From Farmer to Sun Life Advisor: A 10-Year Plan Gone Horribly Right

A Farm Boy Grows Up Fast

I grew up on my family’s farm in rural Saskatchewan, in a small town of only about 600 people. We grew mixed grains and raised cattle, and I was helping out around the farm and running equipment from the age of about eight—that was the norm in those days. When I was 14, my father passed away unexpectedly, and that thrust me into farming on a nearly full-time basis, school being my other main priority. It was that experience that, in a roundabout way, set me on a path toward a career as an Advisor.

When you go through a tragedy or other life-altering event, one of the things it affects is your relationship with money—it’s something I observe with clients all the time. Some people feel empowered by money. For others, its power is almost something to be feared. My mother had a 10^th-grade education, and our family had no financial plan, so what I learned was money’s value as a safety net—something I’d wished we’d had. I continued to work as a farmer for many years, but I never forgot that lesson, and that’s ultimately what inspired my change in careers.

Changing Lanes: A 10-Year Plan Gone Wrong (or Right?)

I opened my advisory practice when I was still working as a farmer. I had a goal of expanding my farm to a certain size, so I created a ten-year plan—I would continue to farm while also working as an Advisor. This would enable me to expand the farm without going into debt. What ended up happening was that my business took off, and I was faced with a choice.

My wife Jocelyne, who is also an Associate Advisor, helped me take stock of the situation. She said: “We’re raising a young family, you’ve got your Sun Life practice, and you’ve got the farm. I think you can only do two of those three things really well. I’m happy with whatever you choose, but please choose wisely.” She was absolutely correct. The farm was over 100 kilometres from our office, and I simply didn’t have time to be both a full-time farmer and a full-time Advisor. After careful consideration, I chose to step away from the farm on an active basis and continue with my burgeoning practice.

Others now run my old family farm, but I still lend a hand when I can, including helping to seed in the spring and harvest in the fall. Every professional has their thing that helps them get away from the office; for many Advisors, it’s golf or fishing, but for me, it’s spending 15 hours by myself in a tractor. It might sound unconventional to some, but it keeps me tied to my roots.

There’s a saying out here on the Prairies that you may have heard: “You can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy.” I guess I’m living proof of that.

Farming and Finance: More Similar Than You’d Think?

Most of the clientele we work with are farmers or others within the Agriculture sector. We also service non-farming clients—dentists, veterinarians, construction and manufacturing companies—but in Saskatchewan, most people make their living from Agriculture either directly or indirectly.

My experience on the farm helps me relate to clients and gives me a distinct recruitment advantage. Often, after I’ve told a prospective client about my background, they’ll ask me about what kind of tractors I’ve used, what equipment I’d recommend, and so on. Recently, a client, who is a farmer, purchased a brand-new seeding unit. I knew that several other clients were considering buying the same piece of equipment, so I spent hours texting with the farmer to see how the new unit was working out. It’s that type of service that forms the foundation for the kind of personal connection that we’re always aiming to build with clients. Regina is a fairly small community, so we often run into clients at our kids’ activities and other local events. We’re also frequently invited to clients’ kids’ dance recitals, hockey games, and skating competitions. We’re happy to support clients and their families in that way, because for us, it's important that our relationships with clients are more than just transactional.

One of the things I learned from my career as a farmer is the value of long-term thinking, and I try to impart that to clients. Many of the farmers we’ve worked with tend to be fairly risk averse—they’ve preferred safety and security in their investments. The irony is that many of them are more than willing to put millions of dollars into the ground. Farmers are used to thinking years in advance. I like to tell them that your portfolio’s value will fluctuate but to focus on the long-term. By peeling back the onion a bit and explaining exactly what clients are investing in, I’m able to help them feel more comfortable with their investments. Diversification is another concept that many farmers understand intuitively. Most grain farmers aren’t just growing wheat—they diversify by planting other crops as well. It’s a small leap from that to explaining why it makes sense not to have all your investments in one geography or sector.

Growing for the Future

My practice has grown significantly since I first became a Sun Life advisor in 2000. Around seven years ago, my wife and I founded FieldView Financial Services Inc., which currently has one Advisor, three Associate Advisors and two offices, one in Regina and the other in the rural community of Weyburn about an hour’s drive away. We get a lot of walk-in traffic at our Weyburn location, which I imagine is quite different from an office in a big city. I also make it a point to have first meetings with prospective clients at their home whenever possible—farmers are proud but humble people, and I’ve found they tend to be more willing to share the details of their business and goals if they’re in a familiar setting.

We get most of our new business from referrals—it’s one of the benefits of operating in a tight-knit community. In November 2022, we also purchased a book of business, which was a great learning experience. Thus far, we’ve had success in retaining most of those clients because, like other clients, they place a high value on my hands-on experience in Agriculture.

One of the reasons we founded FieldView was because we wanted to have a succession plan in place for clients. Few people like change, and once we realized that we’d be retiring not long after many of those we serve, we knew that we needed to develop a strategy to put them at ease. Now, with a team around us that clients know and love, they can feel confident about continuing to receive the kind of personal, high-level service they’re accustomed to long after Jocelyne and I have stepped away from the practice.

Please contact your BMO Global Asset Management wholesaler for any additional support and guidance.