Who We Are
Peter Bennett, CFP, CLU, CH.F.C.
After graduating from York University’s Glendon College, Peter spent three years in retail banking before joining London Life in 1981. He obtained his Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation in 1988, his Chartered Financial Consultant (CH.F.C.) in 1990, and his Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation in 1996. In 2000 he was invited to join the Wealth & Estate Planning Group, a division of Freedom 55 Financial. In 2004, Peter co-founded Blueprint Wealth & Estate Planning Inc., and became the principal in 2008. Peter specializes in wealth accumulation, income, and transfer for individuals. Part of the transfer process includes charitable gift planning.
Peter has been active in charitable gift planning for over 20 years. He has been a fundraiser for his school for 30 years, chaired a capital campaign at his parish church, and has at various times raised money for his children’s daycare, baseball league, and drama group. In 1995, he received his initial planned giving training at Kanuga Conference Centre, North Carolina. In 1996 he was invited to join the Diocese of Toronto Planned Giving Sub Committee, and later the Stewardship Committee. Peter has spoken or led planned giving workshops and presentations to over 30 groups with audiences ranging from 6 to 600. Peter is a former Chair of his parish Stewardship Committee, with particular responsibility for planned giving. In 2017 he was a presenter at national Stewardship Conferences in Saskatoon SK and Chateauguay QB. He also became a volunteer Stewardship Consultant for the Diocese of Toronto.
Peter joined the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP) in 2003 and graduated from the first Advanced Gift Planning Course in Banff in 2007. He was a speaker at the 2008 Annual Conference in Vancouver, and at the 2010 meeting in Edmonton. In 2013, he was a presenter at the CAGP Leave a Legacy Toronto Chapter public seminar series on retirement and legacy planning. He has also presented at the CAGP local chapter ‘Lunch ‘n Learn’ series. He has twice presented to London Life’s national education Summit on the subject. In 2018, he was a presenter at MindPath Seminars ‘Doing Well by Doing Good’ Philanthropy conference.
Peter has been a Legacy Wealth Coach since 2001 and employs a proprietary planning process called Wealth Optimization. His Discovery Blueprint helps clients bring clarity to three questions:
- What does it mean to be financially independent?
- What is an appropriate legacy for my family?
- What is an appropriate social capital legacy?
This process has led to successful facilitation of close to $10 million of planned gifts by clients. Peter’s clients have placed the largest individual donation to three foundations, two 'donor advised' and one ‘non-profit’.
Peter is a member of the Responsible Investment Association (RIA), The Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS), Estate Planning Council of Toronto, Advocis, and the Canadian MDRT Charitable Foundation.
Peter provides both commission and fee planning in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and BC.
Peter is married to Heather and they have two adult children. In his free time, Peter volunteers as a Level 3 baseball umpire, loves a good game of squash, and performs in musical theatre.
Margaret Bennett
Although not directly associated with Blueprint, Margaret is a Director, Advisor Experience, working in the working in the Golden Horseshoe, particularly Niagara region. . After graduating with degrees from the University of Guelph and York University, Margaret worked in educational tourism and then spent 7 years as an account and project manager in the advertising industry. In 2014, she decided on a career in financial advising. Working with clients has always given Margaret the most satisfaction and she genuinely enjoys working with people who want to bring their vision to life. With her background in marketing, she saw a gap in understanding how a financial plan can set people on a path to feeling more confident about their career and personal opportunities. She wants to help demystify an often confusing and stressful area of people’s lives. Margaret works with many professionals and families to help them with strategies for building wealth and setting up plans for personal and professional financial success. . In 2017, she was asked to assume the role as Training Manager for the Burlington/Niagara Financial Centre, and subsequently was promoted to Director, Advisor Experience, but maintains her clientele. Margaret expects to earn her CFP designation in early 2020. Margaret and her husband Owen live in Hamilton, and when not at work she can usually be found volunteering in her local community, walking her dog, or running or hiking on the Bruce Trail.
Margaret est bilingue et même fait partie d’un club de lecture français! Whether in English or en français, Margaret is committed to bringing your vision to life.
Yvonne Dumaresq
Yvonne is Peter’s Marketing Associate. Yvonne has been an employee of London Life for over 30 years. She spent the last 15 years working with another senior advisor, and Peter is delighted to have her experience on his team. She is responsible for file preparation, scheduling appointments, processing new business, and liaison with the administration areas at fund and life companies with whom our clients do business.
Strategic Partners:
Nicholas Short: Nick joined Freedom 55 Financial as an advisor 17 20 years ago. He moved to the Toronto Resource Centre of Great West Life as a life insurance product specialist. He headed the Life products management team in Toronto and Mississauga until 2013. He became an Advanced Case Consultant and works working with a select group of advisors on designing appropriate insurance solutions for their business and individual insurance clientele. In 2017, Nick was asked to assume responsibility as Regional Director, Insurance for the Product Solutions Centre in the GTA.
Kelvin Wong: Kelvin joined Private Wealth and Estate services in 2012. Prior to joining PWES, Kelvin held a variety of increasingly responsible positions in the investment industry since 2003. He has worked as an Account Manager, Financial Planner for Schedule A banks, and most recently worked as a Regional Sales Director for an Investment and Insurance firm. In 2006, Kelvin obtained the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, which is widely recognized as the top international financial analyst designation. Now as a Private Wealth Counsellor with the Product Solutions Centre, Kelvin provides assistance to financial security advisors in delivering value-added services to a select group of clients.
Mike Bobkowicz: Mike has enjoyed a long career with Canada Life as a Wealth Product Consultant. With the gradual integration of Canada, London, and Great West Life, Mike became part of the Product Solutions Centre team three years ago and now deals exclusively with Advisors in the GTA region. In addition to consulting on individual client situations, Mike provides technical expertise on product and investment trends in the industry. He is a regular blogger and speaker on marketing opportunities for advisors and their clients.