Planning for the Future
Preparing for Life Changes
Determining what's important to you and how we can direct your financial resources toward your goals — while still enjoying life along the way.
Your whole life is ahead of you, and there are seemingly millions of choices to make with respect to your finances.
- As a student, you may be saving for special things like your first car or your post-secondary education.
- When you graduate and start your career, you may be torn between paying off student loans, saving for a house and evolving your wardrobe from student to professional.
- When you find that someone special, your goals become our goals.
- Financing your first home can be a challenge as your income now covers property taxes, furnishing, redecorating, etc. And the need for insurance is more evident.
If you're just starting out in 'real-life', we’re here to help you and your financial resources adjust to the changes.
Getting Started
Consider the following and then call us to discuss how you want to proceed.
What goals do you have for the next 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?
Owning a home?
Paying off your mortgage?
Saving for retirement?
Saving for a child's education?
Reducing income taxes?
Acquiring a vacation property?
Preserving your wealth?
Providing care for a dependent relative?
Creating an estate plan?
If you don't have answers or a plan to achieve one or more of these goals, call us to book an appointment. When you come, bring the following but don't bring it out until you are comfortable:
Your most recent tax returns. Include business statements, if applicable.
Pay stubs for last 2 periods, and your latest copy of employer benefits statement, pension statement and/or group RRSP.
All insurance policies and recent annual statements.
Most recent statements for investments, mortgages, loans/line of credit and credit cards.
Consider approximate values of major assets - real estate, vacation properties, rental properties - and associated income/expenses.
With the information above, we can determine your net worth and income so we can start projecting how we can help you achieve your financial goals.
Managing Debt and Helping You Save
For many of us, what we have to invest is dependent on how well we manage our debts and other expenses.
We're often able to save clients money on their mortgages, their insurances and their banking so they can save for children's education, retirement and other goals.
Using innovative products and automating the process, we can help you keep on budget without the bookeeping while reducing your debt and increasing your wealth.
Retirement Planning
How much is enough?
That's a good question.
Lots of us depend on a pension from our employer but very few of us understand what the annual pension statement says. We can help you interpret the formulas for your pension so there are no surprises later in life.
Without a pension, our retirement may depend on RRSP contributions, deposits to the new Tax Free Savings Account or borrowing to invest strategies. If you're in business or own a farm, it may depend on the sale of these assets. Or you may be depending on the income from rental properties you own.
But do you know if you're going to have enough to retire at 55?....60?....65?....70?.....ever?
And this is where we come in. By sharing information on your financial resources, we can help you determine how much you'll need to retire and when. Then we can show you how to make up the difference and how to protect your retirement plan.
