Toronto, ON, April 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With COVID-19 vaccine distribution in full swing across the country, many Canadians are beginning to look back on how the pandemic impacted their finances – and nobody saw those challenges with greater clarity than financial advisors did.
“This is the time that educated and seasoned advisors with integrity play an important role in the lives of people in their communities,” said Eduardo S. Tenorlas, CLU of Precision Insurance in Mississauga, ON. “Even when faced with the challenges of major events such as job loss, I was able to advise and work with clients on strategies such as making use of the cash values of their insurance contracts, TFSAs and more.”
Some of the best decisions also came through as the pandemic inclined many clients to develop their estate planning needs with advisors. “Normally, I would be calling clients to discuss insurance,” said Janea Dieno, CFP of Brightrock Financial in Saskatoon, SK. “COVID-19 has meant that many of them now take the initiative to contact us – though during the initial period of the pandemic, we were consistently being proactive about getting in touch so that our clients would feel calm about their finances while world events were at their most stressful.”
“In the height of the market drop in late March 2020, I was constantly communicating with clients through email updates, on calls or video meetings reiterating to stay the course with their long-term investments,” said Greg O’Brien, CFP, CLU of Dunphy Molloy & Associates in St. John’s, NL. “Because we were there to work with them and address their concerns, there were very few that made the decision to sell out of the market at that time, and the ones that did were for very specific personal cash needs that we were able to guide them through.”
All told, a survey of approximately 150 Advocis member financial advisors showed that holding on to investments, updating estate plans and establishing emergency funds were the most-commonly seen ‘smart moves’ made by clients with the counsel of their advisors, whereas overspending on conveniences, panic selling and dipping unnecessarily into savings were the mistakes and errors that advisors found themselves most often having to prevent clients from making – or helping them mitigate after the fact.
"Professional financial advisors understood from the very beginning of this pandemic that they would be the critical human link in ensuring that Canadians would stay the course and make the right financial decisions for themselves, their families and their businesses,” said Greg Pollock, President and CEO of Advocis, The Financial Advisors Assocation of Canada. “As vaccination distribution increases and Canadians from coast-to-coast look forward to the next stage of our recovery from COVID-19, our members are incredibly proud of the work they’ve done – and prepared for the work yet to come.”
About Advocis
Advocis, The Financial Advisors Association of Canada, is the largest voluntary professional membership association of financial advisors in Canada, representing more than 13,000 members and 40 Chapters across the country. Advocis offers designations, continuing education opportunities, industry-leading publications and membership in a chapter network with comprehensive mentorship programs, study groups and practice development resources. For more information, visit http://advocis.ca.