Financial Planning

The six key steps for financial planning success

What can a financial plan do for you? Provide a roadmap to achieve financial goals such as:

Saving for retirement
Providing for post-secondary education
Ensuring your family's financial security
Building wealth
Minimizing taxes
Leaving an estate for your heirs

Building your plan

Advocis (the Canadian Association of Financial Planners) recommends six key steps to the financial planning process.

Clarify your current financial position
Identify measurable goals and objectives
Identify financial barriers or issues
Provide alternative solutions to create a strategy
Implement the strategy
Periodically review and adjust the plan

How to get started

Our sophisticated planning software makes it easy to follow the Advocis recommendations. We can develop a systematic plan designed specifically for you. Your plan will have clearly defined goals, achievable steps and appropriate benchmarks. Note that purchase of financial products comes late in the process and investment vehicles will only be chosen if they can contribute to your goals.

Laying a solid foundation for your financial plan

To be effective, you want a financial plan that takes you from where you are today to where you want to be.

Where you are today

Clarifying your current financial position is the first of six key steps in the financial planning process. That means looking at your current investments, savings, assets and liabilities. To help you with this process we can provide you with a series of questionnaires. Keep in mind that it is always important to capture the most current information. Outdated information can lead to incorrect conclusions.

Where you want to be

To get a clear picture of your financial destination you need to identify measurable financial goals and objectives. For example, stating that you want to retire at age 65 and spend 75% of current expenses is more meaningful than saying that you want to retire early. With an understanding of your current financial position and future destination, we can give you a more detailed analysis of what needs to be done to reach your goal. In addition, with measurable goals, you'll find it easier to track your progress

Putting Your Financial Plan into Action

You know what your financial goals are and you have outlined a clear route towards achieving those goals. So what's next? Putting your financial plan into action.

Implementing your plan

Proper implementation of your plan is vital if you are to realize your goals. You'll need to make decisions about specific financial products. For example, your plan will outline an asset allocation and diversification strategy so you will need to select the appropriate investments. If your plan has identified that you need additional insurance coverage, you'll need to decide whether Term, Whole Life or Universal Life products are best for your situation. At the same time, you may have conflicting goals, so priorities must be set and trade-offs made.

How I can help

With so many options to consider, it's always worthwhile to get some professional advice. When it comes to selecting financial products you want to make sure that they are the right ones to help you realize your goals. We can review the options for you and recommend those that make sense for your plan. And you may find that you are not able to reach all of your goals at once. Working together, we can sort out your priorities.

Your next step

We can help you with all aspects of financial planning. If youfd like to start working towards your financial goals with a properly designed financial plan, please contact us: Jan Canning (604) 443-1575 or Toll free (888) 689-9922.

£ Top of Page £

Financial Planning

The six key steps for financial planning success

What can a financial plan do for you? Provide a roadmap to achieve financial goals such as:

Saving for retirement
Providing for post-secondary education
Ensuring your family's financial security
Building wealth
Minimizing taxes
Leaving an estate for your heirs

Building your plan
Advocis (the Canadian Association of Financial Planners) recommends six key steps to the financial planning process.

Clarify your current financial position
Identify measurable goals and objectives
Identify financial barriers or issues
Provide alternative solutions to create a strategy
Implement the strategy
Periodically review and adjust the plan

How to get started
Our sophisticated planning software makes it easy to follow the Advocis recommendations. We can develop a systematic plan designed specifically for you. Your plan will have clearly defined goals, achievable steps and appropriate benchmarks. Note that purchase of financial products comes late in the process and investment vehicles will only be chosen if they can contribute to your goals.

Laying a solid foundation for your financial plan

To be effective, you want a financial plan that takes you from where you are today to where you want to be.

Where you are today
Clarifying your current financial position is the first of six key steps in the financial planning process. That means looking at your current investments, savings, assets and liabilities. To help you with this process we can provide you with a series of questionnaires. Keep in mind that it is always important to capture the most current information. Outdated information can lead to incorrect conclusions.

Where you want to be
To get a clear picture of your financial destination you need to identify measurable financial goals and objectives. For example, stating that you want to retire at age 65 and spend 75% of current expenses is more meaningful than saying that you want to retire early. With an understanding of your current financial position and future destination, we can give you a more detailed analysis of what needs to be done to reach your goal. In addition, with measurable goals, you'll find it easier to track your progress

.

Putting Your Financial Plan into Action

You know what your financial goals are and you have outlined a clear route towards achieving those goals. So what's next? Putting your financial plan into action.

Implementing your plan
Proper implementation of your plan is vital if you are to realize your goals. You'll need to make decisions about specific financial products. For example, your plan will outline an asset allocation and diversification strategy so you will need to select the appropriate investments. If your plan has identified that you need additional insurance coverage, you'll need to decide whether Term, Whole Life or Universal Life products are best for your situation. At the same time, you may have conflicting goals, so priorities must be set and trade-offs made.

How I can help
With so many options to consider, it's always worthwhile to get some professional advice. When it comes to selecting financial products you want to make sure that they are the right ones to help you realize your goals. We can review the options for you and recommend those that make sense for your plan. And you may find that you are not able to reach all of your goals at once. Working together, we can sort out your priorities.

Your next step
We can help you with all aspects of financial planning. If youfd like to start working towards your financial goals with a properly designed financial plan, please contact us: Jan Canning (604) 443-1575 or Toll free (888) 689-9922.

£ Top of Page £

Financial Planning