STEVE TATE

Steve Tate of Tate Financial is part of the Wealth Professional Canada Young Guns 2016.

STEVE TATE
Principal and financial advisor 
Tate Financial

While many advisors on this list followed their parents into the world of finance, Steve Tate took a somewhat different path. The family business in the Tate household is golf – his father and grandfather were both pro players – but after five years on the greens as a pro himself, the BC native decided his future lay elsewhere.

“I became a golf pro while in school,” he says. “It’s seasonal in Canada, and the money isn’t very good, so it wasn’t a long-term career. I signed up for the securities course in 2006 and started with Wiffen Financial.” 

A decade later, that decision clearly was the right one, evidenced by the fact he now operates his own firm. Tate’s unconventional journey and the lessons he has learned along the way also have given him strong feelings about how the industry can improve. 
“I am building my practice on a foundation of education – educating clients and mentoring new advisors,” he says. “I would like to see more financial planning practices be known for the sharing of knowledge, embodying the mentorship that I myself received.”

Given that his firm’s client base has an average age of 65, it’s not surprising that retirement is a vital issue for Tate. This led him to co-write a book devoted to the subject, Pay Cheques and Play Cheques: Retirement Income Solutions for Canadians, which was published in 2014 and has had a great response so far.
“It’s a massive issue for Canada,” Tate says. “The Baby Boomers are retiring, and they are the first generation without a defined pension plan. The book focuses on how to set up your finances for retirement so you always have a roof over your head and food on the table.”

The issue is also a key part of Tate Financial’s business. “Retirement income planning is one of my main areas of focus,” Tate says. “There’s a huge difference between how you deal with clients from the different generations. The Boomers want to sit down and meet face-to-face. Generation Xers have all done a fair bit of research themselves, while millennials do everything by email.”

For any investor, regardless of age, the golf pro turned investment guru identifies some areas to look into for both short- and long-term returns. “In 2016, Dynamic Precious Metals is up 30% for the year,” Tate says. “That’s only 5% of my portfolio, though – over the last five years, MacKenzie Ivy Foreign Equity would be my most long-term consistent stock. It’s been fantastic.”

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