Matt Bilash

When the secretary at Kelvin High School paged Matt Bilash to come to the office, it wasn’t because he was in trouble—it was because his broker was on the phone. Matt immersed himself in the stock market from a young age, and when he was just 15, he purchased his first 100 shares of Intercity Gas. From then on, Matt was hooked–spending more time at Richardson Greenshields than the basketball court.

Upon receiving his Bachelor of Economics from the University of Manitoba, Matt began work at Scotia McLeod in 1994, making their “Best in the West” list for new investment advisors in his first year. He started building his business in rural Manitoba, focusing on farming families and business owners in places like Brandon, Virden, Steinbach, and Winkler.

Eventually, Matt’s trading talents led him to the independent brokerage space in 2001 where he first met Charlie Spiring, Founder and Chairman of Wellington-Altus. Matt has been working with Charlie for nearly 20 years and has organically built a reputation on the Spiring team and in the industry as a seasoned professional investor.

As a Warren Buffet disciple from the start, Matt came to be known as a Value Investor—looking for quality companies temporarily trading out of favour, to buy at discount prices. Matt’s investment strategy and philosophy is rooted in psychology—removing emotion from the buying and selling process, going against the crowd, and looking at obstacles as opportunities. He believes this standout approach is the secret to his success.

Now, with a high-net-worth clientele of business owners, traders, and professionals looking for succession plans, Matt’s Value Investing approach has reached new heights. With over 25 years of experience in different markets and recessions, he continues to do his own research to find opportunities in any market. Matt still genuinely enjoys getting to know his clients and uses the relationship he builds with them to personally handcraft their portfolios. With nearly an entire clientele built by word of mouth referrals, Matt is able to focus on what he loves and does best—making money for his clients.

Matt is forever learning new strategies and approaches to investing, from power-reading through anything about investing to having conversations with today’s business leaders, co-workers, and clients. When Matt isn’t doing anything market related—which is rare—he loves to travel with his wife of 21 years and his college-student son. But even then, a market analysis or the latest investment book is always within arm’s reach of the sunscreen.