Moira Rose Váně enjoyed a successful career as a criminal lawyer, a profession she excelled at, even though she felt it sometimes conflicted with her personal values. That happened often enough that she’s put a new shingle out — Moira Rose Financials in Edmonton.
This new line of work leverages her comfort with difficult conversations and capacity for addressing the emotional components of money. Váně, who’s begun serving clients part-time as a fee-only financial planner while working towards the qualified associate financial planner designation, has also found a niche by focusing on women.
“It puts me in a different headspace,” Váně said. “I think I am making a tangible difference in women’s lives.”
While she enjoys her work, the transition hasn’t been as easy as she hoped it would be.
“I’m surprised by the lack of mentorship,” Váně said. “I reached out to another fee-only planner, but it did not pan out.”
Financial advisors who are starting second careers like Váně aren’t the only ones who find it tough to connect with mentors in the industry. Formal mentorship options are also lacking in advisory firms, according to advisors who spoke with Investment Executive anonymously, although some advisors have found informal ways to connect with others for guidance and support.
Building a community
In her law career, Váně found a “wonderful circle of cynical, senior Crown prosecutors” who helped with both the technical and emotional side of things. She began to fear that a similar network didn’t exist within the financial planning industry until she came across the Financial Planning Association of Canada (FPAC) message board.
“It’s essentially one big group chat, so when I’ve ever hit a snag, they’ve been a great resource for help,” Váně said.
FPAC was founded in 2019 by a small group of advisors. Julia Chung, a founding member and current board chairperson said the group was built to provide exactly the kind of community that Váně was looking for.
“It’s about taking really good care of the members and helping everybody become a better professional financial planner,” Chung said. She is also chief executive officer of Spring Financial Planning in Vancouver.
FPAC was founded by a group of advice-only planners. Its members now include financial advisors, students studying finance and affiliates such as educators, financial journalists and technology professionals who provide financial software.
“You just can’t be the specialist and know everything,” Chung said. “On the forum, we’ve got a psychologically safe place where, as a member, you can post and say, ‘hey, can you help me out?’”
The community of close to 400 people is accessible online and via local meetings.
What it doesn’t offer is a formal mentorship program.
“I still think a mentor from within the industry would be helpful for my career growth,” Váně said. “I am sure they’ve seen some interesting things over the years, and it would be good to be able to learn strategies for how they dealt with those challenges.”
Advisors who spoke with IE anonymously said their companies aren’t interested in mentorship programs, and that their focus is on people who can meet sales targets immediately.
The need for formal mentorship
A Harris Poll study done in 2023 found that only 34% of Canadian companies across industries offer mentorship programs. That’s despite 75% of those companies saying they’d had employees retire in the previous two years and 77% believing job candidates are more attracted to companies with mentorship programs.
Asif Nasim, who worked in investment management sales for eight years and founded Mentoree.com, believes mentorship programs are key to ensuring the sustainability of an investment firm. “If you have a mentorship program, you believe that young advisors are the future,” Nasim said. “With an aging advisor population base, sustaining the organization and advising the youth is important.”
However, that has been made more complicated by the pandemic, and the continuation of remote work, Nasim said. His website, started three years ago when in-person interactions in the workplace were reduced, helps professionals find a mentor or become one themselves.
While the site isn’t exclusive to financial advisors and planners, Nasim said it has facilitated conversations on topics like the benefits of networking across generations through its Mentoree Monday events.
Some wealth management firms have programs that advisors can access. Edward Jones Canada, for example, has a six-month program for all employees that pairs them with one or more seasoned team members based on skill set and personality fit. “This allows mentees to focus on their career growth, leadership development and meaningful connections,” said Naveen Rakkar, the firm’s director, human capital.
If firms do a better job nurturing new talent, it won’t be just their advisors who benefit.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to put a stake in the ground and decide what your, or the company’s, values are,” Nasim said.
“I sort of envision a world where all young people have four mentors straight out of school,” he added. “Think about some of the value those mentors could bring from the collective 200 years, or however long, of life.”
This article appears in the February issue of Investment Executive. Subscribe to the print edition, read the digital edition or read the articles online.