More about Financial Planning

Financial Planning Overview

Financial Products Used in Planning

Young couple just starting out.

Planning for the Future

Determining what's important to you and how we can direct your financial resources toward your goals — while still enjoying life along the way.

A family with kids.

Managing Your Financial Plan

Adjusting your financial plan as your life and financial resources change.

A retired couple and their loved ones.

Retirement

Planning for retirement while living life along the way takes some time and expertise. This is where we can help.....

Financial Products Used in Planning

"Enough about planning - What products do you have?"

Sometimes it just comes down to the products. Here's a list of the major products we use in helping clients achieve their financial goals:

Banking Products

High interest, no service charge bank accounts. A unique chequing, line of credit, mortgage account called Manulife One. Investment Loans - for tax deductible interest. Conventional mortgages through our preferred mortgage brokers!

Investment Products

Guaranteed Investment Certificates from over 20 suppliers Mutual Funds - The "best of the best" in Canada! Guaranteed Investment Funds - Market opportunities with guarantees! Annuities - An underestimated way to guarantee tax-advantaged income

Registered Investment Plans

Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSA) Registered Education Savings Plans (RESP) Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP) Locked-In Retirement Accounts (LIRA - transferred pension) Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIF) Individual Pension Plans (IPP)

Insurance

Life Insurance Disability Insurance
Critical Illness Insurance Long Term Care Insurance Travel Insurance

We have a list of local tax and legal experts to help clients in matters beyond our expertise. We can also call upon the experts at Manulife Financial to assist with investment and insurance strategies and products.

Here are 5 simple “rules of thumb” about insurance and investing…

Creditor insurance - the insurance banks offer to protect loans and mortgages - is often more expensive that individually owned insurance policies. The insurance only covers the balance of the loan and yet the premiums remain the same through out the life of the debt!

Disability insurance is probably the most important protection for your family. It protects the cash flow that your financial future depends on and you are 10 times more likely to have a disability during your working life than to die.

Life insurance - How much is enough? If you are protecting your family, it should be enough to pay off your family debts, provide burial/estate costs ($20,000) and replace your take home pay through your spouse's retirement (take home pay divided by 7%). For a 45 year old non-smoking couple, they can each be covered for $500,000 for under $100/mth.

Saving - It doesn't matter how much you make....It matters how much you save! Aim for 10% of take home pay even if you have to start at 2-3% and add 1% everytime you get a raise or bonus.

Hate budgetting? Pay yourself first by aligning your automatic investment contributions and bill payments to your pay days. What's left is yours to spend.