COVID-19 has helped us to discover new ways of doing things. Kim Parlee talks to Zejka Walker, Investment Advisor with TD Wealth, about our new digital and financial habits, and what has been useful when working with clients during this period of physical isolation.
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[MUSIC PLAYING]
- Hello, and welcome to the Money Talk COVID-19 Daily Bulletin for Friday, May 22. I'm Anthony Okolie. In a few minutes, Kim Parlee will be speaking with Zeljka Walker, Investment Advisor, TD Wealth, about the new digital and financial habits we've learned during this pandemic crisis. But first, a quick wrap of today's headlines.
Canadian retail sales plunged 10% in March, the most on record, as a nationwide lockdown and surging unemployment took a toll on consumer spending. For the first time in decades, China has scrapped the practice of setting annual targets for economic growth. Some see the move as a stark acknowledgment of the challenges facing the world's second-largest economy due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Amid those worries about China's growth and fresh friction between Beijing and Hong Kong, oil prices have been trading lower Friday. The price of crude has been enjoying its longest winning streak since February.
Meanwhile, Britain posted a record $76 billion budget deficit in April as the government took dramatic steps to prevent the collapse of the country's economy. And finally, using tap to make payments could be here to stay. Some stores, including Lululemon, won't take cash as they reopen amid concerns by public health experts that the COVID-19 virus could be spread by physical money.
And that's a wrap of today's headlines. Next, Kim Parlee's conversation with Zeljka Walker.
- We have heard it a number of times now-- a silver lining to the COVID pandemic and all the social distancing is now we've discovered new ways of doing things, new digital habits, new financial habits. And our next guest has a few she thinks are particularly useful when she's been working with clients over the last couple of months.
Zeljka Walker is an Investment Advisor at TD Wealth. She is standing by in Vancouver. Zeljka, let's run through a few of these new, different ways of doing things. And the first one is, just because you can't meet in person doesn't mean you can't meet.
- Exactly. I mean, it's new times for sure. But we are definitely able to meet. We're doing this right now. It's a virtual meeting. We can still see clients and connect with them face to face by camera. So we use the virtual meeting source to share documents, share content and have a discussion right in their living room.
- And how are people finding that? I mean, I would expect-- I mean, I like it. I like the fact I don't have to travel.
- Yeah. No, so far so good. I mean, at first, for some who are not used to it, it's a little bit awkward or they're afraid to be on the camera. So I give them the choice. You don't have to be on camera. You can be on audio. But I certainly want them to see me, so it kind of gives a more personal choice. And, I mean, like personal effect.
And then, you know, we can share documents. We can review portfolios. Everything we can do online and send them documents ahead of time to sign if they need be. It's a great way to connect.
- You just said send documents to sign, though. Is that something that still needs to happen in person?
- No. This is actually something new. So we call it e-sign, where we can remotely, electronically send documents to the client. They'll receive it on their end with a little passcode that they enter and sign the pages and it gets sent back quickly and easily.
- Hm. Now let me ask you-- that works, I think, well if you've been working with somebody, you have a history, you've been working with them for awhile. I think one of the things that's been fascinating about this pandemic is that a lot of people have realized the need to get themselves sorted out, whether it's the markets or planning, that kind of thing.
So what do you do when you're dealing with somebody new? Is this something you can only do with people you're already working with? Or is there an opportunity for people who are new clients?
- Yeah, no, absolutely. New clients, it's just slightly different, similar to the first one, where we will have a virtual meeting. So we get to know each other by a camera, computer or a tablet. And from there, we use what we call a discovery tool, it's a TD discovery tool, where it gives the advisor or planner an opportunity to learn the client's unique personality and how it affects their financial and investment decisions.
And then with that, we will send them a document where they can upload their identification. So all the paperwork, application form, will be done electronically. And then we do what we call a remote authentication of their ID. And this is something new.
So in the past, we make a photocopy of their ID. This time what we can do is the client uploads the ID, and we just visually look at it through the camera to make sure it matches to the one that they sent us to the one that they show us on the camera. And that's a legitimate application.
- So let me ask you, I mean, do you think-- you know, we're all doing this right now because we have to. That's something that is just-- it's been mandated by the way we live. But how much do you think that this is going to last? I mean, do you think people you're working with like this and kind of enjoy the fact that they can have meetings with patting your dog right beside them when they're talking to?
- Yeah, no, it's been a big hit with clients, especially older clients who don't want to take public transportation or get in the car to drive to the office. This is convenient. They can sit in their own living room or kitchen with a cup of coffee and have that one-on-one meeting.
So it's been a real big hit. Once you do it once, it's so easy to set up, I don't know if anyone's going to go back. This might be the future.
Zeljka, great talking to you. Thanks so much. Oh, wait! Who's this?
- This is my dog, Finnegan, who's been at my feet the entire time and wanted to say hello.
- Hi, Finnegan. What a cutie. Zeljka, thanks so much.
- Thank you. Great time being here. Thank you so much. Bye, everyone.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- Hello, and welcome to the Money Talk COVID-19 Daily Bulletin for Friday, May 22. I'm Anthony Okolie. In a few minutes, Kim Parlee will be speaking with Zeljka Walker, Investment Advisor, TD Wealth, about the new digital and financial habits we've learned during this pandemic crisis. But first, a quick wrap of today's headlines.
Canadian retail sales plunged 10% in March, the most on record, as a nationwide lockdown and surging unemployment took a toll on consumer spending. For the first time in decades, China has scrapped the practice of setting annual targets for economic growth. Some see the move as a stark acknowledgment of the challenges facing the world's second-largest economy due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Amid those worries about China's growth and fresh friction between Beijing and Hong Kong, oil prices have been trading lower Friday. The price of crude has been enjoying its longest winning streak since February.
Meanwhile, Britain posted a record $76 billion budget deficit in April as the government took dramatic steps to prevent the collapse of the country's economy. And finally, using tap to make payments could be here to stay. Some stores, including Lululemon, won't take cash as they reopen amid concerns by public health experts that the COVID-19 virus could be spread by physical money.
And that's a wrap of today's headlines. Next, Kim Parlee's conversation with Zeljka Walker.
- We have heard it a number of times now-- a silver lining to the COVID pandemic and all the social distancing is now we've discovered new ways of doing things, new digital habits, new financial habits. And our next guest has a few she thinks are particularly useful when she's been working with clients over the last couple of months.
Zeljka Walker is an Investment Advisor at TD Wealth. She is standing by in Vancouver. Zeljka, let's run through a few of these new, different ways of doing things. And the first one is, just because you can't meet in person doesn't mean you can't meet.
- Exactly. I mean, it's new times for sure. But we are definitely able to meet. We're doing this right now. It's a virtual meeting. We can still see clients and connect with them face to face by camera. So we use the virtual meeting source to share documents, share content and have a discussion right in their living room.
- And how are people finding that? I mean, I would expect-- I mean, I like it. I like the fact I don't have to travel.
- Yeah. No, so far so good. I mean, at first, for some who are not used to it, it's a little bit awkward or they're afraid to be on the camera. So I give them the choice. You don't have to be on camera. You can be on audio. But I certainly want them to see me, so it kind of gives a more personal choice. And, I mean, like personal effect.
And then, you know, we can share documents. We can review portfolios. Everything we can do online and send them documents ahead of time to sign if they need be. It's a great way to connect.
- You just said send documents to sign, though. Is that something that still needs to happen in person?
- No. This is actually something new. So we call it e-sign, where we can remotely, electronically send documents to the client. They'll receive it on their end with a little passcode that they enter and sign the pages and it gets sent back quickly and easily.
- Hm. Now let me ask you-- that works, I think, well if you've been working with somebody, you have a history, you've been working with them for awhile. I think one of the things that's been fascinating about this pandemic is that a lot of people have realized the need to get themselves sorted out, whether it's the markets or planning, that kind of thing.
So what do you do when you're dealing with somebody new? Is this something you can only do with people you're already working with? Or is there an opportunity for people who are new clients?
- Yeah, no, absolutely. New clients, it's just slightly different, similar to the first one, where we will have a virtual meeting. So we get to know each other by a camera, computer or a tablet. And from there, we use what we call a discovery tool, it's a TD discovery tool, where it gives the advisor or planner an opportunity to learn the client's unique personality and how it affects their financial and investment decisions.
And then with that, we will send them a document where they can upload their identification. So all the paperwork, application form, will be done electronically. And then we do what we call a remote authentication of their ID. And this is something new.
So in the past, we make a photocopy of their ID. This time what we can do is the client uploads the ID, and we just visually look at it through the camera to make sure it matches to the one that they sent us to the one that they show us on the camera. And that's a legitimate application.
- So let me ask you, I mean, do you think-- you know, we're all doing this right now because we have to. That's something that is just-- it's been mandated by the way we live. But how much do you think that this is going to last? I mean, do you think people you're working with like this and kind of enjoy the fact that they can have meetings with patting your dog right beside them when they're talking to?
- Yeah, no, it's been a big hit with clients, especially older clients who don't want to take public transportation or get in the car to drive to the office. This is convenient. They can sit in their own living room or kitchen with a cup of coffee and have that one-on-one meeting.
So it's been a real big hit. Once you do it once, it's so easy to set up, I don't know if anyone's going to go back. This might be the future.
Zeljka, great talking to you. Thanks so much. Oh, wait! Who's this?
- This is my dog, Finnegan, who's been at my feet the entire time and wanted to say hello.
- Hi, Finnegan. What a cutie. Zeljka, thanks so much.
- Thank you. Great time being here. Thank you so much. Bye, everyone.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
