Don’t ask financial adviser Chris Moynes which team he’s backing in the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup championship.
Moynes, 48, handles roughly 10% of the NHL’s active-player roster, about 75 players, and his loyalty lies with his clients. The trouble is, he’s had at least one on most of the contending teams throughout the playoffs. In the finals, which began Monday, it’s Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen of the Boston Bruins versus Carl Gunnarsson of the St. Louis Blues.
Moynes doesn’t mind. He and his Southern California-based firm, One Capital Management, have carved a big niche in a field dominated by a few Canadian banks, including Royal Bank of Canada, where Moynes spent a decade working in the sports and entertainment group.
The Toronto native shouldered his way into the high-flying realm of sports wealth advising with an unorthodox, hardworking style that jibes with hockey’s blue-collar roots. A typical work week might find him pleading with a player to get a will or sign a pre-nup, visiting another at a rink in Europe or telling a client in no uncertain – but certainly profane – terms not to plunk down six figures on an impulsive purchase.
“A lot of people in my position basically become the yes man, so they can acquire clients,’’ he said. “I don’t give a s---, to be frank. I am going to tell them not to spend $250,000 on a car.’’
The same goes for home buying. Though he won’t name names, Moynes says he’s fired clients who refused to get with the program. One bought a $2.5 million house without letting Moynes know until he asked for $250,000 for a down payment.
“He is pretty vocal about what we’re doing,’’ said Matt Martin, the New York Islanders winger who’s been with Moynes for about a decade. Martin, whose engagement to former football star Boomer Esiason’s daughter Sydney was highlighted in the New York tabloids last year, was on the receiving end of a Moynes harangue when they met to discuss finances last fall. Martin doesn’t have a will, and Moynes insisted he get one. “When he wants something done, he is going to harp on it,’’ Martin said. (They’re working on it, Moynes said.)
‘Big Picture’
Professional hockey ranks below basketball, baseball and football in terms of player pay, but the game still mints plenty of multimillionaires. At One Capital, Moynes’s One Sports and Entertainment Group contributes about 8%, or $130 million, of the firm’s $1.6 billion in assets under management. One Capital founder Donald McDonald said he recruited Moynes to start the sports division in 2014 because of his focus on matters beyond dollars and cents.
“A lot of the conversations Moynes has with his clients are not about investment management,’’ McDonald said. “He has the ability to see the big picture.’’