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Together we’ve raised $612,245 in small business loans!

Hear the story of how 23-year-old Rwandan Jean Bosco, used a Kiva loan to start his own biofuel business, managing his district’s poor waste system by turning their trash into fuel.

His solution was so innovative that this past June, he had the opportunity to meet ex-President Barack Obama and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in the US, and was asked to join them in a panel discussion about small businesses.

Reflecting on his $5,100 Kiva loan, funded through 145 lenders all over the world, he says –

“For me, it’s like a debt that I owe to people, not in terms of money, but a debt in terms of trust. Because these people are giving you money, and they didn’t come to see first-hand what you’re doing. So you need to pay back in terms of making it happen just like you said you would…”

See the full story on Kiva’s blog.

It’s hard starting out today, especially in the Lower Mainland, but having good people in your corner is key.

The Future of Allan Financial is Bright. An interview with Ross & Danielle in the Globe & Mail on how they are handling the transition of the family business.

Ensuring our clients feel comfortable and safe in every growth phase of their life is what it’s all about for us. Everyone’s journey is so beautifully different, and the fact that we get to be alongside for this journey is always a privilege.

Hear the heart of one such core story.

There are certain questions we hear a lot when folks are interested in life insurance. Things like “How much insurance do I really need?”, “What’s the difference between all the types of policies out there?”, or “What is the process of getting life insurance like?”

So we’ve put together an FAQ to help you out!

We love hearing about the dreams and goals that we’ve enabled our clients to reach. Everyone has that special something they’d love to do if they had the means. Helping this happen never gets old!

It’s a throwback to last year when Ross, Danielle, and Chriselle were on the cover of our industry publication!

Every industry seems to be changing. Insurance is too. Hard to believe that such a stalwart of traditional commerce can change, but clients are requiring this sector to keep pace with how they now expect to do business.

Hear how we’ve managed to have success by embracing change. It’s never too late!

Read the full article from Forum Magazine, Revive Your Firm.

You’d never guess what one of our clients is now able to buy because of the investment aspect of her policy. While everyone’s financial goals are different, our clients typically have something enjoyable they are planning for.

Not your run of the mill life insurance policy – for not so run of the mill people!

Together we’ve raised $567,621! Thanks so much to all of our generous lenders. To get involved, check out our Kiva page.

Caring can be uncomfortable.

Caring can shake things up, inject passion and purpose into the workplace and transform our understanding of how corporate social responsibility can function in a small-business context.

After our team participated this Spring, I was inspired to sleep on the street alongside other CEOs.

And close to a million dollars was collectively raised for Covenant House to support homeless youth.

Leading up to the Sleep Out I was pretty scared about the prospect of spending the night on the pavement (see Ross is Sleeping on the Street on November 16!).

You can also see the impact this had on our team earlier this year – see Team Building with a Mission.

Or is it?!

Life Insurance can feel scary so the last thing you might expect to see are our clients having a blast.

We love being ahead of the curve, doing what matters most for our clients, and pioneering custom products that are in our clients’ best interests.

So when we had the opportunity to take a group of clients and their friends who they had referred to us, where else would we go but the circus?

Putting the Joy in Enjoy Your Life. ?

Thank you so much to our co-sponsors HUB Financial, SSQ Insurance and Manulife Financial who support us in these community-building experiences.

Many thanks to Elizabeth Mah from Paperclip Law for presenting at our last Happy Friday event!

The real estate surge in Vancouver continues to push families to purchase their homes, condos and even live/work spaces in surrounding communities in Squamish, Bowen Island, and the Sunshine Coast. To those who relocate, there’s an excitement of making new friendships with like-minded people holding similar interests towards family life and health living. 

The facilities for sports like ice hockey, figure skating, swimming and gymnastics in the outlying communities do not have the capacity to meet the demands of their new residents, particularly in Squamish which has seen a major influx of newly married couples with young children.  

Civic leaders need to put solutions in place that don’t force a dramatic increase in property taxes or result in excessive user fees. Good listening, planning, and goal setting will be needed by all interested parties. 

The madness of the Vancouver real estate marketplace has had a positive impact on the life insurance business of which I am a part. Record high mortgages have become normalized here. So covering that good debt and the income replacement needed to keep a family stable in the case of a claim has never been more important. 

Many never dreamed they would have to move out of their beloved city… but wise financial decisions and smaller community values have never failed us. 

 What issues are you finding in your community backyard, while you enjoy your new life outside the big city? 

 Want a snicker? Check out the ‘debt worth’ client by Ross Allan. See anyone you know?

If you know us, you already know that we do things a bit differently. I mean, how else would you explain the fact that a life insurance company has an open weekly “Happy Friday” in the office for partners and clients?

So it probably won’t surprise you to hear that we are once again stepping out boldly into new territory.

While Allan Financial has been in business since 1984, we owe much of our longevity to not only all of our amazing clients who have stayed with us since the very beginning but equally to our responsiveness to change.

Through the decades, we’ve gone through many different changes. One was focusing solely on life insurance and letting go of being an overall financial advisory firm. Then there was the 2008 economic downturn. And along the way, many different insurance products we sell have been redesigned, eliminated, and new rules put into place. 

It’s never been easy, but by focusing on being adept at navigating change, we’ve managed to grow in some amazing ways. 

We’d love to share our thoughts on how you might also navigate the changes in your own business. Download our article on “A Tale of Transformation”.

Most of us have had to go through reinvention at some point in our lives, and while it is never an easy path, we always knew it was crucial for us to remaining relevant.

We’re pretty pleased, and honestly, a bit amazed, to have such a high profile feature. We hope you enjoy seeing a bit of a behind-the-scenes view of Allan Financial. Read the full article from Forum Magazine, Revive Your Firm.

At the end of last year, we made a strategic decision to become a more independent life insurance advisory firm. Hear what this means for you as our client.

We’ve raised $463,682! Thanks so much to all of our generous lenders. To get involved, check out our Kiva page.

For the past 30 years Sandra has made and sold different kinds of scarves and sarongs in Haiti. The 2010 earthquake destroyed her shop, but thanks to a $8,000 loan (comprised of 295 small individual loans), she was able to build a production workshop and a storefront in the space she has now. This expansion also allowed her to create 5 new jobs with her Kiva loan, just going to show how many small amounts can make a big difference.

We are pleased to be one small part of something so big and meaningful.

Let’s face it. When she leaves a room the question lingering is …who is that woman? What’s her deal? 

Holly has such presence and a delightful yet powerful way of connecting with others. She raises eyebrows.

We figured it’s time to “out” her pretty cool credentials. Mostly because we want to champion her work both in and outside the Allan Financial office.

Holly’s the founder of a forward thinking initiative on our beloved Bowen Island (where Ross and the Allan clan reside). We think she’s leading a culture shift – that’s why we chose to sponsor her vision.

She was calling forth folks, like her, to come out of the woodwork to share the most modern of ideas in her Bowen Innovation Series.  There is nobody more qualified to host such a tribe of special, change making folks than Holly.

Let’s start with where she’s lived…South Africa, and by the age of 16 years old had travelled to Brazil, Mexico, United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Swaziland, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.

And before Bowen Island she did work in consulting /executive education for senior foreign government officials in Washington DC, managed the launch of a multi-million-dollar documentary film release, led investor relations for a software start-up for global relief supply chain management, and rallied a mobile web app.

Why an enigma? Well anyone who ghost writes gets that moniker. Holly has worked with several thought leaders crafting their messages before it was a “thing”. Her articles can be found in publications and op-ed pieces in the Huffington Post, LA Times, CNN.com, Harvard Business Review and University Presses.

Just one of the many reasons we call her our interpreter.

“You are known by the company you keep.”

Know that before your customers are satisfied, your employees must have given their all. The satisfaction that your customers talk about is largely a result of the value they get from your business, and it’s only loyal employees who can create this value.

We are fortunate to have found out early on, the value our employees are to our business. Many of you have met our two longest-term employees, Kal Sangha who has been with Allan Financial for 23 years, and Hardeep Arreaga who recently celebrated 10 years!

While our relationships evolve and grow, the fact that we continue to have such long-term ones, both internally and externally, makes what we do that much more rewarding. So to Kal and Hardeep – thank you for being a big part of that!

Here’s to carrying these relationships forward through all the stages of life. 

We were thrilled when last week in Toronto at the 2016 Wealth Professional Awards we received the Best Practice Individual Office award. It was great – a big fancy award show and ceremony with all the attendant bells and whistles. And we won!

While it was certainly nice to get all the attention and the accolades, coming back home with a heavy piece of crystal to add to the office mantel was in stark contrast to a completely different recent accomplishment. One in which we had a significant global impact.

With your help, we spent the last two years raising almost half a million dollars for Kiva, a non-profit that loans money to low-income entrepreneurs around the world. But this was no ordinary charity campaign. It wasn’t even a donation, as these are loans that have been 98% repaid within a year.

So together we’ve boosted the bottom line for the more than 1,200 women in 33 countries who received these loans. But it’s not just the numbers that are remarkable, it’s also how this social enterprise initiative created community and changed relationships within the company and with clients.

Even though we are proud of receiving national industry recognition for excellence in client service and reputation, honestly it’s the tangible difference we’ve been able to make in the lives of women entrepreneurs around the world, that is clearly the more significant reward.

We now joke that we can add Give a Little, Get a Lot to our corporate tagline of Enjoy Your Life.

Thank you again to those who have joined us in this amazing journey! 

A couple of years ago, when we first announced that we were partnering with Kiva, we never could have imagined the outcome…