IRENE VASSALO, BA, CFP®, CEA, EPC, RRC, Principal, Vassalo & Associates, IG Private Wealth Management, Kitchener, ON, IG Wealth Management Inc., Mutual Fund Division
- CARMEN MORGAN
- 12 hours ago
- 9 min read
IRENE VASSALO
"We don’t just manage investments… we act as navigators, confidantes, and strategic partners in good times and hard times."
What comes to mind when you hear the word “legacy”? Is it merely financial: what money or property you leave behind in your will? Or is it something more meaningful, something with lasting impact? The desire to leave a lasting impact is the everyday driving force behind Irene Vassalo and her team at Vassalo & Associates Private Wealth Management.
Wanting to make a difference has been a constant in Irene's life, though her path to wealth management wasn’t part of the original plan. She attended the University of Waterloo with a clear mission: she wanted to be a social worker. “I wanted to save the world,” she says.
At 17, she took a part-time job as a bank teller at Canada Trust. “I loved my job,” she remembers. When she graduated in the middle of a recession, social work positions were scarce, so she continued moving up at the bank, still holding on to that dream of helping people.
“My then-boyfriend, now husband, was trying to tell me very nicely that I would have been spectacularly miscast as a social worker,” she laughs. When he spotted an ad for a consultant position at IG Wealth Management that seemed to match her skills, he encouraged her to apply and on January 15th, 1995, she officially began her career as a financial counselor. “I took the theory from my studies, my financial experience, put them together and became a financial counselor,” she explains.
It was by no means an easy path. Having no prior business-building experience, having to work harder to gain client trust due to her youth, and entering the industry at a time when few women were available as mentors, all tested Irene’s determination.
Looking back, she recognizes the extra burden women in the industry had to carry. “I'm very proud of what we’ve accomplished. Several male colleagues have told me they have a tremendous respect for women who succeed in this industry, knowing it often requires working harder to achieve the same level of success as their male counterparts.”
Through the years, Irene’s practice grew and thrived, built on deep expertise coupled with genuine care, as evidenced through client testimonials on her website, irenevassalo.com.
Yet in early 2020, just before COVID, Irene had reached a crossroads. She'd been building the business for 25 years, had a solid team in place, but something fundamental was missing. “I wasn't having fun anymore. Things were hard instead of being challenging. It was time to change.”
In October 2020, during a quarterly strategic meeting with her team, one comment stopped everything. “It was time to have a serious conversation about how we move forward, define what our purpose was.”
They spent time building their mission, vision, and ideal client statements. When they finished, Irene asked the critical questions: “Are we living up to our potential? Are we on the right path to deliver on our mission and reach our vision? Are we focused on serving our ideal client base?” The answer was no.
What followed was a period of intentional downsizing. “Over the next 18-24 months, we downsized our client base to align with our ideal client and create capacity so that we could do the more in-depth, complex planning we were capable of.”
The strategic pivot wasn't just about business growth. Fundamentally, it was about legacy.
Shifting to intergenerational family planning and creating capacity to serve families with more complex planning needs would allow for deeper legacy planning conversations and benefit families in more meaningful ways.
“We want grandparents, we want parents, we want children,” she says. One client questioned why she'd want to work with their 18-year-old child. Her response was immediate: “Of course I do, because that's when I started - at 17 years old. I read Dave Chilton’s The Wealthy Barber and I put 10% of my paycheck aside.”
She recalls going to a full-time teller at the bank to open an RSP at 17. “They told me, ‘No, you can’t do that.’ And then came the sarcasm: ‘Oh, sure, you’re going to get rich.’ I would love to show them how far I’ve come.” She pauses. “I am the poster child for compounding interest.”
As a side benefit, creating capacity would also allow her to reclaim balance. In the midst of building her business, Irene got married, had two children, and spent years trying to navigate the responsibilities of career and family life, working excessive hours. “My husband would often tell me, ‘You’ve got to change your schedule, Irene, you're going to burn yourself out.’”
Being a member of the sandwich generation added another layer of complexity. “Just as your kids start to become more independent, your parents start to need more help.” This is something she and her team also see regularly as they work with intergenerational families, and it helps to have that first-hand understanding of the challenges.
COVID also had a hand in helping Irene meet her goal of balancing her career and personal life. Working from home, she started going for walks, eating healthier, and lost weight. “I got healthier,” she says simply. It became a habit.
Now she’s right-sized her workload. “I want to go hard in the morning” but she's home for dinner every night. “We have family dinner every night, not just on weekends or days off.”
The impact of this balance extends beyond her own well being. “When you take care of yourself, it makes it easier to take care of others because you have the energy and an aura about you. People are attracted to that type of energy.”
At the core of Irene's practice is a value proposition that emerged from client feedback. During value luncheons with top clients, she asked what they valued most about her services, and it wasn’t to do with portfolio returns. “Nine times out of 10, the answers that came up were about behavioural guidance.”
The key, she explains, is confidence. “When you have confidence and you can project it to other people, it really gives people peace of mind.”
“We don’t just manage investments,” notes Irene. “While that is certainly an important aspect of what we do, it’s our mission to help clients not only grow their wealth, but also to protect and share it in ways that are meaningful to them. Crucially, then, we also act as navigators, confidantes, and strategic partners in good times and hard times.”
The firm’s financial planning services extend to cash flow and debt management, strategic tax planning, retirement optimization, estate planning, multi-generational wealth and philanthropic strategies. Numerous studies confirm this approach leads to greater wealth accumulation, improved financial confidence, and enhanced overall well-being.
When asked about the wealth management firm behind her practice, Irene notes “We’ve chosen to work with IG Private Wealth Management. The firm is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, they’ve got the fundamentals right, and they have a clear path forward. We have the right tools and experts at our disposal, be they in the form of top-performing investment solutions, exceptional financial planning software, in-house legal and accounting expertise, or the partnerships IG Private Wealth Management is developing to bring even more value to clients.” These new lifestyle and advisory services allow clients to access health and wellness programs, business valuation expertise, and estate settlement support.
With the right kind of support backing the team, Irene feels well-prepared to provide the kind of legacy planning they set out to focus on when the restructuring began. In fact, the team was recently recognized with IG Private Wealth Management’s 2024 Jeff Carney Award for Financial Planning Excellence. “We were delighted because the award recognized our commitment to delivering outstanding financial planning and improving clients’ financial well-being.” The award can be achieved just once in a recipient's career.
Irene’s legacy work extends beyond clients and her own family. It all comes full circle – a lasting impact for Irene can come in the form of breaking barriers, mentoring others, building out her team, and giving back to her community.
Irene has two children: her daughter Bella, now 19, and her son Zach, who's 12. The example she's set has been intentional, especially for Bella. She wanted her daughter to know she could do whatever she wanted to do. “Because of the struggles that I had in the beginning, in having to break those barriers, I am hoping that her path will be easier.” When her daughter tells her, “Mom, I'm just so proud of you,” Irene's voice catches. “Those words alone, make it all worthwhile.”
On the client side, one challenge that comes with intergenerational wealth transfer, she explains, is that inheritors may lack context. “They didn't see the sacrifices that were made, the hard work.” Young people need to understand “what a gift they're being given and how important it is to be good stewards of their finances and responsible members of the community. I truly believe that when a community is good to you, you have a moral obligation to give back to that community.”
Irene is a well-known figure in the Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge area – featured in media outlets and active in community initiatives like She Shares Giving Circle and local hospital support, which reflects her deep-rooted commitment.
Irene's early experience with the lack of female mentorship has shaped her commitment to supporting other women. When women reach out asking for 15 minutes of her time, “the answer's always ‘Yes, let's have a conversation; the door's always open.’”
One of the most frequent questions Irene gets from mentees is about team building. “I wouldn't be here if it weren’t for the support that I have around me, especially my team,” she says. “We have an exceptional team. The best in the industry!”
It happened organically: she built an all-female team. This gives her pause when looking for new people to add to the team. “It’s not intentional to have an all-female team; it is just a matter of finding the right person for the right job.”
The team includes Teresa Schnurr as Practice Manager, who Irene describes as their visionary and voice of reason. “I have several ideas. Teresa thinks things through and prioritizes.” Teresa handles firm management, team oversight, research, marketing, and community events.
Sandra Schnarr (who coincidentally has a similar last name to Teresa), is their second generation Advisor. She works directly with a subset of the firm’s clients and provides insurance and tax planning support. Clients appreciate her expertise as well as her approachability. “She does the research for individual clients where Teresa will do the research that pertains to the practice as a whole," Irene explains.
In addition to being fully licensed, both Teresa and Sandra, along with Irene, are CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professionals®. This is something Irene insists on. “There is no room for mediocrity on our team. As client needs grow more complex, they rely on our advice, and the CFP® certification is known as the gold standard in Canadian financial planning.”
Ashley Basraon is the team’s client experience leader, handling all processing, client onboarding, as well as social media and special touches like birthday bouquets. “She's the one trying to get everything done before the end of each day,” Irene notes. “She takes care of so many tasks and provides an exceptional client experience.”
The culture they’ve built is intentional. “I joke that I want to build a utopia, but I don't see why we can't,” she says. The approach is collaborative: “Any decision that we make, we make it as a firm, and we make it together. Anyone we bring onto the team must fit the dynamic and the culture.” Every potential hire must be approved by the entire team. “We don't hire anyone until the entire team agrees.”
Just like you plan for your family’s future, Irene wants to ensure the team is set up to thrive, no matter what life brings. “It’s about building strength and continuity so everyone can keep moving forward with confidence.”
Looking back over three decades, Irene recognizes that entrepreneurship isn't just about starting a business or building a client base. It's about taking ownership of your vision, your values, and your time. “I like to win,” she says. “And I don't want to give that up.” But winning includes time for herself and her family, along with meaningful work.
That, ultimately, is what entrepreneurship looks like for Irene: the freedom to define success on her own terms, help the people she's equipped to help best, build a team and culture that reflects her values, and be home for dinner.
Carmen Morgan is a skilled business writer and storyteller, collaborating with business owners and executives to tell their stories and share perspectives on growth and success, as well as perseverance and adversity. Over two decades she has refined her interview, writing and editing skills to capture the nuggets and captivating details that engage readers and make a story memorable.
Irene Vassalo, BA, CFP, CEA, EPC, RRC®
Principal, Vassalo & Associates Private Wealth
4295 King Street East, Suite 301,
Kitchener, ON, N2P 0C6
Phone: (519) 650-7255