Problem clients
Oct 7, 2026 · 20 min · 10 segments
In Episode 2 of The Findustry's second season, Shannon Lee Simmons and Rob Carrick discuss how advisor-client relationships go wrong. Sometimes it's the advisor -- and sometimes the client is a bad…
Oct 7, 2026 · 20 min · 10 segments
In Episode 2 of The Findustry's second season, Shannon Lee Simmons and Rob Carrick discuss how advisor-client relationships go wrong. Sometimes it's the advisor -- and sometimes the client is a bad…
Shannon Lee SimmonsHost
Rob CarrickHostSo I actually, I would love to know on that note, when you're feeling them, was this something that, like, all the way through? Was there a certain time, like, during bad times on, in the economy that it was more? Like, what did you find when people were writing in and complaining about their relationship with their advisor?
Well, complaints about advisors were like an avalanche that hit me when I started my job because all of a sudden I appear in the Globe and Mail writing about investments and personal finance, and people latched onto me with their stories about their advisors.
... and advice was really about selling mutual funds back then, and I really felt that.
I mean, I was looking at, uh, portfolios that people would send me, hearing the anecdotes and realizing basically advice was about, "Mr.
See ya." You know, there was no advice to underpin any of this, so a lot of the complaints were about basic professionalism, and I didn't see a lot of that.
But you know what? Over the years, I think the professionalism in the advice and planning business has improved massively.
I mean, it's still to some extent a sales-based culture based on acquiring assets and applying fees to that, and that's the imperative.
But I do feel that the industry now knows that it has to be much more than just a, a sales desk for investments if it wants to retain the loyalty of clients.
And so the complaints about basic ad- um, advisor and planner competence have, um, they've, they tapered right off.
And you know what, uh, a lot of it comes down to? Miscommunication between the planner, advisor, and the client.
They're just not on the same page, and a gulf opens up, and often it just gets wider and wider 'cause they just can't read each other.
Um, do you think a lot of, uh, do you think a lot of planner advisor problems are solvable through better communication?
I think expectations and communication is the key to having no problem clients.
If you're g- in the advice world, you all have those people that just kinda grind at you.
So I actually, I would love to know on that note, when you're feeling them, was this something that, like, all the way through? Was there a certain time, like, during bad times on, in the economy that it was more? Like, what did you find when people were writing in and complaining about their relationship with their advisor?
Well, complaints about advisors were like an avalanche that hit me when I started my job because all of a sudden I appear in the Globe and Mail writing about investments and personal finance, and people latched onto me with their stories about their advisors.
... and advice was really about selling mutual funds back then, and I really felt that.
I mean, I was looking at, uh, portfolios that people would send me, hearing the anecdotes and realizing basically advice was about, "Mr.
See ya." You know, there was no advice to underpin any of this, so a lot of the complaints were about basic professionalism, and I didn't see a lot of that.
But you know what? Over the years, I think the professionalism in the advice and planning business has improved massively.
I mean, it's still to some extent a sales-based culture based on acquiring assets and applying fees to that, and that's the imperative.
But I do feel that the industry now knows that it has to be much more than just a, a sales desk for investments if it wants to retain the loyalty of clients.
And so the complaints about basic ad- um, advisor and planner competence have, um, they've, they tapered right off.
And you know what, uh, a lot of it comes down to? Miscommunication between the planner, advisor, and the client.
They're just not on the same page, and a gulf opens up, and often it just gets wider and wider 'cause they just can't read each other.
Um, do you think a lot of, uh, do you think a lot of planner advisor problems are solvable through better communication?
I think expectations and communication is the key to having no problem clients.
If you're g- in the advice world, you all have those people that just kinda grind at you.
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