Hurtling down an ice covered track at 150 kilometres an hour aboard two slender lengths of steel and a feather-light aerodynamic cockpit used to be Christian Farstad’s idea of fun.

But the former Olympic bobsledder admits that getting to the finish line in one piece also took courage and discipline. These are the same attributes the 41-year-old family man still draws on today to run his wealth-management business in Vancouver with ScotiaMcLeod Inc.

The skills gained over seven years as an international-level bobsledder, followed by several more years as a top administrator in the Canadian Olympic Association, has served Farstad well in building his financial advisory business, which specializes in retirement-income planning for private clients.

Clearly, Farstad has found his niche. But preparing for his advisory career — he holds the chartered financial analyst and licensed life underwriter designations, among many others — was particularly challenging.

The Prince George, B.C.-born Farstad built his wealth-management qualifications while competing against the world’s best bobsledders as a member of Bobsleigh Canada’s national team. He took advantage of the free tuition for education that was one of the perks for team members. But the sport provided other career incentives for Farstad as well.

“International bobsled competitions are usually held in very high-end winter resorts, such as St. Moritz, Switzerland, or Cortina, Italy,” Farstad says. “I quickly realized I wasn’t going to be able to enjoy these kinds of places after retiring from racing by becoming an average wage earner. Experiencing bobsledding in these kinds of places certainly gave me the desire to become a financial success.”

And even while Farstad was heavily involved in sports, he maintained a keen interest in finance and investing.

It started with a summer jobs as a teller with Royal Trust in Vancouver. Later, as sports faded into the background, Farstad worked in Calgary and Vancouver as an investment advisor with firms such as RBC Dominion Secu-rities Inc. and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.

In 2008, Farstad joined Scotia-McLeod, through which he continues to run his own independent business. “I see this as a franchise,” he says, “where my business is for clients who are retired or close to retirement. And even though my book isn’t all that big right now, it will be a lot bigger when I complete a new partnership arrangement with a fellow advisor who will be retiring soon.”

Farstad has built his business by utilizing the Internet, through which he readily gives out information to prospective clients. He also offers a free newsletter to those who sign up on his website (www.farstadretirement.com).

“Once I have people on the newsletter list,” he says, “I follow up and get them into the office. This has been successful for me.”

Two aspects of Farstad’s business set him apart. First, he bases his fees on the size of a client’s assets. Farstad says this better serves both his business and his clients, who are typically between 55 and 60 years of age and have $500,000 or more in assets invested in balanced portfolios.

Second, Farstad places a significant focus on preferred shares for his clients’ investments. “Many people don’t know enough about preferred shares, which are more like bonds but still pay dividends,” he says. “I find that preferred shares are a nice match for most of my clients, who tend to be conservative and are often ‘GIC refugees’ looking for better returns and more income.”@page_break@Farstad also provides financial planning services and keeps a steady eye on the tax side and risks in investing. “It’s really all about how much income you can get from your portfolio with the lowest risk possible,” he says, “while allowing for some growth to make up for inflation.”

Although Farstad’s move into finance was deliberate, bobsledding entered his life strictly by chance. After finishing high school in Coquitlam, B.C., in the late 1980s without deciding on a career path, Farstad took on a series of temporary odd jobs. While waiting on tables at a restaurant in New Westminster, B.C., he met fellow waiter Kevin Tyler, a local who had competed for Canada as a bobsledder in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

“I’d always liked to stay in shape, so we started training together,” Farstad recalls. This friendship led to Farstad driving Tyler and another bobsledder to Calgary, where national team tryouts were taking place. It was there, on the Olympic bobsled track, that Farstad got his first bobsled ride one September day in 1990.

“They only needed me in a two-man sled for the weight,” Farstad says. “It was very, very scary. And a month later, I learned that the guy driving our sled was only on his third time ever down a full course! But it also turned out that bobsled was something I was really good at right from the start.”

Farstad quickly caught the eye of the national team’s coach and, by later that autumn, Farstad was training with the national team in Calgary.

That winter, Farstad raced in the World Junior Championships in Cortina, then competed in the World Senior Championships shortly afterward in Germany.

“That was a wild first year,” Farstad says. “I was introduced to the sport in September; and by the following February, I had finished fourth at the world championships.”

All told, Farstad spent seven years competing internationally, including in both the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, as well as in many events on the World Cup circuit.

Although Farstad never won an Olympic medal, he did capture the overall World Cup circuit’s silver medal in 1993 and the prestigious circuit’s overall bronze medal in 1995.

However, by 1997, he’d had enough of the strenuous competitive lifestyle and moved into the administrative side of the Olympic sports scene.

He served as president of Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton from 2002 to 2006 and held various positions with the Canadian Olympic Association, including a three-year, full-time paid position as director of athlete and community relations, responsible for building better relationships with the high-performance athletes.

This administrative experience enabled Farstad to make improvements and create special programs, such as the Olympic Excellence Series, to help Canada’s athletes improve their Olympic performances. His efforts were reflected in Canada’s excellent performance at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, for which he also took part in the torch relay.

As Farstad continues to build his financial advisory business for himself and his family — wife Maria and two young sons — he’s quick to acknowledge that his past involvement in international-level sports has played a key role.

“Learning discipline is definitely one skill that I’ve been able to transfer from sports to wealth management,” he says. “And learning how to stay focused on goals is another.” IE