Honest Conversations About Wealth and Family Security

Most people think financial planning is just about watching a bank account balance grow. But true security isn't about numbers on a screen—it’s about having a concrete strategy to protect the people you love when life completely changes.

 In this episode of Rooted Here, we sit down with Darren Ulmer of White Owl Financial to break down the exact strategies wealthy, confident families use to build lasting peace of mind. Darren shares why relying on willpower to save fails, how to outsmart your own daily spending habits, and why an automated system is your best defense against money anxiety. 

If you want to know what a professional roadmap looks like and how a single, written plan can safeguard your family’s future before a crisis hits, this conversation is exactly what you need to watch.  

Learn more about White Owl Financial: https://advisor.sunlife.ca/darren.ulmer/ 

This episode is presented by The Bamboo Podcast Network.  

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Check out the Rooted Here series for more local success stories. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Absolutely how you think you look to you look good. I don't know, you look good. Yo your shoe your shoes look even gr orangier on the screen. See they're actually like a salmon color here.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

The microphone is blocking the white owl. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Oh well, these mics have to be at a certain distance for you to catch your voice, so and then uh if you I I found out if you go too far off to one not even that too far, it's a little bit off. It's just missing. It's all good. Rooted here business and leadership podcast. This is the Rooted Here Business and Leadership Podcast. My hop my name is Dran Chetty, your host, and my guest today is Darren Omer from Sunlight Financial. Hi, Darren.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Good afternoon.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Hi. Love your shoes.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Thanks. I wore them just for today. It was uh an orange set, so I thought I'd look right in.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Yes, the fashion gods were uh texting you this morning. And actually, I should say it's White Owl, Sun Life Financial. So affiliate.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Well, yeah, so how do you say it? White Owl Financial Solutions, your Sun Life partner is Sun Life Partner, yes. Yeah, it's uh it's the way the arrangement is set up. We're not actually employees of Sun Life, they are the distributor of our of our products. Okay, so we work with them when it comes to all of our insurance solutions, whether they be life, uh life, critical illness, long-term care, personal health insurance. But on the disability side, we deal with different brokers, and on the investment side, we deal with everybody. So it's a Sun Life brand, we're under the under the Sun Life sun, but for the most part, uh we're very we're very independent. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Okay, so then I would address you as White Owl Financial. Or whatever you want.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

You can address me whatever you want. It's normally White Owl Financial.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Yes. There we go. We'll stick with that. Okay, great. Um let's start off with uh well, Darren, for our for our listeners, uh could you explain uh your past? How how'd you get into the financial business? What was your journey there to that point?

SPEAKER_01 1:59

So uh grew up in a small town here in Saskatchewan. Uh you know, back in the late 1900s, as I say to my kids, you know, back in the late 1980s, uh when all my friends were we were going to university, uh when they finished, they all seemed to move to Alberta. I stayed here. Um, and I'm very proud to say I've never had the same paycheck twice. I've been in sales my entire life. And I worked in a couple of different fields. I spent some time working in the in real estate uh and then in uh consumer products. And 22 years ago made a change and decided that this was something that I wanted to pursue and have been involved at uh well actually started with clerica back in the day. Oh, yeah, I remember that. And within a couple of years of uh being at Clerica, uh it was uh purchased by SunLife, and it's been Sun Life since 2000 and I think 2005 or 2006.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

So how did that work out? You you started with Clerica, then you left your Sun Life that used to own Clerica, well it now owned Clerica. So you went that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

So back in the again, back in the late 1900s, there was a whole group of life codes, life insurance companies. There was a company called MetLife, Mutual Life, All State, no, not that one, not that one, um, and Prudential. Oh, and all of those companies came together to form one company called Clerica. They rebranded, uh, and at the same time, they were also selling or responsible for representing Sun Life products, and Sun Life liked the model so much that after about I think it was four or five years, they just you know purchased everything at Clerica. It was a very seamless transition, and we've been Sun Life ever since. So I mean, we're Canada's leading insurer when it comes to life and critical illness and long-term care. Where and the other thing is, we're also one of the largest managers of not only personal wealth, but your group group wealth. Um it's like one out of every six Canadians that have a pension plan through work, all of those funds are managed by Sun Life Consulting through Sun Life Global Investments. So it's it is truly a it is a unique experience because SunLife is older than Canada.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Really?

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah, it's older than Canada, and uh it is you know one of the top-rated companies on the stock market by market cap. It's the largest, it it is really a great company to be used.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

So it's older than Canada. So are you saying that maybe across the pond it was there first? Or you how do it was established first before Confederation of Canada?

SPEAKER_01 4:41

It was established before the Confederation of Canada.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Oh wow, really?

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah.

unknown 4:45

Huh.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

By about uh I think it's like two or three years, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

So what was it called back then?

SPEAKER_01 4:51

It was called Sunlight.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Really?

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yeah, a legacy name. Well, the next time that you come by the office, I have one of the original incorporation certificates. Yeah, it's a really unique story. Oh wow, because I mean and they are a global company. I mean, they're in the Philippines, they're in India, they're in China, we're in Hong Kong, uh, the Netherlands, uh, Bermuda, they're obviously in the US as well, but not in the life insurance and investment space. But yeah, no, it's a it's a very large global company.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

So was it always a Canadian company? It started in Canada.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Still a Canadian company. Headquartered in headquartered in Toronto and Montreal. So there's different, yeah, and it's in both locations.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

That's fascinating because then that would put you in the same uh very small league of other companies. Oh, companies like the Hudson Bay Company and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Absolutely. A really unique story was that during World War I. Sorry, during World War II with the threat from the Germans, the entire British treasury, including the crown jewels of the royal family, were brought over to Canada and stored in the vault in the basement of the Canada Life Building.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

No way, really.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

They have they have a picture. Uh we have a picture of them all of it all. Jewels, the crowns, the jewels, the the gold and everything in because they were protecting the treasury from absolutely from you know the uh Axis uh in the event that something happened during World War II.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Well, I seem to recall hearing that story, but I didn't hear exactly wh where it was they were stored.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Yeah, and it wasn't it was only uh recently, it was only recently that they made they came out with saying, yeah, this is where it was. In fact, here's the pictures to prove it.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Well, that's probably why I didn't fascinating. Okay, interesting. Great. Yeah, okay. Um what first drew you to uh financial planning?

SPEAKER_01 6:52

What first drew me to financial planning?

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Um how'd you get into it?

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Well, I'm probably one of the only people that walked into the office and asked if they were hiring. Okay. Um the you know, the uh the significance of of what was happening was that I was in a I owned my own business. It was 2000, uh 2003, 2004. Right. Had been in business for about eight years. And about the financial business? No, no longer. Um another consumer good. Okay. And it was something that the the writing was on the wall that there was going to be some significant change in the industry, a lot of consolidation. And I was too small to be consolidated, I would have just been wiped out, uh, or or you know, I would just been left to my own devices. And I wanted to make a change. And a good friend of mine, uh, his wife was working as a business development agent at Clerica. And I literally walked into their office and said, Hey, you know, I'm thinking about making a change. Are you guys hiring? And they introduced me to she introduced me to the manager at that time. And uh, over the course of the next two months, meeting other executives on the team, made the decision, and um, you know, I decided to make the change on Friday, February the 13th, Friday the 13th.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Lucky Friday the 13th.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

And literally with by March 23rd, I was licensed and had had a whole brand new business operating, and it's been onward and upward from there. Yeah, I made the choice because the the nice thing about financial services is a as Simon Sinek would always talk about, you know, finding your why. My why was I I I saw family members and and different people that were friends where things had happened in their family and there was some devastation because there wasn't some planning. So this gave me an opportunity to actually have something that I felt I could add value. And second of all, I was so tired of accounts receivable and accounts payable. Uh, I've discovered that since I've been in Sun Life, they never run out of policies, right? I'm not responsible for collecting the payments on them. Uh, and uh, you know, the products evolve and they have an endless supply of them. And one of the unique uh statistics I remember back then, and it still exists to this day, is that better than uh only 40% of Canadians actually own individually held life insurance. Everybody thinks it's okay, I have some through work, or I may have some on their money. Yeah, I've been there. But only about two in five Canadians actually own their own policy, that they own it, they're the payer on it, they dictate the beneficiaries of it, and it's theirs forever. You know, it's it's theirs. It's not uh decided by somebody else what's gonna go on. So I thought, wow, any market that you can enter into where 60% of the people you see on the street don't have what you have to offer, but probably need it. Oh, yeah, it's a great opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

So absolutely. Um was there a defining moment or experience that shaped your approach to helping people with their finances?

SPEAKER_01 10:02

So again, uh, you know, right early in my career, uh a family member that had been working for many years, 20, you know, 20 plus years at one of Canada's largest department stores that uh happened to close. And that bankruptcy of that national recognized department store coincided with a cancer diagnosis for that family member. And we discovered through that time that you know the life insurance that they thought they could count on was gone. The company was insolvent. The pension that they had counted on, that they thought was going to be there was now 10 cents on the dollar. Wow. So it it built within me a passion for two things. Number one, making sure that your wealth that you're building, that you're creating, that you're controlling it. It's great when your company contributes to things like that, but you need to also do that and take responsibility for that yourself. And number two, um, the importance of things like critical illness insurance, that at that point in time when you're diagnosed with something like a cancer or heart attack, MS, stroke, Alzheimer's, there's 26 different things that you know, life insurance is for when you die. But more often than not, having some cash in the event that you're diagnosed with something like that gives you the ability and the dignity to make some choices on your own for your family as to where am I gonna get my care, who's gonna deliver that care, how long am I gonna have that care. And it gives you, it gives you the uh the breathing room to perhaps put you in the space where you may have an even better chance to recover from it. It's sort of a hand up instead of a handout. So I took that life experience, and you know, I just made it my life's mission to talk to everybody about critical illness insurance and life insurance, and and it's you know, it's one of those things that everybody needs. Um, not everybody has it taken care of, and right those that haven't, uh I think we as a team have a great approach to just um I think the biggest compliment we get from our clients is that we do our very best to make what a lot of people tend to think is very complicated, something that's very simple.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yeah, you know, absolutely great. Um, what does rooted here in Saskatchewan mean to you personally?

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Um having been born here, lived here all my life, my kids are here, uh, my my parents, uh my mom is still here. I think that for so many years, you know, we've always been that great place to say it was a great place to be from. You know, it was that that flyover, right? Whereas now, you know, I just got back from a week in Ottawa uh at what's called the Conference for Advanced Life Underwriters, where top financial advisors from around Canada. We meet with CRA, we meet with the finance department, uh, we meet and collaborate to find out the things that are, you know, what are working for everyday Canadians to help grow their wealth, protect their wealth, and make sure that, you know, if your health ever fails, that there's enough wealth to you know help help rebuild that. But now, whenever we're in that type of a room with top people economists, uh everybody wants to know about Saskatchewan.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

You know, we're rooted here. Your kid, your kids can own a home here, your kids can start a business here. You know, it is uh absolutely fabulous.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

I feel relatively safe here.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

And and feel relatively safe. And I just watched yesterday uh a um social media post of a young lady that's going across the country and talking about all the different universities. And and what stuck with me from her podcast or her little uh social media vignette was she called the University of Saskatchewan the Oxford of Canada. She said, walking across the campus, she said, this reminds me of the Oxford of Canada. It's this beautiful historic place. And she listed off all the accomplishments and how it's rated in the top five, not just in Canada, but across the U.S. too, as well, in some of the different categories of the education you can get here. So we're the center for food, we're the center for food, fuel, fertilizer, yeah, and also for an education. So yeah, it's this is a great place to be. You know, have your roots here.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

It is. And I I've lived in other cities, bigger cities, centers, and uh I find my I found myself coming back to Saskatoon. And I have my family here, and it it's a place you kind of want to just to start things and grow a family and um and breeze a little easier, I think.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Absolutely. Yeah. Your cost of living, um, you know, there's every city, every city, every city has challenges. They do. I don't think our city has any challenges that are much different than any other ones.

SPEAKER_04 15:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Uh I think we have some great leaders provincially that are doing everything they can to address that. I know locally there's also some people working on those things, but you know, I control what I can control, and I can control just making sure that in the event that, you know, people will say, What do you do for a living? I say, Well, I'll tell you, I am my client's best friend on their worst day. Well, you know, in the event that something happens and somebody doesn't come home from work, whether it's an injury, an illness, or maybe a death, everybody will show up with a cake and a card, I'll show up with a check. And I'm the only one that gets to do that to make sure the lights stay on, kids go to school, bills are paid, and uh we honor their memory.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

So that's beautiful. Um Saskatchewan is known for strong community ties. How does that influ influence the way you work with clients? And you kind of you kind of just kind of answered a lot of that earlier on.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Well, but if I mean if we think of it this way as well, I mean uh maybe take a little bit of a left turn on it in that the great part of Saskatchewan, the great part of Saskatoon is the community. And whether you're at a husky football game or any other husky athletics event, or you're at the St. Paul's Hospital Foundation Black Tie Bingo, or you're at the Jeans and Jewels fundraisers, or at the NSBA or the Chamber, you're running into the same people. You're running into positive, um, passionate, community-minded people. And uh at White Owl Financial, we we also give back to our community. We volunteer regularly at the Friendship Inn. We also support other charities, you know, different events that we do and also events that we attend. So community is important. The people are important, and the spirit of the community to help those around us is also important. And from a sporting point of view, I don't think there's a better place to be when it comes to sports. You know, we've got a great junior team, we've got a great uh national lacrosse team, our uh, you know, football, we are the hotbed of football in Canada now.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Yeah, we didn't do too bad last season.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

No, we didn't do too bad. I mean, the the Huskies came up, you know, uh arguably a quarter short for the national championship. Um, the you know, we all know the success of the riders are just on the street right now practicing. I'm looking forward to the uh season opener here at Griffith Stadium. It's just a great place to be.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

It is, absolutely. Um what are some of the uh unique financial challenges or opportunities you see for families and businesses uh here in the province?

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Well, uh a couple of different uh viewpoints on that. I think anybody who's wanting to start a business, this is a great place to start a business. Not only do we have talent here, but in the event that you need to attract talent, this is a great place for that mid-level manager that's in their you know, 30s and 40s, that we can attract here because they can actually move here with their family and own a home. And in a lot of instances, not just own a home, maybe even own a cottage.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

You know, um, so I think that's a that's a great oper, you know, that's a great opportunity. I know we hear daily in the news about affordability, and you know affordability is an issue across the country. It is, but when your rent costs less here, it does leave you a little bit more room for some of the essentials, including things like insurance, um, whether it be you know for your home, for your life, for your car. But I know that here in Saskatchewan, when we factor in things like your home insurance, your auto insurance, um, your you know, all of those that your your um utilities, we are either the lowest or the second lowest bundled cost of what we are are arguably, you know, your fixed costs every month, you know, without with without even taking into account your mortgage. This is one of the most inexpensive places in the country to live, hence it's just that much more affordable. So what are the challenges? The challenges I don't think are any different now than they were a thousand years ago. Um there's this book called The Richest Man in Babylon. Okay, and this is it's probably in its 100th uh reprinting, and it talks about the richest man in Babylon. We're talking 2,000, you know, two centuries ago, and the edict from the richest man in Babylon was to pay yourself first and save 10% of your paycheck. And I think the biggest challenge is you know the literacy, the financial literacy of understanding and taking the time to go through your family budget on the table, be honest with yourself, and say, what are some of the things that we can do to start saving for tomorrow? You know, if anybody, you know, if I had if I had to look back at my 25-year-old self and have a conversation with him today, it would just be save more earlier.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Yeah, absolutely, I totally agree. And you basically answered the next few questions already. Oh great. Um how has financial planning changed over the past decade? Or has it?

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Well, uh change leaps and bounds. I mean, um one of the things that's changed, and it's for the best, is the consumer protection that's out there. Uh as a financial advisor, we are under strict and strict guidelines. Uh, I carry a couple of different designations, one as a certified financial planner, the other as a charter life underwriter. Uh, these are designations that require that I have a minimum of 30 hours of continuing education. So I need to spend at least a week a year, if not more. Um, I tend to spend anywhere from 60 to 80 hours a year in growing our education to make sure that we're meeting all the regulations that are out there to protect the citizens and make sure that we're offering good advice, we're offering advice at a price that's reasonable and being transparent about it. Um the the The other thing that's I mean, the change that we're facing now, it's endemic in every business, and that is what is the place for us as humans in the industry, and what's the value that AI can bring to the space?

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

And we spent a lot of time in Ottawa last week talking to all the different providers of services in the financial industry and understanding that financial planning and holistic financial planning, where you're talking about not just your wealth, but also your health and how the two work together and how to grow your wealth and protect your health, AI is there as a tool. You know, there's very few people, you know. I could ask over the next three days AI the same question as it relates to the best place to invest. And should it be an RSP versus a TFSA? Should it be a first-time home buyer's account? And get three different answers every time you answer, ask it. And at the end of the day, when people are making decisions about millions of dollars of their hard-earned savings and pensions from work, or whether they're just opening up their very first account, it's great to use the AI, great to use AI to get some ideas. But AI and social media, I don't believe, is going to replace what a good financial advice, a good financial advisor is able to do for you and to provide you with the information that you need to make the decisions that are right for for you.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. Uh, any in your experience, what habits separate people who feel financially confident from those who consistently feel stressed?

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Uh it goes back to 3 BC in Babylon. Okay. You know, pay yourself first.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Pay yourself first.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

You need to set up a systematic arrangement where every month, every paycheck, and I strongly recommend it be done on your paycheck. Um, start with $25 a paycheck going into something like a tax-free savings account or an RSP, or if you're saving for your first time home. Because there'd be very few Canadians out there right now that if I just took $25 out of their bank account right now, they would even notice it was gone. Because we live to what our bank we live to what our balance shows on the ATM. And if it's not there, we don't spend it. So to say, well, we'll spend what you know, we'll save it after we've paid all the other expenses, you know, uh a night out, different things become priorities. So just setting that priority on a monthly basis of putting away $25,000, $50, $100,000, $1,000 a month, it just those that are successful are savers, number one, and number two, arguably number one as well, is to have a written financial plan. Have something down, knowing that if I do this, what's it gonna look like down the road?

SPEAKER_03 25:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

So that when times do get tough, and you go, you want to have something you can go back at and look at and go, hey, I'm still on track. Even though it's not a great day today, we're still trending towards what we need for the future. So have a written financial plan and save regularly. Control what you can control, and that's how much you save.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Wow, that's great. Um what conversations do people avoid having about money that they really should be having?

SPEAKER_01 25:44

I might have an answer that's a little bit different than what you're expecting. Okay, and it's just a factor of you know, some of the conversations I've had to have with clients within the last week, and that is talking to your kids about what it's going to look like when they when it comes to that point in time where mom and dad may need some help. And what I mean by help is who's gonna take care of mom and dad? Where are mom and dad going to live? And who's going to be there to help mom and or dad make some financial decisions as they age and perhaps can't do it themselves? It's uh those are those are very tough conversations. And then coupling that with when somebody is taking time from the family, spending that time to take care of mom and dad, be there for mom for appointments, be there for dad, be there for all of that time, and somebody lives here, and mom and dad live here, and the other person lives in Vancouver and comes once a year and maybe sends a uh, you know, makes a phone call on Mother's Day, yet they still expect that they should get half of mom and dad's estate.

SPEAKER_03 27:06

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

So the the tough conversations tend to revolve around, you know, who's gonna take care of us, you know, take care of mom and dad when they're older, and and I think there's a I think there's too many Canadians that think that their retirement is dependent on what mom and dad are going to leave them. And we're living longer than than we ever have. Yeah, and the care cost of care is higher than it's ever been. And there's gonna be a lot of people that get a very unique or very rude awakening where by the time mom and dad are spending four, five, six, seven, eight thousand dollars a month out of their savings for two and a half, three, four, five years to live in their retirement, uh, where they require some care, all of a sudden that $500,000 or million dollars is not there anymore.

SPEAKER_03 27:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

And uh, you know, so those types of things, those are hard conversations, but you know, as a financial advisor, when we have a written financial plan for our clients, we we we model for those types of scenarios, and then we have very candid conversations with the family to say, all right, this is this is what it's gonna look like, and this is what it's gonna look like in the end, and this is why we're doing what we are, and this is when mom and dad are planning on selling the home, maybe your family home, and this is why. And how about the family cottage? Who's getting the family cottage? You know, mom and dad aren't leaving it to both of you, they're planning on selling it and giving you the money to buy your own because one of you is in Calgary and the other one's in Nova Scotia. So have those types of conversations. Wow, they can be very, they can be very emotional, but a little bit of planning goes a long way.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

Okay, no, great answer. Um what advice would you give younger families trying to balance rising costs, saving, and enjoying life at the same time?

SPEAKER_01 29:00

That's a very good question. I think having raised two amazing kids myself, you know, multiple sport kids, you know, you know, athletes playing in different sports, the costs for the sports, the smaller, the costs for the travel, the costs for the tournaments, running your own life, and being like if I had advice for them, I I legitimately would ask them to find one night a month or one afternoon a month, perhaps a Sunday afternoon, where mom and dad, away from the kids, can sit down at the table, breathe, and and very candidly take a look at the bank account and the credit card statements and with no judgment go through them and see on a monthly basis what can be done. What are things you can only control what you can you can only control what you know, right? Right? And if you don't know what you're spending money on, uh you know, to sit down and have a candid conversation about seven dollar grande latte, frappuccino, double frosted milk every day at seven dollars each, that hundred dollars a month uh could go a long way to putting some money aside for the kids' education. Could go a long way to making sure that in the event that mom or dad were diagnosed with a critical illness, that somebody like Sun Life could show up with $100,000 to make sure the lights stay on. Um, so my advice would be number one, find some time to understand your own budget, and two, spend some time with your financial advisor, a trusted advisor, with accreditation, somebody that has their financial planning designation. And again, with a candid and realistic budget and somebody working independent from you to help you put together a plan. It has been proven time and time again that those Canadians that have a written financial plan over the last 40 years are retiring with as much as 60% more savings than people without.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

So almost double. Just because they wrote it down.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Right. Um I know for some individuals uh addressing financial issues or looking at the uh statements, uh, could be like looking at the monster under the bed or in the closet. They'd still want to look at it to put it off as long as possible. Not face it face the reality of situations.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Oh, and I I I I I agree with you 100%. It is I I think it's probably more soul-bearing than telling your your date how many girlfriends you've had in the past.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Yeah, your financial habits, yeah. Coming in.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Yeah. 100%. Um, it's I I think that that type of honesty and that type of candor, though, leads to deeper relationships, understanding, you know, especially young people that are starting out and you know, are engaged or they've been together for two, three years and now they're buying their first home, planning on buying their first home. Understanding each other's financial almost their financial personality goes a long way, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:35

Can make or break a relationship.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

You know, if you look at uh it it has been in the past, if you look at a marriage like a business, you know, you have two different partners in this business, one maybe have a different has a different uh financial style or whatever, that can affect the uh success of that business long term.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Well, absolutely, and I know we deal with farm families, and uh, you know, it's not uncommon in today's farm families, and we're not, you know, most farm families are multi-million dollar farm operations where it's not even an option anymore before anybody enters the bloodline of the family, before any of the farm family kids get married, their partner has to sign an interspousal agreement of prenup. And it's it's not about whether or not the relationship is, it's about the family farm, it's about the family business. And um this is a family decision that was made. It's not, you know, it's not nothing personal against each other. It's we're protecting the family farm, we're protecting the family legacy, we're protecting the family business. So understanding that before you even get into this, this is what you're getting into, and this is what you would get out of it. You know, just honesty and truthfulness and that type of transparency, I think, is the foundation of most successful relationships.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

Right. Okay, great. Uh, for business owners listening, what are some of the common financial mistakes you see entrepreneurs make?

SPEAKER_01 34:04

They take care of everybody but themselves.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Right? You know, at the end of the day, every you know, I remember many times people say, because I've been in business for the most part, been in business for myself all my life, and so it must be great, you know. You and I'm like, well, yeah, it is. You know, I pay everybody first and I get what's left over. And any every business owner out there understands that. I mean, we put in blood, sweat, and tears, and at the end of the day, sometimes it's hard to turn that blood, sweat, and tears into dollars and cents for us to pay our bills. So, again, when it comes to that, the most important thing is sitting down and having a written plan. But working with a financial advisor, I think the biggest mistake is too many people rely on their accountant and their lawyer without understanding that your accountant is your reporter. Your accountant reports what you did last year. Your lawyer helps to set up and helps do some preparation for the future. However, there's nobody that does planning. And somebody like a financial advisor, working with business owners, there are so many opportunities that we have out there to help business owners save, uh, you know, save on uh to help them understand that there are strategies out there that, again, when I was in Ottawa last week, meeting with CRA, there are strategies out there that have the stamp of CRA saying this is something that's acceptable to us today, that allows you to start protecting your business in the event of a catastrophe if one, you know, if if you weren't there anymore, but at the same time create a place for you to store some of the wealth within the company, pay less taxes in it now, and at that point in the future where you want to use that wealth to fund your retirement, turn all that blood, sweat, and tears into dollars and cents, we can turn on a tap and give you a very predictable, very inexpensive, tax-efficient or tax-free income in retirement. So, again, have a written financial plan.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

As a financial advisor, as a successful financial advisor, we work very, very closely with your accountant and your lawyer so that when we are putting strategies together, it aligns with your past history that your accountant has reported, it aligns with the accountant as to this is the direction it looks like the company is going, and it aligns with the lawyer to make sure that the legalities are put in place as we have trusts and new operating companies and holding companies, and where's the right place to store the wealth and family trusts and things like that? So conversations. That's what it's all about.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Wow, okay, all right. Uh, next question Financial planning is deeply personal. How do you build trust with clients?

SPEAKER_01 36:53

At White Owl Financial, we have a very consistent process that we go through. Some would call it a discovery. Uh we call, you know, we talk about welcoming you into the nest. Yeah. Uh, we build trust by ensuring that we understand your circumstance, meeting you where you are at. I believe, you know, we start most of our conversations and help our clients to understand that we are advisors, not convincers. We are here to provide you with solutions. However, it's entirely up to you to decide what's going to work for you. Not, you know, uh, we aren't a fit for everybody. We are what I would consider in most circumstances a rather conservative, small c conservative uh financial planning operation in that we're not, we're not, we're not gonna sit down and tell you what, you know, the greatest story on Bitcoin or Dogecoin. Uh we're not gonna try and put your entire portfolio into gold, and we're not gonna look at, you know, we're we're very we do our due diligence and our work regularly to ensure that we earn the trust that our clients have, and that when they start to work with us, they have a written financial plan and that we review it on a regular basis, and that we don't put our clients' money at risk. And I that's right. I I will, you know, everything that we do is based on trust. And we're not everybody's cup of tea. However, uh as quick a story as possible, one of my favorite clients, and I'll I'll I'll call him Don. He passed away on Sunday. Don't been a client for almost 20 years. Came to us, several properties in Lloydminster, house here, um, investments in several different places, and uh we were able to consolidate everything for him and his wife, get a good plan put together, they're in retirement, everything's going swimmingly. Somebody once said, if you you know want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Well, there's a change in Don's plans because at Christmas time he came down with pneumonia, went into the hospital, and during all of the work of trying to cure the pneumonia, it turned out he had inoperable cancer.

SPEAKER_03 39:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

Um, the blessing that Don had was that he did have some time. We got to meet with him and his wife, and we met with them in their home and went through what the plan looked like, what changes we needed to make to the plan to make sure. Because Don said, you know, 40 years ago, I said to my wife's mother that I promised to take care of her, and the work that you've done now for me has helped me to make sure that I fulfilled the promise that I made to her mom. And in that conversation, we never once talked about fees, we didn't talk about prices, we didn't talk about Bitcoin, we didn't talk about any of that. We talked about making sure that his wife was going that Eileen is being taken care of, she'll have no wants going forward, the money is safe, and that their five kids will benefit from the work that they've done when Irene is no longer here either. So um building trust, you don't build it quickly, but uh those clients that work with us at the end we're we're there for them, and that's the best part of what we do is getting to deliver on those promises that we make.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

So that's a great story. Great. Um what's the most rewarding part of helping people plan for their future? I think you kind of basically answered that question. No, helping people navigate those unforeseen dark times in their life.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

A very good friend of mine exercised maid earlier this year. Boy, this is going into a real dark place. You got a Kleenex? All right. And prior to deciding to exercise maid, medical assistance and dying, yeah, I'm aware of that. Somebody who had lived with and accommodated cancer for over 10 years. Wow, phoned me and said, um, his wife phoned me and said, I he has a question for you. And he came on the line and said, if I exercise made, will it avoid my life insurance? And I said, no, that's that's a TV thing. It won't. And he said, Thank you. Because I've been struggling with whether or not I wanted to do that, and now it'll give me the dignity to make the choice on my terms, and he was able to do that. A group of friends were there when he decided to use that option, and uh, you know, it's it's great to be able to, you know, to say we help people save money, but sometimes on the other side, to give them the dignity to make choices in at the worst time in their life, to give them some peace and their family around them. That peace and dignity is a blessing that I get to to live too frequently lately, but it's things like that.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

Okay, wow. All right. Um what have your clients taught you over the years?

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Oh my goodness. Uh it is the I think it is the true never judge a book by its cover.

SPEAKER_00 42:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

You can't tell somebody walking in how much money they got, how much insurance they've got. You can watch, you can look out the window and see what they drove up in and think that that's gonna tell you whether or not they're gonna be a good client or not. Okay. Uh they've taught me that um they've taught me that everybody deserves advice. They've taught me that by giving people options and choices, most people left to their own devices will make good choices.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

So um, and I think one of the most important things is we don't lead with we lead with what do you need? What's the most important thing in your financial world right now? What's keeping you up at night? And that's where we start.

unknown 43:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 43:42

We don't start with this is the mutual fund you need to develop be investing in, this is how much money you need to put away in, this is what you should pay for fees, or this is how much life insurance you should have. It all starts with an uh an understanding from the client. And like I said, my clients have taught me that with good information. Information, patience, and giving them solutions that are affordable for their time right now and meeting them where they are, they'll make the choices that they need to do to protect their family. And that's important.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

How do you maintain balance between work, family, and personal life?

SPEAKER_01 44:17

Oh, you don't.

SPEAKER_00 44:19

You can try all you might, but not. Yeah, no. Depending on you know, some things will get more attention than other things on certain days and certain weeks. Um I find.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

I have a we have a great team around us. There's a team of 11 of us. Um and I think my team is great at telling me when I need to slow down, my team is great at telling me when I need to go home. Um my team is great at reminding me of what's important for today. We use a lot of technology to make sure that we're on time, on track with what we're doing, tasks, you know, using things like AI to be as productive as we can. But the balance comes from family. The balance comes from my kids and my family to make sure that uh, you know, we there's that things get put on the calendar, family holidays, family time at the lake. Um I I balance personal health with making sure that at least twice a week, you know, meeting with a personal trainer at the gym to and setting it, it's in the calendar. I'm paying somebody to do this with me. I go. And so to balance your health, balance your and by balancing your health and time with your family, you maintain a good mental balance and the rest seems to fall into place. Is it always in balance? Heck no. No, absolutely. Heck no. But being aware that when it is out of balance, to take a moment and breathe and meet people where they're at and take the time to be present. I think that's the most important time, you know. Be present when you are there.

SPEAKER_00 45:53

What trends or changes do you think will shape the future of financial planning?

SPEAKER_01 45:59

I think the biggest threat.

SPEAKER_00 46:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

Threat, all right. The biggest threat right now, the biggest headwind is social media and AI. Because better than 30% of Canadians, when polled right now, are saying that they're getting their financial advice off of the TikTok, Instagram, uh, or from AI.

SPEAKER_03 46:19

Really?

SPEAKER_01 46:19

Um, and there is going to be a reckoning in the next five years where that pendulum is going to start to swing back. Because as the market's at all-time highs, however, I don't think that that's a bad thing. I don't think there's a crash, a crash pending. But there, you know, historically, within the next five years, we're going to see some type of a correction in there for a period of time. When you don't have a person to call, when you don't have a written plan, the worst time to sell is when the market is down. And you people make bad decisions when they don't have a human there to assist them. So the biggest threat, I think, are ourselves. Uh, and because we're busy, because the kids are in sports. Uh, I'm just gonna, oh, I saw something on TikTok. It said I should buy this. So what the heck? I'll I'll put some money in. Oh, I lost it. I should never do in them be in the markets again. So you get paralyzed.

SPEAKER_00 47:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01 47:13

Yeah. Um, I think it's just the noise that that's the biggest thing. Um, right now in the industry. I I'm I think that's the biggest headwind that we face right now.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

Okay, all right. Uh, what excites you most about the future for your business and for Saskatchewan communities?

SPEAKER_01 47:33

Saskatchewan communities have never better been in a place to benefit from what's going on, whether it be nuclear, whether it be data centers, whether it be all the raw materials being discovered every day, the you know batteries, hydrogen being discovered, critical minerals, yeah, uh untapped world quality reserves of potash, all those types of things. That's exciting to me. That's exciting to me. Um, and the other thing that excites me is you know, we have two new young advisors on our team. Okay. One in his late 20s, the other in his early 30s, industry experience uh that have that have you know cut their teeth on some of the AI tools that are out there and uh to help put together financial plans and and portfolios to help people maximize their savings with the best, with you know, with the lowest, not say the lowest cost fees, but with fees that are directly aligned with the service that you need. Um, that's exciting. You know, to be with somebody that's 30 years old that's just coming into the industry and starting off and they they want to be out there, they want to help protect their friends, their friends are buying houses, they need insurance on the mortgages and and and helping seeing them building their business. That's exciting. Uh, just being ex being around this city in the summertime is just exciting. With every I mean, we're in festival season already, you know.

SPEAKER_00 49:01

You know, I just uh talked to recently um executive director uh Shannon from the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's gonna be wrapping up soon, too. She's excited about that.

SPEAKER_01 49:12

Yeah, yeah, there's there's so much on the riverbank, there's so much just going on in the city. Oh, and if if you can't find something to do, just drive downtown, get out, and go down to the riverbank and walk. There's something going on on the Broadway area. There's just it there's just this palpable buzz of excitement around Saskatoon. And I'm just glad to be here.

SPEAKER_00 49:34

Okay. Uh last question before we do a rapid fire round, which is the final section of the podcast. Uh, if listeners were to take away one piece of financial wisdom from today's conversation, what would you want it to be?

SPEAKER_01 49:47

Have a written financial plan.

SPEAKER_00 49:49

There you go. Okay. He he he knew it. There you go, the basic. You don't build a house without plans.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

A good did you don't you don't run the defense on a basketball team without having a scheme. Right? Like you don't everything starts with having something thoughtfully written down. The rest is just execution. That's all.

SPEAKER_00 50:09

There you go. All right. Okay. The uh rapid fire questions round. Thirteen.

unknown 50:14

No.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

You win. Lucky 13. Um first question coffee or tea?

SPEAKER_01 50:20

Neither.

SPEAKER_00 50:21

Water.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

Water.

SPEAKER_00 50:23

Uh well, you know, those those high concentrated vegetable juices.

SPEAKER_01 50:27

Um my latest one is flavored coconut water.

SPEAKER_00 50:35

I like coconut water. It's good. Yeah, yeah, coconut water, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:37

I find it way more refreshing. I don't like yeah. That's that's my latest uh latest thing.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

Um early bird or night owl.

SPEAKER_01 50:45

Early bird.

SPEAKER_00 50:46

I would have thought you were a night owl.

SPEAKER_01 50:48

No, no. I spent I spent well, I spent a lot of my early career uh working working in the hospitality industry to two, three in the morning. So um I can do it, but I prefer to get up and oh, it's nothing better than uh the deck at 4 30 in the morning watching out over the lake as the eagles are soaring. Oh, look at you.

SPEAKER_00 51:08

Look at this. Okay. Uh Best Saskatchewan road trip destination. In Sketch.

SPEAKER_01 51:14

Well, for me, it's meeting lake.

SPEAKER_00 51:16

Meeting lake for fishing lake.

SPEAKER_01 51:17

Um if I had to pick another one, I would probably go with um Oak Ridge.

SPEAKER_00 51:25

Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_01 51:25

Oak Ridge Waskazoo. Like the two. Yeah, yeah, yeah. PA National Park.

SPEAKER_00 51:30

Yeah, absolutely. Um favorite way to spend the weekend.

SPEAKER_01 51:34

Did I say Meeting Lake already?

SPEAKER_00 51:36

You uh you said it, you can say it again if you want. Yeah, Meeting Lake, back to Meeting Lake.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

With kids at the lake with family and friends.

SPEAKER_00 51:42

Okay, great, beautiful. Uh book or podcast recommendation.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

Oh, recommendation. Recommendation. Uh for book, you should you should be re everybody should be reading um uh Mel Robbins.

SPEAKER_00 51:55

Mel Robbins.

SPEAKER_01 51:55

Yeah, Mel Robbins, uh latest one. Um, and from podcast. I'm my favorite podcast right now is uh Diary of a CEO. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, great. I watch every time.

SPEAKER_00 52:07

Yeah. Um most underrated part of Saskatchewan life. Hmm, that's a maybe tough one. Underrated.

SPEAKER_01 52:16

No, I I think the most underrated thing is being outside in the wintertime on a snowmobile by a lake with your friends. You know, you talk to people, oh, it's so cold in the wintertime. Well, it is cold. But when you're out with your friends on a snowmobile, in an ice fishing shack, cross-country skiing, when you're out, I think, you know, until you actually experience that fresh, crisp, clean air and the exhilaration of being out in it with your friends in the wintertime, yeah, that's a life-changing experience.

SPEAKER_00 52:52

Absolutely. Um one word your team would use to describe you. Oh wise. Wise. You know, I can I could I can picture them saying that every day. Boy, this Darren guy, he's wise. He's our Yoda. Um biggest lesson money has taught you. I mean, biggest lesson. You're right, it doesn't. No, sometimes you can create problems. Yeah, that's right. Absolutely. Um golf course or fishing boat? You golf?

SPEAKER_01 53:38

How about pontoon boat?

SPEAKER_00 53:41

Oh, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:42

Whether I'm fishing or not on it, how about golf course or on the lake? I would say on the lake.

SPEAKER_00 53:47

Okay. Uh favorite local restaurant.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

Favorite local restaurant would be I'm gonna go with so many, eh? Bistro on B actually is one of my favorites. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Great barbecue. Yeah. Uh that's more of our lunch place. Our supper place would either be primal or low-key.

SPEAKER_00 54:13

Oh, okay. I'm trying. Low low-key.

SPEAKER_01 54:16

I'll give you the address. Give me the address. I'll try it. Across the back alley and just down the way from um Bistro on B. Oh. Oh, okay. Absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

Uh last two. What does success mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 54:37

I a colleague, a friend, that does a lot of professional speaking. And he talks about how in the Muslim faith that they talk about dying two deaths. And the first death is when you take your last breath, and your second breath is the last time anybody ever mentions your name. So success to me means that I never die my second death.

SPEAKER_00 55:04

Wow, that's that's that's deep. Deep. Okay. All right, you got me thinking now. Last one. I I don't how do you follow up follow up with that question though? Um, last song you listened to.

SPEAKER_01 55:22

Uh the last song I listened to uh was um it was actually on the way over here because it just happened to be on the ones it's on my playlist. All right, and uh it was um Whalen Jennings, uh Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Become. It's a classic. You know, I grew up with the clay. It was Mother's Day. I was washing Jennifer's car, polishing it, and I had it blair, I had my old playlist playing in the garage. So I turned the car off, turned the truck on, and when I went to my playlist, it was still playing. So I like the old, I like some of the old stuff.

SPEAKER_00 55:58

I grew up the old stuff too. Parents were totally into the old stuff. Darren, it was a pleasure. Thank you for coming off to the Rooted Here podcast. Absolutely, thank you so much. Absolutely, and we we have to have you again on here. Anytime. Yeah, we'll have to maybe uh later, maybe after summer. Absolutely. Give some time to go fishing and meeting lake there and on your pontoon and all that stuff. Having a good time. You bet. All right, thank you. Thank you, Rooted Here, Business and Leadership Podcast.