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My Financial Advisor is Making More from my Investments Than I Am; What Should I Do?

Posted on: April 26, 2017

By Karin Mizgala, Co-Founder and CEO, Money Coaches Canada

Frustration over financial fees

To say that many Canadians are cynical and wary of advice from the financial industry would not be overstating the situation. The idea of hidden fees and commissions buried in investment transactions was tough enough to swallow, but now bank employees are speaking out about sales quota pressures, that lead them to sell you products and services you may not even need.

Last summer the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) introduced Phase 2 of the Client Relationship Model, known as CRM2. As a result, if you have investments, you will be receiving two new reports this year: The Report on Charges and Other Compensation and the Report on Investment Performance. The report names speak to their content, but for a deeper understanding, you can read my article Are You Ready for the Truth About Your Investments.

The CSA wants to ensure that investors are provided with an itemized transparent account of what they are paying in fees, and what commission advisors are being paid and by whom. This information wasn’t completely unavailable before CRM2, but it was more difficult to obtain. The Investment Performance report endeavors to present a measure of how well your investments are doing, but unfortunately, without a comparative context, such as the performance of the underlying market, the numbers aren’t as meaningful as they should be.

The biggest eye opener, for many Canadians, will be the realization that the person making the most return on their investment may be their advisor. It isn’t that fees are inherently wrong, but it’s important to know whether or not you are receiving value for your money. Continue reading →

Posted in Investing, Money Coaching


How Do I Take Money From My RSP in Retirement?

Posted on: April 12, 2017

By Tom Feigs, CFP®, CET

Withdrawing retirement savings

What do you think when you hear the term RSP? If you are like many people, you probably think: contributions. Certainly the banking industry focus is on RSP sales, because that’s where they make their money. But the point of all this saving is to provide for your future. How you withdraw money from your RSP will have a big impact on your retirement.

In this article we’ll look at how you can create a strategy to ensure you make the best choices for your situation.

Don’t Do Anything Without a Plan

Before you can make decisions regarding RSP withdrawals, you need to create as clear a picture as possible of your retirement income and expenses. You can do this on your own, but it can be daunting. You may want to consider working with a professional.

If you have registered and non-registered accounts, you may have seen conflicting information about where it is best to withdraw from first. It used to be accepted wisdom to defer RSP/RIF withdrawals as long as possible, but now balanced withdrawals from various accounts is often recommended. With a better understanding of your needs, creating a withdrawal game plan becomes more achievable.

But before we get to an ‘exit strategy’ for your RSP funds, let’s have a closer look at the basics. Continue reading →

Posted in Ask Your Money Coach, For your information, Retirement savings


I Make a Good Income, But Can’t Get Out of Debt. What Should I Do Differently?

Posted on: March 22, 2017

By Kathryn Mandelcorn, FMA

You did all the right things. You went to school and earned a good education. You’ve worked hard and been promoted. You earn upwards of $100,000 a year; yet increasing debt has your stomach in knots.

You are not alone. According to statistics Canada, higher income is associated with a higher debt load. Households earning at least $100,000 had an average debt of $172,400. Compare that to households earning between $50,000 and $100,000, which had an average debt of $95,400.

It doesn’t have to be this way. But before you can turn things around, it’s important to understand how you arrived where you are.

How Did I Get Here?

Technology has changed the world dramatically in the last 20 years. In many ways for the better, but the internet has also put shopping at our fingertips and smartphones keep us constantly connected to our work, and the work and lifestyles of everyone around us.

This new world has given rise to three of the primary reasons so many people are in debt despite earning a good salary: increased expectations of what we “deserve,” reduced downtime, and the erosion of debt stigma. Let’s look at the effect of each one. Continue reading →

Posted in Ask Your Money Coach, Debt


How Divorce Can Affect Your Retirement

Posted on: March 8, 2017

By Annie Kvick, B.Ed, CFP®

The ending of a marriage is an unfortunate reality for many Canadians, it creates emotional upheaval for both partners and any children involved. But studies have shown that it generally impacts a woman’s financial well-being longer and more significantly than it does a man’s. This imbalance can have serious consequences for women approaching retirement.

Today is International Women’s Day, and this year’s theme is #BeBoldForChange. Organizers want us all to take bold action in our spheres of influence, toward gender parity. An important initiative; but I believe that it is equally important for women to take bold action within their own lives—to be financially secure and confident, ready for whatever life circumstances unfold. Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Literacy, Relationship to money, Retirement savings


Ask a Money Coach: Which tax software would you recommend?

Posted on: February 22, 2017

Tax Time

 

Around this time of year our Coaches are often asked which tax software they would recommend to individuals who would like to file their own taxes online.  Here is a round-up of responses on three of the most popular options: Turbo Tax, Studio Tax and Ufile.

It is also important to note that if you are filing online you must use a program that is recognized for use on Netfile by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). For a list of all the recognized programs visit the CRA website.  Continue reading →

Posted in Ask Your Money Coach


How Do I Break Up With My Investment Advisor?

Posted on: February 22, 2017

By Steve Bridge, B.A. (Hons.), FPSC Level 1®

How did you choose your investment advisor? If you are like many Canadians, your advisor is the one who had an open slot when you called your bank for an appointment, three, five or even 10+ years ago. Or perhaps you met your financial advisor in another haphazard way; your best friend’s son sells investments, or your boss’s daughter is a financial advisor. But things are changing and you deserve better.

Canadians want to know that they are getting investment advice from someone who understands their unique situation and needs, someone who has their best interests at heart, and someone who is their financial ally. Canadians need investment advisors that are paid fairly and deliver advice that moves them closer to their financial goals.

The financial advice you follow today will significantly impact your life in retirement. That’s why breaking up with your investment advisor—could be the most important financial decision you make this year.

But before you act, it’s important to understand what you need from a financial advisor relationship, and how to best make a change if necessary. This three step process provides everything you need to make an informed, thoughtful decision. Continue reading →

Posted in Ask Your Money Coach, Investing


Maintain Marital Bliss by Following These 5 Money Management Principles

Posted on: February 8, 2017

By Melanie Buffel, B.A. Psych, MBA Candidate

Marriages suffer when there is financial stress. Sometimes they fail. In Canada, where the divorce rate is 48%, money issues are often cited as a contributing factor in a relationship’s downfall. But there is so much that you can do to start your wedded life on solid financial footing, and it all revolves around honest communication.

The vow, for richer or for poorer, shouldn’t be the first financial discussion you have with your partner before saying I do. 

With wedding expenses in the thousands of dollars, it’s not surprising that money issues start causing tension even before the big day. But a couple may naively assume that it’s all part of the wedding planning stress and that things will settle down once they fly off on their honeymoon.

The truth is, the first three years of marriage are fraught with the expenses of setting up a home, and establishing a career, coupled with blending spending and saving habits that may be very different. Even couples that lived together in financial harmony before marriage, can be surprised by financial differences now that they are planning a future. Many people assume that once they are married they will have the same priorities; when in fact one partner may want to enjoy more travel and social events before they “settle down,” and the other may want to trim expenses and save for a home.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner –a time when many couples get engaged– here are five ways to make money a point of foundation in your marriage:

  • Start the conversation well before the wedding;
  • Understand where the money goes;
  • Agree who pays for what;
  • Determine who will manage the money; and
  • Keep on talking

Let’s have a closer look at each. Continue reading →

Posted in Budgeting and Cash Flow, Money Coaching, Relationship to money


Emotional Roadblocks to Financial Happiness – 3 Steps to a Breakthrough

Posted on: February 2, 2017

By: Barbara Knoblach, PhD., FPSC Level 1 ®

“These are my New Year’s resolutions…”

We all start the year with a collection of resolutions to improve our lives. We want to lose weight to fit into new clothes; we want to join a gym to improve our fitness; and we want to enhance our financial situation to provide more security for our families and ourselves.

But while our plans have the best of intentions, many people face emotional roadblocks that detour, or completely derail, the follow-through required to achieving these goals.

This is especially true in the area of personal finances. While financial decisions can be very analytical – based on facts, figures, charts and graphs – many of these decisions come face-to-face with emotional roadblocks that overtly affect the decision-making process.

Fear, Shame and Guilt

Three of the most troublesome emotions are fear, shame and guilt. People fear they do not have the knowledge to make wise financial decisions. They are embarrassed that others may be more successful than they are. They feel the guilt that they cannot provide financially for their loved ones – or even themselves.

The negative emotions some people feel towards their personal financial situation often prevents them from seeking professional help. Unfortunately, they cannot bear the thought of opening up about their finances to an outsider – they are simply too embarrassed.

As a Certified Money Coach, I employ many different tactics to help clients overcome these emotional roadblocks that stand in their way to improved financial well-being. Continue reading →

Posted in Money Coaching, Relationship to money


Don’t Let Short-Term Events Impact Your Long-Term Investing Success

Posted on: January 25, 2017

By Anthony Larsen, BAS, CFP®

Investment success can be reduced to four simple words: buy low, sell high; just as diet success can be boiled down to: eat less, move more. So why aren’t we all wealthy and in stellar health? Because fear, excitement and everything else that makes us human, can short circuit our thinking.

We sometimes allow a rough day to excuse a break from our health goals, just as we sometimes grant world events the power to shake our investment confidence. But it’s never wise to make decisions, with long term consequences, while relying on short term emotions.

When it comes to investing, the most powerful emotion driving bad decisions is fear — fear of making a mistake, of looking foolish and of losing money. When we understand the factors that trigger our fears, we are better able to guard against them.

We’ve identified three things you can do today, to dispel your fears and help generate the long-term investing results that will shape the life you live now and in retirement. Continue reading →

Posted in Investing, Money Coaching, Retirement savings


Are You Ready for the Truth About Your Investments?

Posted on: January 11, 2017

By Karin Mizgala, Co-founder and CEO Money Coaches Canada

CRM2 provides transparency

Choosing a focus word for the year ahead has become a popular New Year’s activity. Words like flourish and balance are trendy, unless you work in the financial services industry, where the word on everyone’s lips in 2017 will be transparency. Starting this year Canadian investors will receive two new reports: one will clear the fog around the cost of investment advice; the other will provide shareholders essential information on how well their investments have performed.

These new reports are required by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) as phase 2 of the Client Relationship Model, or CRM2. We think these changes have been far too long in the making, and find it a bit shocking that the industry needed mandating to provide such basic information as fees charged for advice and how effective that advice was in generating investment returns. The good news is the change has finally come.

CRM2 went into effect in July 2016 but most people won’t see their first reports until early this year. You may be astonished or confused by what you read, especially if you haven’t had much contact or service from your advisor.

This article will provide a brief overview of what to expect in each report and explain what we at Money Coaches Canada believe are the strengths of CRM2 and how we think it could have been even stronger. But more important are our suggestions for turning this information into a tool for you to better understand and assess your investments. Continue reading →

Posted in Ask Your Money Coach, Financial Literacy, Investing, Money Coaching


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