“It is very difficult to succeed in this industry when you have to get all your own clients, build a book of business and have all the expenses be pretty much on you,” says David Nader, investment fund advisor at Sterling Mutuals Inc. in Windsor, Ont. “Without my dad’s support, I don’t think I would have been able to stay in the industry and succeed to the level I am at today.”
Liam McCorquodale, financial advisor at Portfolio Strategies Corp. in Calgary, also says getting into the business, especially independently, is almost impossible without the help of a senior advisor – both in terms of knowledge and finances. “What I saw before he was trying to officially sell me on the business was the difference in the quality of family time when he became an advisor,” Ms. La Gamba says.
“I realized it was a career that gave you more flexibility,” she says. “Sometimes, that might lead to an assumption that it is easier. But really you can end up working way more hours, though you have freedom in this business.”“My father told me if I was going to follow in his footsteps, then there was no point [in going to university or college] and I could just get my financial designations along the way,” he says. “So, I started right at 18 and got my licence.
“Having the benefit of going to meetings with my dad, he would see how I would be presenting and show me how to have confidence.”