EXCELLENCE AWARDEE: Advisor of the Year – Tax & Estate Planning

Zena Amundsen, CFP

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No investment without a map Zena Amundsen on why retirement planning starts with tax, not product Zena Amundsen’s practice is built around the idea that investment decisions should follow a plan rather than precede one. As she puts it, “There is no way to know how to invest one’s money without a map and guide that determines when they expect to need the money, from what bucket we choose the money from, and what the tax implications will be now and in future and at death.” Only once that guide is in place, she says, “can we know how to invest in what bucket and why.” At Astra Financial, every prospective client completes a fee-for-service Retirement Income Optimization plan, a product-free analysis of their financial situation, before any conversation about managing assets begins. A plan that maps a lifetime of tax Amundsen’s focus is retirement and tax planning for retirees. The plan forecasts taxes over a client’s lifetime and maps withdrawals across employer pensions, investments, and government benefits such as CPP and OAS. The same analysis guides estate planning, including taxes at death and beneficiary designations, confirmed with legal counsel, and is updated each year alongside the client’s accountant. The practical stakes are real: she recently changed a contingent beneficiary on an RIF to the estate after her projections showed there would not otherwise be enough to cover taxes and debt. Education drives the practice. “As an advisor, my main value is education,” she says, and she has built the channels to deliver it: a podcast, now “The Heart of Your Retirement,” with a new YouTube channel; Astra University, an online course library with free lifetime membership for clients and their families; and two monthly newsletters carrying checklists and explanations of tax credits and deductions. Clients often arrive at meetings already fluent in the concepts. Relationships built to last and to scale carefully Retention runs at 98 to 99 percent each year. When demand outpaces capacity, she keeps a waitlist or refers people on, and tracks inquiry and onboarding metrics to grow deliberately. The office runs as a team, with no individual voicemail and a live person answering the phone. The team prepares clients’ tax packages for their accountants under written disclosure and has begun filing personal returns in-house at no charge for selected clients. Alongside lunch and learns with outside experts, she offers a Legacy Letter writing night – a “glass of wine and letter writing” for clients adding a personal note to loved ones to their estate plan, an idea she admits is “very personal and not for everyone.” The podcast and newsletter are her largest source of new business, and the fee-first model is deliberate. She calls it “a business strategy that I believe is unique and 100 percent in the best interest of our clients,” since planning precedes any product. A newer pilot, Concierge Estate on the Cadence platform, came from a problem she found in her research – that firms give clients estate software but few clients set it up. Her team uploads the documents, builds the executor dashboard, and maintains it through semiannual reviews. Her reach extends past her own clients. In 2025 she co-founded Regina Women in Finance and now mentors two members through their CFP studies. She has been an FP Canada Media Ambassador for more than three years, has contributed to The Globe & Mail, Chatelaine, and FP Canada, and wrote The Heart of Your Money (2017). On compliance she is unequivocal: “Everything is transparent and in writing,” with no referral fees or conflicts of interest, and she points to “my spotless dealer audits” as the truest measure of her approach.

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Robert Frances

Founder, Chairman and CEO of PEAK Financial Group

Robert Frances founded PEAK Financial Group in 1992 and has grown it into a leading Canadian firm in independent wealth management, insurance, and financial advice. PEAK supports 1,500 professionals and 150,000 clients, with over $16 billion in assets, operating with no proprietary products or sales quotas. Robert serves on the CIRO board and has held leadership roles at IFIC and Concordia University. He was Global Chair of YPO (2011–2012) and now chairs the board of LANDR, a digital music company. He was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Quebec’s Business Services category.

Robert Frances

Founder, Chairman and CEO, PEAK Financial Group