NextGen advisor's focus on planning and behavioural finance finds perfect new home at independent platform
Sam Rook believes leaving his “big 5” bank dealer for independent Q Wealth Partners will provide him with the perfect platform to build a “proper modern business”.
Toronto, ON-based Rook built his practice at the bank, first working for an older advisor before buying the business about eight years ago. A proponent of evidence-based investing and ETFs with an eclectic mix of clients in North America and Europe, he’s been yearning to double down on his belief in goals-based financial planning. Now, he’s found the right place for his business and clients, he’s launched Bird’s Eye Wealth Planners with the help of Q Wealth’s resources.
Left frustrated by what he believes is an out-dated focus on products and investments at the bank, Rook now has much more freedom to run his practice – within a compliance framework better suited to modern business practices and discretionary Portfolio Management.
Rook cited Q Wealth’s formal connection with Shaping Wealth and behavioural finance guru Brian Portnoy as a big draw.
“I felt that Q Wealth was much more ahead of the game, particularly on integrating financial planning, but also through their connection with Shaping Wealth and the behavioral finance side of things, which is nearly non-existent in Canada,” he said. “I just don't see it in the Canadian industry, particularly at the large bank, broker firms.”
This feeling grew over the years; presentations centred on products and investments rather than planning a client’s future. As an ETF guy with a long-term planning approach, Rook says he can call up the likes of Vanguard and iShares and find out everything he needs to know about these investments in 30 minutes. This frees up time to connect deeper with clients to review their plan and changes in their life, which he does in detail every three years.
“The big banks were one of the earliest movers towards what they call wealth management,” he said. “They've got tremendous reserves, and some really tremendous people in regard to financial advice, and financial planning, but it seemed like in a lot of cases, they're just yelling into an empty room. I didn't want that. I wanted something different. I wanted to build a proper modern business.”
Jared Rabinowitz, Executive & Founding Partner at Q Wealth opined “For those advisors who are paying attention, this industry is shifting from an investment-led value proposition to something much more human centric – focused on the intersection of life design, coaching, planning, and how clients use their major asset classes (time, energy, and money) to maximize their life satisfaction. While one bank is running a campaign about getting a ‘return on life’ - the reality is bank culture, and advisor priorities lag way behind the latest slogan they paid for an advertising agency to cook up.
Rabinowitz added, “When we first met Sam Rook at an online fintech conference, he was doing a lot with social media (or at least trying), participating in a collaborative next-gen advisor network. You would think he was an independent advisor for sure, yet he was an advisor at the biggest bank in Canada. A year later we noticed he was attending the inaugural Future Proof event – one of the very few Canadian advisors dialled into contemporary media following the US RIA revolution. We reconnected with Sam sensing he would want to be part of what we are doing.”
They kept up the conversation over the next 18 months as Rook explored his options. But while other firms were obsessed with hunting for assets and paying to bring those over, Rook said the honesty of Q Wealth’s Executive Partners, Jared Rabinowitz and Stephen Gasparek shone through. Crucially, rather than give him the hard sell, they were honest and frank about the firm’s benefits, strengths, and also areas they needed to work on. This was corroborated by existing Q Wealth Partners Rook spoke to, and the trust grew over time.
“The partners also told me that [Q Wealth] listens to them. At a bank firm, I was not a big guy. There are a lot of big guys there so to know that someone would listen to you and take your input was a good thing.”
Rook believes the switch to Q Wealth will give him more freedom to work with his cross-border clients, getting them out of “trapped accounts” in Canada and working with RIAs south of the border to build them more suitable portfolios.
He also credits Q Wealth’s marketing approach as a standout compared to others in the Canadian wealth industry.
“At the firm I was at, the high-level guys got a lot more support. Just having that support there for marketing and everything else just makes this a really good option for a lot of people, not just me.”
Gasparek credits Rook as being a major centre of influence in the NextGen advisors’ space.
“We want [our partners] to be champions of where the industry is going, not where it is,” he says. “In Sam’s mind, investments are table stakes. They shouldn't be overly complex. Where you spend your time and energy is on the financial planning and the coaching.”
Even the name of his firm, Gasparek points out, is indicative of their shared thinking, with Bird’s Eye representing the holistic, full landscape of someone’s financial life.
“Sam lined up perfectly with us from a philosophical side of things. He’s very passionate about doing the right thing for clients and determining what the meaning of the money is versus, ‘this is what we're doing’. He’s all about the client, simplifying it and focusing on the planning side of things.”
