Derek is a fee-only Financial Planner with Macdonald, Shymko Consulting Ltd. in Kelowna, BC.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of B.C. in 1995. He has been a financial planner ever since. He also completed his Canadian Securities Course that year and earned his Certified Financial Planner designation in 2000.
Derek writes a monthly column entitled, "Second Opinion" for the Kelowna Daily Courier. He is also a monthly commentator to the Globe & Mail's "Facelift" and is frequently quoted in publications such as IE:MONEY, Costco magazine and Advisor.ca.
He is a member of Advocis and an associate member of IAFP.
Bruce Cumming CFP, RFP, CLU, CHFC, CIM, RHU, TEP
Cumming & Cumming Wealth Management Inc.
Oakville, ON
Bruce Cumming, the founder of Cumming & Cumming Wealth Management Inc., has been providing his clients with expert advice, in-depth and unparalleled knowledge, independent product solutions, and extraordinary service in all areas of financial management for the past 14 years. Bruce focuses his energies on building life-long relationships with his clients by helping them achieve their financial goals and life dreams in the safest, fastest way. His relationship with clients starts with the development of strategies designed to build and preserve wealth, retire well, protect themselves and their loved ones, ensure their legacy with future generations, all while minimizing risk and taxes at each step of the way.
In a world with increasing complexity and choice Bruce believes it is important to maintain an up-to-date knowledge base to be able to provide intelligent and insightful advice to his clients. He strongly believes in continuous professional development and, in fact, his personal goal is to possess a depth of experience and professional training unequalled in the financial services industry. This thirst for knowledge has led Bruce to attain the many professional designations that currently distinguish him as one of the country's most credentialed financial planners.
Bruce is a member in good standing of Advocis, where he currently serves as the President of the Peel Halton Chapter, the CLU Institute, the Estate Planners' Council of Oakville, the Financial Planners Standards Council, the Institute of Advanced Financial Planners, and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. Bruce is often called upon to speak and write about timely topics within the financial planning industry and has had several articles published in Advisor's Edge.
After attending McMaster University, where he received his BA in political science, Bruce earned his DBA, a post graduate diploma in business, from the University of Toronto. He then embarked on a professional career distinguished by more than 30 years in the consulting and financial fields. He has worked on Bay Street and Wall Street for major Canadian and American banks. Bruce and his wife Marie, his partner in life and his financial planning practice, live in Oakville with their children Jack and Kendall.
Team of Cam McIntosh, CFP, Rod Burylo and Dave Appleton, CFP
Canadians Retiring Abroad
Calgary, AB
2004 Advisor of the Year Honourable Mentions
Les McDermott BA, B. Comm., MBA, CFP, R.F.P., FMA, FCSI
Assante Capital Management, Inc.
Sarnia, ON
For Les McDermott, helping people make the most of the assets they've accumulated is rewarding work. Les enjoys guiding his clients as they implement the financial strategies that help them reach their goals.
As a Vice President and Sr. Financial Advisor with Assante Wealth Management, Les takes a comprehensive approach to wealth management. He sees his role as helping people make smart decisions about their investments and retirement plans - providing them with greater financial independence, peace of mind and security.
With more than 25 years of personal and business financial planning experience, Les was one of the first financial planners in the region - providing this service even before it was widely known as a profession. As a highly qualified and experienced financial planner, he has demonstrated a consistent ability to protect and grow the hard-earned assets of his clients, many of whom have experienced major life changes including retirement and loss of a spouse.
Les graduated from the University of Windsor with two business degrees, and from the University of Detroit with a Masters degree in Business Administration. He holds the Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Registered Financial Planner (R.F.P.), Financial Management Advisor (FMA) and Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI) professional designations.
Les obviously values education as a way to promote professional excellence. Not only is he a member of the internationally known Financial Planners Association (FPA) as well as the Institute of Advanced Financial Planners (IAFP) and the Canadian Institute of Financial Planners (CIFPs), he is also an active member of Advocis (previously the Canadian Association of Financial Planners) and is currently the president of the Lambton/Kent chapter. Les has had over 300 articles published on various personal finance topics and has hosted his own live call-in programs on both radio and television.
When he's not in the office, Les enjoys spending time with his wife, Deborah and their daughter, Amina. They live in their waterfront home just south of Sarnia.
Rob Radloff, CA, CFP
Invest-A-Flex Financial Strategies
Vancouver, BC.
Rob is a Chartered Accountant who qualified with an international accounting firm. He works in Vancouver as part of a team of specialists who provide integrated wealth management services predominantly to small business owners and wealthy retirees.
Before joining Investaflex Rob worked in the accounting field both in public practice and in Industry. Rob's specialty is tax structuring for business succession, retirement and estate planning; he has completed the CICA two-year in-depth-tax course and is a CFP professional and a CLU.
As part of Investaflex's FAN program, Rob presents annual seminars to accountants in public practice on tax, succession planning and integrated wealth management.
Rob is a member of the Canadian Tax Foundation and is a Board member of the Vancouver Kiwanis Club. He is married with two sons and is a keen tennis player.
Erika Penner, CFP, FICB, PRP, FDS
Performa Financial Group
Richmond, BC
As a Certified Financial Planner professional with over 25 years experience in the financial services industry, Erika works with many time-stressed female professionals and businesswomen.
Previous financial industry experience includes 20 years with the Royal Bank Financial Group, where her career was directed towards helping her clients establish financial arrangements best suited to their needs.
In 1998 Erika established her own financial planning practice. She is a "deep generalist" with an excellent understanding of the many complexities of financial planning that affect her clients' financial and personal lives. Close relationships are established with other professionals whose expertise can be accessed when needed.
Having worked with both companies and individuals and having been both employed and self-employed, one of Erika's specialties is helping individuals make the transition to self-employment.
As a Professional Retirement Planner, Erika has additional education in helping her clients to manage the "softer" issues of retirement, such as lifestyle planning, the impact of ageing, and other related topics.
Her training as a Financial Divorce Specialist enables Erika to help her clients with the financial issues in their divorce. She works as part of the team with their lawyers to help structure a good financial result.
An active volunteer, Erika has been a board member for charitable organizations. She has also worked the 'front line' as a canvasser and crisis line counselor. As an educator, Erika acquaints students with principles of finance and is actively involved in educational forums for other professionals.
Erika has successfully completed the Financial Management program at BCIT. She obtained her Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Bankers (FICB) from the Institute of Canadian Bankers and her Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation from Financial Planners Standards Council. The Professional Retirement Planner (PRP) designation is granted by the Canadian Association of Pre-Retirement Planners and the Financial Divorce Specialist (FDS) designation from the Academy of Financial Divorce Specialists.
Jonathan Flawn, CFP
Page and Associates
Richmond Hill, ON
Mark Lajambe
The Lajambe Group
Sault Ste. Marie, ON
CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® and are certification marks owned outside the U.S. by Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd. (FPSB). Financial Planners Standards Council is the marks licensing authority for the CFP marks in Canada, through agreement with FPSB.
are certification marks