The mindful advisor

Geiss specializes in what he calls “continuity planning” – preparing for the succession of a family business while considering the principles of estate planning and the wealth transfer, with a special focus on the well-being of the client’s family.

Geiss, who holds the certified financial planner, chartered life underwriter and tax and estate practitioner designations, among others, begins by helping his clients assess their financial situation before proceeding with a plan. Geiss’s clients often are unaware of their financial standing; so, as part of that first step, Geiss provides income and asset modelling, which helps his clients project their income over the long term.

Another important issue weighing on Geiss’s clients – both professionals and business-owner families – is how to transfer their wealth to the next generation.

Most families do not discuss their financial affairs, Geiss says. He detects an underlying fear of talking about wealth transfer or business succession, which, unfortunately, means that people start operating in a vacuum. Many clients are concerned about “spoiling” their children, while other clients are uncertain about who will eventually take the reins of the business – should they sell the business or pass it on to their children?

“Engaging the next generation in a collaborative effort to chart a course for the future is a very difficult process for families,” Geiss says. “I could have a wealthy dentist who has accumulated tens of millions of dollars of real estate assets come into my office with [his or her] son, who is almost 40 years old, and the son doesn’t have any sense of ownership in the family’s wealth.”

In such cases, Geiss facilitates a conversation among family members about the eventual wealth transfer and other estate planning issues.

Geiss credits attending the Institute of Family Enterprise Advisors (formerly part of the University of B.C.’s Sauder School of Business and which confers the family enterprise advisor [FEA] designation, another of Geiss’ credentials) with helping him to confront the challenges that arise with continuity planning for family businesses.

“Cove’s vision [for business families] is to lead a fundamental shift from ‘conscious entrepreneurialism’ to ‘enlightened continuity’,” Geiss says.

Many entrepreneurs and business owners act as “conscious entrepreneurs,” Geiss says, making decisions based solely on return on investment. “Enlightened continuity planning,” on the other hand, means ensuring that entrepreneurs make wise decisions on behalf of their entire family.

“There are many elements of continuity planning that have no basis in investment returns,” Geiss says. “We ask the business owner to really think about how he or she wants to be remembered.”

A key role for Geiss is to identify potential continuity problems before they arise. This means ensuring that all bases are covered, from legal support and estate planning to tax planning and family therapy. That is one reason why, in 2014, Geiss co-founded the CollaboRare Advisor Alliance, a group of professionals such as wealth advisors, personal coaches and FEAs who share the mindfulness approach to business and may collaborate in serving their clients.

“We’re asking our clients to trust us,” Geiss says. “If we’re able to trust other advisors that we work with, genuinely and wholeheartedly, we set a better example for our clients. But, more important, we offer our clients a much better offering and a greater expectation for spectacular results.”

Members of the CollaboRare group meditate at the beginning of each meeting and participate in discussions about the relationship between business and mindfulness.

Geiss, born in Price George, B.C., moved to Kelowna, B.C., at the age of 12. At 21, he embarked upon a five-year journey that would shape his outlook on life and his career: he studied meditation as a novice monk in a monastery in Thailand and, later, practised meditation and yoga alongside a guru in an ashram in northern India.

Geiss fulfilled a one-year vow of silence to confirm his commitment to yoga and meditation while he was living in New Zealand and Australia. He practised for hours each day and sometimes into the night.

“The rest of my time was spent walking, travelling, preparing and eating my meals, studying and sleeping,” Geiss says.

During that time, Geiss chose to forgo a home address to confirm his dedication to mediation and yoga. He slept in ditches and fields and on beaches and park benches.

“I saw some incredible parts of the country,” he says, “and I was able to watch people from a very different perspective. But I can’t say I would rush out to do it again.”

While following spiritual ideals that eschew possessions often leads to a distaste for wealth and materialism, says Geiss, but he adds, “I learned during that period that money is neither good nor bad. It’s what we do with money that ultimately determines its value.”

When Geiss returned to Canada, he wanted to become financially independent, and the insurance business seemed to be a reliable route. This was late 1987, after the stock markets had crashed. But Geiss’s unconventional background worked against him when he applied for a job at London Life Insurance Co. in Vancouver.

“They refused me because, in their terms, I didn’t exist,” Geiss says. “I had just come back from overseas. I didn’t have a driver’s licence. I didn’t have a suit. I didn’t have a credit card. I barely had a bank account.”

So, Geiss worked at proving his sales chops at Nationwide Natural Foods Inc. in nearby Delta, B.C., then reapplied to London Life, which hired him as an insurance agent. Fourteen months later, he joined Rogers Group Financial Advisors Ltd. as a financial advisor.

Geiss stayed with Rogers Group until he launched Cove in 1991. Geiss’ wife, Christie, an underwriting specialist, co-manages the practice.

Bernie Geiss, a practitioner of meditation for more than 35 years, didn’t always incorporate meditation into his business. Just over five years ago, some of his team members asked if Geiss would teach them how to meditate. Geiss started a weekly 10-minute group meditation session, followed by a five-minute reading from an inspirational book chosen by the group. The weekly ritual eventually grew to 20 minutes of meditation followed by a 10-minute reading in addition to the routine of individual daily meditation. (Each team member has a “meditation” sign to hang on the back of his or her chair to prevent being interrupted.)

Over the past two years, Geiss has started to share his mindfulness practices with some of his clients as a top-level service.

In recent years, “mindfulness” has become a buzzword, calling to mind anything from an increased sense of inner peace to improved focus at work and home. For Geiss, however, mindfulness is “observing your breath while you’re focusing on your body, your mind, your feelings and your mental qualities without any judgment – and you’re doing that on a moment-to-moment basis.”

As a result, Geiss says, he has become less reactive to his thoughts, feelings and surroundings: “The best gift I can give to any person is to simply be present and listen to what they have to say, and respond in a compassionate, empathetic, level-mannered way.”

The Geisses, who have three children, ages 18 to 23, have their sights set on developing another family business: a gourmet vegetarian restaurant. With one son already a chef-in-training, the family hopes this new business will involve all three Geiss children.IE

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