Establishing the compensation model for services rendered amounts to one of the most difficult decisions for members of any profession and normally flows from client preferences, the professional’s needs and his or her perceptions of the market. The professional needs adequate compensation while the client may or may not grasp the value of services rendered. […]
Critical illness insurance for children presents a good news-bad news scenario for advisors seeking to boost revenues. On the upside, the market is underserved and therefore less competitive. But it remains a difficult sale, as CI usually ranks fairly low on a list of client priorities. “You don’t have a lot of people focussed on […]
It might be the riskiest financial forecast of all: currency. The stakes are a huge. Get it wrong, and your foreign content allocation can implode. Get it right, and you'll enjoy a multiplier effect on those out-of-county assets.
Worried patients take extra comfort with a doctor who appears fully conversant in all of the implications of the latest drugs. So too, an insurance broker’s clients and potential clients will be more comfortable with critical illness insurance if the broker demonstrates up-to-date knowledge of all clauses, especially those most relevant to their situations. Several […]
This Advisor.ca Special Report is sponsored by: Assuming that a financial services equation will remain unchanged for any period of time qualifies as one of the larger mistakes that a financial executive can make in the current volatile markets. Assuming that the relationship between the Canadian and American currencies will remain stable could provide a […]
Meeting with a prospective client can make for an exciting day, with the potential for a substantial addition to an advisor’s book of business. But getting to that point can be like pulling teeth, as an unsigned client may be reticent about divulging too much personal information. But put yourself in the client’s shoes: he […]
Since the onset of the financial crisis, the word ‘guaranteed’ in a product name has resonated more powerfully with advisors and clients than ever previously. Shell-shocked baby-boomers will likely continue reacting more positively to guaranteed products than before the crisis. The Guaranteed Withdrawal Benefit (GWB) is a feature available through a segregated fund contract or […]
Its hard to get a handle on the number of disputes involving alleged negligence by advisors leading to non-payment of insurance claims — regulators typically do not ask advisors or insurers for this information. But whatever that cryptic total might be, the industry can expect it to rise, according to Jim Bullock, a 45-year veteran […]
Firings and layoffs continue in Canada, notwithstanding a generally improving job picture. Last week, the Canadian Union of Post Workers warned of job losses in Kitchener, stating that Canada Post planned to consolidate operations, shifting work to Toronto. Some job-threatened individuals in Kitchener, or those who lost their jobs earlier this year or last year, […]
Advocis, the Financial Advisors Association of Canada, has released five senior managers as part of the organization’s ongoing re-structuring. “We’ve made some changes at the organization and as part of our new strategic direction, Advocis has been developing and implementing a new business model over the past year,” Peter Tzanetakis, the organization’s vice-president of regulatory […]