Welcoming change?

Being ready for change is not an easy thing. When we have been doing something for so long we resist it and it causes a lot of fear and discomfort. I understand and it's totally normal. Taking steps towards positive change are always easier when you have someone guiding you that you trust. I hope to be that person for you and for many people in my life time.

I know that when you have had a bad experience with a professional anywhere from a financial advisor or a doctor you start to put walls up and distance yourself from advice or help. It's like not being caught at the end of a trust fall. It's something that stays with you. You may have heard it all before - "I promise/guarantee" etc. and then it wasn't followed through or held up.

Making positive assumptions is a start. Making sure that you feel your needs have been heard is the next step. Ask for what you need, that will allow you to feel secure. Do you want to take small steps? That is a request and it's about respect. Will your advisor give you the space to grow? A good advisor will push your limits but progressively. Stretching your comfort zone has to happen gradually and with great care. Too much discomfort will cause quick and immediate loss of trust and deterioration. Education is the biggest piece to the puzzle, it comes before personal emotions and opinions. It allows informed decisions to be made because when it comes to your money - emotions need to be set aside. Discuss emotional issues surrounding money first and then make a plan to work in such a way to get beyond them, because for the most part they are not factual and they can cause a significant decrease in your level of overall success.

I can't stress enough how important the relationship is with your advisor. I should really say "partnership". It's even longer than a marriage in some cases. You want to make sure they know everything about you. The good the bad and the ugly. It can get emotional. If they have a kleenex box in their office - you are on the right track.

WHY do I NEED life insurance?!?!

I have been taking notes over the last little while regarding the feelings people have towards life insurance and I am here to (hopefully) educated and overcome some of these old stigmas and false beliefs.

Putting a plan in place have several steps and the first one is to cover off your risks so that you don't fall flat on your ass in the face of emergency or devastation.

#1 "It won't happen to me" really isn't a plan, it's a hope. Death and illness don't discriminate.

#2 "My parents didn't have insurance" they got lucky, did you know anyone who's parents passed away and had or didn't have insurance? What kind of a difference did it make?

#3 "Insurance is a scam" I don't hear this one often but I think there are lots of people out there who think it, or wonder when they hear someone else (like their parents) say this. Insurance is something you pay for IN CASE sh*t happens, and once you make that claim you will quickly realize how much of a scam it isn't. I think we feel this way about most types of insurance - WHY are we paying for something that MIGHT happen? Well once your basement floods and ruins all the things you worked hard for, or you get rear-ended by some dude texting about a booty call...you will be thankful you had it in place.

#4 "It's expensive and I can't afford it" - some types of insurance are more expensive than others and they are all important and useful for different reasons. Find what works for you, and how much your budget will allow. Something is always better than nothing and chances are if you see the importance you can find room for it in your budget. I have seen people quit smoking, reduce their booze consumption, take a look at where their money is going to find room. You are champions!

#5 "I have too much insurance, insurance for everything" well, yes you do probably but why would you insure your car over your life? Why do we insure our stuff over our own lives? Do we value our possessions more than we do our own energy force that allows us to get up and go to work and make money to pay for all those things, vacations, food? It's backwards really.

Thinking that we'll be ok if we were unable to work and therefore losing our income - what sustains our costs of living (basic needs at the very least) - is not only a common misconception it's unrealistic - to put it nicely. Insurance is really a privilege rather than an entitlement. Most people who want it can't get it because they have been sick, and most people who don't want it could easily get it because they are healthy and this gives them a false sense of security "I'm healthy what do I need insurance for?"

Some reasons you need insurance are listed here:

- Income replacement for your survivors - children, spouse or anyone who relies on your income to live their life. And for how many years would they need it? How old is your youngest child?

- Time take off work when we lose a loved one, how long would you need to be off?

- Debt repayment - mortgage, vehicles, student loans, line of credit, tax debt

- Final Expenses - nowadays run you about 10,000 and no matter who you are someone is going to be having a nice celebration of life for you and that responsibility will fall on their shoulders.

- Savings - anything you would have saved for over the course of your life that affects your family, education savings for the kids, retirement for surviving spouse

It's hard to think about all of this now - uncomfortable to say the least, but planning ahead saves a lot of despair. Believe me, I see it all the time.

Do you really want the people you love the most to move into your parents basement all the way back home (a major uprooting). Do you think your spouse is rushing back to work? For parents who stay at home, you are a major contributing factor to your families as much if not more than the parents who work. Money should always be the LAST thing on your mind in a crisis, you want to focus on healing, accepting and family time, not how the hell you will buy groceries and fill the car with gas.

For those of you who have insurance, understand it and feel good about it - I would love for you to write to me why you have it and why you feel good about that decision, if it's something that was hard to work into your budget or not. If you feel comfortable, post it under my blog on facebook and share your experience with others. You can make a difference.

If you have been to the bank or with another advisor and you are unhappy let's talk, education is important and even when you have had a bad experience there's always someone who can repair it for you - I sincerely care and I'd love to be that person!

Sick and broke? Worst combination ever.

Two words that will impact your life greatly - CRITICAL ILLNESS. Another one of those "never going to happen to me" examples. I had a VERY eye opening conversation with a co-worker today about the increase in abnormal pap tests. I recently realized (after doing a few critical illness policies for some young females who are close to me) that they are extremely common. Now, you are wondering what this has to do with finances and what I have to say is - EVERYTHING.

Let me start with some background info. As the 80's something babies we were the generation of convenience. It's not our parents fault, they were busy trying to work and pay 18% interest rate on their mortgages to keep a roof over our heads. None the less, they used microwaves, and plastic and warmed up plastic in the microwaves. Preservatives became a large part of our diets, growth hormones etc. Birth control started being used by our generation at a much earlier age, sometimes even prescribed for acne problems. Interestingly enough, my friend at work told me a story from 10 years ago when she was 21 and had to go with her sister to get the abnormal cervical cells lazered. There were about 50 other women waiting with her. Some it took 7 minutes, some 45 and for some it was a one time shot, but for others they would be back - again and again, and even some would have more invasive surgery than that...The doctor directly told her his theory was all of what I mentioned above causing this rise in abnormal cell growth.

What I am getting at here is that we are only in our 20's and 30's yet, we don't know how all this will affect us. We do know that we will likely experience a serious illness and live through it. We are much better equipped now to deal with disease. However, at what cost? Will you sell your home? Deteriorate your savings? What if you don't have those things yet? Move back with your parents and put the financial responsibility on them while they are trying to retire? Your family will do what they have to help you, so help yourself first.

I can't tell you how to avoid cervical cancer but I can tell you that in this devastating even Critical Illness policies pay you out a LUMP SUM amount of money spendable at your discretion - if you want to go to a clinic in spain, go ahead. If you want to pay your mortgage go ahead, if you want to take a family trip for 6 months after treatment is over GO AHEAD. Right now it doesn't seem like you will ever have to face this terrifying event, I know. My advice to you today, men and women is to get your policies when you are YOUNG AND HEALTHY. They are cheap and you can get ALLLL your money back if you don't make a claim later on. Because once you are sick, or even if you've had an abnormal pap, they are not going to be readily giving you your insurance, or if they do they'll be excluding cervical cancer (or other risk factors) all together. It's cheaper when you are young and it will fit into your budget - find room. Plan ahead. You'll thank me later.

Debt kills puppies

Debt. It's an S.O.B. and we are always so optimistic when it comes to call. Yeah sure I'll take you up on your offer, we can see where this goes, and despite your initial bad gut feeling you take a chance on false hopes and get sucked into this bad long term high interest rate relationship that leaves you feeling stressed and depressed. False promises of no interest for 6 months and then a slap in the face with 30% after that. You put it on the shelf and forget, so when that 6 months hits and you get the statement it's like a call from an ex who needs to let you know about an STD. You've been bent over without even being kissed first. One time I saw debt kill a puppy.

"Over the past 10 years, Canadians have accumulated debt at a higher rate than income growth. Average household debt has increase by 44% whereas household income grew by only 28% over the same period"- Ipsos Reid Canadian Financial Health. What is this saying? We are all trying to live beyond our means, to have the sweetest sh*t the fastest. What a bunch of show offs we are. More often than not, clients of mine are maxed out and stressed out. They go hand in hand. So the thought that having the newest coolest stuff will help us be happy only works backwards. Keep in mind when I say this I (was when I first started my job) am still the worst financial mess I have yet to see, so I know this cycle more than anyone. I'm not judging, I am just making an attempt to draw attention to our major economic crisis. We need to all make a change. Slow down - do the old fashion thing and save! Understand the power of COMPOUND INTEREST (next blog topic). You can have your cake and eat it to. Once you get the hang of it it'll become old news to you. We have the ability to change, I will hold your hand and we can do it together.

Stay tuned for Time vs Money - interest growing on interest

Yes, I'd like to have $170,000 please

I want to share with you the biggest bettest statistic I have seen to date regarding WHY you NEED and ADVISOR in your life. It'll shock you. "Ipsos Reid", did a Canadian study for each income bracket and found that there was a SIGNIFICANT difference in your overall net worth (which means assets or financial value, owning a home, having investments, savings and things that you can sell for money - so you don't owe more than you own). I hear people say to me when I ask them if they'd like to book an appointment, "I don't have any money" and my reply to that is "perfect" then I have a job to do! It's our JOB as financial advisors to help you pick apart your situation to find out how we can make changes to get you to where you want to be. If you could do that on your own, I wouldn't have a job. There is NO way that you can learn all of what advisors and planners know - we went to school, spent days/months/years researching, reading and investigating millions of situations and plans. Not to mention we can take the emotion out of decision making, and making change. Even if you did lots of research and practiced on your own, you would still have emotional ties to your money.

So what did they find in this study? Families in the $50-60,000 income range had an net worth of about $29,000 if they did not have an advisor. Meanwhile families who had an advisor working with them had an overall net worth of $197,000!!!!! That's a difference of $168,000!??! Amazing. So there it is, in plain english for all to see. You have NO IDEA what an advisor can do for you, you aren't one! So you can't know what they know, or HOW they will help you. Don't pre-qualify yourself. You are not wasting their time, because there is no such thing. Everyone has a unique situation and it gives us an opportunity to grow each time we see a new client. All you need is a desire for your situation to improve, even in the slightest and to have an open mind. Your beliefs will change, your knowledge will grow and you will find yourself feeling secure, empowered and wealth with the right tools to get you to your goals faster and more efficiently, with less confusion and stress.

As I was writing this, I heard Danny's financial advice of the day "if your drunk spouse tells you to double down in vegas, DON'T". We've never been to vegas but this sounds like pretty sound advice to me!

On that note, in January I will be setting aside the entire month to work with friends again. I love doing this and I am ready to help you, are you ready for positive change?

Spending your money while you're still sexy

When I meet with people it feels a little like working backwards or trying to go back in time. Usually everyone has their finances set up to be using every last penny, with no room for savings or insurance. It happens just about 90% of the time so don't feel alone. That being said, it's still a major red flag for me that we are working in the wrong direction as a society. Really, when we are fresh out of school and start working the first thing we "should" do is set up to PAY OURSELVES first, then insure our own human energy (as we are the ones who get up and go to work and make the pay cheque everyday) so that if something happened to us, our lives could still go on with little to no stress...aka we wouldn't have to move back into our parents basements (eyebrow raise). At first it comes as a bit of a shock when you take a look and realize you have set aside any money out of all that money you make to pay for long term goals. It just goes right away to pay everyone else. The grocery store, the carpenter, the shoe manufacturer and the electronics that are so shiny and sexy. Follow the rule of 10 percent. Look at all your expenses and discretionary spending and skim a bit off the top to put towards your financial plan so that at least 10% of your income is going towards your goals. That way if an emergency hits, or an opportunity to take advantage of - you CAN DO IT. It'll feel pretty damn good when it happens knowing you are in control and you were the one who had the good sense to plan ahead. High five to yourself right? If you are buying a home, factor in your life insurance on top of your mortgage then work with that final number to see if it fits. It would be a most unfortunate shame if something were to happen and that house you worked so hard for and dreamt of all your life was gone in the blink of an eye, which is usually how accidents and sickness happen - like a tornado leaving barren lives in their path. And hey if sleeping better at night is not enough, just check in from time to time and watch your little nest egg grow and imagine the possibilities! Buying something DEBT free, no financing, no credit approval - just HAND OVER THE CASH baby. Or...imagine retirement a little bit early - taking those cruises before your hair is grey and your fingers curl up and you can sexily beckon to the pool boy to come and rub lotion on your still young-looking-liver-spot-free-back.

But it's a stupid question!

Ask questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question! If you don't know the right questions to ask just say "I don't understand!" it's OK to tell someone to slow down, explain again. If you are seeing a financial advisor or planner make sure they speak YOUR language. Education is the MOST important part of setting up your financial plan and it might take a few appointments - see them all through before making a decision. I want all my clients to understand what it is they are doing, planning and achieving and WHY we are doing what we are doing. If they don't understand I know it's my responsibility to help them. But I can't know unless they speak up. I will work very hard, to find the right solutions but if it's totally chinese then we haven't really gotten anywhere. Whatever you put into place with YOUR money is suppose to FEEL good. Take the time to read the bits of information, you will feel more empowered because of it. Some good questions to ask are:

What are the fees? Can you compare the fees for me and explain why one is higher than the next?

What's the difference between term insurance and permanent insurance?

What is compound interest?

What's the difference between a registered and a non-registered investment?

How does a tax free savings account benefit me?

When is the earliest I can retire and what do I need to save to achieve that?

How do you (the advisor) get paid?

How many times a year will we meet?

Will you call me if I should make changes?

Can you do full rounded planning, in every aspect of my finances?

I hope this was helpful. It can be intimidating meeting with an advisor for the first time so ask around and find someone trust worthy. Comparing prices and products takes a back seat to finding an advisor who will go above and beyond for you, listen and understand your goals, fear and dreams!

GET YOUR INSURANCE RIGHT NOW

The earlier you apply for insurance (both for life and illness) the better. Frist of all let me explain the difference between the two. Life insuance pays upon death, Living benefits insurance pays when you are sick or injured. There are many different types and some better than others. What I want to say to everyone here today is that the earlier you apply the better off you will be - hands down. Your premiums will be lower (what you pay on a monthly basis) so they will not be so hard on your already formulated budget. The older you get the more expensive it is even if you are in good health. Also, the longer you wait the more chances you have of having health issues (big or small) and the insurance company finding reason to increase your premiums because you are more of a risk. Family history is another major player and so of course as our parents get older they too have more health risks and incidents of sickness. Driving record is another contributing factor, so even if you don't have any DUI's an abundance of speeding tickets will work against you. Drugs, alcohol, smoking and medication will decrease your chances of getting insurance or getting a preferred rating (lower cost due to good health). I have even had young healthy clients apply and found out through the medical testing that they had a serious health issue. I have policies for my kids because right now they don't have any bad habits (and hopefully never will, but let's be serious), they also haven't been sick or on medication and they are so young it's dirt cheap.

What are you waiting for? You aren't getting any younger, and in some cases you may increase your income over time but your expenses will increase as well. Save yourself money and hassle and just do it! Even if you don't have dependents, a mortgage or a spouse you can still get the program started. Planning ahead saves a lot of headaches, and devastation. Mortgage insurance or creditor insurance (when you cover the lenders ass) just won't cut it. You need CASH in your hand to pay bills and feed mouths. No one wants to be dealing with financial stress during the heart breaking experiences of losing your partner or loved one. Personally owned policies are always the way to go, and if you want a second opinion check out CBC's marketplace for additional info on the risks involved with creditor protection. http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/in_denial/

Chances are that if you have a health scare you will be knocking down the door for insurance, because now the risk is real but they won't want to insure you because you have had an illness or injury. Even if you do all the right things, and you are a superb driver/eater/excersize machine - disater can still strike ANYWHERE TO ANYONE. You aren't superman, and even superman ended up disabled (Christopher Reeves).

5 bucks, 10 bucks...100 bucks

Do you wonder where your money goes? Doing up a budget can be helpful, but for the most part I don't find my clients are very accurate about it. Budgets aren't steadfast either. Our budgets change like dirty underwear so to try and stick to one can feel impossible. I'm going to suggest taking a week (it's only one week people) and keeping track of all the LITTLE purchases. I know we tell ourselves (as well as commercials) that we deserve that little treat (coffee, chocolate bar, latte, shoes on sale, a cheap toy for our kids etc.) but more than anything: You deserve to be able to have more TIME FREEDOM. Let me explain: when we purchase all the small short term gratifications we reduce the chances of a much bigger reward (vacation, days off, protecting yourself from emergencies or hmm oh I don't know - RETIREMENT?!?!). It's a vicious cycle, we believe that we need the small treats to feel better about our stressful situations, but then it causes us to feel strapped and unaccomplished at the end of each month. BREAK THE CYCLE. Every time you go to spend a twoonie, a $5/$10/$20 sheet - focus on a bigger DREAM and put it into the "would have spent it on something insignificant but now I'm saving for something awesome" envelope. First pick a dream or goal and WRITE it on the outside of the envelope and keep it in your car or purse. In the beginning it's going to take discipline, I won't even lie to you and say it's easy, but like anything else once you start to see the effects of your efforts I promise you will be a changed person. Working hard to have "stuff" is a societal trap "Show and tell". Instead of caring so much what other people think about your new car or your clothes, switch the focus to caring about taking time off work (without worrying about the cost) and go do something with your family, or people who value your time more than money can buy.

Keep in mind - I was the biggest financial mess I have come across out of all the clients I have seen to this day. If I can change ANYONE can change. You are worth it. My goal is to help you feel the freedom, and enjoy it.