{"id":891434,"date":"2026-09-11T06:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/891434\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T06:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:38:10","slug":"even-in-a-trade-war-a-conference-in-california-is-drawing-canadian-advisors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/891434\/","title":{"rendered":"Even in a trade war, a conference in California is drawing Canadian advisors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A growing number of Canadians have been making the September trip to Huntington Beach since Future Proof’s first iteration in 2022.Art Wager\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Most advisors have heard of Future Proof, the conference\/festival on a California beach where a panel about tax alpha can be followed by a workshop on how to make your own sea salt scrub.<\/p>\n

A growing number of Canadians have been making the September trip<\/a> to Huntington Beach since the event\u2019s first iteration in 2022. <\/p>\n

A U.S. conference focused on the future of advice (this year\u2019s themes include building a firm that outlives its founder, the AI-native firm and the human advisor\u2019s edge) has obvious appeal to Canadian advisors, who often peer across the border for a glimpse of what\u2019s coming here. <\/p>\n

Even an escalating trade war may not dampen their enthusiasm. As The Globe\u2019s Mariya Postelnyak reported this week<\/a>, corporate travel to the U.S. increased in August, running counter to declining leisure trips.<\/p>\n

Kendra Thompson, founder and principal of Toronto-based consulting firm Epok Advice and a Globe Advisor columnist, will be among the Canadian attendees this year. We caught up with her ahead of the Sept. 14-17 conference to find out what she\u2019s looking forward to.<\/p>\n

Why are you going to Future Proof? <\/p>\n

Future Proof has become the place to see where the wealth management industry is going. It helps that it\u2019s held on a beach boardwalk rather than a stuffy ballroom, and the speed-dating networking sessions, which attendees book in advance, help people connect quickly across multiple markets and targets. <\/p>\n

What are you most excited about this year? <\/p>\n

Almost every road leads to a discussion about AI, but I\u2019m most excited to see the real experiences of those market leaders who have put AI into practice, especially with technology that has only emerged in the past 6 to 12 months. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m also interested in real stories from recruiters and sales leaders trying to bring in and retain top talent \u2013 especially at independent firms \u2013 and from high-growth advisors who are noticing changes in client demand or expectations. <\/p>\n

If technology changes the cost and complexity of delivering advice, it changes the economics of the business and not just the technology stack. So, I\u2019ll be looking for the firms that are past experimenting and can tell me what\u2019s working, what isn\u2019t and what it cost them to find out. <\/p>\n

Tell me about the Canadian Lounge. What goes on there? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Canadian home base at the festival \u2013 a place for Canadian leaders to gather and distill what they\u2019re learning from the U.S. market and how it can impact the Canadian industry: What holds up under our regulatory structure, with our economics and our advisor models? <\/p>\n

There\u2019s also great food, drink and music, so I\u2019ll be there for the chats and for fun. <\/p>\n

What theme do you think will be most relevant to Canadian advisors? <\/p>\n

Independence. The U.S. is going much further on independence than we expect the Canadian market to. <\/p>\n

Some of that has to do with capital, some of it has to do with our regulatory realities, and some of it has to do with Canadian advisors and how they feel about the platforms they\u2019re on. <\/p>\n

We know Canada is different, but we also know that some of the same forces are coming here: private equity, consolidation and cheaper wealthtech. <\/p>\n

The question is what advisors who want to go independent will need for this next version of their business and how will the industry show up for them? <\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n

Are you reading us on the web or did someone forward the e-mail version to you? If so, you can sign up for Advisor Weekly here<\/a>.Must reads<\/p>\n

Interesting conflict: A recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision about a will challenge has set off alarm bells for estate lawyers who rely on referral networks for their businesses.<\/a><\/p>\n

Banking on Wall Street: Canadian bank stocks have soared over the past year, but now some investment managers see better bets south of the border.<\/a><\/p>\n

Concentration challenge: Knowing how much AI is in a portfolio is hard enough, but investors also need to understand what kind of exposure they own, as different types carry very different risks.<\/a><\/p>\n

More from The Globe<\/p>\n

Alts for all: IG Wealth Management Inc. is handing a multibillion-dollar investment mandate to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as part of the Winnipeg-based company\u2019s push to bring institutional investor strategies to the mass market.<\/a><\/p>\n

New ETF: How does a perma-bear invest? Economist David Rosenberg answers that question with a new multi-strategy global macro fund intended to minimize drawdowns and volatility.<\/a><\/p>\n

New tech fund: Royal Bank of Canada is launching a $1.4-billion fund aimed at investing in Canadian technology companies in sectors in which it believes the country\u2019s greatest strengths lie.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A growing number of Canadians have been making the September trip to Huntington…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":891435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[28124,1397,49,48,5266,44],"class_list":["post-891434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-advisorweeklynewsletter","tag-appwebview","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-globe-advisor","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/891435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}