It’s time to put the knowledge you have about yourself and your money into action. It’s up to you to take the appropriate, conscious action to take charge of your money, get your financial house in order, and start living the life you want.
What next steps do you need to take to feel more fully empowered and on track with your money? Do you have a list of action items to complete? Are there phone calls, or appointments, you need to make to follow through on your plans? Continue reading
Spend 1% of your life making sure you have a solid Plan B and 99% focused on living Plan A to the fullest.
– Anonymous
No one likes thinking about the potential for illness, injury, unemployment, or death but a good financial plan factors in planning for the unexpected. Neither planning nor insurance will prevent potentially difficult times, but being prepared can lessen the financial and emotional impact for you and your family.
It’s easy to put off, thinking you have lots of time but your life can change in an instant and then it can be too late. If there’s an emergency or a crisis, life is already going to be distressing and emotionally challenging. The last thing you need is to be stressed about your finances. Continue reading
Guest post by Karen Collacutt, CFP
Are your financial papers all over the place? Are bills and documents hard to find? Would you like more control over your household finances? Well, families and individuals who focus on their goals and dreams become more conscious about their spending and make better overall financial decisions.
If your papers are piling up and hard to find, your journey to empowerment and control with your finances will quickly get derailed. By setting up systems to automate and structure your money, and the never-ending paper that goes with it, you can get and keep your financial house in order.
Follow these three simple steps to increase control and confidence in Your Financial System. Continue reading
Watch the video featuring Money Coaches Canada co-founder Sheila Walkington on The Rush on Shaw TV
Watch the video “Your Business with Charmaine” featuring Charmaine Huber and Sheila Walkington on Rogers TV: Money, Mortgages and Your Business
Estate planning may sound grand, but it just means that you have made plans for what you want to happen when you die, if you are incapacitated, or near death. Essentially, it’s a gift you can prepare while you’re alive for the people or organizations you leave behind.
Make Your Wishes Clear
You need a Will. A Will is a legal document that leaves instructions about what you want done with your estate.
It can save your family a tremendous amount of grief and headache. You may not think it could happen in your family, but the combination of intense emotion and money can turn even the most functional families into feuding and angry antagonists. The best way to minimize this risk is by being very clear and specific in your intentions upon death, and by having those wishes drafted into a legal Will.
What Happens if I Die Without a Will? Continue reading
A critical part of a good financial plan is understanding your cash flow needs, now and in the future. How much income do you need to live the life you want?
Making ends meet can be tough, especially early in life: dealing with student debt, purchasing a home, starting a family, not to mention tackling any consumer debt that might have piled up along the way. But with a sound spending and savings plan, some will find that as debts are paid off and the kids leave home, their income actually exceeds their needs. With good incomes and a financial plan that illustrates how much they need to put away to achieve their retirement goals, it’s quite possible they will find they have enough not only for themselves, but to share with others and give back to society. Continue reading
Watch the video featuring Renée Verret on Global News Toronto: “Women and Money“
The Executor
An executor is the person you appoint to carry out the instructions of your Will. The biggest mistake people make regarding their Will (besides not having one at all!), is not choosing the right person to be their executor. Often the executor is chosen based on a close relationship such as a family member, and not on the attributes of the person. However, an executor could also be a trusted friend, a business partner, a professional (e.g. your lawyer), or even an institution, such as a trust company. Continue reading
Many financial planners will use a quick rule of thumb to determine how much you need for retirement – for example 70% of your pre-retirement income. This is based on a 1996 actuarial study that figured out that, on average, people would need less; assuming their home was paid off and their kids were self-sufficient. The problem with this, as Jim Yih of http://retirehappy.ca pointed out, was that not many of us are average. Nor do many of us really want to be just average!
At Money Coaches Canada, our retirement planning process starts with establishing what retirement means and looks like to YOU. Will you be travelling the world? Joining a gardening club? Babysitting grandkids? After you have articulated your own vision, dreams and goals; only then can then we figure out how much money you will actually need. Read Jim Yih’s great blog post on Retirement Lifestyle Planning. He helps one consider all the aspects of a balanced retirement, not just financial. After all, the ‘golden years’ are about a lot more than just money…
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