Andrew guilfoyle has all the enthusiasm of a young man on a mission.

Just two-and-a-half years ago, Andrew decided to partner with his father, Gerry, a 35-year veteran of financial services, to start Guilfoyle Financial Planning Inc. , a wealth-management and insurance brokerage. Today, the business is thriving, with 300 client families representing about 1,000 individual customers and $80 million in assets under management — a one-third increase since 2003.

“I’ve always been entrepreneurial,” says the 33-year-old in his north Toronto office. “I always had that thought that I would want to run my own business one day.

“On the other hand, I really like helping people. That’s something I’ve been a huge believer in.”

The pair work as partners, with the son often drawing on the father’s experience. Gerry, 61, brings to the business a loyal client base, mostly made up of the 50-plus crowd, and
Andrew tends to attract younger professionals in their wealth-accumulation years.

“Sometimes, in our business, people think, ‘Boy, I wish I had a twin, I’m so busy’,”
Andrew says with a chuckle. “I think what I have is a twin, except he’s 30 years older.”
They have two assistants, and plan to hire two more support staff in the next year. They hope they can be mentors to at least one of the two so he or she becomes a junior advisor.

Andrew admits that when he was growing up he never really considered following in his father’s footsteps, partly because it never occurred to him that what Gerry did — sell insurance for Standard Life Assurance Co. of Canada — was an independent business.

“It wasn’t like a hardware store, where I went in on Saturday afternoons and helped him
behind the cash [register],” Andrew says. “I knew he had clients, but I never really thought of it as a business.”

After earning his bachelor of commerce in 1995 from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., Andrew spent nine months in Africa, mixing volunteer work with travel. He joined PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Toronto the next year.

Seeking adventure, he moved three years later to the accounting firm’s British office in London. It was there that he met his wife, Cheryl, a native of Oakville, Ont. They returned to Canada in 2002 and were married a year later.

Back in this country, Andrew was eager to make the switch from accountant to entrepreneur. Meanwhile, Gerry, who was by then an independent agent but still closely aligned with Standard Life products, was looking for help with his clients.

The two incorporated in May 2003 and charted a different course for the business, marketing it as a truly independent brokerage that takes a long-term, conservative investment approach.

“I don’t sell any product or service whatsoever that I don’t personally own,” Andrew says. “We have a narrow shelf; we recommend what we own. We do all the research.”

Andrew estimates the business is split into roughly two-thirds in investment products and one-third in insurance, with the investment money divided fairly evenly among guaranteed investment certificates, segregated funds and mutual funds.

He believes his dual designations — he became a chartered accountant in 1999 and a chartered financial analyst in 2001 — give him a distinctive and differentiating skill set.

“The CA allows for that tax planning, to get money from one generation to the next in a tax-efficient manner. And the CFA allows me to ask the tough and relevant questions of portfolio managers,” he says.

Guilfoyle Financial makes its revenue on the commissions and trailers associated with the investment and insurance products it sells and doesn’t charge clients an overall fee or an hourly rate for advice.

“I don’t send bills to my clients,” Andrew explains. “If I call someone, I don’t want them wondering, ‘Is this on the clock?’ I want to spend the proper amount of time it takes to get to the best solution.”

He likes the personal aspect of the business, dealing with different people from all walks of life. “Day to day, the variety is incredible,” he says. “Every interview, I get to sit down with people, and they all have wonderful stories.”

Andrew says he enjoys working with his father and appreciates being in business with someone he can trust and who shares the same investment philosophy. The only downside he can see is that business often bleeds over into personal life.

@page_break@“When we’re at a family dinner, it doesn’t take long before the two of us want to talk business,” says Andrew. “And no one else wants to hear it, which is understandable.”


Andrew estimates he averages a 60-hour workweek. Two-thirds of that time is spent at the office and the rest is spent meeting clients or conducting research.

As involved as he is with the business, Andrew finds time for his growing family and personal interests. He and Cheryl had their first child, Jack, in February and the couple bought their first home, in midtown Toronto, this year. The challenge now, Andrew says, is to balance work and family life.

“The amazing thing [about this business] is the flexibility,” he says. “If I work late a couple of nights, I can get a morning free to look after Jack and give Cheryl a bit of a break.”

One of Andrew’s passions is sports, both as a fan and a participant. He likes soccer, squash and, in particular, running — an interest he shares with his wife. Four or five times a week, they take Jack out in a special stroller on their runs, and Andrew recently completed a short triathalon.

Another key aspect to Andrew’s business and personal philosophy is charitable giving.
He commits 10% of the money he makes annually, before taxes, to five or six charities.

He plans to expand the office over the next five years to include two or three other independent advisors with three to five support staff, allowing the business to offer a wide range of expertise and experience while remaining small enough to deliver personalized service.

Andrew also expects Gerry will scale back in the years to come — perhaps going to four days a week for eight months of the year — but he expects his father will never entirely leave the business. “He’s done so well building up a book of business, it’s nice for him not to see it go all to waste,” Andrew says. “And a lot of his clients appreciate the fact there’s succession [built into] the business.”

The key appeal for Andrew remains the independence the business affords him. “I think it’s scary when you read in the papers about people in their 50s who are let go by their companies,” he says. “I love the fact that this business will be as great as I can make it.
And as long as I work hard, and do a good job for the clients, we’ll be a successful business for a long, long time.” IE