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.