Member Spotlights
Read this month’s Member Spotlight, as well as previous spotlights, and learn more about the community of success-minder advisors like you; committed to life-long learning, adherence to ethical standards, and the advancement of the financial advice industry.
Meet Your Peers in the Investment & Wealth Institute
Gordon Nearing CIMA®, CPWA®, CFP®
Senior VP, RBC Wealth Management Signature Member
What inspired you to join the Investments & Wealth Institute initially?
Throughout my career, I have always been curious about ways to become a better advisor. Coming across I&WI (actually, its predecessor in name) and the CIMA course was a way to complement and enhance the skills from the CFP, I already help and from my experiences in working with clients, to add more rigor to my portfolio construction. I obtained the CPWA years later, which has been valuable in providing further expertise in benefiting my high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients.
Can you share one of your favorite memories from an Institute event or program?
There is no one specific event that stands out. The conferences, in general, however, have provided an excellent venue to refresh my current knowledge, and be better prepared for possible future trends. One example of the latter would be the talks and education.
What is something not many people know about you?
There are a lot of things people don't know — Gordon Nearing, international man of mystery! Seriously, though, not too many people are aware that I enjoy writing articles and humorous skits for my church. For the skits, I will write the scripts and act in them. They are usually adaptations of movies or TV shows and are used to illustrate spiritual principles.
How has the Institute shaped your career over the years?
It has provided a valuable, disciplined framework to ensure that I stay alert to various techniques and emerging trends in investment and financial planning to better serve my clients and attract new relationships. The conferences have been a wonderful forum as well to meet like-minded advisors across the spectrum of various firms and not just hear the "propaganda" espoused by the firm where I was working. In fact, at tone conference in the late 1990's, I connected with an advisor at another firm who told me about the financial planning software that it was using when such software was generally unavailable. I ended up moving to that firm.
What do you like to do for fun?
My work is actually satisfying and fun in many ways. Making a difference in people's lives through service has been very meaningful to me. Outside of work, I find great peace and contentment in the rhythmic flow of swimming laps, in working out, and reading for pleasure and learning. Of course I find it fun to spend time with my family and also spend beach time and writing.
What are your hopes for IWI and its future?
I would hope that the IWI will maintain its excellence in providing meaningful educational opportunities from portfolio building to estate planning to behavioral science and more. All of it should be with an eye to help to make the lives of our clients better. To also help hone the skills of wealth advisors to better serve the multifaceted needs of clients. Learning to play the piano better is also high on the list as I begin to wind down my career a bit. I am very proud and fortunate to have an exceptionally talented team. Since 2014 I have worked with my partner, Pam Dallas, who has embraced and expanded on ways to best serve our clients.
What is the best vacation you've taken?
I have been fortunate to have been on many wonderful trips/vacations with travel all over the world during my career. There has been no "best vacation" (they are all good!). One of the most memorable ones was to Montreux, Switzerland with several others from our office and our spouses. We did the normal "tourist" activities, including skiing at the Matterhorn. What amplified the experience, however, was the unexpected staging of the annual MTV Montreux Music Festival (when MTV actually played music) at the same time as the vacation. For one evening, in the basement of a casino a number of popular rock groups of the time like Eurhythmics, Run DMC, and Cheap Trick would play a set of three songs and then the next group would immediately take over on another stage.
Past Spotlights
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