc. Opinions expressed in this article are those of the Portfolio Managers only and do not necessarily reflect those of iA Private Wealth Inc. iA Private Wealth Inc. is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada.

*Insurance products are provided through iA Private Wealth Insurance, which is a trade name of PPI Management Inc. Only products and services offered through iA Private Wealth Inc. are covered by the Canadian Investor Protection Fund.