Teresa Black Hughes, a partner in Vancouver-based Solguard Financial Ltd., has specialized for years in retirement and estate planning. But when it comes to her work, this energetic 44-year-old is anything but retiring.

An active member of Canada’s financial services industry for more than 25 years, Black Hughes reached a pinnacle in her profession in August, when she became chairwoman of Advocis, the Financial Advisors Association of Canada, at the group’s annual general meeting in Banff, Alta.

She will spend the coming year as chairwoman, following a one-year term as Advocis’s vice chairwoman and many previous years serving in various roles with other financial planning groups, including a term as vice president of the Canadian Association of Financial Planners.

Advocis represents about 11,000 of the estimated 40,000 to 60,000 financial planners across Canada, so it’s not surprising that one of Black Hughes’ goals is to persuade more of her colleagues to join the group that bills itself as the primary organization responsible for promoting and protecting financial advi-sors and the consumers they serve.

“A lot of advisors who are not Advocis members are reaping the benefits of the work that we do,” Black Hughes says. “When I look out over this industry’s landscape, I see a lot of changes taking place. But we’re the only organization that speaks to government on behalf of advisors and consumers.

“As a member of an industry organization, advisors can have a voice in those regulatory changes and avoid having changes simply thrust on them,” she says. “So, my most important vision for Advocis is that financial advisors in this business recognize that they cannot simply remain on the sidelines.”

A look at Black Hughes’ background in the financial services industry shows that she practises what she preaches. She entered the industry at the age of 17, when she joined National Trust in Edmonton after taking a teller training course in high school followed by night-school accounting courses.

“Yes, I was very young when I started in this business,” she admits with a laugh. “I wasn’t even old enough to drink at my first office Christmas party,”

As young as she was, however, Black Hughes quickly learned how important education is in developing her career. Over the years, she has earned five designations — certified financial planner, registered financial planner, chartered life underwriter, financial management advisor and Canadian investment manager.

“My objective wasn’t to gain a designation for the designation’s sake, but to learn the course material so I could apply that knowledge for the benefit of my clients,” she says. “You take courses to expand your knowledge base, not to collect letters behind your name.

“More important,” she adds, “designations are part of the Ad-vocis platform because they tell the public that we’re qualified.”

Another benefit of membership in Advocis for advisors is being able to demonstrate to clients that you have professional liability insurance. “The individual advi-sor doesn’t have the luxury of being part of an entity with large pots of money to bail him or her out of a problem,” she says. “Having liability coverage tells the client you care about your practice.”

Black Hughes’ own practice reflects her attitudes toward financial planning. Solguard, an affiliate of Peak Securities Inc. , a member of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, has offices in Vancouver, Victoria and West Vancouver, and manages about $100 million in assets for about 600 clients. Because the firm specializes in retirement and estate planning, the average age among its clientele is about 52 years. By serving older clients, Black Hughes has learned about another important aspect of running a financial planning practice that is often ignored by business owners: succession planning.

“Succession planning is very important for financial planners,” she says. “For example, what if my dad falls ill and I need to leave my practice to care for him? As you get older, more things can happen to you and to the people around you.”

That’s why she hired a younger planner a year ago, who is now fully trained to take over if required.

Becoming chairwoman of Advocis has also led Black Hughes to implement her own succession plan. “I have someone to work with my clients while I’m away on Advocis business,” she says. “The support system in my practice is awesome, and we also have a very good staff at Advocis headquarters.”

@page_break@As new Advocis chairwoman, Black Hughes will encourage financial planners to become active in various industry and community groups. Again, it’s a case of practising what she preaches, as Black Hughes has served with a variety of groups. She has been on the executive of both the West Vancouver and Pitt Meadows chambers of commerce, and is a past chairwoman of the B.C. Christian Academy.

“Taking part in community groups helps develop one-on-one relationships,” she says. “And taking part in industry groups helps you meet colleagues in the business. I’ve found you cannot learn everything you need to know in this business out of a book; you can learn a lot from other planners. This is a very sharing business, and the professionals in it are very respectful of that.”

And as chairwoman of Advocis, she will have many more opportunities to develop new friendships and contacts.

When she isn’t running her practice, Black Hughes spends as much time as she can with her husband, Lee, or simply relaxing. “I’m perfectly happy to sit with my feet up on the couch and read a good book,” she says. (The couple’s adult son, Justin, was recently married.)

“I also got serious about fitness about three years ago and I work with a personal trainer,” she adds. “If I can keep my body in shape, the rest of me can keep operating in top form.” IE