{"id":314586,"date":"2026-03-05T17:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T17:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/314586\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T17:06:09","slug":"this-advisor-learned-the-value-of-being-boring-after-losing-out-on-a-speculative-stock-early-in-his-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/314586\/","title":{"rendered":"This advisor learned the value of being boring after losing out on a speculative stock early in his career"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Harp Sandhu, senior wealth advisor and portfolio manager at Sandhu Wealth of Raymond James Ltd.Supplied<\/p>\n

In the Behind the Advice series<\/a>, Globe Advisor asks advisors about their relationship with money from a young age, lessons learned over the years and how their experiences influence the advice they give clients. Season 3 of the Behind the Advice podcast is now out! You can find episodes from all three seasons here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Harp Sandhu, senior wealth advisor and portfolio manager with Sandhu Wealth at Raymond James Ltd. in Victoria, talks about growing up in a small British Columbia lumber town, how he got into financial services, and why he thinks Mr. Miyagi of The Karate Kid would make a great advisor.<\/p>\n

Describe your upbringing.<\/p>\n

I grew up in Campbell River, B.C., the oldest of three sons born to parents who emigrated from India in 1970. My dad worked at the local lumber mill, and my mom stayed home to raise us kids. It was a fairly typical immigrant upbringing, struggling between being Canadian and the internal pressures of being Indian. My parents were pretty strict, with an emphasis on working hard and saving money. <\/p>\n

What was your experience with money as a kid?<\/p>\n

I started working in elementary school, with three paper routes starting in Grade 6. Then, in Grade 10, my dad got me a job at the sawmill where he worked, doing weekend cleanup. It was hard work. I learned early in life the value of money and how hard people work for it. It also made me realize I didn\u2019t want to work in a lumber mill for the rest of my life. I wanted to pursue a post-secondary education and a higher-paying job, so I could enjoy the things I wanted in life.<\/p>\n

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up, and how did you get into financial services?<\/p>\n

I thought I wanted to be a doctor for a little while. Then, I was thinking about a management job of some kind. After graduating with a degree in economics from the University of Victoria, I began my career at Royal Bank of Canada as a personal banker and later became a mutual fund specialist at the branch. I then worked at Edward Jones and, after a couple of stops at smaller independent firms, I started Sandhu Wealth at Raymond James in early 2014. <\/p>\n

What is the biggest money mistake you\u2019ve made and what did you learn from it?<\/p>\n

In my mid-20s, I bought a speculative stock with about $20,000 from my RRSP and lost it all. It was during the dot-com crash. I learned early on not to treat the stock market like a casino.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best piece of advice you\u2019ve received in your career? <\/p>\n

A former manager once told me that being successful in this business isn\u2019t about trying to triple your clients\u2019 money every year. It\u2019s about making enough money for them to live well in retirement. It\u2019s about caring for your clients. That always stuck with me.<\/p>\n

What advice do you wish had been shared with you early in your career?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not hard to get wealthy slowly. Be boring. Buy and hold very good dividend-paying stocks.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the hardest piece of money advice for you to follow? <\/p>\n

Because my parents were frugal and I didn\u2019t have many things I wanted early in life, I was looser with my money than I should have been early in my career. Perhaps I was trying to catch up on things I had missed earlier in my life. I made some big-ticket purchases that, in hindsight, were not the best ideas at that stage of my life and career. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m at a point in my life at which I\u2019m blessed to have more of what I want, but what\u2019s interesting is that I tend not to go after material things anymore. <\/p>\n

I find that experiences are much more important now, such as travel. If I do want to make a more substantial purchase, I set goals to then reward myself. <\/p>\n

A year ago, I purchased a new home after renting for almost nine years. It felt great knowing I worked hard to have it. <\/p>\n

What advice do you have for someone who wants to enter your business?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget that you\u2019re a salesperson. It doesn\u2019t matter how good you are at wealth advisory; you still need to sell yourself to the client.<\/p>\n

Which famous person or fictional character would make a great financial advisor, and why?<\/p>\n

Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid franchise. He was very even-keeled, disciplined and gave good advice. He also wasn\u2019t afraid of people getting upset with how he did things. He was the expert. It\u2019s the same with advisors. <\/p>\n

Clients hire you for a reason. One of the things I say to my clients is, \u2018We\u2019re not going to co-manage your assets.\u2019 I don\u2019t want my name on a statement for investments I didn\u2019t make. And, if I get it wrong, I will own that mistake. <\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Harp Sandhu, senior wealth advisor and portfolio manager at Sandhu Wealth of Raymond…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[15640,15639,2571,19365,138,246,15208,111,139,14485,69,161747,244,245],"class_list":{"0":"post-314586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-advisor-nopaywall","9":"tag-advisor-noregwall","10":"tag-appwebview","11":"tag-behindtheadvice","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-finance","14":"tag-globe-advisor","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-noastack","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-ordid3934920645advice","20":"tag-personal-finance","21":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}