MEGHAN MCALISTER, CIM, Investment Counsellor & Portfolio Manager, BMO Private Wealth
- CARMEN MORGAN
- 14 hours ago
- 6 min read
Meghan McAlister
"Traditional economic theory assumes people are entirely rational at all times. That is not usually the case”
Long before Meghan McAlister was running discretionary portfolios for high-net-worth families, she was a ten-year-old at her family breakfast table, comparing Tuesday’s stock quotes to Monday’s in the pages of the Vancouver Sun.
"My father was a Venture Capitalist, so I was always very interested in his business dealings,” says Meghan, Investment Counsellor & Portfolio Manager with BMO Private Wealth. This was before the internet, when the markets arrived folded in daily newspaper business sections. Of the three children in her family, Meghan was the one who leaned in. "I was the most interested in understanding the process of taking a company public, what it means to raise capital, and what stages of change a company goes through."
Her stepfather, in her life from a young age, was a Financial Planner, and she absorbed both halves of the business early: her father's risk-forward instincts and her stepfather's discipline of planning. "Family is really important to me," she says, a closeness that, years later, would shape how she sits across the table from her own clients' families.
But her post-secondary education didn’t start in finance. When Meghan was accepted to the University of Victoria, she had her sights set on psychology. "I love learning about people and relationships," she says. She ended up studying psychology and business in tandem and discovered that the two are not so separate. "The relationship people have with money—behavioural finance—that is a passion of mine,” she says. "There are days in my work when I lean toward the psychology side, and other days when I lean one hundred percent into the business or econ side.”
There are often conflicting attitudes toward financial risk that emotion and cognitive bias, not cold arithmetic, can explain. Meghan recognized her own instincts in the area. "People are not always entirely rational when it comes to money," she says. "One of the greatest risks to wealth is not market volatility—it's human behaviour. Helping clients make sound decisions during uncertainty is often where the greatest value is created."
Meghan entered the financial industry in 2008. “It was quite an interesting time, given the financial crisis," she says. She left school with the optimism of the newly graduated, starting in a position as an unlicensed assistant's chair at an independent Canadian firm.
“When I did the math on that job security in the middle of a financial crisis, I was the newest person, the one without any designations, and would likely have been cut first," she says. “So I started studying.” The Canadian Securities course first, then, in time, options and derivatives licensing. Her routine became its own kind of discipline. "I would wake up and go to Starbucks at five a.m. and study before work," she says. "Two and a half, three hours, then go in and apply what I'd just read during the workday." She successfully earned her designation and was hired as a licensed assistant and kept climbing from there. By 2013, she was the branch manager.
She credits her sense of discipline first and foremost. "Without structure, you're going to drop a ball. When you are dealing with your client’s life savings, there is no room for error.”
Some of her sharpest early lessons came from a stint in compliance, reviewing whether clients were in suitable products, judgments she had to make from paperwork alone. "I only knew what was on the page, but I had to dig deeper," she says. That sometimes meant a twenty-something challenging a veteran broker, decades her senior. "I had men tell me, 'I've been doing this longer than you've been alive,'" she recalls. "You've got to have thick skin and conviction in what you're saying."
Ask Meghan to describe her business and she resists the usual specialist's pitch. Having worked in Vancouver, Ottawa, Victoria, and now Kelowna, she sees her edge differently. "I'm a specialist at connecting clients with the right experts," she says. Investment management is her own lane. She is the lead relationship manager, running discretionary portfolios, tax planning, estate planning, private banking, insurance, business succession, and philanthropy each belong to a dedicated expert on her team. "I'm the one who brings them all to the table, as the person with the deepest relationship with the client," she says. "My clients benefit from having an integrated team of experts coordinating every aspect of their wealth—from investment management to estate planning to business succession—through a single trusted relationship."
Relationship comes before product for Meghan. "First and foremost, it's: ‘Are we a fit? Who are you as a person? How did you grow up? What was your relationship with money as a child? ’" Meghan is candid when a new introduction’s style or philosophy does not match her own. “I think it is important to have open dialogue on what everyone’s expectations are, and if we collectively decide not to move forward, I have many teammates that are also a great option that may fit the prospect’s personality better than me”
The same psychology governs how she sets risk. "I have clients you may think would be in a capital appreciation focused strategy, they have more money than they need for their day to day, and a significant loss wouldn't change their lifestyle," she says. "But do they sleep at night? If the markets bring them anxiety, I am not putting them in a high-risk portfolio. Our focus will be preserving the wealth they have worked hard to create. Life is stressful enough. I don't want to add to it."
She inherited a rule from her father, who took shares as part of the deals he closed: don't be greedy. "He taught me to remove the emotion, so when a client frets that they sold at $57 only to watch the stock touch $62, Meghan reframes it. "We don't have a crystal ball, it could have gone to $45. And remember, we bought it at $35," she says. Her job is to point toward the next opportunity.
Another of Meghan's defining convictions in her investment advising practice emerged from a meeting with women who were interviewing Advisors. Their previous Advisor, she learned, "spoke to the men in the room." It's a complaint with hard numbers behind it. "I just want to get to know each person I’m working with. Who are you? What are you scared about? What are your goals and dreams, and how can I help you get there? Their answers are often somewhere in the realm of, ‘I want to learn what I should be doing, but I don't feel like I'm being heard.’”
It's why Meghan prefers both partners attend meetings with her, even when one has historically handled the finances "It's helping the partner that has been less involved understand that we all need to have this conversation," she says, "so that on the worst day of their life, when their partner is no longer with us there is not an added layer of grief. Both partners need to have a trusting relationship with me.”
Her work, ultimately, is part coach and part caregiver, a thread Meghan traces back to her family life. Her mother, a stockbroker in the 1980s before raising children, taught her that, "the most important thing in life is to be kind." Her grandmother used to tell her she should be a nurse "because you just love to take care of people." Both instincts survive in the practice Meghan has built. "The best feeling," she says, "is at the end of a meeting when a client asks, 'Can I give you a hug?' They leave knowing everything's going to be okay and those hopes and dreams we established in our first meeting are coming true."
She's quick to add the other half of the equation, lest anyone mistake warmth for softness. "I like to make my clients money, too," she says. “My ultimate goal is to help families feel confident, informed, and secure while ensuring their wealth supports the life they want to live and the legacy they want to leave."
Meghan McAlister
Investment Counsellor and Portfolio Manager
BMO Private Wealth
294 Bernard Avenue, 3rd Floor
Kelowna, BC, V1Y 6N4
250 - 634 - 8921
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.