Andy Glavac, President
of Glavac Financial Planning Services in Welland, Ont., has something exciting on his mind. The 50-year-old certified financial planner is busy preparing for the second skydive of his life.

With the dive, scheduled for July, Glavac is hoping that he and a group of up to 10 other skydivers will raise $25,000 for the Niagara Peninsula Children’s Centre. The centre, based in St. Catharines, Ont., provides schooling and other services to children with physical and communicative disabilities, helping them to integrate productively into society.

“I spent some time in the hospital as a young kid,” says Glavac. “I had surgery on my eyes, and then had to go back to the hospital a few times after that. The experience had a lasting impact on me. I’m grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had, and giving something back is what makes me tick.”

Glavac completed his first dive for the centre in 2005, raising $7,000. Helping kids is important to him, and he has supported the centre for about 15 years. The centre helps children with a variety of ailments, including learning disabilities, speech impediments and motor disabilities. Some have cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, muscular dystrophy or spina bifida.

But Glavac says the dive, made in tandem with a professional diver, also helped him. “There was a huge adrenalin rush, followed by a sense of peace and calm,” Glavac says. “I overcame a fear, and that gave me a lot of self-confidence. And the donation had a large impact on the school, and that was personally rewarding. This year, I want to co-ordinate a group skydive, and boost the donations to a higher level.”

To hone the leadership skills he uses in his fundraising projects, Glavac has joined a 13-week Dale Carnegie project in leadership coaching, through which he is learning more about aligning people with a strategic plan, engaging them and creating and sustaining momentum.

Glavac enjoys being a catalyst for change in his community, and was president of the Welland Rotary Club in 1999-2000. Working his way up through various committees and foundation positions in the Rotary Club over the years has helped him discover and develop his abilities to motivate people and get things done, he says.

“Giving something back to society is my purpose. It defines my legacy, he says. “The feedback and recognition are very satisfying — I get back much more than I give.”

Glavac also manages to combine leisure pursuits such as golf with charitable giving and work. He and his wife are both avid golfers, and usually play three or four times a week during golf season. Frequently, they play in fundraising tournaments.

Their four children have left the nest, and so don’t require the hands-on attention they did when they were younger.

“Focus and balance are important concepts in managing my time,” says Glavac. “For several years, all I did was work, and I was putting in 70- to 80-hour weeks. I got burned out and realized that lifestyle wasn’t good for anybody or anything. Now, there are times when I put maximum focus on work, and other times when I’m passionately pursuing my hobbies.”

Glavac, whose securities licence is held by Manulife Securities International Inc. , has managed for several years to be one of the top 100 producers in Canada in the Manulife network. He has developed systems at his office to organize and delegate the workflow, helping him to be more productive at work and, consequently, enabling him to take more time off.

Although Glavac sometimes works evenings, especially during RRSP season, he doesn’t work on Friday nights or weekends. And in the summer, he closes the office on Friday afternoons.

“Some days are high-focus days, some days are buffer days and some days are free,” he says. “I am highly systemized at the office, and have become good at managing my time. I don’t look after 1,500 families in my practice — I focus on 150, and have two associates who help with others.”

Glavac says he focuses on his strengths, which involve meeting with clients, cementing the relationship and developing the overall, big-picture financial strategy.

“I’m good at the one-on-one meetings, but delegate the paperwork and administrative functions,” he says. “I’ve developed systems to make sure things get done, and provide the motivation and enthusiasm. When I come into the office energized and focused, it’s contagious, and the staff gets cranked up.”

@page_break@Glavac says that because he is passionate about his work, it is not draining. He is refreshed by his outside activities, and finds that when he is at the office, he gets more done in three days than he used to do in a week. He has an appreciation for time, and doesn’t waste it.

“I get energy from helping people who are less fortunate, so I want to do more of it,” he says. “The busier I am, the more I get done — as long as I maintain the balance.”

Glavac is motivated by business leaders who have also become leaders in philanthropic endeavours, citing Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., as someone he admires.

“As one of the world’s most successful business people, Bill Gates must spend a lot of time at his business,” says Glavac. “But he has also found time to give back, and he has made it a priority in his life.”

Glavac wants to expand his reach, to be able to “touch” more people and help them improve their lives. To achieve this goal, he is now working on a book about how money affects the choices people make, and how choices affect money.

The choices begin early, he says, from the first time a four-year-old goes to the store with a little bit of change. And it’s important to become conscious that choices are being made and that they have financial consequences.

“I want to touch more people now, and a book is the way to do it,” says Glavac. “Right now, I can’t affect some kid’s life in California, but with a book, I could.”

In keeping with his systematic method for getting things done, Glavac has set a deadline for finishing the book, and devotes one afternoon a month to focus entirely on writing. IE