Llike many British Columbians, 38-year-old John McCallum spends his working days on solid ground. In his case, that means dealing with the daily ups and downs of working in the financial services industry. On leisure days, however, McCallum, director of business development in Vancouver for London, Ont.-based Freedom 55 Financial, is usually found aboard his boat, dealing with the ups and downs of the nearby Georgia Strait that sometimes challenges weekend sailors.
In both cases, McCallum has developed a seasoned helmsman’s sense of confidence in setting a course, then following it to a successful conclusion. However, at Freedom 55, McCallum’s job often requires setting both courses and goals for others. Specifically, he spends many hours teaching and mentoring people beginning their careers as financial planners.
And, in the same way McCallum would welcome you aboard his boat for an afternoon sail, his goal at Freedom 55 is to welcome newcomers to financial planning, then prepare them for the career journey.
“Financial planning is as much art as it is science,” he says. “So, you need training and mentorship from others in this business to help you make proper recommendations for clients.”
To that end, McCallum says, Freedom 55, which is a division of London, Ont.-based London Life Insurance Co., specializes in attracting, training and mentoring new financial planners.
“We have training centres across the country. And here in B.C., we train more than 50 financial planning candidates annually,” McCallum says. “At the end of the day, each candidate should be able to tell whether or not financial planning is the right career [for them]. But, just as important, we should be able to tell whether or not the same candidate is a good business fit for us.”
A full training program in B.C. takes approximately eight to 10 weeks. Although the course load must involve formal licensing requirements through in-class and home study for written exams by bodies such as the Life Licensing Qualification Program and the Investment Funds Institute of Canada, a significant portion of the work focuses on honing a candidate’s “people” skills for attracting, developing and serving clients. These social skills are particularly important, McCallum notes, which is why, under his watch, they’re often developed through role-playing.
“Coaching new financial planners in role-playing is a big part of my job,” he says. “If you practise your craft — no matter what it is — you’ll become much better at it. In fact, our approach here is no different from Tiger Woods practising at the driving range with a golf coach by his side.”
Part of the practice routine for new financial planners under McCallum’s mentoring team is to develop at least 10 appointments a week with potential clients.
“If a candidate has developed just six actual appointments, then he or she should make the other four appointments with one of us and do it via role-playing,” he explains. “Career preparation here is simply a case of practice, practice, practice.”
Given the special emphasis McCallum places on social skills, it’s easy to see that he holds the artistic side of financial planning in high regard.
That penchant for people is reflected in how McCallum got his own start in the business.
The Prince Rupert, B.C.-born McCallum lives in North Vancouver with his wife Nancy and eight-year-old daughter Kamryn. He graduated from Simon Fraser University in 1996 with a bachelor of arts degree, majoring in economics.
“At university, I knew I wanted to get into financial services, although I wasn’t sure in exactly what way,” he recalls. “But during my job-searching at SFU, I came to realize that the individuals I was meeting would be far more important to my success than specific companies.”
In other words, McCallum looked for the right people; not so much, the right companies.
This search led McCallum to his own mentor, Reid McGruer, who, as McCallum says, “is still my mentor today.” McGruer is the Georgia Financial Centre regional director for Freedom 55.
That mentoring relationship was obviously fruitful because, after only five years as a financial planner, McCallum was asked to join Freedom 55’s management team, of which he is still a member.
In fact, in addition to being director of business development in Vancouver, he also spends several days a week doing the same job at the Freedom 55’s Nanaimo Financial Centre. However, McCallum’s busy life in financial planning isn’t restricted to Freedom 55. He also is heavily involved in the Vancouver chapter of Advocis; this month, he’ll move from occupying the chapter’s vice president chair to begin a one-year term as Advocis Vancouver president.
“I have been with Advocis for many years, and I really believe in what it does,” McCallum says. “In my opinion, it’s all about advocacy, and its greatest value for financial planners is to provide value nationally in the regulatory process. Ultimately, this benefits consumers.”
But just as McCallum does on the job at Freedom 55 or at the helm on his boat, he has a course in mind here, too.
“If I could wave a magic wand during my new term as president, it would result in enhancing our value to members and increase our membership,” he says. “Advocis has been struggling, not in terms of advocacy but in terms of making planners aware of what it can do for them. Unfortunately, membership in Advocis is optional, so it hasn’t had the kind of support we’d like to see. That needs to change.”
That’s especially true, McCallum notes, given that the financial services industry is changing as well: “Everybody is entering everybody’s else’s business, and I think this long-term consolidation is bound to continue.
“In financial planning, especially,” he adds, “all of us are staring at the same target, which is to be the quarterback for all our clients’ financial needs, even though as planners we’ve come from a mixed bag of backgrounds.”
McCallum also feels that the current market mayhem has served to separate effective financial planners from ineffective ones. Thus, it’s easier for clients to identify the former.
“In good times, it’s relatively easy for planners to succeed,” McCallum explains. “Fortunately, in recent years, as investors have been facing strong market headwinds, I think many planners have done a pretty good job in coaching clients through the emotional ride of market ups and downs and have held them on a steady, long-term course.”
Looking toward the horizon, McCallum sees that, on the whole, his industry will do well despite the shorter-term market challenges.
One reason for his optimism rests on consumer demand for financial planning being supported by baby boomers beginning to inherit from their parents.
However, he warns, a continuing challenge for planners is convincing clients of the value of saving.
“Culturally, for example, we’re seeing very much a ‘have’ generation,” he notes, “in which many younger people want all their stuff now rather than save, then buy it later.”
And the way Canadians retire also is changing, he adds, as more people must work — part-time, at least — to maintain a certain lifestyle.
As for McCallum’s personal goals, he is trying “to become better at my job every day. And as long as I keep enjoying the work and my colleagues, I’ll keep doing it.”
In other words, McCallum is on a “steady as she goes” course. IE