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SISIP Financial Services
Serving Those Who Serve
By Joyce Sharp, Education & Communications Coordinator at SISIP FS, with Ruvin Geller, National Manager Insurance Services at SISIP FS; Doug Junop, SISIP FS Financial Planner CFB Petawawa; and Paula Wheeler SISIP FS Financial Counsellor CFB Greenwood
I’m sure we all know of someone who is either deployed or about to be deployed, perhaps a family member or friend. This presents some additional challenges for many of us, as we are now personally affected by these difficult deployments for CF members and their families.
Ruvin Geller, National Manager Insurance Services at SISIP Financial Services (SISIP FS), recently wrote about additional challenges facing SISIP FS insurance representatives
“It’s not uncommon for an insurance representative to meet with several different units over a three to four day period and verify coverage for more than 1000 CF members. The pace can be hectic, with only a few minutes to ensure all is in order before a member leaves.”
Paula Wheeler a SISIP FS Financial Counsellor from Greenwood writes:
“A lot of our business is from word of mouth, as it’s a private issue and no one likes to talk about money or any issues associated with money.
Once the member is back, or even if they want assistance with the extra money they’ll be making on deployment, we can help. A SISIP FS financial counsellor can offer assistance to help a family pay off debt with funds funneled back from a deployment.
We work closely and have built relationships with the WAdmin branch here at 14 Wing. We’re also on most professional development day schedules on base. This isn’t due solely to deployment, but to the networking and relationships built by being thought of as part of their team.
We briefed the Wing Counsel, who in turn passed on the information we provided, and generated a lot of interest in the actual insurance portion of SISIP FS. However, when we let people know that if a member has insurance and leaves his/her family with the funds to live, those funds need to be managed properly or they won’t last! So, even if the family is well insured, they may still need advice to help them develop a plan of action for the future, so as not to spend, waste and miss the long-term opportunities that an insurance policy is there to ensure.
“It’s important that CF members and their families know that at SISIP FS, we work as a team and we can help them achieve their goals and future dreams. That’s what we’re here for.”
It’s important that CF members and their families know that at SISIP FS, we work as a team and we can help them achieve their goals and future dreams. That’s what we’re here for.”
Doug Junop, SISIP FS Financial Planner at CFB Petawawa, made reference to how we manage our business relationships at SISIP FS with those who are going into harm’s way and how we adapt our way of doing business accordingly:
“As holders of the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation, we adhere to business practice guidelines from the Financial Planners Standards Council. We approach every prospective client and existing client with the same respect and dignity, and make our recommendations based on their data at the time, with their stated objectives in mind.
I can only speak to my own mental state, for lack of a better word, my emotional feelings, when I meet with a soldier who has come to me just before they’re deploying to a high-threat level mission. Yes, I do think maybe this could be the last time I see this person alive, but I don’t let that have an effect on the advice I give. I base my advice on the data in front of me at this particular point in time. It has to be this way. I don’t bring up the issue of the threat-level, although I can honestly say that for the first time in my 10 years here, I’ve had clients ask for a current portfolio, they staple my business card to the portfolio, and they give this paperwork to their executor in case they are killed.
Recently, I attended a financial planning conference, and when the planners there realized I work out of Petawawa and deal only with soldiers, many asked me how I was handling all the tragedy, as they were following the situation overseas. I said to those who asked that someone has to be strong and try to keep the emotional level under control. Ken Howard, also a SISIP FS Financial Planner here at Petawawa, and I are doing this. It’s business as usual, in a not so usual environment.
So, if I had any words to share with our peers, it would be continued respect and dignity for our clients and prospective clients. Continued encouragement to the deployed soldiers through emails to them—I even get a few hello calls from clients overseas, sometimes at home at 5:00 in the morning!”