Jeff Pollock, chief executive officer and portfolio manager at Schneider & Pollock Wealth Management Inc. in Toronto, invested in real estate not long after graduating from university and paid off his mortgage in eight years.Supplied
Sign up for the Globe Advisor weekly newsletter for professional financial advisors. For more from Globe Advisor, visit our homepage.
In the Behind the Advice series, Globe Advisor asks advisers about their relationship with money from a young age, lessons learned over the years, and how their experiences influence the advice they give clients.
Jeff Pollock, chief executive officer and portfolio manager at Schneider & Pollock Wealth Management Inc. in Toronto, talks about buying a home in his early 20s, his mistake buying a recommended energy stock in 2008 and advice for advisers during a market downturn:
Describe your first money lesson.
I was born and raised in Toronto. My mother was a teacher and my dad was an accountant, so they worked hard for their money and were quite frugal. I remember my mom clipping coupons out of the print flyers that would show up at the house. My parents would give me an allowance for doing chores around the house, and I would put most of it away in a savings account that they helped me open at a local bank.
Name one major money influence you had growing up.
When I was 19, I read David Chilton’s book The Wealthy Barber, which has guided my relationship with money ever since. The three main lessons I got from that book were: be an owner, not a renter; save and invest 10 per cent of what you earn; and don’t spend more money than you have.
What decision around money and investing made the greatest impact on your life?
I started investing early in my adult life. Not long after graduating from university, I bought some real estate. The decision scared my parents, especially as I needed my mother to co-sign my Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. insured loan. I was thinking of that first lesson in The Wealthy Barber (be an owner), and they were thinking of the third lesson (don’t spend more than you have). Everything worked out. I paid off the mortgage aggressively, within eight years, by living very frugally. That was almost a decade ago. Living mortgage-free has given me a lot of financial flexibility. It also helped me start my own portfolio management business in 2022.
What was your biggest money mistake and what did you learn from it?
I bought shares of oil and gas exploration and production company Oilexco Inc. in 2008. It was a highly recommended stock on Bay Street back then, which was the sole reason I bought it. That was until it became insolvent in 2009. It didn’t have any hedges in place to protect itself in case the price of oil collapsed. The lesson was never to buy a stock because someone else likes it and to do your homework on an investment before you buy. Remember, there’s a buyer and seller for every trade. Since then, I’ve always weighed the pros of an investment opportunity against its cons.
What are you best at when it comes to your finances?
I’m very disciplined. I always move money to where it needs to go on the same day I get paid. By doing so, I’ve never been tempted to deviate from my savings plan.
What did you want to do for a living before becoming an adviser?
I was attending law school when I realized my true passion was investing. I went right into portfolio management when I graduated in 2011. Several friends also manage client portfolios and have great ideas about how a company should operate. The conversation often ends with the other person saying, ‘But I could never start a firm today because of the compliance.’ I knew from my law school background that I could create the compliance infrastructure required.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to enter your business?
My mentor, the late Nugent Schneider, who started his career as a trader on the floor of the Toronto Stock Exchange in the 1950s, once told me during a particularly nasty market downturn that ‘service trumps performance.’ Communication is key. Clients will forgive you for making a bad stock pick, but they won’t tolerate bad service for long. If your phone rings, pick it up. If you get an e-mail, reply as soon as you see it. If you haven’t spoken to a client in a while, contact them to see how they’re doing. This is still a people business.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
For more from Globe Advisor, visit our homepage.