Filomena May

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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:06] SPEAKER_01: Hello, I'm Mario Tonigus,
[00:07] SPEAKER_01: a managing editor of Canada's Podcast.
[00:10] SPEAKER_01: My guest today on Calgary's Podcast is Filomena May,
[00:13] SPEAKER_01: who is owner of Filo Financial Solutions
[00:16] SPEAKER_01: and a senior wealth advisor for Raymond James.
[00:20] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us today, Filomena.
[00:23] SPEAKER_02: Nice to see you again, Mario.
[00:26] SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me on.
[00:27] SPEAKER_01: All right, Super, let's talk a little bit about what you do
[00:30] SPEAKER_01: and maybe we'll start from there.
[00:32] SPEAKER_01: Just explain a little bit about your career
[00:35] SPEAKER_01: and what your business is all about right now.
[00:40] SPEAKER_02: So I am a senior wealth advisor and chartered investment manager
[00:44] SPEAKER_02: and have been an advisor over the last 21 years
[00:48] SPEAKER_02: and transitioned over the years to a couple of different firms
[00:52] SPEAKER_02: to, always from career base,
[00:55] SPEAKER_02: to then starting my own company.
[00:58] SPEAKER_02: And what we do is, myself and my team,
[01:01] SPEAKER_02: we create financial plans and advise on a holistic level.
[01:06] SPEAKER_02: So it's not just the investment side or insurance,
[01:10] SPEAKER_02: but looking at the big picture from even a tax standpoint,
[01:14] SPEAKER_02: estate planning, cash flow,
[01:17] SPEAKER_02: and overall working with families to make sure
[01:19] SPEAKER_02: they're doing all the right things.
[01:21] SPEAKER_01: So, growing up in Calgary as a little girl,
[01:24] SPEAKER_01: I imagine you didn't have dreams of becoming a financial professional,
[01:29] SPEAKER_01: but tell me how you got into this and why.
[01:34] SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, growing up in Immigran Italian family,
[01:38] SPEAKER_02: we always learned to pinch your pennies.
[01:41] SPEAKER_02: We didn't have a lot growing up.
[01:43] SPEAKER_02: And so I was always taught to save and all the way from then being
[01:48] SPEAKER_02: a bookkeeper of my father's electrical company
[01:53] SPEAKER_02: from the age of 16 and working with their accountant and doing that.
[02:00] SPEAKER_02: And I know initially I was going to,
[02:03] SPEAKER_02: I wanted to be a lawyer,
[02:04] SPEAKER_02: but I didn't think I was smart enough when it was going to go into teaching.
[02:08] SPEAKER_02: And then I didn't like it that much,
[02:10] SPEAKER_02: but now I'm teaching adults.
[02:12] SPEAKER_02: And I ended up getting my degree in tourism and management.
[02:18] SPEAKER_02: And I was actually managing 12 men,
[02:22] SPEAKER_02: just straight out of university.
[02:26] SPEAKER_02: And then a new boss came in,
[02:29] SPEAKER_02: male, he was initially a female,
[02:31] SPEAKER_02: and he basically said a woman doesn't belong in this department.
[02:35] SPEAKER_02: And slowly cut hours,
[02:38] SPEAKER_02: got rid of the female boss.
[02:40] SPEAKER_02: And then I thought,
[02:41] SPEAKER_02: well, there's something out there for me.
[02:43] SPEAKER_02: I wanted to, I always saw myself behind a desk doing something powerful.
[02:47] SPEAKER_02: I just didn't know what it was.
[02:49] SPEAKER_02: And lo and behold,
[02:51] SPEAKER_02: I put my resume out on work op list at a time when the internet was just fairly new.
[02:56] SPEAKER_02: And I didn't even know if my resume got out into the world.
[03:00] SPEAKER_02: And three weeks later,
[03:01] SPEAKER_02: I received a call from a wealth management firm asking me if I wanted an interview
[03:06] SPEAKER_02: as a financial advisor and I said, what's that?
[03:09] SPEAKER_02: So I went through my interview.
[03:13] SPEAKER_02: I had a very lengthy personality test.
[03:16] SPEAKER_02: It came back very well.
[03:20] SPEAKER_02: And they said you would be great in this career.
[03:24] SPEAKER_02: So I gave myself a year.
[03:27] SPEAKER_02: I had to take extensive exams to even get into the industry.
[03:31] SPEAKER_02: And they said, well, you've got three weeks until our next training session.
[03:36] SPEAKER_02: If you want to get yourself to Edmonton,
[03:38] SPEAKER_02: they've got to pass three exams if you want to make the next one.
[03:42] SPEAKER_02: So I worked part time with the same company.
[03:45] SPEAKER_02: And within three weeks, I passed all three exams that normally take about six months to complete.
[03:51] SPEAKER_02: So I just had a fire in my belly that I just knew there was,
[03:55] SPEAKER_02: I was meant to do this.
[03:56] SPEAKER_02: And I gave myself a year and then made it not only got through it,
[04:03] SPEAKER_02: but got to rookie of the year.
[04:05] SPEAKER_02: Oh, cool.
[04:06] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[04:07] SPEAKER_02: But it wasn't easy by any means.
[04:10] SPEAKER_02: I mean, the first day on the job,
[04:12] SPEAKER_02: I was in tears and one of the managers handed me a box of Kleenex and said,
[04:16] SPEAKER_02: sweetheart, maybe you're not cut out for this.
[04:20] SPEAKER_02: So my boss at the time, you got angry and you said,
[04:23] SPEAKER_02: you just tell that guy to like, just do not.
[04:26] SPEAKER_02: I'm sugarcoating what he said.
[04:28] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I get back on the phones.
[04:31] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[04:31] SPEAKER_02: And he would stop and.
[04:33] SPEAKER_02: And then he guided me.
[04:34] SPEAKER_02: And he taught me how to use a state of the art software that was very new at the time.
[04:40] SPEAKER_02: So this is 21 years ago.
[04:42] SPEAKER_02: Now it's sort of becoming mainstream.
[04:44] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[04:44] SPEAKER_02: He said, this is your ticket.
[04:46] SPEAKER_02: You get good at this and you will kill it.
[04:49] SPEAKER_02: And so I really tried to become a student of the business and know it inside and out.
[04:55] SPEAKER_02: And then that's how I started to get a lot of the accounts of some of the,
[04:59] SPEAKER_02: the senior management and senior advisors.
[05:03] SPEAKER_02: They wanted me in on the meetings.
[05:05] SPEAKER_02: And because I had something unique that they didn't understand.
[05:08] SPEAKER_02: They used to be napkin pitches for many, many years, right?
[05:13] SPEAKER_02: It was very old school.
[05:14] SPEAKER_02: I was there were very few women in the industry.
[05:19] SPEAKER_02: So less than 5% to this day.
[05:23] SPEAKER_02: We're sitting at about 17, 18%.
[05:26] SPEAKER_02: So it's still we're outnumbered by men.
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[05:40] SPEAKER_01: What do you think got you through that time, especially you have being,
[05:44] SPEAKER_01: you know, female in such a male dominated industry?
[05:50] SPEAKER_02: I don't like being told that I can't do something.
[05:55] SPEAKER_02: Oh, there was just, there was something about it.
[06:01] SPEAKER_02: Failure was not in my nature.
[06:04] SPEAKER_02: And again, having grown up in the household that I did.
[06:08] SPEAKER_02: And I looked at the sacrifices that my parents took to get here.
[06:13] SPEAKER_02: And all the education that I took and then continuing to do that.
[06:17] SPEAKER_02: I mean, I was fully invested and I just gave it my all and I didn't want to stop.
[06:22] SPEAKER_02: So I just continued with the education with all of what I've done today.
[06:27] SPEAKER_02: I probably could have been a lawyer and then some.
[06:29] SPEAKER_02: I do love what I do.
[06:33] SPEAKER_02: And the biggest thing for me was to help people.
[06:36] SPEAKER_02: I knew I had a gift of helping people in the way that I talked to them.
[06:41] SPEAKER_02: And I'm there for them.
[06:42] SPEAKER_02: It wasn't even about knowing the craft.
[06:46] SPEAKER_02: It was about helping people.
[06:49] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[06:49] SPEAKER_01: So is that the main thing that you'd like about, you know, this career right now?
[06:57] SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
[06:59] SPEAKER_02: I mean, investing can be exciting.
[07:04] SPEAKER_02: It was, it's definitely a roller coaster of a career.
[07:10] SPEAKER_02: And the waves of the market.
[07:12] SPEAKER_02: I mean, we went through the pandemic and then coming out of that.
[07:17] SPEAKER_02: I definitely have to be on all the time.
[07:22] SPEAKER_02: But at the end of the day, and investment is an investment.
[07:27] SPEAKER_02: And I can do that with my eyes closed.
[07:30] SPEAKER_02: But having the skill and the genuine concern and relationship with my clients.
[07:41] SPEAKER_02: That is what keeps me going.
[07:44] SPEAKER_02: And that gift in my, in my opinion.
[07:46] SPEAKER_02: And then it's also the intuitive side.
[07:50] SPEAKER_02: So I'm very much an intuitive and understanding the root of the matter and having compassion around it.
[07:58] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[07:59] SPEAKER_01: The whole financial literacy stuff.
[08:02] SPEAKER_01: Phil Amina, do you think there's been a over the years an improvement in in literacy and it comes to this.
[08:11] SPEAKER_01: Or you know, or we still in this sort of the stage where, where a lot of people really don't understand a lot of this stuff and kind of are overwhelmed or scared about all this stuff.
[08:26] SPEAKER_02: I, we've come a long way.
[08:28] SPEAKER_02: And like I said, the internet is big and it could work for against you.
[08:33] SPEAKER_02: So Dr. Google, you know, we kneel that even with with physical ailments and looking things up.
[08:39] SPEAKER_02: And it's not always what you see on the internet is not always truth.
[08:43] SPEAKER_02: So that's why it's important to make sure you know what you're reading and, and understand it and having a relationship with different professionals, whether it be with myself or involving lawyers accounts.
[08:58] SPEAKER_02: It everybody is so different and to try to conceptualize all of it and take the emotion out for yourself is a whole different animal.
[09:10] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[09:10] SPEAKER_02: So yes, we've come a long way, but I'm still seeing a lot of gaps and even in the school system.
[09:17] SPEAKER_02: They started to teach it, but nowhere near where we should be.
[09:23] SPEAKER_02: Like kids should be learning about this one when they're much younger.
[09:27] SPEAKER_01: So true.
[09:28] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[09:29] SPEAKER_01: So when you look at your career and now like, you know, you worked obviously with firms and, and you, and now you're also know with your own company.
[09:41] SPEAKER_01: What is it about being, I guess, an entrepreneur that you like of being the boss of your own company?
[09:49] SPEAKER_02: Well, it can be great, but it could really suck it.
[09:55] SPEAKER_02: But even when I was with the career based firm, it was essentially my own business.
[09:59] SPEAKER_02: So I kind of fell into it and I didn't even know I was going to be an entrepreneur.
[10:04] SPEAKER_02: They told me after the fact so they basically said, here you go, you'd be great.
[10:10] SPEAKER_02: Like great, finished my exams.
[10:13] SPEAKER_02: When do I start? Oh, by the way, you've got to buy a computer and you've got to do this and you got to go out and get your own business.
[10:19] SPEAKER_02: And so involving from that.
[10:22] SPEAKER_02: Then I started my own company six years later.
[10:26] SPEAKER_02: And so then I was full on entrepreneur with my own brand and developing that.
[10:32] SPEAKER_02: And that's one thing is how do you develop your own brand so people know who you are?
[10:38] SPEAKER_02: That's that's one thing.
[10:40] SPEAKER_02: And then as far as evolving to then having my own branch as of six years ago.
[10:47] SPEAKER_02: So there's staffing issues and even having gone through the pandemic.
[10:54] SPEAKER_02: I mean, learning how to navigate through things you can't control.
[10:59] SPEAKER_02: So as entrepreneurs in general, there's always something we can't control.
[11:03] SPEAKER_02: There's always something that comes at you and you're like, now what do I do?
[11:07] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but it can also be rewarding because the harder you work, the more rewarding it can be.
[11:14] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[11:15] SPEAKER_02: So as long as you have the great people with you and beside you, you can do a lot.
[11:22] SPEAKER_02: And even in the last 10 years had I not had good people with me, I wouldn't be where I am today.
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[11:40] SPEAKER_01: You juggle.
[11:41] SPEAKER_01: You know, one of the things that I remember years ago, friend of mine was an artist, a really accomplished artist telling me was that, you know, he said,
[11:52] SPEAKER_01: you know, Mario, I really got two jobs.
[11:55] SPEAKER_01: He said, you know, one is I'm an artist and that's what I do, right?
[12:00] SPEAKER_01: But then the other job is, is I'm the owner of my business and I have to market my company.
[12:06] SPEAKER_01: I have to I'll make sure everything is going well.
[12:08] SPEAKER_01: I know all that type of stuff.
[12:11] SPEAKER_01: How do you juggle that yourself?
[12:14] SPEAKER_01: I'll be a financial advisor and obviously in the owner of a company.
[12:18] SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm losing a lot of sleep.
[12:23] SPEAKER_02: I just had to learn and for me, it was about being the squeaky wheel because I would see things.
[12:29] SPEAKER_02: I would visualize things and say, how do I do that?
[12:34] SPEAKER_02: So then I would talk to people that were I thought were smarter than me.
[12:38] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[12:39] SPEAKER_02: How do I do this?
[12:40] SPEAKER_02: How do I master that craft?
[12:41] SPEAKER_02: How do I master that craft?
[12:42] SPEAKER_02: And it was fine until like while I was small, I didn't know about all this stuff.
[12:47] SPEAKER_02: And then like I said in the age of the internet, I started to see what I actually need to create a brand.
[12:53] SPEAKER_02: I actually need to market myself.
[12:54] SPEAKER_02: How do I how do people know me and who I am?
[12:58] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[12:59] SPEAKER_02: And then how do I get the right people and relaying the message?
[13:03] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no.
[13:04] SPEAKER_02: So there's the day to day with the emails, the meetings, the phone calls.
[13:09] SPEAKER_02: And then there's a whole other side where I need to develop and it is a business.
[13:14] SPEAKER_02: So I've had to transition a little bit from working in the business and now to on the business.
[13:23] SPEAKER_02: So I'm still very much in the business, but trying to mentor and hire correctly so that they can take some of that heavy lifting so that I can master my own craft.
[13:38] SPEAKER_02: And optimize what I'm doing as a branch and as my business and creating that balance for myself.
[13:47] SPEAKER_01: Now how would you describe your brand?
[13:52] SPEAKER_02: I would say it's dynamic.
[13:57] SPEAKER_02: I've always been a bit of a disruptor so I like to be first in line of doing different things and and being okay with failure.
[14:07] SPEAKER_02: So you have to be able to try different things and be okay with failure knowing that the next step you're going to be that much better.
[14:14] SPEAKER_02: And so I try to represent all those things not just for myself, but to create a message to people out there before he's to be more so women empowering women, but it's time evolved.
[14:29] SPEAKER_02: And I found myself also doing public talks and being on panels to empower men.
[14:37] SPEAKER_02: And I realized that there's a general consensus out there. It's just not spoken. So how do I represent that I'm not just there for my clients, but I'm also there for colleagues.
[14:50] SPEAKER_02: So I would say that's who I represent.
[14:53] SPEAKER_01: Okay then. So you know, one of the things that you you mentioned and you know, I'm looking at your bio you've done a lot of stuff in terms of public speaking, I guess, right?
[15:05] SPEAKER_01: And in a lot of stuff like commentating on stuff. How has that been? And we enjoyed that or.
[15:12] SPEAKER_02: I do, but again, it's it's worrying the different hats and the time.
[15:18] SPEAKER_02: I scaled back a little bit temporarily when I went through COVID, I went on BNN for a bit, and then I needed to get back into the business because my business started to explode.
[15:33] SPEAKER_02: But I truly enjoy it, and I still do it, even with the university in mentoring part of panels, even within the company, whether whether it's in the US or Canada.
[15:49] SPEAKER_02: For me, that's what lights me up is giving my message. And if I've changed someone's life in a small way, that's rewarding to me. So I still continue to do it.
[16:03] SPEAKER_01: Oh, excellent. So, you know, when you look back at your career, what advice would you give to young females entering the profession now?
[16:17] SPEAKER_02: Be that squeaky wheel. Don't be afraid to ask questions and try to, and this is for men too.
[16:28] SPEAKER_02: Become a student of the business, whatever you want to do, master that craft. So find something that you're passionate about, learn it really well and try not to know all of it at once.
[16:40] SPEAKER_02: Just take it bit by bit, and don't be intimidated that you don't know it all. So one thing that I had to overcome, and it still is in the back of my mind all the time, because there's always something new.
[16:56] SPEAKER_02: It's impossible to know everything is that imposter syndrome, and it's come up time and time again as a mentoring these university kids, even as a mentoring peers, it comes up.
[17:07] SPEAKER_02: So we all put on the hat that we know everything, but there's always that fear, that fear that, oh my gosh, I might not know the answer.
[17:17] SPEAKER_02: Or am I, am I qualified enough, but you don't have to know it all, and you don't have to have all your ducks and row and even just to get started, just start today.
[17:28] SPEAKER_02: And I say that even to clients or to the talks that I do, it's start today, even if it's from a financial standpoint. Don't get stuck, don't get frozen.
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[17:50] SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking back on that career of yours.
[17:56] SPEAKER_01: Is there anybody or any group of people that you kind of looked up to as examples, you know, not necessarily on a personal side of things, but more like out there in the world, you know, a business, etc.
[18:14] SPEAKER_01: That you kind of admired and looked up to.
[18:20] SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's a lot of successful people out there.
[18:24] SPEAKER_02: But I guess the people that have even overcome adversity, how did they overcome it? You look at some of the greatest leaders.
[18:34] SPEAKER_02: They all had stuff happen whether it was personally, professionally, so I wouldn't pinpointed to one person.
[18:40] SPEAKER_02: But even the person that hired me, you know, I live in gratitude of thank you, even though they may not have met my expectations at the time of how they followed through on different mentorship.
[19:00] SPEAKER_02: But it actually taught me to have a tougher skin.
[19:06] SPEAKER_02: And that's one of the lessons I had to have a very tough skin to even be in this industry, like walking into a conference and I was the only female.
[19:19] SPEAKER_02: I wanted to turn around and go back to my hotel room.
[19:25] SPEAKER_02: So looking at people and understanding what it means to build confidence, because I never, I never got into the business having confidence initially.
[19:36] SPEAKER_02: It developed over time and looking up to people and how did they do it?
[19:40] SPEAKER_02: So seeing how they evolved, well, if you're she can do it, I can do it.
[19:46] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly. So Phil Amina, what did you learn from your parents?
[19:51] SPEAKER_02: Well, save money, don't be wasteful.
[19:55] SPEAKER_02: I have a few too many shoes right now, so I didn't listen on that part.
[20:00] SPEAKER_02: But I have some big worth and I did then.
[20:04] SPEAKER_02: But and be a good person.
[20:08] SPEAKER_02: You know, I have the values and integrity of how they grew up.
[20:13] SPEAKER_02: So those are those are massive lessons that I've taken on and passed on to my children. And that's important.
[20:21] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so tell me a little bit about your personal side of things.
[20:27] SPEAKER_01: I know you're heavily involved in the Italian community locally. Talk, tell me a little bit about that.
[20:34] SPEAKER_02: So I am the president of the Calgary Calibre is a cultural and heritage society, which is celebrating Calabria.
[20:44] SPEAKER_02: So that's the tip of the boot.
[20:47] SPEAKER_02: And we're quite predominant here in Calgary. There's another Italian group, but we've really been pushing along to make a difference in the community.
[20:58] SPEAKER_02: And we raise funds for scholarships toward one year at our annual banquet, which is every January and 400 people.
[21:09] SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's quite big.
[21:12] SPEAKER_02: We enjoy putting it on and then we've also been putting on other events throughout the year to try to raise funds so we can make a bigger impact.
[21:23] SPEAKER_01: Okay, then why is it important for you to give back to the community, especially the Italian community?
[21:31] SPEAKER_02: I will want to carry on what my grandparents and parents have done and instill that in my children.
[21:39] SPEAKER_02: And to there's something that feels good about giving back. So it's not just with the Italian community, but I'm also involved with other groups and raising funds and creating awareness because
[21:52] SPEAKER_02: I'm being blessed with what I have today. I believe in paying it forward and it always comes back.
[22:00] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. So I would imagine you obviously have quite a busy life with work and with the Italian stuff. What do you do to relax?
[22:10] SPEAKER_02: Well, in the winter, I haven't been out yet, but I do love to ski or hoping for better conditions. But a bit of a princess. I'm not going out and minus 40.
[22:19] SPEAKER_02: I do love to stay fit and that was not always the case throughout my life. So I would say over the last two decades, I've really taken on fitness and eating well and making sure that my longevity is there and even dealing with different clients and family members.
[22:40] SPEAKER_02: I see the importance of thinking ahead and also trying to lead by example with my kids about eating healthy and staying active.
[22:51] SPEAKER_02: I do a lot of that. I love to travel. I don't do it as much as I should because of the business. So working on that work life balance, but definitely hoping to get back to Italy in the next year.
[23:07] SPEAKER_02: I'm going to go to the airport and then check some items off my bucket list of places I haven't been to.
[23:14] SPEAKER_03: Like Egypt.
[23:18] SPEAKER_02: I've done a lot of Mexico. I've done a cliche trip. I was recently in Portugal and Paris over the summer. That was fantastic.
[23:29] SPEAKER_02: So I love experiencing different cultures and I'm not afraid to dive in. So I've been to places like Thailand and that was definitely stepping out of my comfort zone.
[23:41] SPEAKER_02: And I also do that to test myself. So whether it's taking on a challenge on a difficult ski run, black diamond or taking a trip to an unknown place where I may not know the language.
[23:57] SPEAKER_02: It's taught me step out of the comfort zone. Get past that experience. I got out of it and skate. So then I take that into the business as well. And even just from a mindset perspective on a personal level.
[24:12] SPEAKER_02: How do I expand the mind and and and live life to the fullest?
[24:18] SPEAKER_01: Excellent. Well, thanks so much, Pulumina, for joining us today.
[24:22] SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Mario. It was a pleasure.
[24:23] SPEAKER_01: All right. That was Pulumina, me who's owner of Pilo Financial Solutions and a senior well advisor for Raymond James. I'm Mario Tonigüzi.
[24:34] SPEAKER_01: Managing Editor of Canada's podcast today with Calgary's podcast. Thanks for joining us.