10 minute read
Cover Story: New Outlook Wealth
DISCOVER THE WOW IN NOW
Meet President and CEO of New Outlook Wealth, Michael van Lierop. He’s brash, opinionated and smart – and looking to disrupt the wealth management space in Canada.`
Advertisement
BY THE MINT EXPERIENCE PHOTOS BY STUDIO 78
MThe business of providing financial advice is ripe for disruption, according to New Outlook Wealth’s founder, Michael van Lierop. The Winnipeg-based entrepreneur and financial innovator is looking to dramatically improve Canadians’ access to affordable financial advice and investment management, at a time when most of the financial industry seems content to pursue and service millionaires almost exclusively. There is a growing gap to be filled today, between small retail clients and the wealthiest Canadians in terms of product choice, investment management fees, and access to experienced financial planners. Using a combination of robust financial planning in tandem with white-glove portfolio management that is typically reserved only for the wealthiest investors in Canada, New Outlook Wealth (NOW) is able to bridge this gap by bringing industryleading wealth management to all Canadians, regardless of wallet size. The term wealth management itself is broad and it can be misleading to clients because it tries to encompass everything good financial advisors can do. As a result, it means different things to different people. “For our clients, it means providing them access to a wide range of products and services with the goal of maximizing the outcomes of our client’s financial plans,” said van Lierop.
- Michael van Lierop
“We are the conduit or gateway for clients to access the expertise and products they need with the guidance and support of highly experienced financial planners.” One noticeable difference for clients of New Outlook Wealth is the separation of financial planning from money management. In the mutual fund business, advisors recommend funds – which are baskets of stocks and bonds – based on client risk profiles. At NOW, the money management is deliberately separated from the advisor, removing potential conflicts of interest and enhancing the overall investment experience for clients. “Having your very own Portfolio Manager is a very special experience,” explained van Lierop. “Our advisors team up with a Portfolio Manager – so our clients get to speak directly with the person in charge of managing their money. They ensure the client’s money is invested properly and safely, and we ensure the client’s financial plan is on track and that they are happy.” New Outlook Wealth refers its investing clients to three Winnipeg-based Portfolio Management (PM) firms. Clients’ investments are managed directly by a Portfolio Manager inside Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs), where client’s money is invested according to their wishes and guided by the specific knowledge and portfolio preferences of each PM firm. “We like to say that Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) are the cooked-to-order filet mignon steak dinner when compared to mutual funds, which can resemble off-the-shelf fast food,” stated Crysler Jamieson, Vice President - Investments. “Ironically, our clients can have
MICHAEL VAN LIEROP
their investments managed in SMAs at a cost far below than that of your typical mutual fund. So it’s win-win all around.” The differences between SMAs and mutual funds is something NOW believes in profoundly. In addition to offering clients a better investment experience, the costs of investing are often 50-100 bps (0.5-1.0%) lower than typical mutual funds. SMAs are also more transparent and significantly more tax efficient for investors. Van Lierop goes on to explain:
“A Portfolio Manager is like the chef in a gourmet kitchen. They have a recipe to follow and ingredients to use but can adjust to suit the flavour profile and taste preferences of the customer. The SMA is a perfectly cooked steak delivered by an experienced waiter to the customer’s table. Meanwhile, a mutual fund advisor works at a fast-food restaurant – the customer chooses a cheeseburger (assuming there are burgers), it gets pulled off the shelf, the pickles get removed maybe, then gets dropped into a paper bag. And in this scenario, the cheeseburger is more expensive than the steak!”
Technology is a big part of the vision van Lierop has for disrupting the financial advice business in Canada. It means there is a very real way to democratize access to a broad range of low-cost investment products and ensure clients have choice – including ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), pools, and SMAs (Separately Managed Accounts) in addition to a wide range of insurance and lending products. While clients with investable assets exceeding $250,000 will be introduced to their own Portfolio Manager, those clients with less money can access the same investment expertise and products on a digital wealth platform operated by Toronto-based Purpose Advisor Solutions, on the Harness Investments platform. “One big adjustment for our clients who are used to the mutual fund world is that our asset management ecosystem is all about choice, low fees and performance,” said van Lierop. Meanwhile, NOW advisors are busy adopting stateof-the-art technology and new tools to deepen their service to clients and their value proposition in a highly competitive marketplace. “Today, having a financial plan is a default expectation of clients,” commented van Lierop. “You have to be prepared to adapt to a fastchanging industry. Canada is taking major steps in the Fintech [financial technology] space and we want our clients to ride that wave and not get left behind.” The motivation to start NOW was born from frustrations on several fronts with the current state of affairs in the financial industry in Canada. “Virtually all the major banks, their investment arms, and wealth management firms want the same clients – households with $1M or more in investable assets”, added Andrew Smart, Vice President – Wealth & Advisory. “Those clients receive preferential rates on lending and receive lower investment fees. We recognize there’s a case to be made to provide a custom response to the more advanced needs of our larger clients, but we don’t do this at NOW at the expense of everyone else. Even our smallest clients get access to top-notch investment management and planning services.” Michael van Lierop moved to Winnipeg in 2012 with his wife and children, where they live in a centuryhome in the historical River Heights neighbourhood. Born in Quebec, van Lierop was raised on a beef and sheep farm in the Eastern Townships, a popular tourism region about an hour east of Montreal. He graduated in 2001 from Bishop’s University with Honours. “I have a degree in Political Science,” admitted van Lierop,
“which has nearly nothing to do with what I do for a living. That said, I’ve always valued the importance of higher education to become a well-rounded citizen and critical thinker.” Starting his career path as an entrepreneur suggests the completion of a career circle a long time in the making with the founding of New Outlook Wealth, “I had my own web/IT business right out of university,” added van Lierop. “By my mid-20s, I wanted a new challenge and to force myself out of my comfort zone. Prospecting clients and selling life insurance was pretty much the furthest I could go in terms of leaving what I was comfortable doing.” In addition to a wanting to fulfill his entrepreneurial inclinations, van Lierop continues to want to do things differently. “The last thing we need is another wealth management firm,” he jokes, “so I determined early on, if I’m going to risk my career and the financial stability of my family, it has to be for the right reasons.” Those “right reasons” included the desire to build out a platform for financial advisors to join who share in his vision to genuinely provide financial planning to all Canadians, lower investment fees dramatically for average investors, and increase compensation for advisors. “Normally, these things are mutually exclusive. You just can’t do them all together or at once,” explained van Lierop. “If you charge clients less, normally the advisors make less. We want to do both – and we can. If advisors are paid properly, they can focus their business and service their clients better. “It’s about fairness. Fairness for clients in terms of fees, and fairness for advisors in terms of compensation,” van Lierop summarized, “The financial industry is not fair for most Canadians anymore. We want to change that. And we’re not waiting for tomorrow!”
New Outlook Wealth Winnipeg, MB Brandon, MB Gilbert Plains, MB Calgary, AB Edmonton, AB info@newoutlook.ca www.newoutlook.ca
SAY HELLO TO NOW’S OUTSTANDING ADVISORS!
New Outlook Wealth is made up of teams of highly skilled financial planners located in Winnipeg, Brandon, Calgary and Edmonton. While the company is new, the people behind it bring an enormous amount of financial industry experience. With that experience comes a deep knowledge and appreciation of all of the investment, insurance, lending and estate planning solutions most clients will ever need.
Meet the Team
Crysler Jamieson - crysler@newoutlook.ca
Located in Gilbert Plains, Crysler looks after clients in the northern portion of the province. A piece of advice he would give his teenage self is to appreciate the lessons taught by his parents more.
Crysler always knew he wanted to work closely with Canadians as he had a keen interest in the investment industry, therefore it was a natural fit that he became a financial planner. Seeing his clients reach their financial goals is what Crysler finds most rewarding about his job, as he diligently works with them to achieve those endeavours.
Did you know that if Crysler could invent a holiday it would be Kindness Day, a day devoted to being kind to others. He is successful in his career as a financial advisor because he surrounded himself with likeminded advisors and tells people to “Make sure you have a strong support system in place to help celebrate the successes of others—but also provide a shoulder to lean on when you hit rough patches.”
- Crysler Jamieson
Andrew Smart - andrew.smart@newoutlook.ca
Located in Brandon, Andrew believes that hard work pays off. He lives and works towards that belief as he is continually learning and stepping out of his comfort zone.
He always had a passion for understanding money and finance from an early age, which has led him to his successes today.
Seeing his clients achieve their financial goals through their hard work and perseverance is what makes Andrew love his job. ”Price is what you pay, value is what you get” -Warren Buffet. Ask any one of his clients, and they will tell you that he lives by this mantra, always striving to help his clients and goes above and beyond.
Andrew’s advice to people who are looking for their life’s passion or entering his field of work is to, “Be patient; like trees, businesses don’t grow and establish overnight. It takes time, effort and focus to get rooted and continue to grow.” Kayla Munro - kayla.munro@newoutlook.ca
Kayla, located in Deloraine, tells us that the best advice she ever received was to, “Get to know yourself. Who you are, and what you stand for. Once you know that, you’ll find your people.” Being in the finance industry since 2011, she loves to help clients achieve financial goals beyond what they thought is possible. She accomplishes this by going above and beyond with communication with her clients.
A Manitoba girl at heart, Kayla loves to spend time outside and enjoy fresh air and nature with her family.
Kayla is a great fit with NOW’s missions, as she works to be the kind of person that makes others want to up their game. Encouraging others to be themselves. Taking time to know her clients like friends and family, she believes that clients stay with an advisor they trust, the only way to build that trust is though the relationship.
