Ron Lalonde shares how a career in hockey taught him the timeless benefit of advice
.jpg)
The career path most athletes follow is not so straightforward compared to other occupations. They start off as rookies and eventually, after playing as a pro for a decade or so, come to a crossroads: they could become coaches, or they could leave the game behind. In a way, Ron Lalonde was able to do both when he retired from hockey thirty-six years ago.
“I had played in Washington and Pittsburgh and a few minor-league spots,” said Lalonde, an experienced financial advisor at Investors Group Financial Services Inc. “At age 28 I was over the hill by hockey standards and looking for a new career here in Canada.”
He’d always known that after hanging up his skates, he wanted to help people and make a difference in their lives. Having dealt with a financial-planning firm while playing in the US leagues, he knew and believed in the benefits of working with a professional, so he took the leap.
The shift wasn’t easy: Lalonde had forgone some of his education to play hockey professionally. But he was determined to make it. “One of my goals when I started was to earn my CFP as quick as possible,” he said. “Even back in the ‘80s, it was an important element to succeed in this career and even more so today.”
His hunger to learn and succeed was satisfied at Investors Group, the firm he started at and has been with throughout his career in the financial-services industry. Aside from a strong focus on training and development, he said the firm has a formidable roster of experts specializing in various areas, including estate planning, tax planning, and insurance. With those resources at hand, Lalonde stressed, he could find the answers to a huge range of questions — which has benefited him and the clients he works with.
“Some of the people I’m dealing with today, I’ve been helping for 36 years,” he said. “Whether it’s dealing with investments, the tax planning, the estate planning … aside from the financial rewards, it’s really satisfying to know that you’re helping people and making a difference.”
At one point after his retirement from hockey, Lalonde wanted to get into coaching, but the opportunity wasn’t there. Today, he said, he finds a similar kind of fulfillment in being a financial coach. It’s especially important when clients get agitated — an all-too-common situation, especially when markets behave unpredictably.
“As an advisor, I believe the ability to manage behaviours is much more important than whether the market moves up or down or sideways,” he said. “Our emotions tend to want us to do what’s comfortable, but that’s not always what’s in our best interest in terms of long-term success.”
Many retail investors would benefit from the guidance of a third party, one who knows how to craft a good financial plan and help clients avoid emotional pitfalls. But because of the heated debates about advisor compensation and the value of advice, Lalonde believes the industry is getting pulled into two extremes: institutions that prefer to accept high-net-worth clients, and robo-advisors that offer self-directed investing — and all the risks that come with it.
“If you price a large segment out of the market, there’s going to be a huge void where a lot of Canadians will not have access to the financial-planning advice that they need,” he said. “There’s a small segment that would rather do it themselves. But in my experience, people are too busy being successful in their own careers, and they don’t have the time, the energy, or the will to gather all the information necessary for a good financial outcome.”
The possibility of Canadians not getting proper advice is growing even larger, Lalonde said, especially since the average age in the industry is going up. There’s not a lot of young representatives coming in to succeed seasoned advisors, which he thinks is caused at least partly by limitations on compensation that have been enforced in certain jurisdictions. Still, he asserted, the value of advice has not changed from when he started, and that won’t change — as long as advisors remember one thing.
“One thing I learned very early from a senior advisor is no matter what the rules are, no matter how we get paid, always do more than what is required,” he said. “You can’t stop learning in this business. There will always be a need for advice, especially if you’re giving advice beyond what is expected.”
Related stories:
Why it’s crucial to have multiple strings to your bow
The importance of preparing for change
“I had played in Washington and Pittsburgh and a few minor-league spots,” said Lalonde, an experienced financial advisor at Investors Group Financial Services Inc. “At age 28 I was over the hill by hockey standards and looking for a new career here in Canada.”
He’d always known that after hanging up his skates, he wanted to help people and make a difference in their lives. Having dealt with a financial-planning firm while playing in the US leagues, he knew and believed in the benefits of working with a professional, so he took the leap.
The shift wasn’t easy: Lalonde had forgone some of his education to play hockey professionally. But he was determined to make it. “One of my goals when I started was to earn my CFP as quick as possible,” he said. “Even back in the ‘80s, it was an important element to succeed in this career and even more so today.”
His hunger to learn and succeed was satisfied at Investors Group, the firm he started at and has been with throughout his career in the financial-services industry. Aside from a strong focus on training and development, he said the firm has a formidable roster of experts specializing in various areas, including estate planning, tax planning, and insurance. With those resources at hand, Lalonde stressed, he could find the answers to a huge range of questions — which has benefited him and the clients he works with.
“Some of the people I’m dealing with today, I’ve been helping for 36 years,” he said. “Whether it’s dealing with investments, the tax planning, the estate planning … aside from the financial rewards, it’s really satisfying to know that you’re helping people and making a difference.”
At one point after his retirement from hockey, Lalonde wanted to get into coaching, but the opportunity wasn’t there. Today, he said, he finds a similar kind of fulfillment in being a financial coach. It’s especially important when clients get agitated — an all-too-common situation, especially when markets behave unpredictably.
“As an advisor, I believe the ability to manage behaviours is much more important than whether the market moves up or down or sideways,” he said. “Our emotions tend to want us to do what’s comfortable, but that’s not always what’s in our best interest in terms of long-term success.”
Many retail investors would benefit from the guidance of a third party, one who knows how to craft a good financial plan and help clients avoid emotional pitfalls. But because of the heated debates about advisor compensation and the value of advice, Lalonde believes the industry is getting pulled into two extremes: institutions that prefer to accept high-net-worth clients, and robo-advisors that offer self-directed investing — and all the risks that come with it.
“If you price a large segment out of the market, there’s going to be a huge void where a lot of Canadians will not have access to the financial-planning advice that they need,” he said. “There’s a small segment that would rather do it themselves. But in my experience, people are too busy being successful in their own careers, and they don’t have the time, the energy, or the will to gather all the information necessary for a good financial outcome.”
The possibility of Canadians not getting proper advice is growing even larger, Lalonde said, especially since the average age in the industry is going up. There’s not a lot of young representatives coming in to succeed seasoned advisors, which he thinks is caused at least partly by limitations on compensation that have been enforced in certain jurisdictions. Still, he asserted, the value of advice has not changed from when he started, and that won’t change — as long as advisors remember one thing.
“One thing I learned very early from a senior advisor is no matter what the rules are, no matter how we get paid, always do more than what is required,” he said. “You can’t stop learning in this business. There will always be a need for advice, especially if you’re giving advice beyond what is expected.”
Related stories:
Why it’s crucial to have multiple strings to your bow
The importance of preparing for change
