#63 — Sandi Martin: Financial Lessons from One of Canada’s First Advice-Only Planners

#63 — Sandi Martin: Financial Lessons from One of Canada’s First Advice-Only Planners

From The Wealthy Barber Podcast by The Wealthy Barber Inc.

July 7, 2026 · 49 min · Episode 64

About this episode

Sandi Martin discusses her journey as one of Canada's first advice-only financial planners and the implications of the banking industry's sales culture.

Our guest this episode is Sandi Martin — one of Canada's first advice-only financial planners and a Certified Financial Planner who left retail banking to build a practice built around her values. Sandi co-founded the Financial Planning Association of Canada, co-hosted the Because Money podcast and has spent over a decade championing a simple idea: helping everyday Canadians figure out what "enough" really looks like. In this episode, Dave and Sandi dive into the advice-only model and why she walked away from the bank to build it. They unpack the CBC Marketplace exposé on the Canadian banking industry, the aggressive marketing of lines of credit and what really happens behind the sales culture most Canadians never see. Sandi also explains her transition into the advice-only space, the early strategies she used to find clients and why she has chosen to run a solo operation rather than scale. The conversation also explores the everyday planning questions that trip people up, from the emergency fund debate (cash savings versus lines of credit) to the RRSP versus TFSA decision and why accounts are best understood as tools rather than goals. Sandi shares her perspective on the…

People in this episode

Host: Dave

Guest: Sandi Martin

Topics covered

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Financial Planning Association of Canada, Because Money, CBC Marketplace

Places: Canada

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