Careers

Spring is a people business, inside and out. In order to deliver high quality financial plans, services, and support, we need to have amazing people on our team. We need those people to deeply, passionately value the clients we work with. Finding the right combination of skills and personality – and values – is careful work. Could you be a player on Spring’s team?

What We Do

The concept of “financial planning” really differs across Canada, so we think it’s important to tell you what we do. 

We help people make great decisions in their finances so that they can achieve their own version of success – whatever that looks like. 

We understand people first – what they want, what they need, what they hope to achieve – before we provide any answers. From there, we develop strategies for goal creation and achievement, cash flow and asset management, family businesses, estates, and more. We communicate those strategies to the client in a way that they can understand, ask questions about, and implement – and we help them along the way.

This means that there are a few more meetings than most clients experience in the traditional financial planning system. There are more questions, and the questions are about a lot more than what our clients hold in their RRSPs or TFSAs. There is more data to gather (and we’re always trying to find ways to make the gathering process easier on clients). There is more detailed advice, more education, more collaboration with external advisors, more robust advice, and more detailed reporting.

We know we can’t be great at everything and we believe in the importance of focusing on our strengths. We’re great at creating strategies and processes that are client-focused, that are based on what our clients need and want to understand in order to have clarity about their decisions. We are great at understanding complex ideas and simplifying them so that they become practical and useful actions that our clients can take every single day.

We aren’t great at sales. We don’t manage wealth. We don’t sell insurance. We don’t have any product or service other than planning. We don’t accept referral fees. We don’t receive income from any source other than the fees our clients pay us to do the work we do.

This means that we’re not a billion dollar company. There are much easier ways to make money, and we’ve listed some of them above. If you’re looking to make bank you should probably go work at a bank (an investment bank – making huge income at a retail operation would be tough!). But if you want to do great things for great people in an amazing atmosphere, read on…

We Don’t Want…

We’ve found that when we’re developing any kind of goal, it’s helpful to define what we’re not looking for, first and foremost. If any of the below are you, we know you’ll find success somewhere else:

  • Sales and/or product focus
  • Finished with education and learning
  • Dislike reading in general
  • Tired of human interaction
  • Unable to work with cloud-based or technological systems
  • History of unethical behaviours or breach of confidentiality
  • Lack of ownership (waiting for things to come to you, and letting go of things that you think are someone else’s issue)
  • Poor communication skills

We’d Love to Have…

We’d love to have you on our team if….

  • You’re pretty nerdy about planning in general, of all kinds (support staff and planners)
  • You like processes – following them, improving them, creating them.
  • You love to learn and grow – you don’t think you’ll ever be done
  • You want to help everyone as much as possible, all the time, even in things that might be outside of your job description or your wheelhouse, because these might be areas where you can learn
  • You’re excited about working with new technologies and systems – all the time (because these things evolve!)
  • The phrase “collaborative team” makes you kind of giddy
  • You follow up and up and up and up and up….. Until the thing is done
  • You care deeply about helping others achieve success (clients and team)
  • You own what you are working on. Even if it’s one piece in a big system, you want to make sure not only that your piece is complete, but that it’s helpful to the rest of the team, and you’re excited to see the final results
  • You communicate thoroughly, clearly, and frequently
  • You are very, very protective of private client data, beyond the standards that any privacy policy could contain

Fee Only, Advice Only, Fee For Service (all the names) Financial Planners

Want to be a Julia, Sandi, or Kathryn? That’s so cool! Want to do it by yourself in a solo practice? Check out our Forum for Fee For Service Planners here. Want to do it on a collaborative team? Read on…

Financial Planner Duties

See the FPSC Competency Profile and Practice Standards

  • Lead client conversations and meetings
  • Create comprehensive cash flow and/or financial plans
  • Create proposals
  • Gather detailed client information
  • Educate and support our clients through the financial planning process
  • Write blog pieces (on your own and/or in collaboration with our writing team)
  • Manage your clients and communications with assistance from support staff
  • Train and support paraplanners and administrative staff in a leadership capacity. This includes acting as a mentor and a coach when and where appropriate.
  • Collaborate with other financial planners (internally and externally) where appropriate
  • Create, update, and manage processes in collaboration with the team
  • Commit to constant learning
  • Share your learning with and learn from the rest of our team
  • Actively work with the leadership team to constantly improve services, communications, and support to our clients and our team
  • Maintain or develop strong relationships with external professionals with the intention of providing team-based collaborative advice to clients
  • Actively market Spring’s services (with Spring team and individually) to grow the business

Financial Planner Skills & Abilities

  • See: FPSC Competency Profile and FPSC Professional Standards
  • Advanced interpersonal, relationship & communication Skills
  • High emotional intelligence
  • Advanced writing skills (we do a lot of writing)
  • Advanced understanding of privacy & confidentiality
  • Advanced analytical & information synthesis skills
  • Advanced critical thinking skills
  • Advanced knowledge of cash flow (whether or not you’re a cash flow specialist)
  • High to advanced understanding of financial reporting
  • Advanced financial planning software skills
  • Medium to advanced Microsoft Excel skills
  • Medium to advanced Microsoft Office skills
  • Ability to work with cloud based programs and systems
  • High technical competency (See FPSC detailed Competency Profile)

Financial planner education and experience requirements

  • Certified Financial Planner or working toward this
  • 3 to 5 years of experience providing financial planning services to clients
  • Experience in traditional financial services (bank, brokerage, investment counsel, insurance, accounting, tax & estate law)
  • Additional education and experience in investments, taxation, trusts, pensions, insurance, banking/lending, law, etc. very much an asset

Paraplanners

A paraplanner works with Financial Planners to complete a number of non-client-facing tasks involved in preparing and administering Financial Plans, Support, and Services. It’s a relatively new role world-wide, and very new in Canada.

Paraplanner Duties

  • Review data received, check for errors and omissions
  • Discuss/confirm client objectives with financial planner
  • Identify further information that may be required, and request this either directly or via support staff
  • Prepare preliminary data and reporting for the financial planner to review, with comments and questions
  • Identify areas for planning
  • Research (both independently and with the financial planner) necessary information and potential strategies that may be suitable for the client
  • Prepare draft recommendations to be discussed with/reviewed by financial planner
  • Prepare draft planning reports (Foundation and, with time, Financial Plan)
  • Update reports when new information arrives; note how changes impact the financial plan, and draw planner’s attention to this
  • Follow, maintain, update, and create processes and procedures
  • Communicate clearly and efficiently with support team and financial planners
  • Share your learning with and learn from the rest of the team
  • Commit to constant learning

Paraplanner Skills & Abilities

  • Clear understanding of the Financial Planning process
  • Able to work within a defined process, and provide feedback for improvements
  • Ability to achieve agreed outcomes without supervision
  • Prioritize and plan own workload
  • Detailed and accurate
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal
  • Ability to both multi-task and focus appropriately
  • Strong cloud based technical skills
  • Basic to advanced financial planning software skills
  • Medium to advanced Excel skills
  • Medium to advanced Microsoft Office skills
  • Broad knowledge of financial services, including basic understanding of financial accounts & instruments and how they work
  • Ability to read statements (insurance, investment) and tax reports

Paraplanner education and experience requirements

  • Working toward Financial Planning Certification
  • Experience in financial services and client advice is an asset
  • Administrative and office experience is an asset

Admin Support

Are you a top-notch administrator? We should talk.

Admin Support Duties

  • Coordinate and confirm meetings, lunches, and other events
  • Follow up on homework (planning data) and outstanding invoices
  • Manage data inflow, ensure planning data is ready when paraplanner and planner access it
  • Proofread proposals, letters, and planning reports
  • Personalize engagement/retainer letters
  • Send out engagement letters, proposals, meeting documents, and invoices
  • Coordinate financial planner and paraplanner activities so that financial plans are completed on time
  • Protect privacy and confidentiality of clients and planners
  • Manage newsletter, website, and blog postings
  • Maintain and update CRM system, process and procedure documents
  • Answer telephone, respond to voicemails
  • Manage website inquiries and connect clients with the right planner based on data provided
  • Manage software documentation and registration