About Us
We provide comprehensive advice to affluent families, foundations, and institutions across Canada.
Overview
Our Beginnings
In 1994, with 25 years of experience as a well-respected voice in the industry, John Nicola formed Nicola Wealth, a firm dedicated to serving the complex needs of high net worth families, entrepreneurs, and professionals. Not satisfied with the existing approach and believing a more sophisticated level of planning was necessary, Nicola Wealth has made innovation a foundational cornerstone and continues to find ways to improve client returns and their experience.
Growth
Starting out with seven staff and $80-million in assets under management, Nicola Wealth refined and developed its integrated approach to wealth management, including investments, risk management, tax planning, estate planning, and more.
Today, the firm manages over $12-billion in assets, operates with over 400 staff, and has six offices in BC and Ontario, advising institutions and high net worth families of all professions and backgrounds.
Innovation & Integration
At the time the firm opened its doors, there was a severe lack of sophistication in the nascent wealth management industry. Business owners were sold insurance and told to invest in stocks, bonds and mutual funds, but it was nothing more than a slightly enhanced version of what an average investor would do.
With a keen understanding of the financial industry, its many vehicles, and the elaborate rules and regulations involved, the firm now challenges conventional wisdom, implementing a specialized planning approach.
• Build assets outside of your business that are not correlated to your company’s future performance.
• Reassess your compensation structure; in most cases, taking a salary and buying RRSPs is a less than ideal approach for incorporated professionals and business owners to maximize family income.
• Ensure your investment portfolio generates cash flow that is likely to be at least 50% of its long-term potential return.
• Design your life insurance to be an asset class, and more than just a risk management tool.
• Ensure your structure is tax efficient both now and with respect to your ultimate estate.
Instead of simply marketing various investments and insurance products, Nicola Wealth’s team of advisors considers all parts of a client’s financial situation. Investments, insurance, compensation, taxes, estate planning, and charitable giving were all measured together to create a comprehensive financial plan that takes full advantage of a client’s unique circumstances.
The firm invites clients’ accountants, lawyers and other advisors to meetings and makes a point of committing to constant communication and coordination with our clients’ professional team – ensuring that all parties are on the same page and that all strategies were being implemented in the client’s best interest.
From being one of the first Canadian firms to embrace a fee-based structure, to creating unique access to institutional-class investments for its clients, this focus on innovation and building offerings “from our client’s perspective out” has been a guiding principle for the firm’s continued growth and a hallmark of its success.
Awards & Recognition
2022
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Best Managed Companies (Platinum Club)
Winner - Given to 2022 winners that have maintained their Best Managed status for seven years or more.
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2021
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Wealth Professional Awards 2021 - Excellence in Philanthropy and Community Service
2021 Finalist
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2020
2019
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Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies (Gold Standard)
Winner
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BC's Top Employer 2019
Winner
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Canada's Top 100 Small & Medium Employers - Growth & Small Cap
Winner
2018
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Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies
Winner
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Canada's 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures
Winner
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Canada's Top 100 Small & Medium Employers - Growth & Small Cap
Winner
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Wealth Professional - Outstanding Philanthropy and Community Service Award
Winner
2017
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Canada's Top 100 Small & Medium Employers
Winner
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