Clients' philanthropy also a focus for advisor always one step ahead
Marie Phillips, recently named WP's Female Trailblazer of the Year, has been blazing trails since she immigrated from England aged six. Now she’s excited about promoting more philanthropy among her clients and opening up the field of digital financial literacy for Hamilton’s musicians.
“When I moved to Canada from the U.K. and was speaking with a different accent, I was actually put ahead in school because the school system is different. So, I’ve always been used to being the first one to do something,” Phillips, who is a wealth advisor with NextStepsPlanning.ca with IPC Securities, told Wealth Professional.
She noted that when she began in the financial industry 30 years ago, she was stuffing envelopes for seminars for the marketing department, then was hired as a part-time, then full-time, assistant.
“I decided I could do my job better if I became licensed, but they said: ‘no one’s ever done that before’,” she recalled, “So, I was the first one to do that.”
She launched a financial literacy hub for advisors before the internet began, then moved from Hamilton to Toronto to be an industry analyst and, later, to do compliance for an MFDA firm.
Phillips began her practice, affiliating with IPC, and bought her first $8 million book in 2013. She bought another book, worth $18 million, and changed dealers, which she felt was risky. She bought a third book in 2015, eventually acquiring about $55 million in assets in her first four years and then doubling it, reaching $100 million of assets under management.
After being very ill for awhile, she went on a mission trip with IPC Cares to dig latrines in Honduras. It gave her time to contemplate her direction, and she took an MFA-P in philanthropy and began to challenge IPC about what strategic direction it was going to develop about philanthropy. She was already the first female chair of IPC’s National Advisory Board, challenging it to cultivate more female advisors in the company. But, it also gave her a chance to recalibrate her business emphasis.
Phillips, now in Ancaster, works in a branch with seven other independent advisors who share a receptionist and meet weekly to share best practices. She has about $120 million of assets under management and 150 client households. They generally need to meet a $750,000 threshold and she enjoys working with them to determine the best way to manage their estate and communicate with their family, but also define their legacy, offering them creative philanthropic solutions.
But, having grown up without a lot of money in northeast Hamilton and also having trained as a musician who still plays several instruments, she’s interested in enhancing financial literacy in the arts sector. She’s on three music-related boards and raising money to provide music programs in inner city schools. She also enjoys helping musicians learn about financial planning. She’s worked with the Hamilton Musicians’ Guild and developed a digital financial literacy series with a colleague. She’s also conducted 22 in-person workshops.
Phillips likes the fact that she’s working with clients who have the wealth to support the arts as well as the musicians to maximize their financial planning.
“I’m helping the musicians, but I’m also trying to get as many individuals to start thinking about giving away their money,” she said. “That’s my big focus right now.”
While she said it took awhile for her to establish herself in these niches, she recommends that other advisors “just be true to yourself. You have to be really interested in a notion to get the results.”
