The Advisor Delta™

Narrator: Welcome to The Advisor Delta™, the practice management podcast dedicated to helping investment advisors grow their business and reach their goals. Whether you're looking to scale your practice, streamline operations, adapt to emerging technology, or deliver more value to clients, this is the place for actionable insights, thoughtful leadership, and innovative strategies. Brought to you by Worldsource Wealth Management. Let's dive in.

Wai-Ke: I'm your host, Wai-Ke Kim, VP of Practice Management at Worldsource Wealth Management. As we celebrate Women's Month, it's important to recognize the growing influence of women in the financial world, and the advisors leading the way.
Currently, only 15 to 20 percent of financial advisors in Canada are women, according to a 2023 report from Newswire.ca. And yet, by 2028, Canadian women are expected to control 4 trillion in assets, nearly doubling the 2.2 trillion they managed in 2023. The impact of female advisors is undeniable. Women investors are two and a half times more comfortable taking investment risks when working with a woman advisor.
We are here in London, Ontario for the very first episode and really excited to be joined by our first guest, Angel Georgiev. Angel is the financial planner and wealth advisor at Georgia Financial Group of Worldsource Financial Management Inc. It's so nice to see you. How are you today?

Angel: Great, Wai-Ke. Thanks so much for making the trip out to London today. And thank you for bringing on the snow.
Wai-Ke: We did. We did. You know, I planned it all. Perfect. For our listeners today, please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Angel: Certainly. I have been in the financial services industry coming up on 23 years. I joined our family firm many, many moons ago and worked with my father Walter for a number of years before he retired. I now manage a multi-generational family practice. We work with three and four generations of families in Southwestern Ontario, as well as small business owners.
I have a fabulous team that helps to support not only myself, but really our clients. There's two advisors and a couple of support staff as well.

Wai-Ke: For many advisors, that's the dream to have one of their children take over and grow their practice. It's great to hear that you've been able to continue the family legacy and build a practice that spans generations. When I think about your career in financial advising and what initially drew you, I'm curious about how you got started in the field. I imagine a young Angel walking around with pigtails and braces. Who was that girl? What were you like back then?

Angel: You know, I effectively grew up in the industry. My dad had a very long career, 40 years when he retired. So, I effectively grew up in this world and it really is a part of who I am. I started in the career right out of school, started working in the family business and have done virtually every role you can imagine within the office, from administration, did some of the accounting for a while, and then obviously seeing and working with clients directly.

Wai-Ke: That's really great, Angel. Can you share a few of your career journey highlights as a female financial advisor? What about some pivotal moments as well?

Angel: Oh gosh, the industry has changed so drastically over my 22, almost 23 years. Initially, when I joined the industry it was incredibly rare to see a female advisor at an industry meeting. There was maybe two of us in the room and typically we were just viewed as assistants. And I can't tell you how many times I got asked whose assistant I was when I was sitting in those rooms. Fast forward to today. And there are so many more women within our industry, powerful women managing great, wonderful businesses and working with their clients.
So it's been a beautiful thing to witness over those years, how much that has changed. In terms of pivotal moments, I think having a hand in growing our family business and growing those relationships and working with multiple generations of clients has been incredibly rewarding. It's probably my favorite part about what we get to do. Their families become part of our family and that's an incredible privilege.

Wai-Ke: That's really great. I love that. I can imagine that there were probably some challenges that you may have encountered as a female advisor. I wonder, were there certain things that jump out at you in terms of the challenges that you faced and how did you overcome them?

Angel: Certainly in the early years, I think the combination of being one of the few females in the industry was not as common and my age being quite young, was not a great combination early on. It was difficult to be taken seriously in those early years and I think a lot of the perception was that I was there because I was someone's daughter. And that's how I earned that position, that it was effectively given to me and not earned. Anyone who knows my father knows that that is certainly not the case and not something he would have done. But I think the perception that I hadn't earned that place was difficult in those early years. Certainly, I don't think that's the case, and I do believe you do have to earn your position in this world. So that's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think there were additional challenges because of the nature of our business and how we were structured.

Wai-Ke: I'm going to go back to a young version of Angel as I'm picturing her with her pigtails and braces and, you know, not every child follows the footsteps of their parents and goes into the family business of financial advising. What was it that made you think that this was for you? Because you're saying some people thought it was a handout or that it was just the family business and therefore you got it just being born into it. But sounds like you might have made a conscious decision to enter the field. What was that process for you as a young person?

Angel: That's actually a great question. When I was in high school, actually, and you know, you're approaching graduation, you're starting to think about what you want to do in post-secondary school, and I was always interested in business, interested in math, those were areas that I always enjoyed doing. And I always knew the family business was an option, but not a guarantee or not a certainty. So, with that uncertainty in terms of what I wanted to do next, I actually did an aptitude test, which I think many of us have done. And it was kind of funny because the results came out pointing directly to this world, marketing, insurance, investing, banking, anything in that category really is what it pointed directly to. So that really reaffirmed my thought process around pursuing this as a career. And then I attended post-secondary school with a big focus on personal finance and kind of found my love for it through
that.

Wai-Ke: So it was quite early on, it sounds like, that you had made this decision. Were there any other options that you were considering, or did Walter say to you, "Is there anything else you might like to try?"

Angel: Yeah, I looked at working at a large carrier for a while and considered perhaps starting in a head office type setting. I did do a co-op in a bank, so I did work as, at the time, I think they would have been called tellers back then. Always enjoyed working with clients and directly with consumers, so I knew that that was going to be something that I would get the most joy out of and satisfaction from. Head office is not likely a place that I would have quite frankly enjoyed. So it just kind of made sense to start in the business and certainly my dad always made it clear that I wasn't required to stay. His expectation was that I stayed because I enjoyed it and because I loved it, not because he expected me to continue to work in the business.
So it really got to be an active choice of mine all the way along to continue on building our business the way we had. And I think it was a great gift that he gave to me. That there was always that opportunity that if for some reason, any reason at all, I changed my mind, didn't want to do it anymore, he didn't want me doing this job or this career because it was expected. He only wanted me to follow that because it was a passion and a dream.

Wai-Ke: Wonderful. I'm curious. You talked a little bit about some of the challenges that you faced as a female advisor and how people didn't necessarily take you seriously in that position and only landed it because of your hereditary positioning. I'm curious if you have noticed any differences in the way that you were treated or perceived compared to your male counterparts.

Angel: Well, certainly in the early years, again, because it was less common that there were female advisors in most rooms. I think by nature, we were not treated differently necessarily, but you could just see there was a stark difference in how many males or females were at any event. Again, fast forward to today, that certainly is not the case, not by a long shot, which is quite nice to see. I think there is very much a mutual respect in our industry for professionals who are holding themselves up to that higher standard. I think that is now the bar. I don't think it is as much gender based as it certainly once was.

Wai-Ke: And that's great. Thinking about this year's International Women's Day theme, "Accelerate Action," what do you think the industry is doing well in terms of gender equity? Do you think that there's still some room for improvement?

Angel: I think there's always room for improvement in anything, quite frankly. I think if we're not striving to improve, then we are stagnant. I think there's certainly value in ensuring that we do have inclusion amongst females and males at any table, and certainly embracing our differences in how we potentially work with clients, how we speak, the things that we deem valuable, or the values we have, I should say.
I think being aware that we are different is our best power, and being aware of how our differences can actually improve those conversations with our clients, I think is really the best thing that we can do. And I'm seeing that more and more in the conversations I have with my female and male counterparts because those conversations are more around, you know, what are your experiences with clients? How are you treating these different situations? And our viewpoints about how we handle those. Sometimes tough conversations with clients, I think our willingness to be open with each other is probably our greatest superpower right now, and that's certainly happening more and more.

Wai-Ke: It sounds like you work really collaboratively with your teams and the people around you. Angel, I'd like to know a little bit more about networking, and how important it is to you. I do feel that having a strong, supportive network is a really critical piece of having a successful practice. What tips do you think would be beneficial for women to think about when they're looking to expand their professional network? What about young women, you know, when they're just starting out? Is there any advice that you would give them?

Angel: The advice I would give to a young woman starting out would frankly be the advice I would give to any new advisor. I think the best thing you can do starting out is to get a mentor. Get two, get three. Having someone to bounce those ideas off of and speak with I think is incredibly valuable. I think learning from others is the best thing we can do. Find a group of advisors and put yourself out there, ask a lot of questions. It can be incredibly lonely sometimes and having someone to share war stories with is one of the best gifts you can give to yourself in our industry. Advisors are an incredibly social breed, for lack of a better term, and we are always eager to sit down over a cup of coffee, have you at our offices to talk about our experiences, to talk about how we run our businesses, about what works, what doesn't work, what challenges they have, what successes they have. A mentor and a network of supportive people is the thing that sometimes holds you up at the end of the day. And I don't know that that should end when you get to a more mature stage of your career. I think it is just as valuable throughout the entirety of your career. It's not always an easy career. It is tough some days and I'm fortunate enough to have that network and I've built that network over many years. For female advisors, we are so fortunate now that we can build out that network and I am so privileged to have a group of female advisors that I meet with on a monthly basis. We share laughs and we share a lot of stories. I find it so incredibly helpful to pick you up when you're just not feeling your best. I can't tell you how often that has come in handy and really helped to keep us all moving forward.

Wai-Ke: I'm thinking back to when I got into the industry and I was a young woman starting out, also running my own practice. And, I don't know that I was confident enough to approach these more senior advisors to ask for their advice and things like that. What advice would you have given me? You know, as somebody that was a bit more shy, didn't really know how to approach or ask questions of other advisors. I guess I would love to know, how do I just break out of my shell?

Angel: I can't say I do not feel the same. Certainly, you walk into a room of what appears to be advisors who have it all together. You know, they're professionals. You just assume they've all been doing this for years and years and years and have a very high level of success and you feel less than. Especially going in when you're young and just starting out. I think having the courage to sit at a table full of strangers is one of the best things you can do. It's not easy, but advisors are so incredibly social. And the advisor network is very close-knit. So when there's someone new, typically you know it. You see the new person in the room. And advisors are so welcoming that it is not the least bit unusual that they will just go over and introduce themselves and go, "Hey, haven't seen you around. You know, who do you work with? What are you doing?" "Come on, have a seat." I find that it's not as scary as it sounds. And I think walking into a room is probably the hardest part. And once you do so, I find so often, and I know I do this and other advisors that I know do this. If there's someone new, we welcome them with open arms. Because I think advisors know this is not always easy and there will be challenges. So having the guts to walk in a room is huge. And I think advisors support that.

Wai-Ke: So just getting through the door is the biggest step maybe?

Angel: Just show up.

Wai-Ke: I love that. I wish I had somebody like you in my life when I was starting out and just, you know, sharing their best tips. Of course, the road to gender equity in finance isn't only about advisory services, but it's about clients too. Have you noticed any increase in your number of female clients that you have been dealing with or couples where financial responsibilities are equally shared?

Angel: I've noticed over the years that female clients are more apt and comfortable being vocal through the conversations. And that they participate more in our conversations than perhaps they once did. I don't know if their role within the family unit has so much changed or if it has more to do with the fact that there is more information out there. So they feel a little more armed and ready to have those conversations. I have been told by some of our female clients that speaking with a female advisor gives them a little more comfort and confidence in asking some of those questions, which I think is fabulous. I don't want to say though that as a female advisor, it's really the only way to draw that out of your female clients. I think there are a lot of ways to do that regardless of whether you're dealing with a male or a female advisor, but I think it's certainly something that I've been seeing and observing that all members of the family tend to be more engaged now than perhaps they once were.

Wai-Ke: It's interesting. I was reading the other day that female investors, they tend to have a little bit more of an aversion, if you can call it that, to financial jargon. They don't necessarily want to have so much of those technical terms thrown at them because in some cases they might just feel like it's a bit demeaning to be using all of this jargon. Are there any strategies that you have found to be really effective in maintaining relationships with female clients?

Angel: Absolutely. Something I've always noticed when dealing with clients over many years. I think advisors can be guilty of trying to use a lot of jargon, a lot of complicated terminology to make themselves sound more educated, more professional, more prepared to deal with their client's challenges. But what I've noticed is that in acknowledging the fact that the industry as a whole loves to use jargon. I mean, we have an acronym, I think, for everything now. If we wanted to, we could speak in acronyms and not sentences. I think acknowledging that to clients and making light of the fact that our industry does make it complex and overcomplicated. We make ourselves sound so highly educated that it sometimes alienates and makes clients feel less than.

Wai-Ke: It feels alienating.

Angel: It does, it does. We have tough conversations sometimes. We're talking about things that sometimes don't shed the greatest light on their financial decisions or on where we're headed and the difficult decisions we perhaps have to make. Making someone feel comfortable, I think, is one of the primary responsibilities we have as advisors because we are potentially having some difficult conversations. So, I think the best thing we can do is acknowledge the fact that as an industry, we do a very bad job at explaining those terms and breaking it down into what they actually mean in using language that clients really understand. This engages them in the conversation. I've seen this, and I think I made the same mistake when I was young as most advisors do when they're young. You use all the big words and all the big terms to sound really, really smart, and to show that you deserve a seat at that desk or at that table. But it's interesting because as you start to break that down and speak to people in a way that makes sense to them or you watch their body language and you can see that you've kind of lost them. You're explaining a concept and you can see their eyes are wandering and you can see they're disengaging from the conversation. If you pay attention to those cues when you're talking to your clients, you can really bring them in and make them feel as though they are participating in those decisions instead of just nodding and smiling and they leave at the end of the day going, I'm not really sure what just happened or what she said. One of my goals is ensuring that clients really do have an active role in what we're doing and in the decisions we're making together.

Wai-Ke: That makes a lot of sense. If you're having a conversation with both the male and female partners, does it make the conversation any different? Would you change the terminology because you have her in the room versus if you only had a male client, how does that work?

Angel: For me, no. I find female clients typically are more apt to ask questions when they don't understand something. Whereas, overarchingly, you'll see males perhaps not wanting to acknowledge that they don't understand something, or just assuming that they should understand everything. It's like going to the doctors and just assuming if they use all of their big jargon and big words, we naturally know what's happening. We don't. Ask questions.
Part of what I try to be cognizant of and do during those meetings is to see when you might be losing them a little bit and answer those questions sometimes before they ask them, so they don't feel intimidated about having to ask for clarification. I find that ensures they are engaged, comfortable participating, and it opens the door for them to feel comfortable asking further questions.

Wai-Ke: It sounds like you do a really good job of watching and observing your clients and just being mindful of what is going on inside of their heads when you're having conversations with them. In your experience, are there any key areas that female clients might need more support than their male counterparts? We talked about one area with jargon. Is there anything else that jumps out at you?

Angel: I think confidence is a big one for female clients who perhaps weren't as active in participating in those meetings in previous discussions or weren't as comfortable having those hard conversations. I aim to give them a place where they feel comfortable to participate and lean into those conversations.
In many spousal relationships, one spouse takes the lead. I always joke with clients, functionally, it doesn't make sense for everyone to hold hands and pay all the bills. Usually, that is somebody's responsibility because that's not what we're going to spend our nights doing. It's common in those relationships that someone is going to take the lead in these conversations, especially on the financial side. But that doesn't make it any less necessary to engage both parties in a couple, so they have confidence moving forward and into the decisions they're making. My goal is always that everyone is comfortable at the end with any decisions we make and that they have enough information to walk confidently into that next step.

Wai-Ke: I suppose in some ways it's not really about being different to any one of your clients or treating them separately. It really is about being inclusive and understanding what will be the most welcoming for all parties in the conversation. My final question for you is, if there was one tip or piece of advice that you wished women knew about money, what would that be?

Angel: Knowledge is power. Ask questions and be curious during those conversations. Meetings with your advisor are your perfect opportunity to ask those questions and gain more knowledge and insight. Most advisors are more than happy to share any information they have, any tips and tricks, and to provide resources of where you can learn more. Those interactions are incredibly valuable, and I encourage clients to take advantage of those discussions so that they can learn a little bit more. Knowledge in every area of your life is power, and certainly in finance, that's true as well.

Wai-Ke: You are so right, Angel. Knowledge is power. I'm sure your clients really appreciate how you meet them where they're at and keep everything so inclusive. It's always such a pleasure speaking with you. How was it doing this podcast today?

Angel: Thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here, and it's been a great experience to sit down and have these conversations.

Wai-Ke: And thank you to our listeners for joining us for the very first episode. Until next time.

Narrator: Thanks for tuning in to The Advisor Delta™. We hope you found today's episode valuable in supporting your practice. For more episodes and insights, don't forget to subscribe and visit us at www.worldsourcewealth.com. And remember, together, we can take your practice to the NextLevel™.
Worldsource Financial Management Inc., a mutual fund dealer, and Worldsource Securities Inc., an investment dealer, are divisions of Worldsource Group of Companies Inc., operating as Worldsource Wealth Management. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the participants only.
This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or professional advice. Listeners are encouraged to seek professional guidance for their specific needs. Worldsource Wealth Management does not endorse any products, services, or companies mentioned in this episode.