Michael LeBlanc, Senior Portfolio Manager and Senior Wealth AdvisorLLC Private Wealth operates on the premise that portfolios should be built around the client, not the market. Rather than relying on generic investment models or benchmark-driven strategies, the firm designs portfolios based on each client’s specific financial situation, objectives, cash flow needs and risk tolerance. It takes a tailored, tactical, process-driven approach to guide investment decisions based on planning and suitability rather than market performance.
This approach may differ from most traditional wealth management models that operate within narrow benchmark constraints, which often appear to reduce risk. Even balanced portfolios may seem conservative, yet they experience significant drawdowns during market slumps. LLC Private Wealth addresses this gap between perceived safety and actual risk exposure through disciplined planning and proactive risk management.
“We focus on building a disciplined plan and process around each client’s situation, rather than placing them into predefined risk categories or benchmark-based portfolios,” says Michael LeBlanc, Senior Portfolio Manager and Senior Wealth Advisor.
Portfolios Designed to Manage Risk through Market Cycles
What risk management principles guide portfolios through volatile market cycles?
Each portfolio-building strategy begins with a detailed planning process focused on understanding what the client wants to achieve with their capital. Risk management sits at the center of every strategy, with portfolios structured to manage exposure through varying market conditions.
The outcome of this risk discipline was evident in 2022. During a year when global markets declined by approximately 24 percent, the firm’s discretionary portfolios that were active for the full 2022 calendar year, experienced significantly smaller drawdowns, falling by eight percent or less. They recovered months before broader markets recouped their losses. The outcome demonstrated the value of disciplined planning over market timing.
How do wealth management and wealth creation pillars complement each other?
LLC Private Wealth’s ability to balance stability and growth is anchored in its two complementary pillars—wealth management and wealth creation.
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We focus on building a disciplined plan and process around each client’s situation, rather than placing them into predefined risk categories or benchmark-based portfolios.
The wealth management pillar focuses on managing accumulated capital through tax-efficient, risk-managed portfolios designed using institutional investment frameworks. LeBlanc leads this area, bringing experience from his role as Canaccord Genuity’s first portfolio manager and his involvement in building institutional-grade portfolio platforms tailored for Canadian investors.
LLC’s wealth creation pillar is led by Senior Investment Advisor and Portfolio Manager Harold Leishman, who has three decades of experience in small-cap investing. He applies a cash-flow-driven quality process to identify growth-oriented companies that generate revenue and earnings. His disciplined buy-and-sell framework, combined with detailed analysis of capital flows, supports clients seeking higher returns who understand the higher risks associated with growth-oriented investments.
The efficacy of the dual-engine model is best illustrated through the firm’s work with a business owner generating significant cash flow from multiple ventures. LLC Private Wealth helped diversify the client’s growth beyond his operating businesses by building a small-cap investment strategy alongside a comprehensive estate and corporate structure plan.
Working closely with the client’s accountant, the team reorganized his real estate and farming assets into appropriate corporate entities and structured income streams on a tax-efficient basis. The client’s portfolio was then divided between wealth management assets that supported lifestyle needs and wealth creation investments positioned to support long-term, multigenerational estate planning.
Hands-On Advisory That Eases Wealth Management
How does the advisory team deliver integrated hands-on wealth oversight?
A highly experienced advisory team drives LLC Private Wealth’s wealth planning expertise, delivering what the firm’s senior investment advisor Julie Catling describes as “concierge level of service.” The advisors oversee day-to-day portfolio management operations such as time-sensitive equity compensation transactions, tax withholding coordination, same-day settlement compliance and documentation delivery.
Beyond these tasks, the team takes ownership of clients’ complex taxation, insurance planning, estate structuring and corporate financial challenges. They coordinate with accountants, legal professionals and other specialists to deliver fully integrated wealth management and creation strategies.
Through disciplined planning, tactical portfolio construction and hands-on client service, LLC Private Wealth focuses on managing risk and aligning portfolios with each client’s specific circumstances. Its approach emphasizes suitability, execution and ongoing oversight rather than market benchmarks or standardized models.
