Satvir Gill, senior wealth advisor and portfolio manager at Surrey, B.C.-based the Gill Group at ScotiaMcLeod, a division of Scotia Capital Inc.Supplied
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 to clients. We’ve also launched a Behind the Advice podcast – find all the episodes here.
Satvir Gill, senior wealth adviser and portfolio manager at Surrey, B.C.-based the Gill Group at ScotiaMcLeod, a division of Scotia Capital Inc., talks about being in a banking environment since he was a kid, helping his immigrant dad translate transactions from English to Punjabi, and why he chose the adviser side of the financial services industry:
Describe your upbringing.
I was born and raised in Fort St. John, a small town in Northern B.C. My parents were immigrants from India who worked incredibly hard to provide for my older brother, younger sister and me. My father worked in the sawmill until he retired and my mother worked as a kitchen helper in a hotel restaurant.
They were incredibly resourceful and intelligent, having successfully navigated life in a new country with a different language, unfamiliar norms and challenging weather. They eventually started investing in real estate and became landlords to help bring in more income and support our family.
What were some early childhood experiences that influenced your money habits?
I received a piggy bank in kindergarten. It was a little red house from my friend Phil’s dad’s chicken restaurant, Dixie Lee’s Chicken. I learned that I needed to tape the bottom to prevent my brother (and myself) from accessing it.
Not long after, my parents helped me open a bank account where I would make frequent deposits, starting with small coins and then from odd jobs I got growing up, including a paper route and later working at the same sawmill where my dad worked.
I also spent a lot of time in banks from a young age. My dad would take me to the local branch so I could help him translate some of the transactions from English to Punjabi. As I got older, I helped him with mortgages and dealing with renters. Although I was just a child, I asked a lot of questions and was able to help my parents with various things.
I learned at a young age the importance of savings, managing bills and being able to communicate what we needed clearly. I also learned early on that not everyone would view me with the same openness and trust. I was a kid in their eyes – and who was I to ask questions?
What did you want to be growing up?
I knew from a very young age that I would be involved in business. When I was about eight years old, I had a brown suit my parents bought for me to attend a wedding, and I would wear it on weekends and pretend to buy and sell things. I wore it for a couple of years until it no longer fit.
In high school, a guest speaker in my accounting class talked about buying and selling shares in the stock market. After that, I went straight to the library and took out several books on investing and started to educate myself.
Why did you choose to become an adviser?
I was working as a co-op student at a small investment firm when I began hearing about fraud and stock manipulation in the news, particularly in the context of penny stocks. I read stories in the news about promoters living lavishly and facing charges. Hearing these stories solidified my decision: I didn’t want to be involved in that side of the business.
Instead, I gravitated toward the advisory side. Luckily, I found an excellent mentor who showed me how things should be done and how money should be invested.
Being an adviser is a calling, in my opinion. Managing people’s wealth and their future investments comes with a lot of responsibility and accountability. Although we can’t control what happens in the markets and the economy, we need to be excellent at what we can control. People rely on us to look after their finances, helping them in their old age and for the next generation. Next to people’s health and families, their finances are up there as a priority.
What’s the hardest piece of money advice for you to follow?
Funnily enough, the hardest piece of money advice for me to follow is what I tell my clients all the time: keep emotions out of investing decisions. I can get very emotional and animated when it comes to the markets and decisions made by policy makers and CEOs. It’s challenging to block out the daily noise and think long-term. My team constantly reminds me of this, and I have to remind myself to maintain that emotional distance. Luckily, we have a process that prevents us from making emotional decisions.
What are you best at when it comes to your own finances?
Allowing others to help me. I was told once by a mentor that the local mechanic always has the worst car. They’re too busy working on others’ to pay attention to their own. It can be true of our profession.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to enter your business?
I encourage people to go and ask advisers in their community what they do and how they can learn more. Another piece of advice would be to never stop learning. Markets are constantly changing. Also, it’s important to surround yourself with amazing people, team members and resources. It’s very hard to accomplish great things on your own.
This interview has been edited and condensed.