Portfolio manager reflects on the impact Young Gun of the Year honour has had on his business
The reigning WP Young Gun of the Year believes the award helped his team enjoy one of its best net-new-asset gathering year in 2018.
Grant White, portfolio manager, White Hewson Wealth Advisory Group at National Bank Financial, came out on top of a competitive group of finalists that also featured: Adam Schacter (Mandeville Private Client); Andrew Feindel (Richie Group, Investors Group); Andrew Kirkland (Justwealth Financial); Andrew Lorriman (Turner Lorriman Sturgeon Wealth Management Group, National Bank Financial); Colin Reid (Aligned Capital Partners Inc); Eric Bennett (ScotiaMcLeod); Jason Melo (Kruzel Wealth Counsel, Richardson GMP); Sean Moir (Mandeville Private Client Inc); Thomas Cook (Affinity Securities, Worldsource Securities/Affinity Financial Group; and Victor Kuntzevitsky (Northland Wealth Management).
White, 34, hot-stepped it from a conference in Las Vegas to make the awards ceremony at the Liberty Grand in Toronto, which is the same venue for this year’s event on May 30. Nominations are open and tickets are now available for registration.
The Winnipeg-based advisor said the award was a confidence-booster and something the practice fully embraced.
He said: “We do a lot of social media so we were happy to pump that out there and the firm sent letters out to all our clients. We took full advantage of the opportunity and I think it was a confidence-booster for clients as well. They may not have needed it but it was definitely another justification as to why they are with my group and it’s always a plus from that perspective.
“We blasted it out to our prospects as well. I couldn’t tell you how many clients came because of the award but I’m sure it played a hand in tipping some more people over the edge. We had one of our best net-new-asset gathering years following the awards, so it certainly helped out.”
White hailed the event as a great way to meet peers from across the country. He also made the most of his time in the country’s financial capital, visiting National Bank’s head office and trading floors.
He joked he’s eyeing up a two-peat but made it clear he was humbled by his 2018 victory, praising the calibre of finalists.
He said: “Winning was a combination of surprise and being a bit nervous because I thought I was a little undeserving. There are lot of great advisors out there, so I’m humbled to be considered in that group and category.
“I was pumped because I was sitting with a few National Bank people and one of them was from regional management and they had just gone through some interesting times. Here in Winnipeg, we lost a few big teams, so it was more of a win for them and something I could see they took a lot of pride in. It was exhilarating from that perspective and I really appreciated it.”
For full details, a list of the 2019 awards categories and the chance to nominate, click on this link: http://wpawards.ca/awards
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