CH: What We Believe

CH: What We Believe

When I look at CH Financial, what it is to our clients, to my colleagues, and me personally, I think about several things. Each of these things is integral to our success, past, present, and future, and I wanted to share them with you, our clients.

Clients First. Always

This is our corporate motto and drives everything we do here at CH. And while it is true that every company says something like “the client always comes first”, for us this statement encompasses some very specific obligations for the firm.
First, each of our advisors is capped in the number of client families he or she is expected to care for. This means that we have one of the highest ratios of advisors to families in the financial industry, with no advisor having direct responsibility for more than 100 families. This compares to an industry average that is often 300 or more. It also means that no client will ever be just a number to us. Each advisor can get to know, and serve, our clients and their needs on a much deeper and more meaningful level.
Second, every one of our advisors can step in to help with a specific client need whenever required. Whether it is a specialized issue relating to tax, investments, insurance, estate planning, or anything else, we will work as a team to provide service in a timely, efficient, and effective manner.

Finally, “Clients First. Always”, means having CH partner with the right specialist firms that we have vetted on our clients’ behalf, allowing us to meet more complex challenges as they arise. This gives us access to levels of expertise in tax, investment management, and estate planning, for example, that may not be available for smaller advisory firms, or that may come at a substantially higher cost with the bigger ones.

Working with “Aspirational Clients”

Unlike many firms in the industry, we do not have asset minimums for our clients. Instead, we look for people who want more from their accountant than just tax preparation. More from their advisor than just mutual fund or stock selection. More from their agent than just an insurance policy. Our ideal client is aspirational. They want to have each of these components of their financial lives integrated into a complete plan that works best for them. They want to avoid the slippage that can take place when the accounting “hand” may not know what the investment and insurance hands are doing.

Many of our clients start with modest means, but they want to participate in a plan that will build their wealth over time, and they want someone who will help them create and monitor each of the component parts of their specific situation. It is our job here at CH to make sure that these clients get the level of management, service, and support that they expect.

Process Matters

With many of the services we provide to our clients, there is no need to “reinvent the wheel”. We have worked hard to develop time-tested processes when preparing tax returns, selecting investment management partners, building portfolios, providing insurance solutions, building solid financial and estate plans, and addressing any other financial needs our clients might have.

And when we work with other professionals hired by our clients, we have processes for that too! Since we work in each of these fields ourselves we know the languages and lingo of those industries. We know how to coordinate with them. The model I admire most and seek to emulate is that of the Mayo Clinic. Every patient is assigned a doctor that accompanies the patient on every step of their medical journey, working together with the needed specialists to help heal the client, and also to explain what is happening every step of the way. Similarly, here at CH, our clients are assigned a specific advisor who then accompanies them through each stage of a financial problem or challenge.

Management Matters

What we mean by Management Matters is that we are firm believers in active vs. passive investment management. Having someone highly trained in the industry picking and monitoring every investment will lead to long-term outperformance, lower levels of risk, or both when compared to blindly buying indexes.

The best-run companies in the world are distinguished by more than just their products or specific services. What makes them stand out and perform better than their competition is solid management. So it is as well with investing. We want to know that someone is manning the ship, and making sure that it can steer its way through choppy markets, and profit when those markets are prospering.

Independence Matters

CH prides itself in being a fully independent advisory firm, meaning we do not have sales quotas or proprietary products. We are free to provide the best possible advice to our clients without having to answer to a corporate head office. Likewise, while we seek to develop long-term relationships with all of our business partners, we are not wedded to any of them. If a specific relationship no longer serves our client’s needs, then we can, and will end it.

Transparency Matters

The worlds of finance, insurance, and tax can often appear mysterious, and even intimidating to many clients. And we do not deny that these fields can be complex and require a great deal of expertise to navigate successfully. That said we know that our clients like to be educated about what we are doing on their behalf and trust us to get our answers and solutions right. This means we are happy, willing, and able to share as much information as our clients want on what we are doing for them.
For example, we show you every piece of the investment wheel, who manages which parts of your portfolio, and why we use them. We show you how much you have invested with us, and how much has been made, or lost, in any given year, as well as on rolling 3, 5 year, and longer time horizons.

Likewise, with tax returns, we go through the numbers with our clients showing them how much they paid in tax, as well as how much they saved by using the various strategies we employed to help minimize the tax man’s bite.
We understand that not everyone wants to know everything about what we do, but when a client asks, we are always willing to share and answer those questions.

Giving Back

We at CH, and our clients, have been greatly blessed in our lives. This has meant that every member of the CH team remains deeply committed to causes beyond the world of finance. We see our jobs as helping to build a better world for our clients, and also for society as a whole. This takes many forms ranging from my personal and financial commitments to the Calgary Philharmonic and McGill University, to the many various charities supported by the members of our team, including Knights of Columbus, the Women’s Shelter, and the Brenda Stafford Foundation.

We bring this passion to our work and strive to help our clients focus their energy and resources on caring first for themselves and their families, and also to those causes that mean the most to them. This ranges from helping them find and fund the charities that support those causes or even creating a foundation for them that creates a lasting legacy.

Conclusion

Many people have asked me over the years: “How does your neuroscience background help you in the financial world?”. I truly believe that we have been able to take the best of the medical system of care and apply it to financial matters.

The goal of this longer-than-usual CH Minute has been to share the vision, goals, and beliefs of us here at CH Financial. We understand our role for you, our clients, and want to be known as the best there is in this industry by putting our clients first. Always.
As always we are grateful for the trust you have placed in us, and if you should have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me at ceo@chfinancial.ca.

Yours in business and friendship,

Jeremy Clark, CEO

& Your CH Financial Team

403-237-6570

hi@chfinancial.ca

Start the conversation

ARE WE A GOOD FIT?

Like you, we’re selective about the long-term relationships in which we engage.

We’re looking for aspirational clients who require the whole spectrum of financial services because managing the whole is how we’re able to deliver unbeatable value – it’s our “secret sauce”.

If this describes you, let’s set up a meeting and
get to know each other.

Are we a good fit?

We’re looking for aspirational clients who require the whole spectrum of financial services because managing the whole is how we’re able to deliver unbeatable value – it’s our “secret sauce.”If this describes you, let’s set up a meeting andget to know each other.

Full quote:

I just want to say we have been with your team since 1993, and we have never had any bad advice. The investments you set up for us during this time has paid for university education for our two granddaughters and provided a significant monthly income for us to augment our pensions.

We are with you for the long run and are not going anywhere. Jeremy has told us that at these times the numbers tend to scare you, but you haven’t really lost anything if you don’t panic and sell.

Ken M, Calgary

With CH Financial since 1993

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When I became a client of CHF it was a real game-changer as I was going through a very difficult time both professionally and personally.

I went through a divorce and the loss of a job and a parent, all within a 12-month period. While it was very tough to deal with at the time, I was reassured by the fact that the team at CHF had my back and really cared about me and what I was going through.

Looking back now, I’m not sure how I would have managed without the support of the CHF family.

Jeremy and his team were there every step of the way to help me navigate my way through the complexities of a divorce and inheritance. They got me back on track both financially, as well as emotionally.

I have now been a client of CHF for over 10 years and thanks to their expertise, I know that my family will be well taken care of for many years to come. I am now in a position where I don’t need to worry about money thanks to a solid financial plan.

I would highly recommend the CHF team to others going through life-changing and difficult situations as your financial partner.

Linda, Victoria

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As an investment industry professional, I am constantly on the go and maximizing my peak career earning years in my 40s. With travel and work commitments I am very limited for time to spend with family and do the things I love to do and chose CH Financial to allow me more freedom and lifestyle balance.

Being in the investment industry my whole career and an extremely busy professional, I know I could probably do a good job at managing my money as I work in the industry after all while I rely on and trust the CH Financial team that they will take care of the details, both growing my assets as well as taking care of every aspect of my financial situation, including my tax, investments and insurance, they simply take away the stress of having to worry about it all and help me to navigate the complexities for me so it all meshes together and importantly saves me valuable time and headaches.

At the end of the day, the reality is I truly value my time and the opportunity cost of my time and would rather hire the best in the industry so ultimately my wife and I can do the things that we love to do, have more leisure time, relax and enjoy spending time in the great outdoors, exploring new countries, hiking in the mountains and volunteer work.

Since engaging CHF more than 5 years ago we have enjoyed significant growth in our investments but more importantly, we have peace of mind and sleep much better at night knowing the team at CHF has our financial back and anything financial they will take care of for us.

I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending the team at CHF to other career-focused busy professionals who really value their time and lifestyle balance.

Kevin & Sharron, Calgary

Financial industry professionals

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Full quote:

Prior to joining CH Financial as a client, I had been partially managing our investments and using a bank-owned broker for many years, with moderate success. When we became clients of CHF, I quickly realized how little I knew about the complexities of managing investments and the importance of seeking out the best specialists in the industry to assist with my family’s full financial picture.

Brian and the team at CHF encouraged us to take an introspective look at our assets and expenditures and even helped us implement a comprehensive budget. The team really stepped up to take care of all aspects of our financial picture, including portfolio design, CH Financial introduced us to a lawyer who took care of everything for us, estate planning and tax, while helping us simplify our financial affairs.

Being of the sandwich generation my wife and I spend considerable time caring for our surviving parents and our grandkids, so

freeing up valuable time is essential to allow us to do the things we love to do. The team at CHF takes care of the details and today my wife and I enjoy a comfortable, stress-free financial situation.

Over the years as a client of CHF, both our portfolio and wealth has grown exponentially, more than we could have ever imagined. Now that we are both happily retired, having the CHF team in our corner helps us to sleep better at night knowing that our somewhat complex financial puzzle is being looked after by a team of people that really care, as opposed to being treated like a number by a big bank.

I would have no hesitation in recommending the CHF team to others looking for a superior financial home in Calgary and a safe place to invest your hard-earned money.

Ian C, Calgary

Comfortably retired thanks to CH Financial