You Are Complex: Meet Kevin Tabellione, CFP®, Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor, RBC Wealth Management

Here at Vibrant Health, we believe health is an inside job, unique to you. After all, you’re one-of-a-kind and your needs are complex – that’s why your supplements should be too.

To celebrate all of the beautiful complexities of our lives, each month we’ve been highlighting individuals in our community – taking a peek into the behind-the-scenes of their work life, wellness routines and all the wonderful things that make them who they are.

In honor of National Financial Planning Month, this October on the Vibrant Health blog we got to chat with Financial Advisor, Kevin Tabellione, CFP®. As a Senior Vice President at RBC Wealth Management with 30 years of experience in the industry, he’s passionate about helping families and individuals find financial security — through investment planning to wealth management strategies.

In this insightful interview, we got to chat with Kevin about the importance of having a solid plan, budgeting tips as we head into the final quarter, and what it means to be financially healthy. We hope you enjoy our series…and remember, keep being you!

How would you describe yourself in three words?

Thorough, Conscientious, Client-First

What’s a typical “workday in the life” as a Financial Advisor look like?

In my role specifically, the first thing in my day-to-day role is focusing on client meetings. Since we don’t have it specifically segmented where we have a meeting day and office day, the first thing I do is prepare for client meetings and follow up from past client meetings. The second piece of the puzzle is market and security analysis — including trading and portfolios. While we don’t trade every day, the portfolio analysis piece is an ongoing part of what we do.

One big benefit of doing what we do, especially after building a practice for 30 years, is it gives me the ability to work for my clients and work for myself. For instance, if my daughter has a high school soccer game during the afternoon, I can work my schedule around it. A healthy work and family life is paramount to what we do. If we’re not at our best health mentally and physically, how can we do that for our clients?

With October being National Financial Planning Month, what advice do you have for our readers as we head into fall and the holiday season?

In a year like this where the markets have been hyper volatile and down, one of the most important things people can do is reassess their own portfolio and their level of risk. The other big piece going into the fourth quarter is looking at any tax issues like tax-loss harvesting and realized gains for the year. And for those who are older, it’s important to make sure you have a plan for any required distributions for retirement plans and year-end tax planning — which also encompasses charitable gifting.

What’s a common misconception or mistake you observe when it comes to better managing your finances?

The #1 thing we harp on is not having a plan. And it doesn't have to be extremely detailed or a 50-year plan. Simply understand what you have and where you're going. The second big mistake is with your investments — matching up your time horizons with your risk profile and understanding how risky your investments are.

Also, seek out objective, competent advice whether it be from a Robo Advisor or a real life Advisor, which I’m partial to. There are tricks to the trade we learn from people — so many cool shortcuts or glaring mistakes that the average person won’t catch. That being said, I even have CEOs and CFOs of publicly traded multi-million dollar companies that come to us for advice too!

What are some things you see clients spending money on without realizing? Any top budgeting tips you’d recommend to get started?

The best budgeting tip we give to our clients, especially in the younger electronic generation, is to pull up the last three, four, six months of your credit card and bank statements and just take a look. Once a year, many credit card companies will send you a report and categorize it, which you can print out. You’ll be shocked by how much you spent on things like Starbucks, going out to eat or Home Depot! Look for those recurring charges (i.e. $10 a day at Starbucks) and the big one offs like buying a new fridge. A lot of people think it’s a one off purchase, but some are actually ongoing.

The other thing is to take a look at all your subscriptions — and not just Netflix, Disney Plus and those sorts of subscriptions but also Peloton, gyms or different streaming services. Many of the smartphone settings these days will actually tell you what your current subscription services are.

For instance, my wife and my son signed up for Audible — they used it once and the next thing you know you’re paying monthly and don’t realize it.

What does it mean to be “financially healthy?”

 For me personally, it’s having a plan, paying yourself first, living within your means, and having an overall financial picture that allows you to sleep at night. We know so many people who put money into a 401(k) and pay their bills but they’re just nervous about money 24/7. And this impacts their physical and mental health. Have a plan, put a portion aside for yourself, and live within your means. Obviously if you’re spending $60,000 a year and making $30,000, there’s a disconnect. 

To me, money is part of your holistic wellbeing. We all have things that consume us, but money should not be all consuming. If you have a plan of where you are and where you want to go, it should never be a stress. And when you know those things, it allows you to make better decisions — such as considering if it’s time for a career change or looking for a second job.

Any competent advisor should be able to tell you the difficult things, in order to help you get through it and make big decisions. None of us can do it alone. The whole “It takes a village” cliche is true — when you surround yourself with good people that can help you look at things objectively, that makes life better every single day.

How do you live a healthy, vibrant lifestyle?

It’s always finding that balance. With my business and many businesses, there are times you have to put in a 50, 60 or 70-hour work week, but that can’t be every week. Personally, I’ve always been active — I go to the gym a couple days a week, I bike, I play golf. I stay physically active outside of work with my family and individually. I love spending time with my wife and family, and also enjoy my alone time — popping on my headphones and doing my thing! That’s what gives me that balance.

The three big keys for me: exercise and rest, diet, and stress levels. I could slack off on exercise or diet, but when my stress level is up it doesn’t matter how well I’m eating. There’s something you need to do to release that mental stress so it’s important to find that balance and make sure you have time every day segmented for different things. And there will be certain times in life where you focus more on family, more on yourself, or more on the job — it can’t be equally divided every single day.  

RBC Wealth Management, a division of RBC Capital Markets, LLC, registered investment adviser and Member NYSE/FINRA/SIPC

RBC Wealth Management does not provide tax or legal advice.  All decisions regarding the tax and legal implications of your investments should be made in connection with your independent tax or legal advisor.