When it comes to the ongoing training provided by dealer firms, the financial advisors surveyed for this year’s Dealers’ Report Card are looking for accessibility and variety — whether it’s in the physical world or online.
In fact, advisors with Ottawa-based Independent Planning Group Inc. , Mississauga, Ont.-based Investment Planning Counsel, Toronto-based Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd. , Richmond Hill, Ont.-based Global Maxfin Investments Inc. and Lévis, Que.-based Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network rated their firms higher by half a point or more in the “ongoing training” category because these firms have placed greater emphasis on this area.
Advisors with IPG — which received one of the highest ratings in the category, rising to 9.0 from 8.1 in last year’s survey — speak highly of their access to online and in-person training.
“They have live and Web-based seminars,” says an IPG advisor in Ontario. “They have resource people on staff; they do training and provide one-on-one help.”
IPG’s ongoing training efforts focus on an annual conference as well as monthly professional-development days and webinars. As well, IPG has added to its insurance training with a new monthly “living benefits” day. The initiative covers products such as critical illness, disability and long-term care insurance. Says Vince Valenti, IPG’s president and CEO: “There are more than a hundred hours a year of continuing education.”
IPG promotes its webinars as a means of training, particularly for advisors in remote locations or who are simply located far from head office, says Valenti: “It really opens it up to everyone.”
Assante advisors gave their firm a rating of 7.3 in the category, up from 6.7 last year. The reason? Many say the online training provided is helpful and thorough.
“Online, they have training on privacy legislation, administrative procedures — but it’s mostly on compliance,” says an Assante advisor in British Columbia. “So, you can’t say you didn’t know something because it’s usually something you can find online.”
Assante’s strategic business-development team is continually launching online modules that are often based on live seminars, says Steve Donald, Assante’s president and CEO.
Another firm that has stepped up its ongoing training efforts is Global Maxfin. In fact, its advisors rated the firm at 7.1 in the category vs 5.7 in 2010. Many say they are happy about their firm’s investments in this area.
“They’ve made a marked effort, so kudos to them,” says a Global Maxfin advisor in Alberta with its Professional Investments Services (Canada) Inc. subsidiary. “They’ve hired a national sales manager and they’re doing training tours.”
Among the new initiatives Global Maxfin has launched are financial forums, which the firm plans to run three times a year, says Richard Pyper, the firm’s executive managing director: “The [advisors] who attended thought it was very good. The content and the speakers were good, and [the advisors] left with valuable information.”
Despite the new initiatives, some Global Maxfin advisors still feel the firm has some way to go with its ongoing training.
“We were supposed to have webinars last year,” says a Global Maxfin advisor in Quebec. “They gave us a full year’s schedule, but we’ve only seen two go through.”
A lack of access to training, both in person and online, was an issue for other advisors who were less satisfied with their firm’s ongoing training programs. Advisors with Calgary-based Portfolio Strategies Corp. rated their firm at 7.6, down from 8.2 last year; they say they want more variety in the content and location of their training.
“I’ve never been to their conferences because they have them too far out west,” says a Portfolio Strategies advisor in Ontario. “[As well], it would be better if there was a stronger focus on compliance training.”
Portfolio Strategies is, in fact, changing the location of its tenth annual conference, says president Mark Kent: “This year, we’re going to Niagara-on-the-Lake. [The annual conference] is usually out in B.C., but we’re going to give Ontario a shot.”
And advisors with Markham, Ont.-based Worldsource Financial Management Inc. rated their firm among the lowest in the survey because they feel its ongoing training is insufficient in regard to consistency and content.
Says a Worldsource advisor in Ontario: “They don’t do enough. And whatever there is, we walk away feeling we didn’t learn much.” IE