Youth vs experience

Regina-based Partners in Planning Financial Services Ltd. is a firm that is clearly in the first group. “In the old days, they always told you to dump your lower-end clients. Keep your As and Bs, and dump your Cs, Ds and Es,” says Partners in Planning CEO Michael Wolfond. “But now we’re finding the As and Bs are dying, and they’re leaving their assets to the Cs and Ds, while the systematic withdrawals are draining the accounts. The businesses are shrinking.”

Thus, the firm is recruiting younger people. “[Younger reps] are the only ones who are going to be able to deal with the sons and daughters, and who will have the patience to start off with clients who are just opening their accounts with $200 or $300,” says Wolfond. “[Younger reps are] prepared to pay the dues because the parent’s estate becomes $300,000-$400,000 for the kids.”

Burlington, Ont.-based Berkshire Investment Group Inc. is also interested in hiring younger brokers, says Geoffrey Charlton, executive vice president, as well as people who want to come into the business from other walks of life.

Toronto-based Laurentian Financial Services is another firm looking for younger people with some work experience who want to change careers, with ideal candidates in their early 30s.

The problem with people in their 40s is that they’ll soon be in their late 40s, says Steve Cole, regional vice president of sales and recruiting, which means they’ll no longer be interested in doubling their books and taking on the additional debt and responsibility that entails.

But, on the flip side, the firm is also hiring experienced advisors; 48% of the 150 hired in the past two years in English Canada were experienced, just a little less than the 52% who were rookie hirees.

Cole believes the firm’s focus on hiring younger advisors is a recruiting perk for older advisors as well; it means there will be younger advisors around for retiring advisors to sell their books of business to when they step back from the business. And with succession a major industry concern, some firms consider having programs to help retiring advisors sell their books a must.

However, some firms are hiring experienced advisors exclusively. One company not interested in rookies is Toronto-based Assante Corp. The main reason is that the firm doesn’t believe training programs work well. Chairman and CEO Joe Canavan estimates the success ratio is about 10% when someone moves from another career and is trained as an advisor. Another reason is the firm’s business model. Assante sees itself as a deluxe shop offering a full range of financial products and services to serve families with $200,000 to $2 million in assets.

Because Assante needs experienced advisors who are used to helping high net-worth clients with all their financial needs, the firm’s ideal advisor should have at least 10 years’ experience and should manage $50 million spread out among 200 client families. One area in which Canavan believes training can be beneficial is in helping advisors with $50 million in assets and 1,000 clients to restructure their practices to have fewer but larger client families.

Others in the experienced camp include Montreal-based Peak Investment Services Inc. and Waterloo, Ont.-based Manulife Securities International Ltd.

“Generally, advisors wouldn’t look at our firm unless they had five to 10 years’ experience,” says Peak’s president, Robert Francis. But, he adds, some people who started at the firm quite young have done very well.

At Manulife, the firm generally hires senior advisors. “But, typically, senior advisors are looking for rookies to build their businesses — and we facilitate that,” says Rick Annaert, president and CEO.

To recruit experienced advisors, some firms — such as Assante, Mississauga, Ont.-based Investment Planning Counsel and, in some cases, Manulife — pay signing bonuses. Laurentian has a transition program and gives an allowance, which is essentially a bonus, to advisors who bring their books from another firm. Peak, however, does not pay signing bonuses.

@page_break@But money isn’t the only recruiting tool these firms are using; they are also focusing on their various recruiting pitches. Assante emphasizes its professionalism and holistic approach in providing all financial and related services. Peak and Manulife pride themselves on the independence they give advisors. And IPC emphasizes the tools it provides to build a business.

Winnipeg-based Investors Group Inc. , on the other hand, doesn’t discriminate between experienced and new advisors. The firm believes both experience and youth can be important, but that success depends on the individual, says Kevin Regan, executive vice president of financial services. To help these advisors, the firm provides a lot of training: “We don’t say, ‘Come in and try to figure it out yourself.’ We have a very strong training ethic, not only on the planning side of the business but also in terms of getting advisors established. That has been our long-standing approach.”

Mississauga-based PFSL Investments Canada Ltd. has a similar approach. It will hire anyone, as long as he or she has the right attitude.

“If you are success-driven and 60 years old, that’s great. If you are just coming out of university and don’t know what you’re doing but you know you want to do something, that’s great, too,” says Jeff Dumanski, president and chief marketing officer. “We say you can never identify a winner just by looking at a person. You have to give everybody an equal opportunity.” IE