Money Coaches Canada Blog & Financial Articles

Do I have enough money to retire?

Posted on: October 8, 2015

By Janet Gray, BA, BAdmin, CFP^™, CHS, EPC, CPCA

I am often asked, “Do I have enough to retire?” It’s an earnest question, asked by smart, educated people with good incomes, who want to be sure they are making good decisions about their future. They hear all sorts of mixed messages in the financial media, or maybe even from friends, about how much they need to retire. You need at least X amount of money saved, or you must have Y% of your pre-retirement income still coming in.

I call those sorts of statements or formulas top-down planning. With top-down planning you’re trying to meet an external expectation that has nothing to do with you and your needs. Top-down plans are the ones that make many people nervous and worried about the future.

I believe the way to create a personalized retirement plan that excites you rather than unnerves you, is through bottom-up planning. As you may have guessed, bottom-up planning is not about meeting an external expectation it’s about meeting your needs. And it begins by being very clear on your current expenses. Continue reading →

Posted in Money Coaching, Retirement savings

Why the short answer may not be right answer

Posted on: September 9, 2015

By Alison Stafford, CFP^®

Money questions often appear straight forward, for example: should I pay down my mortgage or contribute to an RSP? But rarely, if ever, is one decision about money not impacted or influenced by your complete financial situation. And it goes far beyond the numbers, some of the biggest factors to consider don’t involve numbers at all; they are your goals for next week, next month, next year, five years and on into retirement.

Part of my role as a Money Coach is to help people create a plan that encompasses their entire life. Their needs for retirement don’t stand in isolation from their dream to send their kids to university, or even to send them to summer hockey camp; it all has to be managed from the same income.

Returning to the “straight forward” question; should I pay down my mortgage or contribute to an RSP?, I would want to know a lot more about your current situation: What’s your mortgage rate? Are there penalties to prepay? How would you invest your RSP? What is your risk tolerance? What fees are you paying? Are there other goals you should be addressing first? Such as; paying down credit card debt or saving for your children’s RESPs? Are you considering home renovations? Are you thinking of selling soon? When is your mortgage due? Even very personal circumstances, such as; are you considering a divorce? may have an impact on determining the right answer for you.

Continue reading →

Posted in Money Coaching

September is a great time to check-in with your financial goals

Posted on: August 19, 2015

No matter how many years it’s been since we’ve tossed a graduation cap in the air, the back-to-school energy of September motivates many of us to re-commit to moving forward in our lives; making it the perfect time to check-in with our financial goals.

As Money Coaches we help people progress through the 7 Stages of Financial Well-Being^® to ultimately achieve financial fulfillment. A great way to set goals is to recognize which stage you are in and to understand what you need to do to move to the next stage. You may be able to determine where you are by reading the descriptions of each stage in the graphic (click the image to enlarge), but you can also download our 7 Stages of Financial Well-Being^® Quiz to see where you stand.

Maybe you are already very clear about which of the 7 Stages you are in, yet you feel stuck. Continue reading →

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

Grand opening – North Shore office of Money Coaches Canada

Posted on: August 17, 2015

Congratulations to Annie Kvick and her colleagues Christine Williston and Steve Bridge for the opening of their North Shore office!

Over 70 people attended the opening, which was held on the rooftop patio above the office, and included colleagues, family, friends, clients and contacts from the business world.

The office itself is in a convenient location in North Vancouver. Only a minute’s drive from the TransCanada Highway, it is easy for people coming from Burnaby, downtown, etc. as well as from West Vancouver and other parts of the North Shore.

Having been in the business for four years, Annie has become a staple of the north shore business world as well as contributing multiple times to MoneySense Magazine, the Globe and Mail Finance section and Yahoo Finance. She has seen a growth in demand for unbiased transparent advice, which is also reflected in the growth of Money Coaches Canada’s business as a whole, which now boasts 22 coaches in four provinces.

Click here to request your free consultation.

Posted in Money Coaching

Is your financial nest egg at risk of being scrambled?

Posted on: July 22, 2015

By Sheila Walkington, Co-Founder and CFO Money Coaches Canada

Names and minor details have been changed to protect privacy.

Most Canadians recognize the importance of making plans for their future, creating a nest egg through RSPs, TFSAs, company pensions, real estate and other investments, but as the saying goes; Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. What would happen to your nest egg if life threw you a curve ball, such as an accident or illness?

Insurance is one of those topics that many people avoid talking or even thinking about. There are so many different types of policies that it can easily become overwhelming to sort out what you need and what you don’t need. It’s not uncommon for people to opt into a group plan at work and then tuck the benefits booklet into a filing cabinet without really understanding the coverage they have. But when it comes to insurance the more you know, the better you can find a product that suits your situation and protects your future.

The two most common insurance products are Life Insurance (either Term Insurance or Whole Life/Universal Insurance) and Disability Insurance. A third insurance, Critical Illness, is newer in Canada and unlike disability insurance, which is linked to your ability to work and paid-out over time, Critical Illness insurance pays out in full usually 30 days after your diagnosis.

A financial settlement from insurance can take a lot of stress off a bad situation

The death of a spouse, an illness that keeps you from working, high medical bills from a life threatening illness; when times are tough, no one needs financial stress as well. Money doesn’t take away our problems, but it can sure make things a little easier at times. Disability will cover bills if you can’t work, life insurance can pay off the mortgage or debt or cover education costs if a spouse dies, and critical illness can be used to cover medical bills or to hire some help if you are sick.

I recently had a discussion about insurance with Glennis Deslippe, who has been a living benefits specialist with Integral Financial Services Inc. for the last 12 years. Continue reading →

Posted in For your information

Is money coaching right for you?

Posted on: July 8, 2015

By Josh Black, CPA, CMA

With so much financial advice widely and easily available in videos, books and blogs, you may wonder what more a money coach can offer you. Money coaching costs money, and a good money coach would tell you not to spend your money without asking yourself a few questions first.

Have I been chasing the same goal for a while with little or no results? Do I even have goals?

So many people set vague goals that are more like wishes than plans; I want to save more, or, I want to be debt free. A money coach will help you become very specific about what you want. But even clear goals alone are not enough; a money coach helps you create a framework of actionable steps. As you move from thought to action you begin to see measurable results immediately, and results breed confidence and eventually mastery over your money.

Do I keep setting start dates in the future and missing them?

It’s easy to let ourselves off the hook. Life is busy, unexpected circumstances throw our plans off track, but if we are honest, our reasons are often just excuses that mask our fears, or our limiting belief about our ability to meet our goals. That’s why so many people who set goals put off taking action. A money coach can keep you focused, dissipate your fears and encourage the confidence to finally move from planning into action. Continue reading →

Posted in Money Coaching

Success Story: Louise – A life changing financial turn-around

Posted on: June 24, 2015

All information used with the client’s permission.

In 2010, Louise was a single mom with a teenage daughter and another daughter under age 10. She spent her days working with words, writing sales and advertising copy that garnered her great respect in her field, but at the end of the day, it was numbers that weighed her down.

Despite the outward signs of success, Louise owed $15,000 on credit cards and $10,000 in income tax. She had purchased a duplex and had upstairs tenants to help offset the mortgage, but she was also paying rent of $1,000 a month for her daughter at college. And just over the horizon loomed an income tax bill of $26,000.

“It’s very shaming to be that far in debt,” she says, “so you start hiding a lot of information from family and friends.”

She felt isolated and uncertain about how to turn things around. She read books and blogs about money management, but confidence in her financial skills was so low, she wasn’t able to turn the general information into personal solutions. She discounted the idea of reaching out to a financial planner because she believed planners were for investing and not for dealing with debt.

“I had never heard of a money coach,” Louise says, until she came across the term in a Canadian Living magazine article featuring Money Coaches Canada co-founder Sheila Walkington. The idea that there were financial professionals who could guide and teach her how to manage her money gave Louise just enough courage to break her isolation and reach out. Continue reading →

Posted in Debt, Money Coaching, Relationship to money, Success Stories

It’s time to break down the money talk taboo

Posted on: June 10, 2015

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

Our culture is rife with mixed messages about money. Money is freedom, money is greed, live simply – but to be happy you’ll need this car, have these clothes and that phone. Yet one message comes through loud and clear; don’t talk about money – at least not at the personal level.

On a broader scale we talk about money all the time. The financial media talks about the level of consumer debt that Canadians carry, or how unprepared many people are for retirement, while at the same time new homes seem to get bigger, and Facebook is full of vacation and home renovation photos. We hear that people are struggling but we don’t see it. We commiserate with friends that gas and groceries are too expensive, or that university tuition for our kids is weighing us down, but we often do that over a nice glass of wine or an overpriced coffee. Everyone we know seems fine. The thing is, behind closed doors, not everybody feels fine. Many people feel overwhelmed and stressed, but are too embarrassed or ashamed to tell anyone. The isolation goes even deeper if financial worries are being kept from people otherwise close to you, such as a spouse, close friends or family.

Continue reading →

Posted in Money Coaching, Relationship to money

Money Coaches in Conversation – What you should understand about fees and financial advice

Posted on: May 21, 2015

Recently Money Coaches Canada co-founder Karin Mizgala sat down with Money Coach Noel D’Souza to discuss the changing landscape of financial advice in Canada.

MCC co-founder Karin Mizgala

Karin: As someone in the financial industry, it’s very common to be asked by people outside the industry, to explain the different fee structures of financial advice. So, Noel, let’s start with an overview of the common compensation models available to Canadians today.

Noel: The most prevalent model we see in the industry is the commission-based advice model, where an advisor sells products, typically mutual funds or some other investment product, they may also sell insurance, and they receive a sales commission for making the sale and also quite likely receive a trailing commission which is supposed to cover on-going advice and services. Usually the client never sees the commission fees, and we’ll be discussing how that may change in the future, but usually those fees are hidden within the cost structure of the product they are buying.

The second type is fee-based. An advisor will charge the client fees based on the size of the assets under management, a percentage of the total portfolio.

The third model, which is up and coming, is the model we work under; fee-for-service. Clients pay a fee directly and explicitly to the advisor for services rendered and it’s not tied to product sales, or size of assets, in any way.

Karin: So that will sound pretty straight forward to most people, why does it become murky, what are the implications for someone seeking financial advice? What are the benefits and shortcomings of each model? Continue reading →

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

Three habits that may be keeping you in debt and one that can change everything

Posted on: May 6, 2015

By Kathryn Mandelcorn, FMA

Have you ever dreamed about what you’d do if you won the lottery? It can be fun to imagine sudden wealth and all its possibilities. Many people preface their plans with; first I’d pay off all my debts.

We all like the idea of being debt free, so why don’t more people achieve it? There are as many reasons as there are people, but here are three habits in particular that can keep us stuck.

Confusing talk, or thought with action.

We make new year’s resolutions, we read financial blogs and books, we decide to spend less on groceries, maybe clip some coupons, we talk with our friends about how we never catch a break, that just when we decide to make bigger payments on our debt the car breaks down, or our child’s sport fees go up or our furnace needs repair… Money is so constantly on our minds, that we think we are doing the best we can, when in fact we have often done nothing concrete to change the situation. Continue reading →

Posted in Debt

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Do I have enough money to retire?

By Janet Gray, BA, BAdmin, CFP^™, CHS, EPC, CPCA