Darrell Gebhardt:
The beauty of Manitoba, which growing up in Saskatchewan, I still get a kick out of is just how everybody has their little piece of paradise.

I think the prairies is people are down to earth, they’re modest. There’s a lot of what you describe is the affluent, the mass affluent, the millionaire next door.

See if you can just whip that sucker. That was a good one.

When people invest their money with you, it’s a very intimate experience. So if I can help clients build their net worth, I’m happy. If I can help them minimize tax, I’m happy. But most importantly, if I can get down to the legacy conversations, I believe we’re going to be much more competitive. You get down to philanthropic legacy conversations. You’ve had a discussion with a client that’s way deeper than, “My pie chart is better than your pie chart.”

Cedric Paquin:
When you do work at a smaller independent firm, one of the things that you do miss is a lot of your clients have their banking elsewhere, so your relationships are at risk in that sense. You’re not able to offer servant services like the private banking, the commercial banking, the trust services.

Darrell Gebhardt:
We interviewed all the firms and I was a fierce independent for many, many years. We just felt TD was the best fit If you look at the client of the future, when I look at my kids who are 18 or 19 years old, they may have an interest in investing and they want a direct trading account and someone might have a business and they need a commercial loan and they might need private banking and one of their parents might need private trust. So to really bring that full service offering, I think extends beyond the portfolio.

Cedric Paquin:
I think TD stood out from the other major banks because of the brand, very strong, recognizable brand. Moving your practice from one institution to another is a big task. Each client has an RSP or a non-registered account or a tax-free savings account. So there was literally thousands of documents, so it was all hands on deck. Having TD help support that was very beneficial to us. They had hired people internally just to help us with the paperwork

Jenna Brown:
Working with this team is amazing. It’s nice being with a lot of talented people. We’re pretty much a family. We are chosen family.

Darrell Gebhardt:
What we’re super excited about is that large company feeling small. I have great access to leadership, our leadership team is amazing. Right from our CEO down to our team running Wealth – Paul, Craig Ryan, an amazing team that are dedicated. And they listen, and they make change, they’re looking to get better.

Because of Robo Advisor, because of direct trading, you really need to provide and create a private client experience. The way to do that is have a team of specialists. If someone wants to come and take their practice to the next level, this is the firm you want to be at, unequivocally. You’re part of something bigger, which to me in a very competitive industry is where you want to be.

John Naas:
My name’s John Naas. I’m a portfolio manager with TD Wealth Private Investment Advice, in the Halifax office.

Andrew Neatt:
I’m Andrew Neatt, senior portfolio manager, senior investment advisor with TD Wealth Private Investment Advice.

John Naas:
I first met Andrew in 2009 at our previous firm. I was a financial consultant, Andrew, a portfolio manager, and we ended up working on a number of clients, shared relationships.

Andrew Neatt:
I think that we just were a natural fit in terms of how we wanted to service the client. John does gravitate more towards the financial planning…

John Naas:
And Andrew, his focus and passion is on the investment management side and bringing that solution to clients, and I spend a lot of time on bigger picture planning and helping them with their retirement goals and achieving other financial goals.

Andrew Neatt:
I think TD just really trusts us, and they really just let us be independent in how we managed our clientele.

John Naas:
At TD, we’ve been able to kind of design our practice in a way that allows us to do the things that we want to do outside of work and that are important to us as well. To me, biking is meditation, it’s very peaceful. Part of it is just the beauty of Nova Scotia and the ability to be outdoors.

Andrew Neatt:
Passion of mine is our family farm, our certified organic vineyard, which has been, to me, a place to relax.

Andrew Neatt:
When we were at the other firm, the client focus became less apparent over the years, and that was a concern to us. When it became apparent that we felt like we needed to move, we chose TD because TD was not pushing product. It was a client-focused approach, more so than I’ve ever seen elsewhere.

John Naas:
Out of all the firms that I’ve worked with, I would say the culture of teamwork and partnering, and putting that client first is further along than the competition. Both in the independent channel and the bank-owned channel.

John Naas:
Our client base is physician-focused and their families. That represents about 90% of our clientele. I’ve worked with physicians exclusively for 13 years, Andrew, I think almost 20 years. There’s some very specific planning needs that I think they benefit from having an expert advisor.

John Naas:
TD has been a great partner and has really helped us and supported us to build and design the team structure that we wanted and to grow our client base.

Andrew Neatt:
We came to TD telling them and informing them of how the physician clientele, how they are accustomed to certain service models, and TD adapted very quickly and have been very supportive.

John Naas:
Over the last two years, we’ve grown about 70%, so that’s been some really great growth.

Andrew Neatt:
They really did prove that they were serious about us. They wanted us to be successful.

John Naas:
In addition, we’ve also had a lot of clients start to refer business as well. I think they’ve been happy with the transition, they’ve been happy with what TD has been able to bring to the client relationship and the added value there. It’s a great culture, great leadership, and a great environment to work in.

Andrew Neatt:
It’s been a better work-life balance. It’s been really the best professional move that I’ve made in my career.

Louise Fry:
My name is Louise Fry. I’m an investment advisor at TD Wealth Private Investment Advice. I live in a small neighborhood called Steveston. It’s in Richmond just outside of Vancouver, and I’ve been an Associate Advisor and then an Investment Advisor, and I’ve been doing this for about 25 years.

The roles for our team are slightly different from a lot of other teams . We all bring something different to the table, so Ryan and our team loves the portfolio management side. And Bill, my other partner, has been in the business more than 30 years, so has a lot of experience. I can sit across the table or beside clients all day every day. I’m passionate about people. I just like hearing people’s stories. The three of us were looking for something different. At our previous firm, team structures generally had one lead Investment Advisor and sort of Associate Advisors behind him or her. Coming to TD, we were afforded the ability to have an equal partnership across three different people, and we were allowed to pool our resources and our skills together, and I think that’s why we enjoy it so much is we’re kind of each other’s cheerleaders.

When I moved to TD, I think one of the biggest changes was the flexibility I have. TD has allowed me to focus on my family, which is my top priority. You know what my favorite memory is? The tuktuks.

Louise’ Daughter:
Oh yeah. Wait, let me find it.

Louise Fry:
There it is. We raced through Beijing on tuktuks, right? We had like five tuktuks.

And with the added flexibility being able to plan for trips, it’s been a lot easier. We want to make the most of it. Travel has given us tons of memories and experiences that we can share. It’s been priceless. The most impactful feature about coming over to TD has been the referral system. That was something we didn’t have at our previous firm. And so for any team that’s looking to build their business, it’s very easy to build it within TD internally. And I think it’s also quite easy to build it externally and build and consolidate assets.

TD culturally has been a big shift. It’s very collaborative. You find even between and amongst advisory teams, everybody’s helping each other out. And I think from day one, we felt very well supported and the process went quite seamlessly. You’re able to do the things that you want to do with the people that you want to do it with.

The biggest hurdle about moving from one firm to another is the documentation, the number of hours that you have to put in contacting clients and just managing I think the emotions. Understand how to phrase your message. If it’s a move that benefits everyone, I think clients can understand that and would be willing to take that big leap of faith, helping them understand that we were looking forward to offering something even better than we were able to before.

I know that when I was thinking about becoming an Investment Advisor, I held off for many years. But understanding now, the benefits of working on a team, and knowing that being an Investment Advisor with other Advisors that help fill your gaps… It’s been a gamechanger.

I think the move to TD has really helped me understand that I can be a good Investment Advisor. Being able to do this with a team and two other partners has allowed me to really focus on what I’m good at, what I’m passionate about. I think from a personal growth perspective, my confidence is a lot better, and I think it’s because I’m having fun and I know I’m good at what I’m doing within the team. I wake up every day looking forward to the people that I’m going to meet, the people I’m going to speak with, and it honestly doesn’t feel like work. We’re having the time of our life. We’re able to finally offer clients what we’ve been wanting to offer in terms of service, in terms of portfolio management, in terms of how we communicate with them. We’re very happy here at TD.

Daniel:
Stop, control, shot. Good. Good. You’re in the workplace every day, eight hours. You want to have a good relationship with your colleagues, with your manager. I felt it was an opportune time to look at what was available in the marketplace.

Ryan:
Four months into my stint at the bank, I got a chance to meet Daniel. I tend to trust my gut with things and I had a really good feeling about him. He’s got a great skill set.

Daniel:
I wanted to work in an environment where my values were aligned. I felt, in my previous role, the platform was diminishing and that was putting an impact on the overall client experience.

Ryan:
This actually to me is a nice fit because I really missed the private client experience and really doing more for the client.

Daniel + Ryan:
Are we good?
Yeah.
We’re good?
We’re good.

Daniel:
Nice.
We just hit it off. Similar mindset, similar values, similar goals.
That’s a travel. We’re not going to count that one. Nice.

Ryan:
We thought, “Well, why don’t we actually bring it up to management that it would make sense to form a team.” To me, it was no brainer.

Ryan:
Whew.

Daniel:
They valued what we could offer to that overall client experience. Ryan is very strong working with young professionals, working with entrepreneurs, and my strengths are on the planning side, working retirees, young students, farmers.

Ryan:
We’ve got skillsets, which I think are very complimentary. I’ll get a call from Daniel and he’ll have a question on something and vice versa, and I’ll pick his brain on something.

Daniel:
Ryan, can you pass me that one?
To be in a position where you have a partner and a friend, it’s invaluable.

Ryan:
We’ll get our families together. We’ll have a barbecue. We’ll play some hoops together.

Daniel:
Working on the car, on the greens, playing tennis, basketball.

Ryan:
And so it’s not something that we feel is ever contrived. This is just something which is natural.

Ryan:
Let these guys six or seven minutes, I think, on one side and then we’ll flip them.

Daniel:
I go by the eye.

Ryan:
TD Asset Management is our partner on the investment side, and so because they’ve got those capabilities, we can bring all of those offerings to our clients. So whether it’s real estate or private equity or structured notes, through TD securities, I can go to all parts of the bank to try and access product which is suitable for our clients.

Daniel:
Ultimately, our clients are a priority. Our clients are first and foremost. That relationship, truthfully, is built on trust. It’s built on mutual respect and ultimately, that’s what I feel makes us so successful at what we do.
Can you put it down one more time?

Ryan:
Sure.

Daniel:
That’s how you drop.

Ryan:
That’s great.

Josh Ralph:
I’ve always been interested in investments. So I went to business school and spent two years as an assistant and then one year as an associate. And then I met Susan who worked at another office and we got married and then decided to form our own team together. And then Sasha joined us about seven years ago, a true family business.

Susan Vincent Ralph:
We worked together quite well. We had a team approach, but we still were quite fragmented with the team. And that was one of the things that led us to moving to TD Wealth.

Josh Ralph:
At our previous firm, we felt that we hit a wall and we were kind of at max capacity and we wanted to grow and evolve a team and they weren’t necessarily supportive of that. TD is very supportive of teams, supportive of husband and wife teams and growth.

Sasha Bradley:
So transitioning from one firm to another is a huge undertaking, but through all of that, we always felt supported by our management team.

Kalen Findlay:
My role consisted mainly of document preparation, document completion, making sure that Josh was set up with everything that he needed and felt as comfortable and confident as he could.

Sasha Bradley:
One of the best things I think that came out of our experience in transitioning is just the strength of our team at the end of it.

Josh Ralph:
So how long has it been, Will, since you joined?

Will:
Two months.

Josh Ralph:
And you’re enjoying it?

Will:
I am. Yeah. Pretty great.

Josh Ralph:
Kalen has shifted to more of a client service role. So he’ll call and touch base with clients. Sasha is kind of the CFO of the team. So she keeps everything running. Susan does a lot of the background work and some of the financial planning, and Will looks after all the administrative, and then I’m the lead relationship manager. So I meet with clients and talk to them.

Susan Vincent Ralph:
TD really does allow for balance, whatever the team deems is good for our team, they will support. And that I think is invaluable.

Josh Ralph:
We purchased this farm five years ago. My daughter, Sydney, is an equestrian jumper and my wife, Susan rides as well. So I do all the cleanup work and feed the horses in the morning. It’s good. It’s physical work. It keeps me in shape. And it clears my mind, which is great as well. TD Wealth was created through TD Bank. We have a very strong relationship with our partners at TD and we get a lot of referrals from them. We moved four years ago, and since that time we’ve been growing our assets at 25% to 30% a year.

Sasha Bradley:
The One TD approach, we’re all working together across the entire enterprise, whether it’s banking, whether it’s insurance, whether it’s the wealth business, we’re all working together towards the same goals. You really see that when you walk into a bank branch or you contact one of your trust partners for help.

Josh Ralph:
Our clients really benefited from the transition to TD because TD allowed us to grow our team and provide better service to our clients.

Sasha Bradley:
For someone who’s considering making the move to TD, I think the first thing that I would say is be really prepared, but the results that you get at the end, if you really commit to it are worth all of that work that you put in and all of that stress that you have to go through.

Josh Ralph:
If you have good relationships, the clients will move with you. You have your book of business that you want to move over, but you’re going to have this other massive opportunity with referrals from the bank. If you’re willing to work hard and do the right things, there’s no limit to how big you can grow your business with TD support.

Disclaimer:
Filmed July 2022. Unique experiences and past performances do not guarantee future results. Testimonials contained herein are unsolicited and may not be representative of the views of others. They have been reviewed and approved in writing for public use.
TD Wealth Private Investment Advice is a division of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc., a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank.
TD Wealth represents the products and services offered by TD Waterhouse Canada Inc., TD Waterhouse Private Investment Counsel Inc., TD Wealth Private Banking (offered by The Toronto-Dominion Bank) and TD Wealth Private Trust (offered by The Canada Trust Company).
®The TD logo and other TD trademarks are the property of The Toronto-Dominion Bank or its subsidiaries.

[music]

Speaker: The recurring theme for me is that talent has not always been as obvious as hard work. I always worked very hard for what I had. [music] I wanted the investment advisor job so much that they told me: “If you can make 100 calls a day, we think that would be the most you can do, but try to aim for that.” I got up to 225 calls per day and that’s how I managed to get an interview with the big boss. Six months later, I finally got the job I wanted, which was investment advisor.

I am now at TD, the third major bank I have worked for. It has a strong culture of kindness, kind to its employees and to its clients. First, we started our own company, we didn’t buy another company. We built what we have built by listening to the employees. We’re always trying to improve. TD is one of the two biggest banks in Canada, but in Quebec, it’s a small bank. And I think the Quebec clients recognize the solidity

[music]

It’s important for me to have a life outside the office. I have a lot of things that are very important to me. My family, my hockey are very important to me. [music] My days are not too long. They were much longer in the past, but I work eight to nine hours per day, five days a week, but those eight to nine hours are extremely structured. Every 15 minutes are planned in advance, [music] but I have a lot of free time to do other things, to keep me balanced in life. [music]

Family is very important to me. I have two boys and a daughter. Age 20, 18 and 16, and I try to be there for them. We have dinner together every night. I was always someone who did a lot of planning for the future, and I have five-year plans. Each decision that I make today is based on the result that I want to achieve within five years. The size or volume of business that I do now is several times larger than it was 13 years ago, when I first joined TD. The results have been very satisfactory and I’m not done yet.

Growth, for me, is something that must continue. [music] I think the ideal person joining us would be someone who wants to serve their clients well—the firm is very committed to improving the level of service for its clients—and someone who wants to grow. I’ll give you some personal advice. Prepare yourself. That’s important. It’s serious. It’s a lot more work than you can imagine. So prepare yourself well in advance.