Education is a way of life for advisor

“The more financial knowledge [clients] have,” Maio says, “the better opportunity they’re going to have to get into a strong financial position. And the better off they are, the better off I’m going to be, as well.”

Maio, who serves 120 client families, has a background in education. And the majority of his clients are educators – teachers and administrators such as school principals.

Maio uses an education theme in his prospecting strategy. He frequently holds lunch-and-learn sessions, during which he explains the basics of financial planning to prospects, covering topics from cash flow and debt management to investing and estate planning.

After a prospect becomes a client, the educational process continues. Maio likes to start his client/advisor relationships by getting a thorough understanding of what each client already knows about various financial concepts and where any knowledge gaps exist.

Once that foundation is established, Maio strives to build up his clients’ knowledge over the course of his regular meetings with them, always being careful to avoid the use of financial jargon. During and after meetings, Maio takes notes, recording the topics he has covered with clients and what questions or concepts came up that may have to be discussed in more depth next time.

For example, when discussing investing, depending upon the client’s knowledge level, Maio might cover topics such as risk and reward, how a time horizon affects an individual’s investments and when and why a client would choose an aggressive or conservative investment approach.

For Maio, financial literacy is about making sure his clients understand why: why they need life insurance; why they need a retirement plan; and, digging a little deeper, why concepts such as dollar-cost averaging are beneficial.

Another advantage that gives Maio better insight into teachers’ financial situations is that his wife is a teacher, so Maio is familiar with the gaps in the generally good insurance coverage in teachers’ benefit packages. Maio finds that his prospects and clients who are teachers often need help in understanding insurance.

“Every school board is a little bit different in terms of the benefits they provide, and I work with teachers across many boards,” Maio says. “But it’s easy for me to make recommendations for their situation.”

Maio’s interest in both finance and education runs deep. He holds a bachelor of education degree and a master’s degree in history. While he was in teacher’s college, he worked part-time for his uncle, a financial advisor with Toronto-based Raymond James Ltd.

“He’s the one that gave me the introduction to the industry,” Maio says. “He was a big mentor for me and encouraged me to get involved and build my own practice.”

Before majoring in history, Maio started out in business school. Says Maio: “I’ve came back full circle.”

Before settling into financial services, Maio worked outside Canada: “I had finished grad school, and my wife and I were looking for some adventure and also to save and knock off some debt.”

Following in the footsteps of some friends who already had made the journey to South Korea, Maio and his wife set off for that country in 2008 for what would be a three-year teaching stint. Maio spent the first year teaching at a private elementary school in Daegu. The remaining two years were spent teaching at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. While working at the latter institution, Maio completed the Canadian Securities Course and soon realized he wanted a career that included finance.

“The more I was out there,” he says, “the more I realized that as much as I loved teaching, I knew that I wanted to teach about money at some point.”

Initially, that interest in teaching led to collaboration with school boards. In 2012, Maio worked with the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Investor Education Fund to organize an educational conference for teachers on how to implement financial literacy in classrooms. During that same year, Maio collaborated with the York Region District School Board to create financial literacy materials to be used by teachers in junior grades.

Eventually, Maio decided he wanted to shift his focus from the school system to teaching adults about finance. He realized that being an advisor was the best way to accomplish that goal.

Today, while discussions take place in Maio’s office rather than a classroom, he says, teaching adults about financial concepts has a lot in common with the way he taught various subjects at school. For example, the way Maio introduces financial planning to adults is similar to the way in which teachers use units to instruct students on a subject. When starting a unit, teachers will check the government expectations for what the children need to learn, then gauge their students’ knowledge on the subject and fill in any gaps so the students are ready for the test at the end.

Similarly, Maio uses financial planning fundamentals as a base. He asks questions and looks at a client’s current financial situation to find out where the gaps in knowledge are.

Also committed to his own education, Maio is working toward completing his certified financial planner and chartered life underwriter designations.

In his spare time, Maio likes to stay active. He plays a variety of sports, including ultimate frisbee and hockey. And he enjoys hiking and travelling with his wife.

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