The Globe and Mail Helen Burnett-Nichols Published December 16, 2020 tadamichi/iStockPhoto / Getty Images Volatility and uncertainty during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic brought a forced pause to the year’s plans for most Canadians and businesses – financial advisors included. But several advisors have chosen to shift back into growth mode carefully in recent months as client demand has put their plans for strategic long-term expansion come back into focus. Before COVID-19, Robyn Thompson, president of Castlemark Wealth Management Inc. in Toronto, was focusing on adding more administrative staff to her team in order to increase support from a back-end perspective. After the pandemic hit and clients began placing a greater emphasis on financial planning, she chose to add a younger insurance advisor who’s a financial planner to her team instead in early September.