Merv dedicated himself to insurance in 1997, and hasn’t looked back since.
“What I saw was a way to help people solve problems,” he says. “Others have always come to me for advice, and this was a way for me to do more for more.”
Driven and detail-oriented, Merv likes to dig in and research. His expertise became very deep very quickly, and soon he was asked to coach other advisors. He became one of the top five advisors in the country with Great West Life (now Canada Life), spoke at national meetings, and became an executive trainer, flying to the head office every five months to teach directors about his hiring process.
As a regional director for Great West’s Gold Key program, he served as a coach to almost 500 businesses in Eastern Ontario, the Outaouais, and Northern Ontario, helping them to understand best practices for insurance, investment, and business planning.
In 2017, Merv brought his expertise to the Palladium team, and continues to work closely with founder and partner, Tim Snelling, to help businesses reduce taxes, grow earnings, and manage risks through insurance.
“I love the feeling of family at Palladium. I really look forward to our get togethers. If I have a success in my life, Tim is the first person I call.”
Throughout his career, even when in leadership roles, he made sure that he did hands-on advisory work for clients — a practice he continues today.
“When I sit with a client, I re-analyze every carrier’s product for that exact demographic, because the carriers are always changing their offerings. You can’t just discount a carrier because they weren’t the right fit six months ago — they may have made a change in the past month that makes them better than everybody else now. So we have to look at them all, every time we build programs.”
He notes that many businesses haven’t planned for catastrophic events that can happen at any time, or the inevitable changes that the future will bring.
“When it comes to business planning, one of the most common things that companies overlook is having a buy-sell agreement in place for all the partners. Unfortunately, tragic things can and do happen, and the company needs to be able to buy the shares owned by a partner or their family. Secondly, it’s critical to ensure that your buy-sell plan is well funded. An unfunded buy-sell is the same thing as not having one. Last but not least, start doing your succession planning when you’re 50 years old, not 70 years old, so you save on costs.”
Merv is still active in helping other advisors serve their clients better. He was the president of Advocis, The Financial Advisors Association of Canada, for many years, and attends the Conference for Advanced Life Underwriting (CALU) every year.
He has also served on the boards of several charity golf events over the decades, benefitting organisations like the Heart Institute, CHEO, and other worthy causes.
When the weather cooperates, you can often find Merv out on the golf course. "Golf, golf, and more golf! I can't get enough of it," he laughs.