I started my career in the financial services industry in 1994, after spending 10 years in retail management. Investment, retirement, and insurance planning were important components in my own financial plan, but as a busy retail manager and a new parent, I didn't always take the time to appreciate or understand how it should all fit together. "Estate Planning" was a mysterious term and I wanted to know what it meant, its purpose and what it achieved.

When I started in this business, the first thing we realized (my partners and I) was that a simple mutual fund licence wasn't going to give us the knowledge and skills we would need to provide top-quality financial advice to our future client base. First came the completion of the Chartered Financial Planner designation in 1997, which was immediately updated to the more familiar Certified Financial Planner designation. Almost simultaneously, I successfully completed the grueling Canadian Securities Course, which gave me a much more thorough understanding of investment securities. And because life and disability insurance are such important aspects of any financial plan, I somehow managed to obtain both my Level 2 Life License, as well as my Accident and Sickness Licence, around the same time.

All of these disciplines, taken together, form the foundation for providing sound and professional-quality advice. I can't imagine providing advice without the multi-disciplinary and comprehensive approach that experience in all of these areas has afforded me. I continue to upgrade my skills and knowledge on an annual basis with continuing education courses.

Throughout this period, and for many years before, I have had a passion for music. When I first started guitar lessons at 12 years of age, I never thought it would have such a major impact on my life. The dedication required to continually improve as a guitar player and the effort expended to achieve excellence has taught me the importance of patience, perseverance, empathy and, most important, the ability to listen.

I believe these traits have helped me build my business and raise my family. My approach to helping clients and small business owners become financially secure is, to me, no different from what I would prescribe for my own business and my own family. When I work with clients, it is always with their best interest in mind. I offer the same level and quality of advice to my own children, with the hope that by retaining and applying this knowledge throughout their lives, they will underpin their own future with a strong and enduring financial foundation.