Like father, like son

They’ve done well. Their Manulife Securities branch is one of the top two offices in Canada, with roughly $1 billion in assets under management. Within that branch, their Fainer Wealth Group is one of the larger groups in Quebec, with about $80 million in assets under management.

Philip Fainer earned his BComm with a concentration in finance and accounting from Sir George Williams University, one of Concordia’s founding institutions. He is 65 years old but says he’s nowhere near ready for retirement.

He credits his Concordia degree for giving him a professional advantage. “Along with skills from the core business courses, my elective classes in psychology have been tremendously useful,” Philip Fainer says.

“For most people, money is an emotional issue. Five years of psychology courses taught me a lot about how people think. If you only focus on the ‘science’ of money, you don’t find out why money is important to a client, what makes them fearful and what motivates them to invest.”

Philip Fainer relates that he often takes on the role of therapist or marriage councillor, and that suits him fine. “If a couple comes into the office, and one spouse wants to spend their money on travel and the other spouse wants to save, we need to help them find common ground for an investing strategy,” he says.

“In effect, you become a shrink and, very often, a good friend.”

Business and fitness partners

Robert Fainer inherited his father’s personal touch, learning from Philip that good investing means planning with the end in mind. “Wealth management is about managing risk, not about managing returns,” he says.

He also credits his studies at Concordia for contributing to his success. Robert Fainer particularly benefitted from Duncan Cameron’s strategy course, where he learned about different leadership styles and business cycles.

Ramdas Chandra’s course on entrepreneurship was another eye-opener, as Chandra inspired Robert with his “outside of the box” way of thinking.

Father and son may be from different generations, but they’re equally devoted to a common mantra: work-life balance. As self-described health nuts, they do circuit training at the gym and host a yoga class in the office twice a week. They ski the Alps, rock climb in California and even sky dive together.

“Robert is my nutritionist, my exercise coach and fashion advisor,” laughs Philip, whose father Murray Fainer, BA 45, also graduated from Sir George Williams. “It’s my privilege and my pleasure to have Rob here.”

As well as pursuing fitness, Robert Fainer is active in the Jewish community. He recently won the Jon Roskies Award for New Leadership from Federation CJA and he is a governor of the YM-YWHA Foundation and a director of the YM-YWHA.

Clearly enmeshed in the Montreal community, the Fainers see themselves as their clients’ trusted friends, not just their money managers.

“I like to joke that I have 300 grandmothers!” says Philip Fainer, who often spends an hour having tea and biscuits with his elderly clients. “They’re all alone and have nobody else, so I go for a visit.”

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