No such thing as a “typical planner”

But based on interviews with the 450 planners across Canada, we can make some generalizations:

• Most planners are men. Of the 450 we randomly polled, only 79, or 17.5%, were women.

• The average number of clients is 270. But the numbers range from a high of 404 clients per planner on average at Investors Group Inc. to a low of 128 at Balanced Planning Financial Group.

• The average time working in the industry is 10 years. Our 2001 winner, Primerica Financial Services Ltd., has the least experienced workforce: on average, the planners we surveyed at that firm have been in the business for just five years. Planners at Regal Capital Planners Ltd. have been around three times longer — 15 years.

•The average stay at a firm is six years. IG keeps its people the longest, 10 years, while the average time spent at Dundee Private Investors Inc. is just two years.

• Planners are well-educated. Almost all our interviewees have or are working on a certified financial planner designation. “It’s increasingly important,” says one Assante Corp. planner based in southern Ontario. Some have other types of designations or post-secondary education, such as a business degree. Assante stood out as the firm at which almost 50% of the planners we interviewed also held an RFP designation.

Other planners were skeptical about the industry-wide drive to obtain designations. “The courses are extremely poor and overrated,” says an Alberta planner with Balanced Planning. “The public thinks they are great, but I have very little faith in them. It seems like a lot of hype.” Another planner from Berkshire Investment Group Inc. in northern Ontario, was more sanguine about the issue. “Making effective use of your designation is important. You have to keep up on up-to-date information.”

Almost all planners have mutual funds licences and many hold two licences, allowing them to sell insurance. A few even have their securities licences. The exceptions are Assante, Berkshire and Dundee, at which almost all the planners we spoke to had all three.

• Assets under management run from an average of $8 million per planner at W.H. Stuart & Associates Inc. to $43 million at TWC Financial Corp. The overall average is $21 million.

• Most planners rate their marketing support lower than the sales support they get from headquarters. Many express a vague sense that their firms are not well-known to the public, at least through advertising. When asked to express his firm’s public image, one Toronto planner with IPC Financial Network Inc. summed it up in one word: “None.”

Several planners say existing advertising is directed more toward potential advisors rather than the public. So it’s no surprise that most say profits come as a result of their own efforts. In part, this may reflect that planners generally favour an independent lifestyle and state their firms give them the kind of working freedom they enjoy. (While that may be true, our 2001 ratings for marketing support showed increases at several firms, while the trend for sales support is the reverse.)

• Many complain about the difficulties presented by their compliance departments. “Overkill and a pain in the butt,” is the comment from a B.C. planner with Iqon Financial Inc. (owned by Sun Life Financial Service of Canada Inc.).

• There are mixed feelings about the ability to change firms. Some say it is “easy,” while others state that “it’s never easy.” One planner complains that she got sued when she switched firms.

•Many planners lament the lack of computer support, including firm-provided online research, though some cited promised improvements. IE