We are now one year into the global pandemic that none of us saw coming. It has been a long year of isolation from friends, online grocery deliveries, video calls with family, and mask-sewing that has left many aspects of our lives looking very different to the way it did in March, 2020.

The past year drove many businesses to reassess their operations in order to better serve this new world, and we are no exception.  Doing business digitally has been at the forefront of our objectives over the past few months and we have some exciting announcements about how we have achieved a more seamless online experience for our clients, which we are improving on regularly.

We are thankful that we live and operate in a province that has handled COVID-19 so well, compared to other areas in Canada. Because of Nova Scotia’s low case count, we are continuing in-office services as well as phone and Zoom meetings where preferred, however please call before stopping by so we can ensure physical distancing in our small office.

We have changed, we have adapted, and we will soon overcome this pandemic. In the meantime, we’re ready to do even better for our clients.

           We’re growing!

We are pleased to announce that Anne-Marie Chartrand has joined the Trinity Team as of January 18 in the role of Office Manager. Anne-Marie has 35 years experience in the financial service industry, having worked with local trusts, group insurance, underwriting & insurance contracting, and most recently in accounting assisting with personal and corporate returns.

Her background in income tax and insurance makes Anne-Marie a very valuable addition to the team and we look forward to you meeting her the next time you are in the office. In addition to making sure everything works smoothly in the office, Anne-Marie will be providing administrative support for our investment, insurance and tax preparation. She will be wearing a lot of hats! 

Her contact info is anne-marie@trinitywealthpartners.ca and she can also be reached at 902-835-1112.

With Anne-Marie on board, one of the biggest changes is that Lorna will now be able to focus exclusively on managing and growing client relationships. As her client base was growing, Lorna had been provided much needed administrative support. With Anne-Marie helping Natalie on the administrative side of things, Lorna will now be able to focus on her true passion, which is working with clients to help them reach their financial goals, and we are all happy that she is now able to concentrate her energies there.

Last but not least, this added administrative support is going to enable Natalie (and Rick) to spend more time on initiatives to enrich the client experience (more on that later.)     

           Tax season

March brings longer days and hints of better weather to come… and the beginning of income tax season. We are pleased to announce a new partnership this year, where Traci Kerr, who has been preparing taxes for Trinity for the last few years on a subcontractor basis, will now be providing tax preparation services for our clients through her company, Nova and Beyond Bookkeeping. Anne-Marie will be working with Traci, providing administrative support, so if we need access to your income tax information for any reason (capital gains, RSP contribution room, etc) we will still be able to do so. Similarly, if Traci needs anything from the investment side (a missed RSP receipt or investment slip) she can obtain those. This structure will allow Traci more autonomy on the day to day running of the tax practice while continuing to enable the sharing of important information between the two companies. We feel that it is important to be able to offer income tax preparations services in connection with investment and financial advice and are excited about this new partnership.

Traci’s office is located on the upper level (Civic #1150, the same level as the parking behind us) of our building so she is still on site a few days a week to meet with you if needed. There are several ways you can get your documents to Traci this year: Online via e-courier, mail to the office, or dropping off at the office are all available options. Please call to arrange a time to drop off your slips so we can ensure physical distancing. We also have a lock-box for after-hours drop-offs. Anne-Marie or Traci can answer any questions you may have about tax preparation.

 

           Technology updates

In the last few months, we have been working on several initiatives to bring our business online. Our mutual fund dealer, Quadrus, has also been implementing improvements to their platforms that allow us to trade and open new accounts with no (or less!) paper. We mentioned in our last newsletter that e-signatures are available for some new accounts; that list is growing to almost all accounts this year, along with more trades and changes to your payments or banking. Quadrus also has a new client site that we’ll cover in the next section.

We have upgraded some of the technology in our office as well! Including a new website, client portal, and content sharing service to stay connected with you:

New website launch!

After several months of dedicated efforts, we are very excited to announce the launch of our new website. In addition to giving our web presence a fresh look, we wanted to enable a better mobile experience as well as being more user-friendly and interactive.

Our goals with the new website are to provide new visitors an easier way to learn about our services and to continue to provide valuable content to our clients.   

Here are a few of the features of the new site:

• A comprehensive resource center with useful articles, videos and calculators
• A paywall-free news stream with articles curated from many of the world’s leading publishers, like the Globe & Mail and The New York Times
• Financial risk assessment, retirement planning portal, and other interactive tools
• Ready access to your Quadrus account   

We will be constantly updating our content so be sure to check in with us regularly.

Visit us at www.trinitywealthpartners.ca

Trinity Client Portal

Another major initiative over the last few months has been the launch of the new Trinity Client Portal. We developed this specifically clients in mind as a better way to share files and upload data in a secure manner*. You can also use this service to send us secure inbox messages. We have developed custom fillable forms that reside inside the portal environment to make intake of information a more streamlined process. The combination of these intake forms and e-signature of the final documents have recently allowed us to complete several completely paperless account openings, moving us one step closer to our goal of being a truly paperless office. The portal is mobile enabled… we even have our own app!       

http://clients.trinitywealthpartners.ca

 

*The Trinity Client Portal was created through SuiteDash, which is powered by the Amazon AWS technology stack. This means your data is safely stored in ‘best in class’ data centers around the globe every day. Whenever your data is in transit between you and us, everything is encrypted, and sent using HTTPS. SuiteDash uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 with a 2048-bit server key length with industry-leading modern browsers. When you access SuiteDash via web browser, mobile applications, email add-in, or browser extension, TLS technology protects your information using both server authentication and data encryption. This is equivalent to network security methods used in banking and leading e-commerce sites. All users’ passwords, cookies, and sensitive information are reliably protected from eavesdropping.

 

New Quadrus website

Quadrus is making their client experience more hands on, as well. There is a new client portal (launched last year) where you can view your account balances anytime, as well as make changes to your address, sign up for e-statements, approve updates etc. They continue to add features to their Investment Summary site on a regular basis, making it easier for both of us to keep your investment profile accurate.

If you log in with your Client ID, you’re on the old site; contact Natalie to get an invite to the new site. You can login anytime on our website as well, just click on Client Login and then “Quadrus Login”.

 

      We’re getting social!

We would like to extend a warm invitation to all our clients to get social with Trinity! We will be sharing meaningful content on our social channels, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, on a regular basis, including exclusive content only available on our social media channels from top news sources.

While we haven’t been very active in the past, our recent changes to the team have opened up our time to spend curating useful resources and engaging with our clients on a more regular basis. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn, and let us help you outside of the boardroom.

It is very possible we will hold a few contests on our channels in the future, don’t miss out!

 

           Communication update from Rick Irwin

I wanted to make my clients aware that over the last few months I have been having sporadic issues with my emails ending up in spam folders. In some cases (these seem to be Eastlink and BellAliant email addresses for the most part) the missing emails appear to have been intercepted by the email servers before they even reached the intended recipients email account, so they don’t even show up in the junk drawer. If you ever don’t hear back from me in a timely manner, please reach out again as it may be that my reply never reached you.

A new feature that I have added to enhance communications with clients is the addition of a texting option. Previously I was not able to use my cell number for texting purposes as there was no ability to track and record those messages on our server, which is needed for compliance reasons.  I have invested in new VOIP software that has a dedicated SMS number (902-905-5969). This option is for inquiries that are general in nature (follows up, general information inquiries, coordinating a meeting time etc). Anything that is account specific should still be sent via email.     

I also launched a new client communication service powered by AdvisorStream. AdvisorStream provides licensed content from many of the leading publications around the world, including the Globe and Mail, the Guardian, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Through their service I can hand select individual articles that I feel will be of interest to clients and distribute them in a way that is free from any pay wall/pop ups. Hopefully, you are finding the weekly newsletter to be of interest. If you would like similar content we are adding one new article a day to our social media stream, so we welcome you to join up with us on your preferred platform.