Centinel Financial Group is a select team of financial advisors and professionals with backgrounds in finance, business, insurance, and investments. And many individuals, families and businesses have chosen to work with Centinel Financial Group for the relationships and trust that they build. With a team of more than 70 advisors and representatives, Centinel Financial Group assists individuals, families, and businesses in the accumulation and protection of their wealth. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Centinel Financial Group financial advisor Greg Fortier to learn more.
Greg Fortier’s Background
Fortier started in the financial planning and investment advisory industry right out of college. And Fortier said:
“I was hired into Merrill Lynch’s financial advisor training program. From that point, I was recruited over to John Hancock to start a national financial planning team and advisory group where I served on the Personal Financial Services advisory council. I was fortunate to meet great mentors at both John Hancock and Merrill Lynch.”
“A corporate acquisition landed me at Centinel Financial, where I have been able to build out a great team and continue to serve families and companies nationwide in their financial planning and investment needs. I am a CFA charter holder and member of the CFA Society of Boston and the CFA Institute. On the personal side, I’m a husband and father of 2 kids with one on the way, and I enjoy volunteering for youth sports.”
Macroeconomic Effect
Has the current macroeconomic climate affected your firm? Fortier acknowledged:
“Uncertainty and change have permeated as a theme since the pandemic. Planning has always been essential to success, but now it’s also cathartic to many. Many clients have expressed a sense of relief after building a plan or simply reviewing and updating existing plans. Amid all this change, it’s nice to know that 1) there is a plan and 2) the plan is on track. If the plan is not on track – let’s find out quickly and develop some edits to make sure the problem is addressed before we are too far off course.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for Centinel so far? Fortier shared:
“Long-lasting client relationships are the best part of my job! Helping folks plan for life’s milestones – college, weddings, home purchases, retirement – the list goes on. The most rewarding is seeing goals met and achieved. Many children of clients are now starting families of their own, and helping the next generation plan and invest is extremely fulfilling.”
Investment Success Stories
Would you like to share any specific investment success stories? Fortier noted:
“The biggest risk to many folks within five years of retirement or that have recently retired is bad timing! It’s called a poor sequence of return risk. For example, you retire in 2007, and then the financial crisis of 2008 happens. and the market tanks by 56.8%. These losses were fully recovered by March 2013. However, It’s much tougher to recover when you are withdrawing funds to supplement social security and any other income.”
“We’ve successfully implemented strategies to not only diversify risk but transfer risk and retain upside. This is specifically designed to mitigate the risk of bad timing. The goal is to shift the distribution curve – make the risk/return tradeoff asymmetrical. Retain the upside and mitigate or eliminate the downside.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Centinel from other firms? Fortier concluded:
“Our team operates as fiduciary financial planners – we are not the only one. However, the way we execute that is different. Many folks out there will be fiduciaries but allocate client’s funds to a proprietary or ‘in-house’ solution. I view that as a conflict of interest. We aim to benchmark all the offerings out there and build a strategy best suited for a particular situation, goals, and market environment.”
