Chad Larson of MLD Wealth Management Group is rank 1 in Wealth Professional Canada's 2018 Top 50 Advisors
MLD Wealth Management Group
Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management
Calgary, AB
Now in his 14th year as a financial advisor, Chad Larson finds himself at the top of this year’s Top 50 Advisors list. Rising from third place last year, the Calgary-based PM saw his AUM grow 24% over the past 12 months to $776 million, and he intends to stay on that path in the coming year. “We will continue to enhance client engagement with our multi-family office platform, continually enhancing and leading the industry in full-cycle, holistic wealth management and family office services,” he says. Adding 40 new clients over the past year, Larson takes pride in the fact that he has achieved organic business growth by putting an emphasis on bespoke service. “Too often scale is pursued via product and not process,” he says. “We will continue to invest in process and people. True scale will be reached with enhanced offerings, using digital tools for client engagement and loyalty.”
While his industry experience puts Larson into veteran territory, he still finds himself at the younger end of the advisor spectrum. Regardless, he has observed how the role has changed over the years. “Clients are more informed, and mediocrity has no chance,” he says. “Conversations have changed – they are about the ‘why,’ not the ‘how.’ The conversations are about family, occupation and recreation – that’s the ‘why’; the ‘how’ is that they entrust us to be stewards of their capital.”
As for the industry as a whole, Larson believes the evolution of wealth management will likely lead to fewer firms, which could be a double-edged sword for clients. “There is absolutely a trend of attrition and consolidation,” he says. “We feel this is both a positive and negative. Positively, the platforms have become stronger and more robust, but a negative is that there are some parts of the business that have lost agility.”
As the ‘L’ in MLD Wealth Management Group, Larson prefers to share the credit for the practice’s success. “It is truly a team approach, with many partners and stakeholders, internal and external,” he says. “They are enlightened, aligned and empowered about driving excellence and client engagement; watching and receiving feedback from families by providing insight and clarity is a massive reward.”
