Maili Wong

Maili Wong, named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100^TM by WXN, takes an uncommon approach to wealth management. Unlike many whose work revolves around interest rates, investments and cash flow, Maili firmly believes that we tap into our highest power and achieve our greatest successes when we allow our emotional, intuitive energy to work synchronously with our scientific and logical mind.

It’s a view that’s positioned her to help achieve success for her wealth management clients using her signature Smart Risk^TM approach.

But it wasn’t always that way. With an extremely disciplined mindset, Maili took the safe path to success, graduating with honours and the distinction of ‘Most Outstanding Female Graduate’ from the University of British Columbia before using her Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance to secure a Wall Street position in New York City, specializing in equity derivatives at Merrill Lynch headquarters, then helping to manage over $5 Billion at a global hedge fund also in New York.

Shortly after she moved to New York, she found herself in the midst of overwhelming chaos and trauma during the events of 9/11. The experience of choosing her own path over following the crowd, walking for hours to find safety, and opening herself up to the help of strangers gave her the perspective needed to shift her mindset and life’s focus.

She spent the next five years working at major investment firms in New York City, and also obtained her Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, the gold standard in global portfolio management. During her time in New York, she studied risk and developed a roadmap for taking better risks in life and in business. Through her work, it became clear that if playing it safe could leave her exposed to harm, that taking risks could actually give her greater strength.

Maili shares her personal story of resilience and lessons learned during her nearly two decades of international investing experience in her Amazon #1 Bestselling book, Smart Risk: Invest Like the Wealthy to Achieve a Work-Optional Life, as well as in her powerful Tedx Talk.

She now works to empower her clients to build resilience and a positive wealth mindset so they can enjoy a fulfilling, impactful, Work-Optional Life, free from stress, using her modern approach to investing.

Among numerous accolades, Maili’s uncommon wealth management style has garnered her a position on Business in Vancouver’s “Top Forty Under 40” list. Her work is recognized in media, including a cover story for MoneySense magazine, and stories in Forbes Magazine, The Globe and Mail, and BC Business Magazine. She’s also featured in the commemorative book Canada 150 Women, highlighting 150 of the country’s most influential female leaders. Most recently, she was named one of B.C.’s Most Influential Women by BC Business.

Maili is an active leader in her community and believes in the importance mentorship for the next generation. She served a full term on the Real Estate Council of British Columbia, appointed by the Minister of Finance in 2016. She currently serves as a professional Board Member of the UBC Portfolio Management Foundation, and co-Chairs the annual “Up the Down Market” Gala raising funds for the Down Syndrome Research Foundation. Maili also created and funded the “Maili Wong Scholarship in Finance” which is awarded annually by UBC to a female undergraduate student in Finance, to receive both a bursary and mentorship.