Pilot Kit

Market Drop Opportunity Discovery

Four short pieces. Each is a separate page in production.

0 · CHOOSING WHO TO RUN THIS WITH

Read before booking the first meeting

The replication principle

The referral ask at the end of this process works. That is the point, and it carries one consequence:

Referrals regress to the client you asked. People refer people like themselves. Whoever you run this with is the client the process will try to replicate.

That is not an argument for running it only with A clients. Most advisors want more mid-tier clients even while moving upmarket — a good mid-tier client is a good outcome, not a consolation. The filter is narrower than that:

Don’t spend this process on clients you don’t want to keep or replicate.

Everyone above that line is a legitimate target.

The filter — three questions

1. Do I want to keep them? This is a retention instrument. Spending it on a client you would be relieved to lose is time you cannot recover.

2. Would I be content to have more clients like this one? Not thrilled — content. The referral mechanism will try to give you exactly that. A yes is enough.

3. Will they actually engage? A client who will not complete a seven-item Inventory or sign a plan absorbs the full 65 minutes and produces none of the three benefits.

Where Client First sits in this

Deciding not to run a 45-minute one-to-one meeting with every client is a time allocation decision, not a decision to withhold advice. The distinction matters, and the delivery ladder is what makes it honest:

Reaches	What they get
Every client, without exception	The harmful list. It prevents permanent loss, it costs nothing to send, and no one should be without it.
Every client	The proactive outreach email when a decline begins.
The clients you want to keep and replicate	The full Discovery.

Nobody is left unprotected. Scarce advisor hours go where they compound. If the harmful list is not going to everyone, the ladder is not being applied — it is being used as an excuse.

Sequencing your rollout

Do not start with your A clients. Version one of any process has rough edges. The first Discovery will run long, miss something, and teach you what to cut. Spend that on a mid-tier client — one who passes the three questions above, but where the stakes of a rough first run are lower.

Suggested sequence:

Run it on yourself first. You have the numbers, and it validates the arithmetic before a client sees it.
Two or three mid-tier clients. Full process, including the ask. These are real clients you want to keep — you are cutting your teeth, not experimenting on people.
Cut what the feedback tells you to cut. Something will need cutting.
Then your A clients, with a process that has already been through contact.

Rushing to step 4 is the most likely way to spend your best relationships on a first draft.

1 · CLIENT INVENTORY

Before your Opportunity Discovery

Seven items. About ten minutes. Send three to five days ahead.

Advisor: fill in everything you already hold before sending. A form that asks a client to restate their own balances signals that nobody is paying attention.

Why we’re asking. We’re going to work out what a significant market decline would actually be worth to you in dollars — some of it is certain, and most people never collect it. These seven figures are what the arithmetic needs. Estimates are fine throughout.

1. Non-registered investments — current value $ __________ Only accounts outside RRSPs, RRIFs and TFSAs.

2. Non-registered investments — approximate cost base $ __________ What you originally paid, including reinvested distributions. Your statements usually show it as “book value” or “ACB.” An estimate is fine.

3. Capital gains you realized in each of the last three years 20__ $ __________ 20__ $ __________ 20__ $ __________ From your Notices of Assessment, or Schedule 3 of your returns. This one determines the largest number in the review — it sets how much tax you could recover.

4. Your marginal tax rate ______ % The rate on your next dollar of income. We can work it out together if you’re unsure.

5. Unused contribution room TFSA $ __________ RRSP $ __________ Both appear on your most recent Notice of Assessment.

6. Cash and short-term holdings $ __________ And roughly what you spend from the portfolio each year: $ __________

7. Is there any investment you’ve wanted to sell or change, but haven’t, because of the tax?

Roughly what it’s worth: $ __________ Roughly the gain: $ __________

Held anywhere else? If any of the above sits with another institution, include it. The analysis is wrong without the full picture.

Couldn’t find something? Bring what you have. We’ll estimate the rest in the meeting. Nothing here is worth delaying over.

2 · MY MARKET DECLINE PLAN

Client _________________________ Date __________ Review __________

Trigger index _________________________ Closing price, measured from its prior all-time high.

At −20% I will

☐ Deploy $ __________ of cash to restore my target allocation of ______ % ☐ Harvest losses in non-registered accounts, carried back to 20____ ☐ Contribute $ __________ to ☐ TFSA ☐ RRSP ☐ Make the change I’ve been deferring: _________________________________ ☐ ______________________________________________________________

At −30% I will

☐ ______________________________________________________________ ☐ ______________________________________________________________

I will not

☐ Sell to cash ☐ Stop contributions ☐ Withdraw from my TFSA ☐ Transfer depressed holdings in kind into a registered account ☐ Lower my target allocation while the decline is underway

If neither trigger fires

☐ I accept that ☐ I will deploy on ____________________

I will not change this plan while either trigger condition is active.

Signed _________________________ Advisor _________________________

Estimates prepared for discussion. Confirm figures before acting.

3 · FOLLOW-UP EMAIL

Send within 24 hours

Subject: Your decline plan — and the number

Hi [Name],

Thanks for the time today. Three things, in case you want them in one place.

The number. At a 30% decline you’d have roughly $[loss] of harvestable losses, and with $[gains] of gains realized in the last three years, that’s about $[recoverable] of tax recoverable. That’s cash back on tax already paid — it doesn’t depend on the market recovering.

[If applicable:] Making the change to [holding] would also cost roughly $[toll] less than it does today.

Your plan. Signed copy attached. Nothing to do with it now — the point is that it exists before you need it.

The trigger. You’re on the list. If the market closes 20% below its high, I’ll call you. You don’t need to watch it.

Next review: [date].

[Advisor]

Figures are estimates for discussion.

4 · PILOT FEEDBACK

After your first Discovery

Eight questions. The point of the pilot is what you tell us, so please be blunt — “this part was useless” is the most valuable answer you can give.

1. How long did it actually take? Prep ______ min · Meeting ______ min · Follow-up ______ min

2. Did the client complete the Inventory beforehand? ☐ Fully ☐ Partly ☐ Not at all If partly or not at all — what did they skip? ______________________

3. What did the client react to most? ☐ The harmful list ☐ The recoverable tax number ☐ The slider ☐ The deferred-change saving ☐ Signing the plan ☐ Something else: ________

4. What fell flat, or felt like filler?

5. What was missing that you needed in the room?

6. Did you make the referral ask? ☐ Yes ☐ No — why not? ______________________ If yes, what happened? ______________________

7. Would you run this again next week with another client? ☐ Yes ☐ Yes, but shorter ☐ Only with changes: ______________________ ☐ No

8. What would you pay for this, as a working advisor?

One thing we specifically need to know: was any part of this too much? A process advisors admire and never run is worth nothing. If something should be cut, say which.