To capture more clients and serve Canadians with the most complex needs, advisors are realizing they need a team. That team approach has been one of the keys to success at Stenner Wealth Partners+ of CG Wealth Management. In this episode of WPTV, leaders from that team outline their approach to collaborative work and client service.
00:00 It's not easy. It's not easy to do. If if it was easy to do, everybody would do it.
00:04 Staying ahead on industry knowledge to enable you to in advance is is super important.
00:10 They should not feel like they have to repeat themselves, coordinate everything on their own.
00:13 I don't think solar practitioners understand the needs of different generations.
00:18 Building a high performing team is never easy in wealth management.
00:22 I've supervised over $8 billion of asset. Life is complex. So next to physical and emotional health, our financial health is probably the most
00:31 critical and interwoven into every fabric of our lives.
00:36 Hello and welcome to WPTV. My name is David Kitai, senior editor at Wealth Professional. This industry has come to realize that serving clients through
00:44 multiple generations takes more than one talented adviser. It takes a team.
00:49 That's why WP releases our annual five-star advisory teams list, highlighting the teams offering standout client service and modeling the future
00:57 of this industry. Today, we're joined by one of those five-star teams, Stener Wealth Partners Plus of CG Wealth
01:04 Management, led by Thane Center, senior portfolio manager and senior wealth and adviser, and five of the team's senior
01:10 leaders. Thane and SWP Plus, welcome to WPTV. Thanks, David.
01:17 So thing, let's start with you as our team lead. Can you give me just a sense of why your practice in particular needs a team?
01:25 Great question. I would say right out of the gate, the types of clients that we deal with uh require and demand a high
01:33 attention to detail and a high response rate. So there's only so much time in the day that we have and uh we have you
01:41 know 53 clients from across Canada and in order to serve them really well you have to have a really strong set of
01:49 colleagues to uh to really deliver the goods.
01:55 Now a strong set of colleagues is great but everybody needs to bring something to the table. So what kind of specialists have you hired on to to
02:03 enrich your offerings? It's a great question as well. So our team is known as an adapter uh team from our financial
02:11 DNA profile and because of the different skill sets in our group we we are able to really bring a wholesome experience to clients from different backgrounds.
02:21 So within this particular group for example we have um some really high uh experience levels in on the
02:30 administration side. We've got some uh very high level of uh portfolio management designations and training and
02:38 and historical performance. And we also have uh our most recent joiner uh with Howard Ma. He comes from the M&A
02:47 background of of the field. So, we're basically blending different skill sets in order to be as creative in our
02:56 experience um and wealth creation ideas for clients on a daily basis. So, it's the some of
03:04 the parts that makes in essence the the reason why clients really like dealing with us.
03:10 And it's funny, you know, F, you and I have spoken a lot about the complexity of the clients that you serve. And one of those big complicating factors is
03:17 crossborder interests and and crossber service. So how has you know how has building a team helped you to offer that
03:26 kind of crossber work in a in a very wholesome way?
03:29 Well uh one of the gentlemen that's on our team Simon Jaclyn uh today he and I both worked in the United States for
03:37 Morgan Stanley. um we both got very familiar with a lot of the crossber issues and when it comes to tax and
03:44 portfolio management and um just a lot of the different products quite candidly that are uh available for Canadian
03:52 investors. So in essence it is a unique feature that we have as a team in that we've literally worked in different
04:00 countries and not just Canada not you know just theoretically dealing with issues in the United States for example
04:08 or globally. So uh as a group uh that helps us to you know find I think more efficient solution sets for our clientele.
04:19 No, that's fascinating. And I'd like to turn to to Simon who you just uh mentioned and and Simon Jonathan, I want to ask you a little bit about, you know,
04:27 the pathways to growth. You know, things talked about starting a career in Morgan Stanley or or building a career in Morgan Stanley. What are the pathways to growth that you've seen on your team
04:36 that allows yourself to to sort of to get educated, to add credibility, and to to advance in your career?
04:42 For sure. And uh I think staying ahead on industry knowledge to enable you to advance is is super important. Uh so
04:51 there's continuous education course coursework which would would be table stakes for any kind of a group to advance. But a really important
04:58 component would be building a knowledge network of professionals and industry adjacent professionals. So the the
05:05 people that we work with on you know capital markets, tax, accounting, they tend to structure very complex cases and
05:14 when we partner with them it helps us build our knowledge as well as share knowledge and I think that information gateway is is provide helps us to
05:22 provide forward-looking and proactive advice and grow as a team at the same time. Uh similarly we do take a lot of
05:30 team initiatives. So we get together and think about you know whether we're going to take a university accredited program in AI that's something that's come up
05:38 recently how do we certify ourselves and the most important thing at the end of the day is how do these these pathways
05:47 help service our clients right so how do we take these approaches and service clients well that's what we really focus on
05:55 yeah that's again a really really interesting approach and I want to even widen this out a further and I'll bring in Jerome Lee for this question. So
06:03 Jerome, how would you say your team is sort of advancing the role of advisory teams for the industry as a whole?
06:10 So over my career, I've provided guidance to um many advisory teams and I've supervised over $8 billion of asset
06:18 at Cancort before prior to joining uh the standards wealth partners here. Life is complex. So next to physical and
06:26 emotional health, our financial health is probably the most critical and interwoven into every fabric of our
06:32 lives from planning to investing. There are many aspects that require deep knowledge. So even as simple as doing
06:40 paperwork, opening new accounts, we're talking about a couple hundred pages of documents that we just need to point
06:47 like different areas we need to point clients attention to and where to sign.
06:53 Or on investment management, we need to learn different strategies and when to use which one. For example, our income
07:00 model alone, we have screened over 200 different funds in order to short list to 30. So there's just a lot of ground
07:08 to cover from tax, estate, investing or staying on top of just compliance or regulations in order to service clients
07:17 well. I'm proud to have added value in so many advisory team before, but I'm even more excited and proud to be on a
07:24 winning team right now to create a successful outcome and a red carpet experience for clients. on our team. We
07:33 each get to be the best in our area of expertise and our client gets the best from all of us. The team is definitely
07:41 more valuable than the sum of all the parts.
07:45 Thank you for that term. It's it's beautifully put, but it's interesting because it it the way the team has been described up until now, it's it's a
07:52 no-brainer, right? It's a obviously if you're trying to serve high netw worth clients, why not build a team? Bring in experts, bring in the best people in the
07:59 industry, and you will serve them very, very well. But as the saying goes, easier said than done. So, I want to turn Julia to you. Uh, Julia Chang, what
08:09 challenges do you see that come with building a team in this industry and how do you overcome them as a leader?
08:15 Thank you, David. Um, building a high perform team is never easy. In wealth management, uh technical and the
08:22 investment knowledge is important, but it's only one part of the equation. The bigger challenge is building trust and
08:30 creating a strong culture and bringing together people who share the same values and willing to toward a common
08:37 goal. So when you have that foundation um the team can perform at a much higher level. So how do I overcome as a leader?
08:46 Um for me it starts setting clear expectations.
08:51 Everyone needs to understand their role uh what they're accountable for and how
08:57 they contribute to team success. I also believe in honest open communication and
09:05 giving people regular coaching um and feedback so they can continue to grow. I
09:12 think at the end of the day um people feel supported, respected and aligned around the same vision. They are much
09:21 more motivated to work together and deliver great results for clients.
09:26 Thank you for that. It's it's again a really interesting viewpoint into into how things run. But of course, you know, devil's in the details. And so, uh Becky
09:34 Howorth, I want to bring you in to talk a little bit about, you know, how your team coordinates on a day-to-day basis.
09:40 How how do you work every day to make sure clients feel supported at every touch point and why is consistency so
09:48 important to the success you've had with Stenner's partners plus?
09:52 Yeah, thank you David. Um I think a lot of it really comes down to being connected behind the scenes as a team so
09:59 that the experience feels seamless to the client. Um most of our clients are busy entrepreneurs, executives and
10:07 families with a lot going on and it's not just their portfolios but also in their businesses, their families and
10:14 making big future decisions. So dayto-day coordination really matters.
10:20 Um it means that our team needs to be prepared before meetings, understand what is matters most to that client and involving the right people and being
10:28 clear on our follow-ups. We also collaborate with the client's existing adviserss. So, we're not trying to replace those relationships. We're just
10:36 trying to connect the pieces and make the process clear for the client.
10:40 Ultimately, we want clients to feel known, supported, and confident that things are being handled. They should not feel like they have to repeat themselves, coordinate everything on
10:49 their own. Um, I think that that consistency is always been central to Center Wealth Partners because trust is
10:56 built on the day-to-day details. And so our team really prides oursel in being prepared, responsive, thoughtful, and
11:03 actually doing what we said we were going to do.
11:06 Thank you for that, Becky, because that that touches on something I've heard from so many successful advisory teams around. It's about doing the day-to-day,
11:14 right? You know, it's it's singles and doubles, right? To use the overused baseball metaphor. And that's that's how you build, you know, quality client
11:21 service. And you know to go from the detail back into the the high level I want to bring in Howard Ma here and and ask you know why why do you think more
11:29 advisers should consider teams as a rout you know highlevel multigenerational client service you know that's a good question I've
11:38 I've seen a few I've seen a lot of uh solo practitioners um work in our industry I've seen them at their
11:47 meetings and I've seen their their clients as well and one thing I've noticed is that a lot of solo practitioners they typically work with clients of the same generation. Um,
11:55 older advisor work with older clients and younger advisor working with younger clients. I guess my point is um I don't think solar practitioners um understand
12:03 the needs of different generations and as a result it would make it a little more challenging for them to to offer that multigenerational service offering.
12:11 But whereas if they were created team particular team comprised of different generations I think um they would be a better understanding of different needs
12:18 of different generations and um furthermore given different generations require different uh services I I would
12:26 think be harder for a solar practitioner to offer that multigenerational service.
12:30 So as a result you know the team's approach I think is much more effective in not only serving uh multigenerational needs but also at a high quality level.
12:40 Howard, you've touched so perfectly on the intergenerational wealth transfer in this as, you know, something that so much of the industry is focusing on, but
12:47 as well that that longevity of a practice that goes into it. And so to turn us back now to to our, you know, the team leader here, I just want to
12:55 ask, you know, as a final question, what what does this five-star recognition really signal about where Stunner Walt Plus is headed and the kind of client
13:03 experience that you're building for the future?
13:06 Uh, I'd say first of all that we take a lot of pride in the work that we do. You know, we're serving our clients. That's
13:13 that's our focus on a daily basis. And without great clients, um, Canada, we don't have a great business. So, from my
13:22 point of view, you know, building a team like what we have, um, and developed, you know, the last 5 years, uh, since,
13:31 you know, Simon and I have come back, uh, from the US to Canada.
13:35 um pretty proud of this group and I think when you take pride in your work it's like craftsmanship
13:44 of any type of you know woodworker or a tech person or if you really take true pride in what you do and you then you
13:52 amplify it with a team of people that share the common priorities of of servicing clients exceptionally well
14:00 good things happen and that's how we all learn together and that's how we call all keep striving together. So I would also say second point and that is you're
14:09 only as good as your recent past. So this is a business where you know especially the types of clients we're dealing with which are arguably in the
14:17 top onetenth of 1% of all investors in Canada and and somewhat in the US you
14:23 have to be on your game every day. You have to have you know I have to keep and maintain these standards. It's kind of
14:31 like the Japanese principle of can I constant and never ending improvement.
14:36 So again, our goal as a professional services team to the types of clients that we're servicing, we have to
14:44 constantly be sharp and you have to constantly be pushing forward. You have to try to get ahead of the learning curve and in all the different aspects
14:52 around wealth management. And you know, I think Simon alluded to one thing earlier about AI. For example, AI. The last two years as a group, we've leaned
15:02 into AI in a big way as to how we can try to apply its usage in many different ways to our practice for the benefit of
15:10 our clients. And at the end of the day, that's Phil's constantly pushing, constantly trying to get better. And uh
15:18 it's not easy. It's not easy to do. If it was easy to do, everybody would do it.
15:23 That's an excellent point to end on. And I I always appreciate when someone takes recognition as a impetus to move forward, not just a reason to rest on
15:31 their laurels. So thank you for doing that. And thank you F and the whole team for taking the time to share your insights with us today.
15:39 Excellent. Thanks David for WPTV. I've been David Kitai. Thank you so much and have a great rest of your day.
