{"id":96010,"date":"2025-08-25T14:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T14:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/96010\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T14:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T14:07:12","slug":"why-canadian-advisors-are-flocking-to-a-u-s-festival-next-month-regardless-of-the-political-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/96010\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Canadian advisors are flocking to a U.S. \u2018festival\u2019 next month, regardless of the political climate"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The Future Proof Festival started in 2022 in Huntington Beach, Calif.halbergman\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hundreds of Canadian advisors are expected to attend a festival on a California beach in a couple of weeks. They\u2019ll take in live music, perhaps participate in a pickleball tournament, and hear insights from top thought leaders in the wealth management industry. <\/p>\n

While the laid-back atmosphere of the Future Proof Festival is a huge draw, they say, the real appeal is the chance for authentic conversations and tangible takeaways for their practices \u2013 an approach other advisor events could learn from.<\/p>\n

A new type of conference<\/p>\n

Launched in 2022 by Massachusetts-based financial media and events company Advisor Circle and New York-based Ritholtz Wealth Management, the Future Proof Festival is billed as the industry\u2019s only \u201centirely outdoor experience,\u201d where sessions are delivered on the boardwalk in Huntington Beach, Calif. <\/p>\n

With an emphasis on networking in an immersive, festival-like environment, the event features music, art and food trucks alongside speakers, with no \u201cpay-to-play\u201d content and no suits required. <\/p>\n

The festival, which runs from Sept. 7\u201310, is expecting up to 5,000 attendees this year, up from 1,750 in 2022. Ticket prices range based on firm type, starting at US$700 for those working at financial advisory firms with less than US$50-million in assets under management.<\/p>\n

Future Proof\u2019s unique spin on an advisor conference is what drew Stephen Gasparek, chief marketing officer and head of partnership development with Q Wealth Partners in Toronto, to the inaugural event, along with Q Wealth\u2019s chief executive officer, Jared Rabinowitz.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing out of COVID, we received an e-mail about this thing that looked sort of, conceptually, like the Coachella of the financial world, and we said, \u2018We have to go check this thing out,\u2019\u201d Mr. Gasparek says.<\/p>\n

After taking in the beach boardwalk and the outdoor panels in shorts and t-shirts, he says, they decided they needed to be part of it. Q Wealth has since hosted a Canadian Lounge at the festival, at which Canadian attendees can find each other to network, collaborate and attend panels focused on technology and issues of interest to Canadian advisors.<\/p>\n

Canadian attendance, he says, has grown to an expected 300-plus this year from around 70 the first year.<\/p>\n

The draw for Canadian advisors<\/p>\n

With the U.S. financial planning market a few years ahead of Canada\u2019s in terms of technology integration and the evolution of the registered investment advisor (RIA) market, Mr. Gasparek says Canadians are attracted to Future Proof as it opens their minds to new ideas and challenges advisors to think differently.<\/p>\n

Jason Pereira, senior partner and financial planner at Woodgate Financial Inc. in Toronto, has attended U.S. conferences for years, often as the lone or rare Canadian. That\u2019s not the case at Future Proof, at which he has presented for the past three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen that large a group of Canadians in a U.S. conference,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

While the beach and casual style of the festival are a clear draw \u2013 with flash mobs breaking out, and vendors handing out ice cream or holding three-point shooting competitions \u2013 he agrees the content provides Canadian advisors a glimpse of the future. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all stuff about how to grow, how to adapt, how to adopt technology, how to serve clients, how to deal with any number of different client profile challenges. It\u2019s all about running the business,\u201d Mr. Pereira says. \u201cThe behavioural conversations are second to none as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Future Proof, he says, also encourages open, entrepreneurial conversations and networking between all attendees in a way that\u2019s unmatched by other industry events. Scheduled ahead of time, attendees can book up to 24 short, one-on-one \u201cBreakthru\u201d meetings with anyone of interest, including speakers.<\/p>\n

Aravind Sithamparapillai experienced this when he attended the first Future Proof festival in 2022, not long after he started practising as an advisor during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

A financial planner with Ironwood Wealth Management Group in Fonthill, Ont., Mr. Sithamparapillai heard about the conference via his U.S. advisor connections on social media. When he arrived, he was welcomed by his network and introduced to new contacts.<\/p>\n

He has attended every Future Proof festival since and has had valuable conversations with new and experienced advisors, who have shared strategies on everything from growing a brand to technology integration and client engagement. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the advisors have an abundance mindset,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re very happy to share what they\u2019re doing, what\u2019s working, what\u2019s not working, and almost give you a playbook.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opportunity for spontaneous interaction and collaboration is something he says other events should also look to create. <\/p>\n

Mr. Sithamparapillai now attends the festival, in part, to maintain relationships with advisors he considers friends. He says he didn\u2019t hesitate to register again this year, even amid trade wars and the uncertain political climate in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Conference takeaways<\/p>\n

In a competitive landscape, Mr. Gasparek says, attracting advisors to conferences requires a dynamic approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think people want to sit in boardrooms or conference centres anymore and look at two screens on either side of the stage and listen to someone selling products,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Ultimately, Mr. Pereira says, the lesson from Future Proof\u2019s success is to get comfortable being uncomfortable \u2013 and don\u2019t be afraid to break the mould.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn every level, it\u2019s the best conference I go to every year,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Future Proof Festival started in 2022 in Huntington Beach, Calif.halbergman\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1397,45,49,48,133,5266,131,132],"class_list":["post-96010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-appwebview","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-globe-advisor","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96010","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=96010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}