Some people see a medical file. Others see a story. In this episode, Reh sits down with Romeo Vitagliano, Senior Vice President of Strategic Underwriting and Planning at HUB Financial, for a conversation about the human side of a business that runs on data, process, and precision.

Romeo traces a 45-year journey that started with a knock on the door in 1950s Montreal, when the "insurance man" collecting premiums on his father's policy planted the first spark. From cold-call rejection as a young agent to his first day in underwriting on December 1, 1981, he walks us through the moments that shaped how he sees risk: a client in a wheelchair he wishes he'd sat down with, a cousin with epilepsy who got covered when someone asked the right questions, and the Charles A. Will philosophy that became his compass, does this make sense?

Along the way he shares a marathon runner nearly declined for a slow heartbeat, an intergenerational case where the real win was trust rather than a placed policy, and a whirlwind history of underwriting from the plagues of 16th century Europe to today's world of longer lives and more complex cases. He closes with the four pillars of his Human Algorithm, Process, People, Product, and Purpose, and a longevity twist from his own family that reframes what any of us are really underwriting for.

If today's conversation resonated, follow Discovery Series: Unplugged, share it with a fellow advisor, and stay curious and connected.

Every morning brings a fresh headline about trade, tariffs, and where the economy is heading. For the business owners and families your clients protect, that noise turns into real questions: does this change the plan we built?

In Episode 125, hosts Rehan Bhanji and David Lee sit down with Desjardins' Chief Economist Jimmy Jean, CFA, and Deputy Chief Economist Randall Bartlett, CFA, to cut through the panic around the 2026 CUSMA joint review. They unpack what the July 1st review date actually means (here's the short version: it's a checkpoint, not a cliff), the three paths the agreement could take from here, and why unpredictability itself has become the new baseline.

Along the way: why having roughly three quarters of Canadian exports heading south is both a strength and a vulnerability, how squeezed household budgets are quietly reshaping the protection decisions families make, and where Canada's real economic leverage actually sits. Plus a round of Trade Trivia that proves your hockey stick has a passport.

Whether you're guiding a business owner through cash flow uncertainty or helping a family rethink their coverage, this conversation gives you the language and the anchor points to lead with clarity.

Access the full Desjardins CUSMA report here to keep these insights handy for your next discovery meeting.

Access Jimmy & Randall's Op-Ed for the FutureEconomy.Ca here

What happens when the very product you've been recommending to clients your entire career ends up being the thing that saves your family? For Kat Naguiat-Madarang, that question is personal.

In this episode, Kat takes us on a journey that spans three generations. From her grandfather, who founded one of the first insurance agencies in the Philippines in the 1950s, to her mother, who rebuilt her career from scratch after immigrating to Canada, to Kat herself, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2024 and had to navigate surgery, recovery, and the emotional weight of facing a serious illness while running a business with her husband.

Kat shares what it felt like to receive her diagnosis, the decisions she faced, and how her critical illness policy, set up by her mother years earlier, gave her something money can't manufacture on its own: choice. The choice to step back from work, to focus on recovery, and to take her kids to Japan.

She also opens up about paying five critical illness claims that same year — four of them before her own diagnosis — and how living through cancer changed the way she shows up for clients going through the same thing.

This one is equal parts raw and real. Kat's story is a reminder of why we do what we do.