Getting to Know My Clients
Tired of turkey sandwiches yet, ?
I hope you had an excellent long weekend and are coming out of your turkey coma well rested!
Over the past couple months I have been having a lot of calls with many of you discussing something called “Know Your Client”. Most firms would have this type of call every three years, but we have a higher level of diligence and responsibility here.
The Know Your Client (KYC) responsibility has been around since before I started in this career, but I don’t feel like many in the industry take it seriously - it’s more a regulatory nuisance for many. For many of my calls it is pretty straight forward. We tend to speak on a regular basis and you are great at letting me know when your situation has changed. Cherry Hill is not a firm that has thousands of clients, so we get to know our clients on a more personal level than many others in the industry. Even so, we tend to uncover some changes that could affect what we want to do with you portfolio or make changes to your financial plan. I have had conversations with clients recently that are looking to purchase a property, taken on more debt, or are expecting a new child. Each of these has led us to make some changes to their risk tolerance and investment selections. I’m sure we would have had a conversation about it, but it gives us an opportunity to go through changes to your life and to what’s available in the industry on a regular basis. That being said, if there’s a major change in your life, please let us know!
We have to update this KYC information every year because many of our client’s accounts are held in a discretionary portfolio. This means that our team of CFA Portfolio Managers are able to make strategic moves on your behalf, in real time. In a regular portfolio, I would see an opportunity and would reach out to each client individually and have a conversation about why it’s a good fit before making the purchase or sale. Of course, this is time consuming and prices and opportunities will change throughout a day (or two) as we attempt to contact every client where there’s a fit. By our team acting on your behalf, they are able to make the change to every client at the exact time that the opportunity exists. This means quicker execution and better results for every client.
And on that note, here is the latest trade updates for our WPP clients (here).
Have a great weekend,
Trevor
We managed to head up to Sudbury for some family time this past weekend and when it wasn’t snowing (yes, it really snowed!), we were fortunate to enjoy some amazing fall colours.
PS. Check out the new Wealth Building video (here) or on our Facebook page!
