Clear Skies Ahead

When Emma Lang envisions her future career as an advisor, she sees it taking off.

Literally.

Lang scored her private pilot’s licence back when she was 17 and looks forward to a day when she’ll fly her family’s float plane to visit clients in the northern Ontario regions near her hometown of Vermilion Bay, Ont.

Oh, and she completed her Canadian Investment Funds Course back in high school, too, before going on to take the Life Licence Qualification Program (LLQP) and joining Freedom 55 Financial at age 18. She’s since earned her Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation, making her one of the youngest holders in Canada.

At a time when many of her peers are launching careers weighted down with a mountain of student debt, Lang, now 23, is an associate advisor with Branstone Financial Strategies working alongside her mother, Debbie Lang, CFP. Watching her mother work solidified her own career goals.

“I saw the book that my mother built for herself from scratch, and I thought that was very inspirational,” she says.

Lang is just one of the young advisors changing the face of the industry in Canada. Forget status quo and doing things one way because they’ve always been done that way. Today’s upstarts are building success their way while encountering the typical challenges of those new to the industry: finding clients and gaining their trust. No small feat when you look young enough to be their son, daughter, or even grandchild.

The Transformational Generation

For Sanjay Gupta, though, youth is a superpower. The veteran Professional Financial Advisor (PFA) says he’s brought on about a dozen young people in their 20s and early 30s to work at Mode Money Managers Inc. in Surrey, B.C., calling them the “transformational generation” — those who arrived with a tablet or smartphone in hand and will embody the industry’s future as young clients age, too.

“The beauty is that they have excessive energy levels,” he says, laughing. “They never get tired! You talk about a lower backache, and they don’t know what that is.”

Jashanpreet Kaur, 22, is one of his newer hires. Coming to Canada from India a couple of years ago as an international student, she earned her diploma in business administration with a focus on accounting.

“It was always a dream of mine to advise people,” she explains on a Zoom call alongside Gupta. “I see many people who dream about doing something, but do nothing to pursue it. They spend their money on things they do not need. I chose this career to advise people to pursue their dreams.”

Kaur says she’s already had a taste of what it’s like to see a client follow her advice and come away better for it. She recently helped a woman buy a protection plan for her mother who was visiting Canada. Not long after, the mother fell, fractured her leg, and required medical treatment. Not only was she covered, but she was seen without delay. Both women were so thankful.

“I’ve learned that when you have a good relationship with people, you can help them with everything,” Kaur says.

Mac And Cheese To Maserati

Relationships are at the heart of how Zakary Wexler, 27, conducts business, too — starting with the relationship he’s forged with his boss, Mark Halpern, founder and president of WEALTHinsurance.com in Toronto.

Back in 2018, Wexler was a kinesiology student planning to go on to medical school and become a doctor. But when he heard

Halpern give a business talk at a Jewish youth event, something clicked. Halpern didn’t speak about the usual: goals, dedication, and drive. He discussed how work and family intersected.

“The way he was talking about having a family, I was like, ‘Wow. Hold on. This is like a whole different perspective on life here,’” says Wexler.

Wexler thought he wanted to be a doctor to help people. But Halpern later brought up a point he hadn’t thought of.

“He says, ‘Well, you might have missed a crucial thing. As a doctor you can only help and build relationships with people if they’re sick. Whereas I get to build relationships with people while they’re alive and well, and everything’s exciting — and we get to grow with them through different life events,’” Wexler remembers.

He changed course, despite all the people telling him he was in for a challenging time.

The initial years were challenging, but it was the right decision. Wexler quickly worked his way up, moving to accounts of $2 million from accounts of $20,000. Today, he proudly displays photos of his wife and newborn son alongside his Master of Financial Advising and Philanthropy certificate in his office.

And he’s changing lives. One man he helped was nervous leading up to retirement. He assumed he’d have to pinch pennies and eat mac and cheese to get by. But when Wexler ran the numbers, the reality was quite different. Between his properties, RRSP, and pensions, he would still have half a million dollars at 90.

“So you’re saying I can technically buy a Maserati?” the man asked him, floored.

“I just watched this weight fall off his shoulders,” says Wexler. “He was over the moon.”

Wexler later heard through the grapevine the man became a whole new person. He planned vacations and embraced living.

It’s a great story and shows how Wexler is truly helping people, no stethoscope required.

“Right? From mac and cheese to a Maserati,” Wexler says now. “It makes a good life.”

Clients See Past Age Difference

Alysha To, 30, started in the investment industry when she was 19 years old.

To was working multiple part-time jobs at the time so she could pay for her own schooling. “Discovered” by a fixed-income trader while working a restaurant shift, she began her career in financial services as a part-time administrative assistant at a small independent brokerage firm. At the time, she had no clear career path in mind.

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