Aditya Sharma, Senior Wealth Advisor, Sharma Wealth | Partners, IG Wealth Management, Montreal, Quebec
ADITYA SHARMA
”Ninety-nine percent of Canadians and Americans don’t know what they
have in their investment portfolio, and this kind of bothers me”
At age seventeen, Aditya Sharma and his family opened up a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise. “I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart,” says Adi, Senior Wealth Advisor and founder of Sharma Wealth | Partners. After he finished high school, Adi went on to study mechanical engineering at Concordia University in Montreal. He had acquired and was running three more Dunkin’ Donut stores by that time, and was studying late into the night to keep up with his university classes and play varsity football, ending long days with about three hours of sleep. When he graduated with his degree, specializing in aerospace engineering, the 9/11 attacks had just happened. “It was a bad time to be graduating,” he admits, “there were no job prospects.” But an old elementary school friend opened up a different and unexpected door. “He was working for IG and he introduced me to the world of finance and wealth management,” says Adi. It was the start of a new and different career path, and he was hooked.
Though Adi has spent the last 21 years in the financial sector, he hasn’t abandoned his love of the engineering world. “If you watch TV, you know how to plug it in and watch your show, but in engineering, you learn why your television works.” He has applied this same zest for learning to understand numbers and financial markets. “I have learned why and how financial markets work and when and why they don’t work,” he says. In most cases anywhere from 50-75 percent of a portfolio is buying indexes and the market itself—TSX, NASDAQ, etc. “The other 20-40 percent of the portfolio is where I come in. People talk about investing in emerging markets, but in my years of experience, markets have always been emerging,” he says. Instead, he encourages his clients to invest in sectors that have meaning for them. He asks, “What is important to you as an investor? To stay carbon neutral? To not reinvest in companies benefitting from poorer demographics? Is it to invest in something related to your heritage?”
Adi admits he is a terrible teacher, but a good coach. “A teacher might try to teach you a concept, but it’s harder to grasp because you’re not doing the homework every day. In coaching, you are building a belief system with someone.” In his initial discovery process with clients, he learns what kind of investors he’s working with, assessing what level of risk they are comfortable with; however, he says, the discovery is also ongoing. “I tell people if they only want to speak with me once a year, I’m not your guy.” One of my biggest strengths is motivating people, he admits. “I want my clients to be excited to talk to me.” He motivates them to have their own opinions and to understand the openness of the market and political instabilities. “It instills confidence in people,” he says. Adi believes the more his clients understand, the more engaged they are and confident they are in their investments.
“Ninety-nine percent of Canadians and Americans don’t know what they have in their investment portfolio, and this kind of bothers me,” he admits. “I want people to understand what returns they are getting, whether their portfolio is underperforming—and it doesn’t have to get technical.” His strength is engagement. Every time I get to talk to a client, the information collected goes both ways—I learn something more about what kind of investor they are and their goals, and the client gets a bit more understanding from what I can share.”
Adi’s approach to coaching young people with their finances is no different than long-time clients. “Twenty somethings are usually still invincible, they are not thinking about their financial future because they don’t have money to invest yet.” But Adi likes to paint a simple picture of how different age 40 can look if certain decisions are made early on.
“I like to share this story with young people, where two 40-year old professionals pulling in $350K a year with a nice house, two children, nice cars, and they have $5000 in their checking account and $50K in an RSP. A second couple, same age, have three kids, $120K of household income and live in a duplex and have 600K in savings.” He lets these true-story scenarios percolate with young people, and asks the question: ‘What do you want to do with your money?’ “Whatever their answer is, I tell, them ‘It’s possible’.”
He also tells his clients the truth about diversifying their portfolios. “There are two billion dollars in unclaimed assets in Canada and it’s because people have five or six different accounts with different investment firms and Advisors and they think they are diversified, but in fact, they are not, you’re just all over the place,” says Adi. “I encourage my clients to diversity in smart ways, and know where their money is living.”
As founder of Sharma Wealth | Partners, Adi is proud of the team he has gathered. “Stacy, Gina and John each have a niche in which they excel,” he says. “Clients have access to 60 years of combined experience in specialized insurance planning, living plans, and wealth advisement and management.”
Since the Dunkin’ Donut days, he has always had a sense that he would ‘just know how to figure things out’. “I love helping my clients reach the full potential of their financial goals,” he says. “My mantra is to make one person smile every day. It makes anything feel possible.”
Carmen Morgan is a skilled business writer and storyteller, collaborating with business owners and executives to tell their stories and share perspectives on growth and success, as well as perseverance and adversity. Over two decades she has refined her interview, writing and editing skills to capture the nuggets and captivating details that engage readers and make a story memorable.
Aditya Sharma, B.ENG.
Senior Consultant
IG WEALTH MANAGEMENT
SHARMA WEALTH | PARTNERS
7400 Boul. des Galeries D’Anjou, Suite 310
Anjou. QC H1M 3M2
514.493.1669 ext. 367
Mobile: 514.726.7925