Master of adaptation

Much like a golfer, an advisor must always adapt to the conditions. It’s a lesson Kelly Roberts has taken to heart, both in his former life as a competitive golfer and in his four-decade tenure as a financial advisor.

After studying finance at Indiana University, Roberts pursued his passion as a professional golfer for two years but eventually found his way to wealth management. “I was always interested in numbers and financial aspects,” he recalls. “My ex-father-in-law worked at Midland Doherty and encouraged me to move in that direction.”

Roberts entered the industry in 1979 at Midland Doherty in Guelph, Ontario, then moved to London in 1981. In 1987, he became branch manager, a role he held for seven years before moving back to client services. He built a team and witnessed his firm transition to Midland Walwyn to Merrill Lynch to Wood Gundy. In 2005, he moved his team to Wellington West, which was bought by National Bank in 2011. Roberts has remained with National Bank ever since, today overseeing the Roberts Advisory Group.

“I always thought I would get into a business where people use my product every day, something like soap or coffee cups,” he says. “After a while, I realized people use money every day, and our job is to help them with their money. This is the perfect business because people need advice, and it’s an opportunity to help them reach goals.”

As his business card has changed over the years, so has Roberts’ approach. “When I first started, it was more of a ‘stock of the day’ approach, looking for opportunities to recommend. Now it is full wealth management, looking at the long-term goals and plans and trying to make sure that clients’ portfolios fit. As we have evolved, there were many transitions I needed to go through to make sure I was part of today’s society. It’s a business of evolution, and there’s lots of noise out there. We need to cut down the noise and make it as simple as possible for our clients to meet their goals.”

One of Roberts’ keys to success has been copying the blueprint of other successful people, something he jokes would have given him a longer professional golf career had he adopted the same approach with the sport.

“When I first got in the industry, I had never bought a stock,” he says. “As I went, I learned from others. I became a real student of the market. I read a lot of market history and examined different cycles.”

He also attributes his success to his time as a professional golfer. “I think there’s a certain amount of trust with competitive golfers because we are conditioned to follow rules – it’s in our DNA,” he says. “There’s a certain credibility I think golfers get. You still must do a good job to last in the business, but golf has given me the habits of discipline, organization and time scheduling, which have been beneficial for me to do a good job.”

Roberts’ latest evolution has been to follow the business as it moves more toward relationship management rather than just portfolio management – a trend he believes will only accelerate due to COVID-19. Roberts has taken advantage of options like external portfolio management expertise to allow him to focus on relationships.

“Sometimes people who have been in the industry as long as I have have a hard time admitting the things we do have become commoditized and are available from bright people at a reasonable fee,” he says.  

Now Roberts is focused on continuing to build those relationships and has no plans to step away any time soon. “As long as I am healthy and can think well, I want to keep doing what I am doing,” he says. “I have fabulous clients and great opportunities to help people. I have a young partner, Alex Prudhomme, who I expect is going to be a superstar in this business. As we move forward, he will take over more of the day-to-day, but I intend to continue focusing on keeping and building relationships.”