Behind the Advice

Herman Chan’s path to becoming a financial planner was anything but linear. He started out with a journalism degree and a dream of being a sports writer, before a stint in retail management convinced him it was time for a career change.

After 15 years of supporting other advisors at major firms such as RBC and London Life (now Canada Life), Herman took the leap into independent advice. We talked about his "frugal-boomer" upbringing in Port Coquitlam, B.C., why he thinks every good advisor needs to be a bit like Batman, and the “Platinum Rule” that guides his new firm, Crimson Financial.

 

 

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Imagine being fifteen years old, sitting in a private school classroom, and being told you have to leave because the tuition hasn't been paid. For Elke Rubach, that moment was the beginning of a crash course in what happens when a family assumes someone else is “handling the money.”

Elke’s journey from that uncertainty led her across the globe, from practising law in Mexico City to the London School of Economics, and eventually to the high-stakes world of banking compliance in Canada. 

Today, Elke runs a holistic family advisory firm where she uses her legal background to stress test her clients' lives. She and Brenda discuss her transition from lawyer to advisor, why she describes her business as a “game of bumper cars”, and how she helps families avoid the trauma of running a financial marathon without any training.

 

 

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Money choices are rarely simple. They come wrapped up in fear, ambition, regret and our own life experiences. On season four of Behind the Advice, we’re going deeper into the world of the adviser. Not just the polished presentations and growth charts, but the late‑night client calls, awkward confessions, and the moments when plans collide with things like illness, divorce, job loss or sudden opportunity. In each episode, we talk candidly with advisors about how they found their way into the industry, the lessons carved out over decades of markets and mistakes, and the personal histories that quietly steer the counsel they give. Season four launches on May 20th.

 

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This week, Brenda speaks with Jay Smith, senior portfolio manager at CIBC Wood Gundy. Jay talks about his early career as an academic, how a PHD in philosophy prepared him for the world of finance, and how he talked his way into a job at Merrill Lynch in the 1970s. He also shares some lessons he’s learned over his five decades in the investment industry and how those experiences have shaped the investment strategy he uses today.

 

 

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This week, Brenda speaks with Lori Curtiss, a certified financial planner and the founder of A Money Maker Mindset, based in Calgary. The two talk about Lori’s childhood in a small farming community in Alberta, the financial challenges of becoming a single mother at 18, and how she learned to be less controlling with her own money later in life. Lori also discusses why choosing to become an advice-only financial advisor was the best move of her career and how she built a thriving practice despite a strong dislike of networking.

 

 

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