{"id":484459,"date":"2026-03-19T18:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/484459\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T18:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:44:12","slug":"this-advisor-says-being-independent-yet-still-part-of-a-team-is-her-best-career-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/484459\/","title":{"rendered":"This advisor says being independent, yet still part of a team, is her best career decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Shay Steacy building the insulated skirting on her tiny home in Brockville, Ont., in 2022.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

Shay Steacy, certified financial planner (CFP) and money coach at Modern Cents Inc. in Brockville, Ont., talks about learning to budget with a Sears catalogue, choosing financial planning over accounting, and running an advice-only practice out of her tiny home.<\/p>\n

Describe your upbringing. <\/p>\n

I was born and raised in Brockville, Ont. My mom was a nurse and my dad worked in advertising at the local paper. I have an older brother. We were middle-class, which means we had enough money, but we didn\u2019t take it for granted. We had great Christmases and went on family trips, but we certainly couldn\u2019t have everything we wanted.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

What was your first money lesson?<\/p>\n

I had a babysitter who would take the Sears catalogue and a sheet of paper, put a number at the top, like $500, and we\u2019d have to go through the catalogue and pick the things we wanted within that price range. That\u2019s when I started being conscious of how much things cost and budgeting.<\/p>\n

What jobs did you have growing up, and how did you get into financial services? <\/p>\n

I had a paper route as a kid and worked in various food service jobs. In high school, I worked at a high-end sports store. When you\u2019re in a small town, customer service is the most important thing, especially when you\u2019re charging premium prices. That\u2019s where I learned about working with customers and providing a good experience. I also liked math in high school \u2013 in particular, accounting \u2013 so I decided to study business administration. <\/p>\n

My first summer job during university was at an accounting firm, which was when I realized that wasn\u2019t what I wanted to do. At a friend\u2019s cottage that summer, I met some of their family members who were CFPs. After talking to them, I saw I could pair the numbers with the customer service part of my brain. I also saw they had balance in their life. Long story short, I wrote my CFP exam right out of school.<\/p>\n

My first job after university was at the local Royal Bank of Canada branch, and I worked in various roles at a couple of banks before I found one where I could focus on financial planning. I left the banking world in 2018 to become an advice-only planner. <\/p>\n

Today, my main focus is working with younger HENRY [high earners, not rich yet] clients. These are people building their careers who don\u2019t have \u201cenough money\u201d \u2013 in other words, the required investment asset minimums \u2013 for the typical financial advice avenues, but still need financial planning.<\/p>\n

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

It sounds simple \u2013 and it wasn\u2019t necessarily career advice \u2013 but when I was working in entry-level jobs early in my career, I was advised to max out what my employer would match in savings plans. It strained my cash flow at the time, but those savings, compounded over the years, gave me the financial flexibility to go out on my own as an advice-only financial planner eventually.<\/p>\n

How about a piece of advice you wish someone had given you early in your career?<\/p>\n

I never negotiated a salary. It was more like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s what you\u2019re telling me that I make? Okay.\u2019 So, I do wonder what things could have been like if I had negotiated or valued myself more. That still creeps into what I\u2019m doing now. When I started working for myself, I was undercharging because I didn\u2019t think I valued what I did enough.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the biggest money mistake you\u2019ve made in your life and what did you learn from it?<\/p>\n

I live in a tiny home that doubles as my virtual office, and I love it. One regret I have, however, is how much money I spent on the house when I bought it in 2022 without doing enough homework on the builder. It was poorly built, and I\u2019ve had lots of issues with it. That carries a lot of shame, especially given what I do for a living. I got caught up in this lifestyle without doing enough research. Part of the problem is that it took the focus away from my business. On the positive side, it gave me some new skills \u2013 I\u2019ve never worked on fixing up a house before \u2013 and life experience. The house is done, and I\u2019m back fully focused on my business.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the single most important move you made to build your business? <\/p>\n

Joining a team. At Modern Cents, we each have our own clients but share resources, which helps us become better, more efficient financial planners. It means I don\u2019t have to run a business and work with my clients; I just work with clients. It\u2019s great, especially for my officially diagnosed ADHD brain. I\u2019m very capable of doing all of the things, just not all together at the same time.<\/p>\n

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

While I\u2019m glad I now have my own practice, it\u2019s important to learn and gain experience on someone else\u2019s dime. For instance, by working at the banks, I got training on mortgages and loans that I didn\u2019t necessarily get in my formal education. It\u2019s not about paying your dues; it\u2019s about getting paid while you learn and improve.<\/p>\n

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

Shane Hollander, the fictional character from the TV show Heated Rivalry [played by Canadian actor Hudson Williams]. Not only is he a team player, but he also has a responsible approach to finances. Yes, he owns real estate and a cottage, but he earns them. He also started a charity close to his heart that helps others. He has the capacity to help others and puts it to good use.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Shay Steacy building the insulated skirting on her tiny home in Brockville, Ont.,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[59868,59867,14370,84,4176,39721,14367,171979,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-484459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-advisor-nopaywall","tag-advisor-noregwall","tag-appwebview","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-globe-advisor","tag-noastack","tag-oordid3934920645advice","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}