“I do not believe in micro-management and instead believe in training my employees and educating them enough so that they can do tasks independently” says Tina Tehranchian. A financial advisor since 1991, Tina Tehranchian, BA, MA, CLU®, CFP®, CHFC®, MFA-PTM (Philanthropy), is a senior wealth advisor at Assante Capital Management Ltd. She specializes in assisting business owners and self-employed professionals grow their wealth and develop sound financial and estate plans. She is also an expert in devising charitable tax planning strategies and helping philanthropic Canadians multiply their bequests to charities while reducing their taxes and leaving greater inheritances for their beneficiaries.
According to Tina, today, it is not enough to provide a good level of service. One should always be ready to provide an excellent level of service and should put himself/herself in the shoes of his/her clients and understand what their needs are and always be responsive to their feedback.
Tina is a FP Canada™ Fellow (formerly Fellow of FPSC™) and was among the first-ever group of Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) professionals in Canada to receive the Fellow of FPSC™ distinction from the Financial Planners Standards Council in 2011.
In 2020, Tina became the first Canadian to be selected as the Top Senior Wealth Advisor of the Year by the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP) and in 2021 she became the first Canadian and the first woman to be selected as the Top Senior Wealth Advisor of the decade by IAOTP. Amongst the numerous other awards, she has received are the Women’s Executive Network’s Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award (2020), Wealth Professional Awards Canadian Advisor of the Year Silver Award (2020), Women in Finance Awards Canada’s Financial Advisor of the Year Award (2019), The International Alliance for Women’s World of Difference Award (2019), and the Brilliant-Minded Women Foundation’s Award for Supporting the Arts (2017).
From a Beginner to a Proficient Leader
Tina started her career in the financial services industry in 1991 at the height of a recession and while she was a new immigrant to Canada without a network to build upon. She built her business from ground up by cold calling and working extremely hard while she was raising her son who was only two and a half years old when she started as a novice in this business. “With the support of my loving husband and a very caring nanny that I found through a newspaper ad, I was able to work long hours, study for my designations and raise my son,” says Tina. She further adds “My parents helped immensely with looking after my young son too. In short, my immediate family and their love and support were the main reasons that I was able to survive in this very male dominated industry, where in 2021, still 80% of wealth advisors are men.”
On and Post Pandemic Changes
According to Tina Tehranchian, all the operations of Assante Capital Management Ltd. were online even before the pandemic. However, the pandemic expedited the use of virtual meetings by Tina’s team and helped her team completely eliminate the use of paper in their operations. Also, since March 2020, except for Tina’s receptionist, the rest of her team members are all working from home and the remote working environment has improved the productivity of the entire team. It has also been a welcome change for many of her clients who after a few virtual meetings, now feel comfortable using this mode of communication and will most probably continue to do so even after the pandemic ends.
Before the pandemic, Tina did many tax and estate planning seminars for major charities in the Greater Toronto area. After March 2020, within one month, the team started doing webinars and it was a big learning curve for her and her staff. However, it enabled them to continue their presentations and extend their reach from coast to coast which has been a welcome change for the national charities that they work with.
A Holistic Wealth Management Business Model
Assante Capital Management Ltd. emphasizes holistic financial planning and has one of the largest wealth planning teams in Canada. Tina herself has her own dedicated team comprised of a tax accountant, estate planning lawyer, a CPA, and a CFA, who work together with her on preparing intricate wealth plans for the company’s high-net-worth clients. Putting the best interests of clients first, always being proactive and providing superior personalized and customized service with access to world class managers and a full range of investments is what has garnered Tina a very high satisfaction score with existing clients. Tina opines “my expertise in financial planning for business owners and entrepreneurs and in philanthropic tax planning are also factors that set our team apart.”
Working for Worthy Causes
Philanthropy has always been a big part of Tina’s life. She has served on many charitable boards, volunteered for causes that she believes in and chaired major fundraising galas over the years that have raised over $2,000,000 for charities. In 2019, she won the first Assante Community Leadership Award. She asserts “Our company also believes in the need for us to give back to the community and not only supports all efforts by advisors in this regard, but in 2020 Assante Wealth Management started an initiative during the pandemic for our financial advisors to provide free advice to individuals who were suffering financially due to the pandemic.” Tina is also the chair of ONE LIFE Gala for Princess Margaret Cancer Centre that was supposed to take place in May 2020 but has been postponed to April 23, 2022 due to the pandemic.
A Welcoming Note
“We need more female financial advisors,” says Tina. Only 20% of financial advisors are female which means there is a lot of room for new female advisors to join this business. While this business can be very tough at the beginning, if one can survive the first five years, there are fantastic opportunities for growth available. Also, the flexibility that this profession gives one, will allow young women to carve out time to spend with their young families, which ultimately contributes to having a more balanced life and career.
Tina Tehranchian, Senior Wealth Advisor, Assante Capital Management Ltd.
