DANIEL H. ZWICKER, B.SC. (HONS.) P.ENG. CFP CLU CH.F.C. CFSB

Six  years ago, with the global financial collapse, the imbalance in numbers between the 90,000,000 retiring boomers in Canada and the US and the supply (less than 10,000 in Canada) of professionally designated financial planning retirement advisors in both lifetime capital and income preservation and asset growth captured my attention.

Given the seismic financial impact of the 2008 financial meltdown for boomers and others I concluded that a collaborative solution based upon real time social media web 2.0 digital access to unbiased (fiduciary based) financial retirement planning professional practitioners was essential to solve the imminent 30 - 40 year lifetime sustainable retirement income needs of Canadian boomers .

The discipline in my financial consulting practice derives from my formal education and corporate responsibilities in structural engineering within the structural steel industry and my corporate and entrepreneurial initiatives in the financial services sector including my insurance industry manpower and agency development leadership roles.

My financial services industry experience includes innovative cross channel distribution growth leadership, training, education, knowledge, skill, experience and successful execution in corporate sales development, agency manpower productivity and exponential corporate growth.

My objective is to make available my professional discipline and experience using my skills in client engagement, solutions analysis, sales growth, collaborative team building, manpower productivity development and real time communication by 'Raising The Bar' through professional practice.

Industry Association Leadership

Life Insurance Managers' Association of Canada (LIMAC)

President (Elected) Canada
Vice President (Elected) Canada
Secretary Treasurer (Elected) Canada

President (Elected) Toronto Chapter
Vice President (Elected) Toronto Chapter

Specialties:*Professional Engineers Ontario (P.Eng.)
*Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
*Chartered Financial Consultant (CH.F.C.)
*Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU)
*Chartered Financial Services Broker (CFSB)

 

 

Experience

FIRST FINANCIAL CONSULTING GROUP

June 1996 – Present Toronto, Canada Area

CORPORATE FINANCIAL CONSULTING
*Capital Risk Management
*Sustainable Lifetime Income
*Strategic Wealth Management

Financial retirement solutions focussed on sustainable lifetime retirement capital and income preservation through comprehensive personal, business, estate and succession planning within the investment and life insurance sectors of the financial services industry.

Agency manpower growth specialists in Advanced Life Insurance Applications, Estate Planning and Retirement Solutions

 Principal

FIRST FINANCIAL CONSULTING GROUP

June 1996 – Present Toronto, Canada Area

The provision of real time social media web 2.0 digital direct access to professionally designated and experienced comprehensive financial retirement planning advisors for the 1,000,000 Canadian boomers now retiring and 13,000,000 to follow over the next 18 years is our imperative. 90,000,000 North American boomers are preparing to retire - many in financial distress. The national and personal economic impact of a failure to solve this boomer financial need is second only to the financial distress 47,000,000 Americans face without healthcare. The boomers are seeking open and direct dialogue, professional competency, transparency and integrity of purpose....a concise definition of professional practice. We are professionally committed to, focussed on and capable of solving this financial breakdown of "The American Dream".

FOCUS:
In order to serve the real time access needs of boomers now retiring, we are enhancing the growth, productivity, compliance and retention of high performance financial services professional practitioners through a contemporary web 2.0 social media web based demand/distribution paradigm.

We are developing a financial services social networking platform initiative to identify and vet Canada's best and brightest professional financial advisors and then connecting them directly to the burgeoning market of critically underserved boomers who are ready to retire - and simply can't.

A REAL TIME MARKETING/DISTRIBUTION PARADIGM
We have adapted the distribution paradigm to accelerate real time boomer access to contemporaries collaboratively on an interactive web 2.0 social media based platform. Boomers who are actively engaged in their own retirement planning can compare notes and then have access to the best and brightest professional financial practitioners in Canada - professionally designated and qualified through their experience to assist the boomers in arriving at a specific solution to each of their unique retirement lifetime

DANIEL H. ZWICKER, CFP - CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER

June 1996 – Present Toronto, Canada Area

PERSONAL FINANCIAL CONSULTING
We provide financial solutions which guarantee the lifetime preservation of capital and income.

Our principal focus is the financial assurance of the 2nd 30 - 40 years of a client's lifetime during retirement

PRINCIPAL

FIRST FINANCIAL CONSULTING GROUP

June 1996 – Present Toronto, Canada Area

CORPORATE CONSULTING

Contracted to redesign contemporary distribution platform of a 135 year old fraternal benefit society - a member-based insurance organization - with a rich history of investing in the financial security of its members and sharing with the communities in which they live.

Contracted to implement a financial needs analysis software program for a leading global financial services institution. 5,500 advisors across Canada were trained using real time web based communications platforms.

Contracted to provide fee for service unbiased client investment portfolio performance oversight based upon investor's benchmarks. Focus is a sustainable (no shortfalls) 30 - 40 year lifestyle retirement income.

 

 

Blogs

 

Daniel H. Zwicker, CFP Blog: http://www.dzwicker.blogspot.com

FFCG Blog: http://www.dan-zwicker.blogspot.com

Beyond Risk Blog: http://www.beyondrisk.blogspot.com

BEYOND RISK - SUSTAINABLE LIFETIME RETIREMENT INCOME

 

PROFESSIONAL FIDUCIARY BASED FINANCIAL PRACTICE

BEYOND RISK - FREEDOM AT 45 - 55 - 65 - 75 - 85 - 95?? AT ALL OF THE ABOVE AGES - TO AGE 95 & BEYOND.

In a money economy, money is about personal freedom - of choice.

The criteria for freedom of choice are:

Lifetime sustainable Health

Lifetime sustainable Income

Almost everything else is negotiable.

Beyond Risk, our professional financial practice platform, is about people and their views on money....borne of over 30 years of front line experience and engagement in the arena of exponential corporate growth through financial practice building under 'fire' in a lifetime passion......the assuring of the future financial value of our time.....to allow for the completion of our lifetime personal and business financial objectives.

It is about character, integrity, people and their often complex and conflicting attitudes towards money.....its accumulation.....its preservation and its utility.

It is about the leadership of high performance professionals who are committed to managing the capital risk and the lifetime financial well being of their families, business associates and clients in the uncompromising role of a fiduciary.

It is about coaching exponential 'Olympian' class high performance confidence through personal empowerment.

Above all it is about ethical choice in every facet of financial decision making, advice and execution.

It is remarkable that, as a society, of all the basic life skill related subjects that we include in our children's early curriculum financial literacy is not one of them.......given that we live in a 'money' economy.

It is said that we each have a "Money Personality".

Nothing could be more accurate and more life defining.


Dan Zwicker
Toronto

BIO

DANIEL H. ZWICKER

 

September 1977 – Present Toronto, Canada Area

Dan Zwicker has advised individual and corporate clients on wealth management issues for over 37 years. During that time, he has held agency building leadership positions with some of Canada’s most successful life insurance companies and served individual and corporate clients as an independent financial consultant as well.

With considerable experience and expertise to draw on, Dan has chosen to focus his consultancy on sustainable 30 - 40 year lifetime retirement income, estate and business succession planning. A strong proponent of unbiased fiduciary based financial planning and investment portfolio oversight services, Dan engages clients one-on-one to assist them in achieving their lifetime retirement income objectives.
Born in Montreal, Dan studied structural engineering at Queen’s University in Kingston, where he earned an Honours Bachelor of Applied Science degree. In addition to his Professional Engineers (P.Eng.) designation, Dan's credentials include Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Chartered Financial Consultant (CH.F.C.).

With five children and seven grand children, Dan enjoys an active family life. He is an avid student of politics, economics and professional financial practice development.. Other interests include new business development, marketing, ‘Web 2.0’ social media, and coaching high performance team sports.

Daniel H. Zwicker, Principal

January 1977 – March 2013 Toronto

Professional Background

Daniel H. Zwicker, Principal
B.Sc. (Hons.) P.Eng. CFP CLU CH.F.C. CFSB
Professional Engineers Ontario
Certified Financial Planner
Chartered Life Underwriter
Chartered Financial Consultant
Chartered Financial Services Broker

Bus: 416-726-2427
Email: ffcg@rogers.com
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/danzwicker

Daniel H. Zwicker, CFP Blog: http://www.dzwicker.blogspot.com
FFCG Blog: http://www.dan-zwicker.blogspot.com
Beyond Risk Blog: http://www.beyondrisk.blogspot.com

First Financial Consulting Group
4261 Highway Seven Suite 238
Markham , Ontario L3R 9W6

*Capital Risk Management
*Lifetime Sustainable Income
*Strategic Wealth Management
Specialists in Advanced Life Insurance Applications and
Lifetime Sustainable Retirement Planning Solutions

New clients are accepted by referral only

'Raising The Bar'

CHARTERED FINANCIAL INVESTOR CONSULTANT

Weigh House Investor Services

September 2009 – December 2010 Toronto, Canada Area

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Weigh House is an investment industry ground breaking financial services professional practice which provides investor clients with unbiased investment performance oversight.

Client centric services are fee based and unbiased.

Weigh House Investor Services Inc. (Weigh House) is a financial consulting firm specializing in portfolio analysis, investment management consulting and on-going financial monitoring. Weigh House consults with clients on a one-time and on a continuous basis.

Certified by the Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX), Weigh House acts on behalf of its clients in a fiduciary capacity by preparing financial plans, Investment Policy Statements, asset allocation recommendations, due diligence on Investment Managers, fee & compensation analysis, investment performance reports, advice on investment strategies, and education.
Read more.....

http://dan-zwicker.blogspot.com/2010/07/access-to-professional-competence.html

Financial products are neither recommended nor sold. An hourly fee is charged based on the amount of time it takes to complete the work and on the level of complexity of each client's needs. No fees, commissions, bonuses, gratuities, or any other remuneration, whether financial or otherwise, are collected except what is received from clients.

The practice takes a fiduciary responsibility to clients to provide a transparent understanding of the performance of their investment portfolio including the costs and market risks associated with each of their investments.

Working relationships are collaborative with clients and their professional advisors to identify an investment portfolio which has the minimum rate of return necessary for them to achieve a sustainable income level which will support their lifestyle needs throughout their 2nd. 30 - 40 years in retirement.

The highly experienced team are among the best and the brightest financial professional practitioners in Canada.

SENIOR HIGH PERFORMANCE AGENCY DEVELOPMENT; MANAGEMENT

CANADA LIFE

January 1990 – September 1996 Toronto, Canada Area

Manpower recruiting, development and high performance growth.

# 1 HIGH PERFORMANCE NATIONAL AGENCY BUILDER

IMPERIAL LIFE TORONTO BAY

May 1981 – January 1990

Built corporate agency into #1 from # 20 in 4 years receiving numerous corporate & industry recognition awards for superior agency and industry sustained growth and leadership..

HIGH PERFORMANCE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: MARKETING / MDRT SALES / CLIENT CENTRIC SERVICE

IMPERIAL LIFE OTTAWA

September 1977 – January 1981 Toronto, Canada Area

Led all new Canadian life underwriting sales representatives at Imperial Life within 3 months of entering the industry.

Served on numerous Corporate and financial services industry marketing initiatives.

Million Dollar Round Table qualification (MDRT)] for 4 consecutive years prior to entering agency development.

MDRT represents the top 1% of all life insurance underwriters globally.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE - BY JANE GARBER

We all know that patience is a virtue. As per famous proverb: "all good things come to those who wait". However, lately I have thought about this concept further in trying to understand what being patient actually entails.

The normal dictionary definition of patience states that it is a capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. As Wikipedia puts it: "Patience is the level of endurance one can take before negativity".

I recall that about 15 years ago I would have been considered to be a very patient person. These days, with kids, a career and wanting to get some quality of life, I often find this virtue slipping through my fingers. Realising my own shortcomings, I have made a conscious effort to stop my thoughts in their tracks, just as my emotions are about to spill into the dangerous territory of becoming angry or upset. I have learned that being patient has many benefits in life, including:

1.       Becoming a better listener and more empathetic towards others, thus allowing others time to properly interact with you;

2.       Making better decisions as you are less likely to be irrational and fueled by emotion;

3.       Being able to teach your children right from wrong without screaming, loosing your cool and showing them the wrong example of behaviour (this one is the hardest by far);

4.       Developing faith and belief in yourselves and your ability to get to the end result you are so patiently waiting for;

5.       Reducing the levels of stress and anxiety; and

6.       Improving self-control.

Aristotle once said that "patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet". Most definitely, not often will you see the light at the end of the tunnel to be able to guide your thoughts and emotions in the right direction. However, all we can do is try our hardest. If all people in the world had at least 5% more patience and tolerance for things to come, we would be living in a very different world.

by Jane Garber

 

ROBERT REICH - THE MYTH OF LIVING BEYOND OUR MEANS

Robert Reich

You can watch Robert Reich on a video - click on the link below:

http://robertreich.org/post/42309110588
Thursday, January 24, 2013

Brace yourself. In coming weeks you’ll hear there’s no serious alternative to cutting Social Security and Medicare, raising taxes on middle class, and decimating what’s left of the federal government’s discretionary spending on everything from education and job training to highways and basic research.

“We” must make these sacrifices, it will be said, in order to deal with our mushrooming budget deficit and cumulative debt.
 

But most of the people who are making this argument are very wealthy or are sponsored by the very wealthy: Wall Street moguls like Pete Peterson and his “Fix the Debt” brigade, the Business Roundtable, well-appointed think tanks and policy centers along the Potomac, members of the Simpson-Bowles commission. These regressive sentiments are packaged in a mythology that Americans have been living beyond our means: We’ve been unwilling to pay for what we want government to do for us, and we are now reaching the day of reckoning.
 
The truth is most Americans have not been living beyond their means. The problem is their means haven’t been keeping up with the growth of the economy — which is why most of us need better education, infrastructure, and healthcare, and stronger safety nets.

The real median wage is only slightly higher now than it was 30 years ago, even though the economy is twice as large.
 
The only people whose means have soared are at the very top, because they’ve received almost all the gains from growth. Over the last three decades, the top 1 percent’s share of the nation’s income has doubled; the top one-tenth of 1 percent’s share, tripled. The richest one-tenth of 1 percent is now earning as much as the bottom 120 million Americans put together.
 
Wealth has become even more concentrated than income (income is a stream of money, wealth is the pool into which it flows). 
 
The richest 1 percent now own more than 35 percent of all of the nation’s household wealth, and 38 percent of the nation’s financial assets – including stocks and pension funds.

Think about this: The richest 400 Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million of us put together. The 6 Walmart heirs have more wealth than bottom 33 million American families combined.

So why are we even contemplating cutting programs the middle class and poor depend on, and raising their taxes?

We should tax the vast accumulations of wealth now in the hands of a relative few.

To the extent they have any wealth at all, most Americans have it in their homes – whose prices have stopped falling in most of the country but are still down almost 30 percent from their 2006 peak.
 
Yet homes are subject to the only major tax on wealth — property taxes.
Yale Professor Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott have proposed a 2 percent surtax on the wealth of the richest one-half of 1 percent of Americans owning more than $7.2 million of assets.
 
They figure it would generate $70 billion a year, or $750 billion over the decade. That’s more than the fiscal cliff deal raises from high-income Americans.
Together, the two sets of taxes on the wealthy — tax increases contained in the fiscal cliff agreement, and a wealth tax such as Ackerman and Alstott have proposed — would just about equal the spending cuts the White House has already agreed to, totaling $1.5 trillion (or $1.7 trillion including interest savings).
 
That seems about right.


That seems about right.

ROBERT REICH ON TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS IN THE U.S. - A GOP FRAUD?

Robert Reich:

 

"Just three points this morning, and a question to you. The three are: (1) Austerity economics (on which the nation has embarked) is a cruel hoax -- cruel because it hurts most those who are already hurting, and a hoax because it doesn't work. The deficit isn't the major problem now. It's down to 5.3% of GDP. The major problem is unemployment, falling wages, and widening inequality. (2) Trickle-dow...n economics (which the GOP is using to justify no tax hikes or loophole closers for the rich) is an old fraud -- old because it began under Ronald Reagan and continued under George W. Bush, and a fraud because nothing trickles down. The median wage, adjusted for inflation, is lower today than it was in 1981. Almost all the gains from the growing economy have gone to the top. (3) Neither of these bogus economic theories would be as dangerous were it not for the explosion of big money in politics -- most of it coming from the very rich, Wall Street, and big corporations -- which has undermined our democracy, fueled the Tea Party, financed the big lies, and got us to where we are today.

So here's my question: If you were President right now, what, exactly, would you do? (I'll give you my answer tomorrow.)"

ADVOCIS LEADS IN REGULATORY REFORM - 'RAISES THE BAR' ON PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE STANDARDS FOR FINANCIAL ADVISORS

By Kristin Doucet, Editor
Advocis Forum Magazine

Incoming chair Harley Lockhart talks about Advocis's proposal to raise the bar for financial advisors, his objectives for the year, and battling his personal demons.

If you ever meet Harley Lockhart, one thing you'll notice about the new chair of Advocis is that he is not afraid to speak his mind. In fact, his honesty is probably one of his greatest strengths.

"I can be blunt," says the 65-year old advisor, who is based in Kelowna, British Columbia. But for Lockhart, honesty is a good policy — one that has paid off in his several years as an Advocis board member and in his 28 years as a financial advisor. "I'm very unstructured, so it doesn't hurt to have structured people around me," he says, referring to those who serve on the board with him.
"The last thing I need is a bunch of 'yes' people; I need people who [can] challenge me and help me refine ideas."

As chair, Lockhart is currently leading board members — and the Advocis membership at large — on one of the most important initiatives in its 107-year history, one that is expected to bring about higher standards for financial advisors and increased consumer protection for consumers.

Millions of Canadians rely on financial advisors to provide them with sound financial advice and access to suitable financial products and services. While consumers should be able to count on widely-held standards of professionalism and a high degree of accountability from their advisors, the unfortunate reality is they can't.

Advocis's solution to this problem is to require all financial practitioners to belong to an accredited professional association. On February 8, 2013, Advocis president and CEO Greg Pollock relayed the details of Advocis's professions model proposal to Advocis members via webcast.

Considering that over 50 regulatory bodies impact the financial services profession, Lockhart believes there has never been a better time for Advocis's solution.

"Regulation has become more intrusive," says Lockhart. "Regulators don't know what it means to sit across from a client. So they try to come up with all these rules governing behaviour, [although] this behaviour is not as important as who's in the industry. If you get rid of the bad eggs, you get rid of the bad behaviour. That's what Advocis's proposal [to raise the professional bar] has the potential to do — get rid of most, if not all, of the bad eggs in our industry?'

Putting clients' interests first has always been a given for Lockhart, whose website states that the focus of his practice is"... to enhance my clients' quality of life by reducing financial stress." Lockhart provides insurance solutions to clients and works with them to understand the sources of their financial stress, which he has found is often the result of a disconnect between their values and where they spend their money.

"Many people don't recognize what's important to them:' he explains. "It's about [helping them to] prioritize?'

But Lockhart wasn't always so positive about the insurance business. After a failed business venture with a Robin's Donuts franchise in Burnaby, B.C. in the mid-80s, and with a wife and four young children at home, Lockhart found himself struggling to make ends meet. The representative from the Robin's group insurance plan suggested Lockhart speak with the regional manager at London Life about a job. Reluctantly, Lockhart agreed; however, he had already decided this was to be only a temporary gig.

"I told the regional manager that I wouldn't lie to people because I had to sleep at night, and that I probably wouldn't be a good fit in the industry:' he recalls. "That was my perception of the life insurance business at that time. I didn't understand it, nor did I really appreciate the good job the agent who had sold me my life insurance had done

In his first year at London Life, Lockhart sold over 100 life policies, and ended up working for the company for the next four years. While he struggled with the concept of "selling," he realized that he needed to learn how to communicate with clients without pressuring them.

"I had to change my vocabulary about the selling process. When you're trained in sales, you learn how to handle objections, close, etcetera — I had to get rid of those terms:' Lockhart explains. "So, my clients never have 'objections' — rather, they have 'concerns: which together we resolve. That's how I get on the same side of the table as the client. I never win unless the client does?'

From London Life, Lockhart moved to Canada Life in Kelowna, where he continued to work until the company dis­banded its career agency in the 1990s. In 1999, he became an  independent advisor, and today operates Quail Ridge Financial Services.

Lockhart's wife of 30 years, Dale, works with him in the office. "She tells me where to go and when to be there," he says with a laugh.

As a father and now grandfather, Lockhart has made it a pri­ority to balance work with family commitments. He coached all four children through their youth in various sports, having made the decision years ago to put his family before his job.

Lockhart recalls a story where he had been trying for months to get a meeting with a businessman in town. Reluctantly, the man finally gave him 15 minutes to meet. The day before the appointment, however, Lockhart discovered his oldest son was playing in a baseball game. When Lockhart called to cancel, he was sure that was going to be the end of the business relationship. To his surprise, the man was understanding and agreed to postpone the meeting. That day, his son made a game-saving play that Lockhart would have missed had he kept his appointment.

"[Being at my son's baseball game] was way more important to me than if I had made a million-dollar deal:' he says today. "The risk I took to the do the right thing paid off."

But Lockhart didn't always feel so confident in his decisions. In 1994, he suffered a serious bout of clinical depression, which resulted in his taking a year off work. Despite the stigma around mental illness, Lockhart is very upfront about his condition. He recently wrote an article about his experience for Visions magazine, which is published by the B.C. division of the Canadian Mental Health Association.

"I recognized from the outset that if I hide [my experience with depression], I give it more power than it [deserves]. When everyone knows about [the illness], it no longer has any power over me. I never had anyone reject me because I had clinical  depression," Lockhart says. "I was out of the business so long that no one expected me to come back. But I knew that it wasn't the job — it was me. So I did a lot of work on who I am."

Lockhart, who has been an Advocis mem­ber since 1985, obtained his chartered life underwriter (CLU) designation in 1994, and received the Leslie Dunstall Silver Medal for CLU studies for British Columbia. Lockhart has served in a number of volunteer capacities with the association, including eight years on the Advocis North Okanagan chapter with a stint as chapter president. Lockhart was also a member of the founding committee of the Okanagan School, where he continued as a director for nine years. He was also a member of the chapter leadership council, and was founding chair of the chapter board, on which he served as chair for four years.

For the past three years, Lockhart has been a director-at-large on Advocis's national board of directors, volunteering in the areas of communications and membership. He was also chair of the task force that revised the Advocis Code of Professional Conduct, and over the last three years has served on the executive committee of the national board as treasurer and as vice-chair.

"Harley is the ultimate Advocis member," says Dean Owen, past chair of Advocis and fellow board member. "He has incredible passion for his business, for the industry, and to give in all facets of his life."

Lockhart's passion is evident in his desire to communicate to Advocis members in ways that emotionally resonate with them. Whether it's his Holiday/Christmas or Valentine's Day messages, FORUM columns or individual member emails, Lockhart strives to personalize his communication in a way that he hopes will encourage members to respond.

"Communication is my number-one priority as chair," he says. "Because our members are entrepreneurs, we need to communicate with them in ways that engage them. Communication needs to be something we do with members, not to them."
Lockhart believes Advocis needs to appeal more to the emotional side of members as opposed to the intellectual side, because "that is where every decision is made." This is not unlike how he communicates with his own clients.

Lockhart sees his role in the association as "the little wooden stick that you put in the paint can to [stir things up ];' adding that he initially got involved as a volunteer with Advocis out of frustration with the association. "From day one," he says, "my focus has been on changing things [for the better]."

One of the changes Lockhart would like to see as chair is a higher level of engagement with Gen Y advisors - or the "after boomers" as he likes to call them . Lockhart believes this necessitates a rethink of the ways in which the organization communicates with this demographic. To this end, he has created a task force made up of Gen Y advisors to help genera te ideas about how best to do this.

Lockhart's other main objective as chair is to have mandatory membership for all advisors in an accredited professional asso­ciation in at least one province by the end of the year.

One of the challenges Lockhart sees with Advocis's proposal for mandatory membership is that it may not translate into more members for the association. The proposal doesn't specify any one particular association that advisors would have to join; but as Lockhart also points out, Advocis already has the structure in place to be the preferred association for financial advisors.

In order to be accredited under Advocis's proposal, a professional association would have to meet certain criteria including: a code of code of conduct and ethics that prioritizes clients' best interests; a requirement that members maintain errors and omissions insurance; elevated minimum initial proficiency standards of fee-only planners who do not sell financial products; contin­uing education requirements; a best practices manual or practice handbook ; a governance structure that includes representation from both financial advisors and the public; a complaints and disciplinary process; and a public-facing database whereby clients can conduct a quick check of advisors' credentials and disciplinary history.

"At the end of the day, our members will determine whether or not Advocis is their association of choice. Advocis has a   consistent track record of always putting clients' interests first. Since 1906, our motto has been non solis nobis- 'not for our­ selves alone'- and I think this gives us a huge amount of credibility."

The timing of Advocis's proposal coincides with a recent submission Advocis made to the Canadian Securities Administra tors (CSA ) with respect to an October 20 12 paper on duty of care, and an upcoming response to a December 20 12 paper on traiing commissions.

It would seem, notes Lockhart, that the CSA is being influenced by what is happening in other jurisdictions, like the U.K. and Australia, which are implementing new regulations banning third-party commissions on financial products as a result of widespread fraud. But as Lockhart argues, the problems in Canada aren't the least bit similar.

"The perception of the problems we are having in Canada have been created by a few columnists at the national newspa­pers- that's not the reality," he says. "There's not a huge public outcry [for these regulatory changes in Canada ] . The stories that have hit the press are about criminal behaviour. No matter how many rules you create, you're not going to capture the criminals."

Lockhart explains that there is already a fiduciary duty in place for Advocis members. The first tenet of the Advocis Code of Professional Conduct requires all members to always put their clients' interests first."Our approach is principles-based," he says. "We have eight principles in our code of conduct and there are no shadows in which to hide. I don't see what will be accomplished by having a fiduciary duty enshrined in legislation or by abolishing cmissions in Canada."

According to a new report from Deloitte called Bridging the Advice Gap, 87 per cent of 2,000 U.K. consumers who purchased investments didn't realize there were embedded commissions. Furthermore, the report finds that advisors who are now required to charge a separate fee can expect a backlash consumers.

As expected, the less the amount of investable assets, the more likely a consumer will be to reject paying a fee and thereby hire a financial advisor.

Should a similar ban on commissions happen in Canada , Lockhart sees the potential widening of the advice gap as a seri­ous threat to the financial future of many consumers.

"People are happy with the current system - they don't want to have to write a cheque for the advice they receive." he says.

"There are many consumers with small asset levels who will not write a cheque for service; these are the people who probably need advice the most."

What the consumer should focus on, says Lockhart, is not the commissions paid to the advisor but rather the benefit they receive from the advice. "There are three factors in any product: the price, the cost, and the value. The price is the number — it has no relevance whatsoever; the cost is what you give up to get what you want; and the value is the perceived importance of the benefit received. While the cost and the value are what's most important to the consumer, most of the focus in the media has been on the price of advice, not the value," he says.

Studies on the value of financial advice, such as the recent CIRANO study, demonstrate the positive effect of advice on wealth accumulation. The CIRANO study, the largest and most scientif­ic  of its kind in Canada, offers compelling evidence that those who use advisors have two to three times more assets, save twice as much, and are better prepared for retirement than those who don't.

To Lockhart, proposing higher standards for advisors is a natural progression for Advocis, which has been advocating on behalf of its members and their clients for over a century. To that end, Lockhart's vision for the association is that it is recognized by professionals and consumers, regulators and politicians for what it really is: an organization committed to enhanc­ing consumer protection by promoting advisor professional­ism. Again, Advocis's motto — non solis nobis — "not for ourselves alone" — is proof of that, he says.

"I don't think we can overplay that motto, because it's true. I think we need to bring that to the forefront all the time."