by Angus MacCaull

Finances seem to get more and more complicated every year. The government and banks continue to introduce new ways to think about money as the Canadian economy grows. It can be stressful and confusing. How much home insurance do I need? Should I have a TFSA? Who covers me if I get sick while I’m on vacation down South? It’s a challenge for people to know what to do.

Tasha Crossley and Chris Palmer are taking on this challenge for their customers in the Valley. Tasha is a home and auto broker. Chris covers life, critical illness, disability, travel and retirement planning. Before joining A.A. Munro, Tasha spent nearly a decade doing financial services support at Investors Group. Before getting involved with A.A.M. Financial, Chris started out paired with a home and auto broker at Wawanesa. Thanks to their respective backgrounds, they appreciate the ways in which their work is complementary.

Tasha and Chris each came to our company looking for new challenges and for a workplace with more of a small town feel.

“It’s very professional here,” says Chris. “But at the same time it’s so family oriented. My spouse really loves that our family can be involved in events.”

“I love how you can pick up the phone and not feel stupid about asking anyone anything,” says Tasha. “And everyone understands if you need to take a day off because your child is sick.”

With a relationship based on familiarity with each other’s expertise and a small town sensibility at the office, Tasha and Chris are working together to support the people in their community. For example, when Tasha insures a new home for a young family and saves them a few hundred dollars a year over their former provider, she knows that it might be a wise move for that family to talk to Chris about putting those savings into an Education Savings Plan for their children. Or when Chris is working with a single income family that wants disability insurance for their breadwinner but aren’t quite sure they can afford it, he knows that it’s probably a good idea for that family to talk to Tasha about how she may be able to save them money on their car insurance. In protecting the material well-being of Atlantic Canadians, A.A. Munro and A.A.M. Financial go hand in hand. The more we educate ourselves about how the two sides fit together, the more we can offer customers.

Each of our offices throughout Nova Scotia is now able to provide many of the same services that the bank does. Each office has access to an AAM Financial advisor like Chris. And because our offices operate from the ground up but have access to specialized markets, we’re able to provide those services in a way that is both more personal and less expensive.

Tasha and Chris go to trade shows and community events together as two sides of a complete team of advisors. In this way, they’re working to expand the TeAAM. They know each other as good people and as professionals. And when they share each other’s name with someone, they don’t think of it as just a referral. Because when you believe you’re acting in the best interests of your customer, it’s more than a referral—it’s advice.