How this five-star advisor is navigating 'the never ending cycle of doom'

Brodie Lawson 00:00:01
In a year marked by uncertainty and volatility in this episode of Wealth Professional TV, we look ahead to the coming year and uncover the key attributes for success. Joining us to share his expert Insights is Evan Inglis, Executive Financial Consultant at Inglis Wealth Management and IG Wealth Management. Evan, first of all, congratulations on being named one of Wealth Professional Canada's 5 Star Advisors. We are so thrilled to have you with us on Wealth Professional TV.

Evan Inglis 00:00:30
Beyond the fact that this is incredibly humbling, and I'm not good at talking about myself, and I really appreciate the opportunity to do this, because it gets me out of my comfort zone. And as I as I think about these questions. You know, it is a testament to a lot of hard work that's been done over 15 years. So I'm appreciative for the opportunity. Thank you.

Brodie Lawson 00:00:30
2025 has been filled with uncertainty and volatility, as I said, So how have you dealt with the ever changing market situation, and how have you proved your worth in these turbulent times?

Evan Inglis 00:01:02
Well, there's that old adage that, while things feel different right now, ultimately we, we've seen We've seen this ending before. We we've seen this before, and it is a crazy, crazy amount of like awful news coming out of the United States. It is this never ending cycle of of doom. So how we would navigate this, how we would deal with the uncertainty in this, in this market, is the same way ultimately, we deal with uncertainty at any other point in time, it's by being incredibly responsive and proactive with all of our clients. It's ensuring that not only our clients, or sorry, not only do our clients have a very detailed understanding of how they are invested, of their tolerance for risk of the asset classes they're exposed to, the investments they're exposed to, but that they know that within the framework of a very, very detailed financial plan, that these fluctuations that happen, the ebbs and flows that happen in the market, are not derailing their future. So as much as we've gone through the very proactive investment updates over the course of the last number of weeks, number of months. Ultimately, we're going through those very detailed planning updates as well. We're looking at their plan from top to bottom and ensuring that, yes, we've seen a 4% pullback in these accounts as an example. But you guys are still in amazing shape as far as your retirement goes, as far as goals associated with your children's education or paying down debt. It's it's it's one thing to deal with the market on a daily basis, and it's one thing to navigate the ups and downs, but to have that, that level of comprehensive plan, a very integrated plan within somebody's financial situation as they're backing knowing that the markets can do their thing, it helps people in a lot of ways, ultimately, in terms of how we deal with it, is that we we also prepare for the next one. We know that ultimately these are things that are going to happen. So we have a lot of clients that has been allocating that that proverbial dry powder towards their portfolio is where we've been waiting for an opportunity to pounce. So we reinforce with clients that these can be really good buying opportunities from time to time. And we reinforce with clients, ultimately, that they are in the driver's seat, but we're going to be incredibly proactive in terms of looking at opportunities as they come about.

Brodie Lawson 00:03:38
With the industry constantly changing. What strategies do you use to keep up and how is ever evolving technology changing the profession?

Evan Inglis 00:03:49
We're we're very fortunate at at IG that we have an incredible suite of technology that's available to us. So I, I am very, very fortunate that we have this platform available where I don't necessarily have to go out and source the best available tool for portfolio analysis. We have an incredible tool available from a financial planning perspective, with for estate planning, for risk management. We have these really great FinTech packages that have been deployed for us, that we have at our fingertips. So a lot of the the keep up with it is ensuring that we're implementing it on a daily basis, that we're acutely familiar with how this tech works, how it impacts our clients, the impact that it can have on our clients, ultimately, and then from a from a change perspective in this industry, tech is something that require it. Requires you to use it. You need to, you need to be, you need to be ingrained in these tools on a daily basis. So I dive right in. I'm, I'm not a tech savvy person as a whole. Um. I had never done a meeting over video until COVID happened. I was a kitchen table kind of guy. But we, we have the ability to take this technology package and really make it our own, and to be able to use it with our clients in every facet of our of our planning work together the industry as a whole, in terms of changing strategies that we employ a lot of that comes down to education. I am. I'm a voracious reader. We do. We do a significant amount of work in terms of securing new designations, and I do my very best to follow the best and the brightest in this industry and to look at the insights that are coming, not just from within Canada, but from the United States, from Europe as well, so we can stay abreast of industry changes as a whole.

Brodie Lawson 00:05:44
How do you maintain long term relationships with your clients? And how do you set yourself apart from other advisors with regards to interpersonal client relationships?

Evan Inglis 00:05:57
There are, there are wonderful advisors who embody what financial planning really is at every institution in this country, but there's still too many advisors that are operating in the exact same thing that you described. I'm selling you an investment. I'm selling you an insurance policy. Planning is promised, and ultimately it's not delivered upon, to the extent that it should be even for clients that are paying for advice, and in some case, paying 10s of 1000s of dollars for advice that they're not getting. I I don't think that the industry is changing fast enough. I think that there is a benchmark that needs to be set in this industry that allows for a client to feel comfort and to be knowledgeable about what their advisor is recommending and what they're doing, and that they understand that there is planning that comes from that they understand that there has to be a deliverable. It's not a recommendation, it's not transfer your money over, and then I'll build you a plan. It's I'm going to build you the most detailed plan that you've ever seen, and I'm going to knock your socks off. You're going to know that your entire family is going to be looked after through this planning work. And then we can talk about whether or not you're in a position that I'm the I'm the advisor for you. So as an industry, there's amazing advisors everywhere, please. I don't want that to come across as as an indictment of the industry as a whole, but I think that there's a lot of work that needs to be done. I think there's a lot of financial planners out there that aren't doing financial planning, and ultimately that's something where I I want to make a positive change in this industry.

Brodie Lawson 00:07:33
What are you looking forward to in the coming year, and what areas are you looking to focus on?

Evan Inglis 00:07:39
The top three priorities that we have. I think that first and foremost it is, it's the continuation of taking the team that we have to the next level and ensuring that we're operating on a team from a practice management standpoint, as as efficient as we possibly can be. And we're on our way. We're well on our way to being able to do so, but there's refinements that we can make. And I think that I'm very focused in 2025 on really, truly having our team operate in the best interest of our clients to the extent that we can so team building in terms of our practice side of things, that would be one another one, from a priority standpoint, is that I have done a terrible job in my career of being, being in a position to promote myself. There's, there's this adage that sometimes the people that are the best in their respective industries are the ones that are the worst at promoting themselves. And I, I fit that mold. So this is new to me, but we are going through an entire rebranding. We're going through social media content that is being built. We're working with incredible people on the media side of things that we've just never done before. Our practice has grown nearly solely through referral and introduction from our clients. So we're going to take that to the next level. That's a big project to undertake is that finally, I'm out there talking about these types of things, and what I'm what I'm offering, what I do on a daily basis. So there's a bit of trepidation there, but it the time has come, so I'm excited for that that's going to be a big change for us as well, in terms of how we position ourselves in the industry. The other thing that I'm focused on is that we we want to continually build build out our educational base. I have my educational base, so I'm working on completing the CIM designation. So lots of heavy lifting. I still got work to do, but I want to make sure that I am as educated as I possibly can be for our clients these times that we're seeing on a daily basis in the market. It calls for it, right? So we did our CLU designation last year, and we're fresh onto a new one. So education working on being able to position our practice in this universe where there's so much choice, and ultimately ensuring that we're. In a position that our team is working to the best of our abilities, those would be the three big ones.

Brodie Lawson 00:10:06
What are the most important attributes to have success as an advisor?

Evan Inglis 00:10:11
There's, there's a number of them. I think that, I think that the biggest one for me is that that modern advisor needs to have an understanding of where, where the industry is going, and the direction that this industry is going, and this industry is moving in the same direction as the US in terms of incredibly detailed financial planning and paying for financial advice being the cornerstone of that, not investment picking, not being in a position where I'm going to sell the most insurance policies. It is financial planning full stop. That's the direction the wealth management industry is moving in. And if an advisor reckon that recognizes that they can approach this as an industry from the perspective of, I'm going to do an amazing job as a financial planner, everything else will flow from that. The investments will flow the risk management side of things will flow from that. So as a as an advisor, knowing that planning is the focus as you start, I think that that's incredibly important. The biggest attribute that I have that's contributed to my success is nothing but stubbornness. I wasn't going to fail, I wasn't going to quit. And I was very fortunate to have a lot of really great mentors early on in my career, and I was probably six weeks in in this business, and a gentleman in our office who's a very successful advisor, ran a very successful practice, uh, offered to take me for a beer, went out after work, and he had, he had said something along the lines of, the only thing that you need to do is show up. Just don't stop showing up. Positive things will happen. You will learn, you will grow. And I just never stopped showing up. I'm 15 years, 15 years in now, and that makes a huge difference. So the tenacity, the drive to stay, the sticking power that you have, the commitment that you have for your clients, to see them through these ups and downs, is incredibly important. And then the other component that I would add as far as the attributes of the successful advisor, ultimately, it's a focus on knowing where your value is and knowing the value that you provide and where your impact is best felt, and being able to build a team that allows you to operate in that fashion, To delegate the things that are not necessarily contributing to the to what stirs the drink. I I have an amazing team around me, and the only reason that we are successful is because of the team members that we've put into place. I'm focused on being able to do what I'm good at, which is being in front of clients or prospective clients, doing really amazing planning work and delivering that to them. I have a team that supports me in every other facet of this business. So letting that go is tough. Being the the CEO and the chief bottle washer and wearing every hat early on in your career. It's hard to let those things go, but if you're going to be successful in this industry, a focus on building a team around you that allows you to be unleashed to do what you're really good at is hugely important.

Brodie Lawson 00:13:09
Evan, thank you so much for joining us and for sharing your wisdom and your insights. My pleasure and thank you for watching Wealth Professional TV.