“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”
You won’t find this quote framed and displayed in Adam McInroy’s Bobcaygeon office, but those wise words are at the heart of what he strives to facilitate for clients looking to secure their financial future.
“It’s not a simple one-time transaction,” says Adam, Executive Financial Consultant with Bobcaygeon-based McInroy and Associates Private Wealth Management.
“I’m looking for a long-term relationship with a family or, ideally, with multiple generations because that’s where the best financial planning happens.”
A long-term relationship with a financial advisor can be very beneficial, according to Adam, who is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professional and Certified Life Underwriter (CLU).
“Most people think investing is a mathematical equation, but there’s a behavioural component to finances and investing which is commonly overlooked and discounted,” Adam explains, citing a research paper published by Cirano in 2020.
That research found that, between 2010 and 2014, households that retained their financial advisor saw the value of their assets increase by 16.4 per cent, versus only 1.7 per cent for the assets of households that abandoned their advisor during that period.
“That more than exceeds the cost of any advice,” Adam points out.
For Adam and his team, helping clients build their financial future isn’t about giving one-time advice on the latest hot investment.
“What we do is talk to our clients and part of our discussion is about helping client manage their own behaviour,” Adam explains. “It’s quantitative versus qualitative. Working with a financial planner, you may not see the quantitative impact of that decision until years down the road. But the qualitative impact — how you feel about your situation when you go to bed at night thinking ‘I don’t have to worry about what the markets are doing today’, or ‘How am I going to handle the cost of living increases?’ and the sleepless nights that have been caused — what is that worth to you?”
In some cases, helping people avoid those sleepless nights means Adam advises potential clients that investing may not be the most appropriate next step in their financial plan.
“We recently met with a prospect who had come into an inheritance,” he recalls. “When we asked what they wanted to do with it, they said a family member told them to invest it into a sector which at the time the advice was given was doing well, but had since dropped significantly. This was someone who had never invested before, and knew their home needed some work done to it.”
“We said, ‘OK, what do you want to do with the money, what is your priority for that money?’ After some back and forth, they had the clarity to articulate they needed to fix up the home, which was tired and required some upgrades to make it more energy efficient and comfortable to continue to live in. We said, ‘So why don’t you do that instead of investing it?'”
“The weight that came off that person’s shoulders when we gave them that direction … I can’t put a dollar figure to that, but it was pretty monumental to see the transformation in this person from being anxious and in tears to ‘Now I have direction, I have clarity, and this complex decision has been made simple — I know what I need to do.'”
Gaining and keeping a client’s trust is key, Adam says, so he and his team can establish a relationship where they can provide the best possible guidance to clients.
“Money is an innate object — isn’t emotional — but we see, time and time again, people make emotional decisions,” he explains. “We’ve created a team environment where we know you by name. You’re not just a number and a portfolio. We know what’s going on with your family. We then help you make unemotional, rational, and strategic decisions.”
That includes making decisions when faced with the vagaries of the stock market. Adam refers to early 2020 when the S&P 500 Index dropped by 33 per cent — “a great time to buy.”
“However, without advisors’ guidance, many investors sold and $335 billion was pulled out of the market,” he points out. “That doesn’t happen to the same extent when working with a financial planner. It changes the dialogue when we stop listening to mass hysteria and we start making more rational decisions.”
Your investment portfolio isn’t a financial plan, Adam stresses.
“A financial plan is the road map and vehicle to get you to your destination,” he says. “The portfolio is only the fuel in the tank.”
“Financial planning is not only how you’re using that fuel but also the methodology of getting where you want to go. That’s what we do. We don’t just talk about the fuel in the gas tank. We talk about what roads we’re going to take to get to your destination and what vehicle we’re going to use, and then we look for other opportunities to get where we want to go.”
While some people choose to go it alone and may feel they are doing a great job, Adam points out they may be leaving things on the table that a professional would not.
“Our clients have better things to do with their time than monitor what the world markets are doing and keep on top of what the new tax brackets are. They want to enjoy their retirement.”
Adam adds there’s another benefit to working with a CFP professional: they are duty bound to work in the client’s best financial interest — which may even include turning them away.
“My CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER designation holds me to a higher standard,” Adam explains. “There’s a duty of ethics and care. It’s like a doctor’s Hippocratic oath. As a CFP professional, I will do what’s in the best interest of the client. If someone sits down with me and they’re not the right fit, it’s my obligation to tell them that and give some direction in terms of someone who can help them.”
McInroy & Associates Private Wealth Management is located at 21 King Street West in Bobcaygeon. You can email Adam at adam.mcinroy@igpwm.ca or call 705-748-1950. For more information about McInroy & Associates Private Wealth Management, visit www.mcinroypwm.com.
Investors Group Financial Services Inc.
This is a general source of information only. It is not intended to provide personalized tax, legal or investment advice, and is not intended as a solicitation to purchase securities. Adam McInroy is solely responsible for its content. For more information on this topic or any other financial matter, please contact McInroy & Associates Private Wealth Management.
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