Pay Yourself First for Financial Success
A fire breaks out in a movie theatre. You’re there with your spouse and children, as are several local merchants. Who do you save first? The butcher? The banker? The hardware store owner? Their families? Or your family and yourself? A ridiculous question. Of course you would save your family and yourself first. Then why […]
Predicting Financial Events
Clients often call when markets are looking a bit shaky, or newspaper articles are predicting the next market correction, recession, bubble, etc. The challenge with reacting to such events or news is that the external circumstances rarely have anything to do with your specific situation and plan. Your mission, should you choose to embrace it, […]
Your Financial Dream Killer
Despite what many people think, the number one financial dream killer isn’t portfolio losses, or financial emergencies, or unemployment, and not even natural disasters. The number one reason people fail to reach their financial goals is procrastination – putting off the inevitable until the cost of your dreams or goals become prohibitively expensive. Why People […]
Starting Out on the Right Track
A wedding day can be a springboard into many new and exciting adventures. With all the excitement leading up to the big day, the new couple routinely focuses so much energy on planning the event that they seldom spend any time discussing other important life issues – like developing a sound financial strategy for the […]
How to Achieve Financial Success
It is possible for just about everybody to achieve financial success. Getting there is usually not a matter of financial wizardry. By following some basic principles, you can make your financial dreams come true: Set Objectives Goal setting is the foundation of achieving financial success. If you don’t have a target to shoot for, how […]
Financial Action Plan for Newlyweds
John and Jane had spent many months planning for their special day. They had also budgeted and spent many thousands of dollars to celebrate their wedding. Now what? Since John and Jane have made a for richer or poorer commitment to each other, it’s time to do something about it; and they need to start […]
Daily Choices of Financial Freedom
Most people want financial freedom over financial servitude. Who doesn’t want to be financially independent, where their money is working for them rather than working for their money? The problem for most Canadians is that financial freedom can be a struggle of living paycheck-to-paycheck or where spending tends to win out over savings. Ultimately, financial […]
Avoid Financial Failure: Set Goals
Recent studies have shown that as many as 60% of Canadians will not have saved enough money in order to adequately provide for their retirement.1 The problem for most people is not that they plan to fail, they simply failed to plan, adequately. And, while many may have been conscientiously saving towards retirement, somewhere along […]
Procrastination – Your Financial Dream Killer
Despite what many people think, the number one financial dream killer isn’t portfolio losses, or financial emergencies, or unemployment, and not even natural disasters. The number one reason people fail to reach their financial goals is procrastination – putting off the inevitable until the cost of your dreams or goals become prohibitively expensive. Why People […]
Four Financial Promises to Keep
We’ve had a few weeks to make and break our New Year’s resolutions. Now is a good time to make some promises to give your finances an extra boost in 2018 and help see you better off by year-end. 1. Promise to make the biggest RRSP contribution you can. When it comes to improving both […]
How’s Your Net Worth?
His banker asked Trent what his net worth was for a loan he was applying for. He had trouble answering the question right away. What is Net Worth? Quite simply, net worth is the difference between what you own and what you owe. But true net worth may not be quite that simple. Some things […]
Regulators Target Compensation Structures
The current compensation model for financial industry participants*, who promote the use of investment funds and other managed investment products for retail clients, has been mostly unchanged for over 30 years. Regulators, led primarily by the Canadian Securities Administrators, (CSA – a national committee representing most Provincial Securities Regulators) have been studying and reviewing current […]
Saving Up For The Adolescent Years
Have you considered putting aside extra funds for the teenage years? If you have not thought about this, then you may want to if you have a child that is quickly headed towards the adolescent years. This can be a turbulent time, not just with the emotion and drama it can bring, but also with […]
Back to Basics
What problems does the financial industry solve for Canadian consumers? Where is the value added for interacting with the financial industry and why use an Advisor versus doing it yourself online? To address these questions, here is a refresher on why the financial industry exists in the first place. Simply speaking, there are two basic […]
It Doesn’t Pay to Procrastinate
Many people have no idea. Some people have a vague idea. A few people, a very few, have it all worked out. When it comes to retirement planning, many people do not take action until forced to by a mid-life event (career change, death of loved one) or by hearing about seniors running out of […]
Lessons Learned from the Wealthy
Most people want to be wealthy, or at least financially independent. The sad truth is that very few people are financially independent when they reach retirement. The rest are dependent to some extent on others or government benefits for their daily money needs. Far too many people today live a lifestyle that is under a […]
Financial Future Worries?
If you are concerned about your future finances, you are certainly not alone as noted in a global survey of 19,000 adult in over 19 countries (including Canada). Nearly 68% (or two thirds) of the 1000 Canadians interviewed in the survey conducted by the Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC) said they still had concerns about […]
Financial Plans and Marriage Breakdown
Statistics show that about half of marriages end in divorce. Ed and Liz are ending theirs and are concerned about changes that will have to be made to their financial and estate plans. Some considerations, also in common-law relationships, are: Life Insurance – The first thing that needs to be done is review beneficiary designations. […]
The Either / Or Financial Decision
When it comes to making financial decisions most people focus on eitheror scenarios; that is making a tactical decision that may or may not reflect a larger financial strategy or wealth accumulation context. We often see these types of isolated, one-off decision choices in media articles that pose dilemmas such as: Is it better to […]
Getting Serious About Savings & Investing
We are now well into 2015 and your New Year’s Resolution to do a better job of managing your money are already being forgotten. As the late Sir John Templeton famously stated, the best time to invest is when you have money! The challenge for many people, with many middle-class people just struggling to make […]
Basics For a Wise Financial Strategy
Before a sky scraper can reach for the clouds, it needs a very strong foundation. Once the building is complete, the foundation is virtually unseen. The same goes for our financial strategies. Following are the basics of a strong financial foundation: Budget – Governments and businesses use budgets to properly allocate resources. It’s known as […]
Financial Strategies for the ‘University Years’
Many parents wrestle with the dilemma of how much financial support to provide their children attending post-secondary programs. The costs today are much greater than what the parents paid for similar schooling some thirty or more years ago. Tuition costs alone have risen at least tenfold since the 1970’s for a basic humanities degree, never […]
The Planning Continuum
A question sometimes asked in the media is exactly what is the role of a financial professional and how do they help the client meet their life goals and dreams. Why do you even need to engage the services of a planner or advisor when so much information is already available for free on the […]
Talking To Your Parents While There is Still Time
Many clients in their 50’s and 60’s are increasingly worried about the finances of their aging parents. This is especially true in an era of unprecedented low interest rates. They often ask: ‘How do I talk to them about their care and their finances?’ This topic raises many sensitive family dynamics including the adult child […]
It’s One Economy
The financial planner responded by saying that if the public stock markets were going down the drain, then real estate would follow as well. Why? Well it is one economy and we are all connected at the end of the day! Shocked, the veteran of 30-years in real estate responded that he had never thought […]
So, You Got a Tax Refund
According to the Minister of National Revenue, the average tax refund is over $1,500 for the 2011 tax year. Surprisingly, many Canadians are thrilled about getting a big refund. While certain situations can lead to an unusual tax refund, far too many Canadians lend large sums of money to the government at 0% interest year […]
Strategic or Target-Based Planning
Financial success methodologies have evolved over the past 30 years with the advent of increasing computational power. Originally, planning was a simple spread-sheet based projection of your current situation, plus some assumptions, such as savings rates, tax rates, investment returns and inflation rates. This would give you an idea of what your final destination would […]
Financial Success Simplified: Introduction
The purpose of this series is to educate consumers on some simple principles that will take the mystery out of the often complex world of managing one’s financial affairs. The first distinction is to realize there are only seven variables that can be manipulated or managed in creating your financial future and wealth. They are: […]
Financial Resolutions for 2013
Give your finances a boost this new year. Here is a list of financial resolutions to help you become better off at the end of the coming twelve months: Eliminate personal debt. – Brad and Angie had fallen into the very common habit of buying lots of ‘stuff’ with their credit cards and soon were […]
Financial Plans & Divorce
History tells us about half of marriages in Canada end in divorce. Andrew and Sara are about to end theirs and are concerned about the changes that will have to be made to their financial and estate plans. Some financial and estate issues they need to consider are: Life Insurance – The first thing that […]
