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The modem made R2D2 sounds when I first plugged my apartment phone line into my brand new Intel 386 computer. Handshake complete, the download started. The daily closing prices of Canadian mutual funds cascaded down the screen – magic! In minutes, I opened my technical analysis program called Supercharts and got to work. Quickly I scanned the no-load funds using screens I had designed. My roommate Tony and I exchanged looks. We had been manually charting mutual funds and moving averages for several months – this was a revolution.
That was 1990. I had just graduated as an Architect, I had proposed to my high school sweetheart Anne (she said yes), and already realized that to achieve my goals I’d need more than an architect’s income. My plan was to trade no-load mutual funds to build my savings for a home down payment and then on to real money! With the power of technology, I had no doubt that I’d succeed. Tony and I were on the bleeding edge of the digital revolution in finance, though we didn’t fully grasp it at the time.
However, the economy was going over the cliff in Canada in 1990. Our country was in crisis. In 1993, Canadians elected Jean Chrétien’s Liberals to clean up the mess. Finance Minister Paul Martin oversaw budget cuts which sent the building industry into decline – particularly in Ottawa. By 1996, I was contemplating the unthinkable – abandoning a career I’d worked towards for 8 years. By this point, I was a fully licensed Architect, but I was unhappy. We welcomed our first child Briana into the world in 1995, and I was still worried about being laid off. My side hustles of home inspecting and reserve fund studies helped, but I had bigger goals. My family deserved better, something had to change.
In 1997, I made the career change from architecture to Investment Advisor. My no-load mutual fund trading success provided the returns we needed to buy our first home, and I got busy growing my business. Despite my initial reluctance, I found myself cold calling – the one marketing thing I had promised myself I wouldn’t do. My direct mail and other marketing approaches were unsuccessful, so now the sign above my phone read: “Call or Quit!”. I made 100 completed calls every day. I once went 700 calls without an appointment. The picture I had doodled of Briana, while away at training, was pinned to the wall in my cubicle, she was all the motivation I needed.
I couldn’t have known then that my little girl would one day be my associate. Nor could I have foreseen that the 2008 Great Recession would transform my investment philosophy. This crisis led me to re-embrace the active trading strategies I had started with back in my apartment in 1990. I realized that passive investing left clients vulnerable to market volatility, and I was determined to find a better way.
Today, 45,000 lines of code later, now as a Chartered Market Technician and quant, the algorithmic trading tools we’ve built distinguish us from our peers. We’re not victims to the whims of the market – we’re active managers. This approach allows us to navigate market fluctuations more effectively, aiming to protect and grow our clients’ investments. It’s a philosophy born from my early experiences with technology and honed through economic ups and downs.
I can’t do it any other way, because I believe our clients deserve the best protection and growth potential for their investments. My journey from architecture to finance, from manual charting to sophisticated trading algorithms, has all led to this point. And it all started with that R2D2 modem sound and a vision of what technology could do for investing.
