What’s your financial focus goal?

I recently completed a five-week programme called your POWER TOOLKIT with Victoria Turner.  Each week we filled out a worksheet with our two focus goals for the next twelve months, our bold action for the week, our weekly priorities that would help us achieve those goals, and how the tools that we’d learned in the programme would help us meet them.  If you are a recent grad, she’s offering this programme again starting on May 24 and I highly recommend you enroll.

This week I received FANTASTIC NEWS from three of my clients.  One of them gave her notice and is going to be joining an independent law firm after taking six weeks rest over the summer. It comes with a salary cut (that’s not insignificant) and some added risks and costs, but she’s so happy about it.  Another client is moving up her timeline to purchase her first condo after seeing how much her savings had grown in the last year.  A third has been offered a full-time role with benefits and would like to increase her kids’ savings and buy a new house next year; this after she left her husband and an unfulfilling work situation a couple of years ago.  I am so incredibly happy for all of them. I didn’t realize it until I did the POWER Toolkit programme that they are where they are because they had a focus goal!

The first one paid off her student debt, started an aggressive savings plan, and purchased disability insurance so that she could have the freedom to make the best career choice based on her life, not her financial need.  Since we started working together she has paid off the rest of her law school debt, has made great progress for her savings and is now pursuing the next opportunity in her life knowing that she’s protected from both a savings and insurance perspective.  It meant more trips on her bike, a few less dinners out, brown-bagging her lunch, but it was her goal and now she’s achieved it!  Having been in her situation a few years ago, I know the reward and relief she’s feeling and I’m so incredibly happy to have been part of it!

The second one increased her savings and kept to a budget.  Her focus goal was having a dishwasher, and every few months with that goal in mind, she increased her savings, or made lump-sum deposits knowing that the sacrifices were helping her to get her dishwasher.  When we would meet that dishwasher was what we’d talk about and how to get it for her.  The dishwasher represented more than the simple appliance, but it was an image that she could focus on to help her stay disciplined to the plan we put in place. I can’t wait to see her dishwasher in her new condo!

The third one set up her kids’ education plans, her own savings plans, and her own health and dental insurance after finding herself in two situations she needed to leave.  She had a goal to start her own travel business, which had to be set aside when her ex-husband wasn’t paying his support at the end of last year.  With two children, including one with a disability, their future and stability was her focus goal.  Despite the costs for the programmes her one child needs, she managed to make it through when the support stopped by taking on a contract role, and personal discipline.  She kept contributing to the children’s savings plan, and providing them with the stability they needed.  We talked about her risk tolerance and savings throughout.  It turned out she loved the company she got the contract with and has now been offered a fulltime role with them with benefits. Her ex-husband paid back some of the support, and she’s focused on increasing her kids’ savings and her own savings.  Her kids and her future were her focus goals and I’m so happy to see her on her feet with many amazing things coming to her!

Having a focus goal helps us stay committed to our plans; including our financial plans.  Whether it’s our family’s security, investing in ourselves, a major purchase, or work/life flexibility, setting up a financial plan helps you to focus on the goal and provides the discipline of savings, insurance, and investing, to help you meet it.  Consistent and early savings plays more of a role in long-term financial security than the individual investments that you choose. Purchasing insurance early gives you better rates for life and the security of knowing you can protect yourself and your family to help you meet your goals.  I am genuinely and completely happy for these three clients for meeting their focus goals!  Keep your eye on the prize and you’ll be rewarded!

I feel better knowing…

When I went into this career I wanted to help people create financial wellness.  Like you go to a naturopath, or a chiropractor, or change your diet and exercise to feel an overall sense of improved wellness, usually over time, but that you carry with you.  That feeling was what I wanted to help people achieve when it came to their finances.  But in the last month I’ve realized how much it can be like a prescription that just makes you feel better quickly. I realize that most people have something that weighs on them and they would just feel better once it’s taken care of.  And then we can work on the whole overall wellness thing…

I met someone on the train last year.  We got to talking, then agreed to meet for a coffee, then went for a run, then did an application for some critical illness insurance.  When I delivered the policy to her she said she slept so much better now that she had this.  She said it had been worrying her because she had close contacts who needed money to help with a critical illness and she didn’t want to find herself in that situation in future.  She was just so glad that we had met and that we had dealt with that fear. I was taken aback by how appreciative she was and how much better she really did feel having this taken care of.

A few weeks later I was doing an application with someone for disability and critical illness insurance and he said he’d read my post about the man who died on his way to apply for life insurance and it prompted him to apply because he was worried that if he ever couldn’t work, he’d become a burden to his wife and he didn’t want that.  He said he had been worrying that he could get injured in his recreation time and that she’d have to take care of him.  Again he felt so much better knowing it was essentially forced savings, but that if he needs the benefit his wife can pay the mortgage and take time off if she needs to care for him. We chose options for the policy that would alleviate worry in other areas as well.  The abstract chance of being injured and becoming a “burden” had been weighing on him for awhile, and we took care of it. Again, I was struck by the quick “remedy” this provided.

On Friday I was the one who felt the instant relief.  I was talking to my mum about my last blog post and she complimented me on recognizing early on that I might be self employed one day and so I took care of that coverage (RRSP, Insurance). It was reassuring and we were talking about that nice feeling I had; that overall wellness I wanted people to create.  But after hanging up with my mum I talked to someone else who told me about the financial impact for a mutual acquaintance of a recent health set-back because that person is a contract employee.  I was happy to hear that the prognosis for his health was good, but I was worried for his wife and kids about the financial impact. I could see myself in her shoes; but  I immediately felt guilty because my third thought (after happiness at the prognosis, and worry for his wife) was that I was so glad my husband has critical illness insurance.  I felt better knowing that he was covered. I did, I just felt better; but I also felt badly that I did have such an overwhelming feeling of relief when someone else I know doesn’t have that.

So what would you feel better knowing?  Is it that your kids can go to school? Your family can stay in the house? That a parent is provided for?  You can take time off to recover if you needed? You or your spouse can take time off to help either partner or your children if something happened to anyone?  What would help you sleep at night or be a weight off your shoulders?

Find your perfect job

The title of the post may surprise you. No, I am not becoming a recruiter or a career coach (although my mum is a career coach so I can connect you to her).  I’ve found myself in several conversations with people recently about jobs and career moves based on salary and lifestyle. They don’t realize how I can help until I go through their current situation with them.

Recently I’ve been talking to people in various fields ranging from advertising, law, teaching, and engineering, who are considering career moves for various reasons ranging from better opportunities, to more balance, to ownership potential, to office politics, and the like.  They have a pretty good idea what they are looking for “next”, but sometimes the benefits of their current role are either holding them to their current employer, or chasing them away from their employer, even though everything else about the job, people, and work culture is great.  But what coverage your job offers shouldn’t be the only reason not to choose a great job when it comes your way or to leave a great job that your in. You can take control of some benefits yourself.

If you are thinking of a career move, let me offer a few suggestions about going about finding your perfect job from a financial planning point of view.

1. Create a “must have” and a “nice to have” list – like with buying a house, make a list of things that are important to have in your next job.  What are the must haves?  Is it a great culture, ability to work from home, on-site gym, etc?  What are the nice to haves? Maybe it’s group benefits, bring your dog to work days, an RRSP or pension programme, etc.  Figure out what’s important to you and your lifestyle/long-term plans.  Are you planning on having kids so thinking of what the maternity leave benefits would be? Is there a daycare nearby? Do you want quick mobility up the ladder, etc…
2. Meet with your financial advisor – Meet with a financial advisor to review your (and a spouse/partner’s) current benefits and financial situation.  What money do you have saved for an emergency?  What’s your current retirement savings plan, either on your own or from a pension or group RRSP?  What coverage do you have for disability and life insurance? Understanding where you sit currently will help you to achieve a couple of things:
   • better grasp of your current financial goals and needs so that you know what you need for a salary or where you can compromise if it’s a great fit;
   • knowledge of what you may need to “bring over” from your current job or benefits (for example, do you need to convert life insurance or bring over a retirement plan) so that you can do that before the rush of a new job starts;
   • ability to set-up private coverage and benefits (especially if you are considering contract or self-employment you want to get disability, life, and possibly health and dental arranged privately before you leave to make sure you are eligible for coverage) while you are still employed.
3. Apply and interview – however you go about doing this, you can do so knowing what your must-haves are and what your financial situation is, so that you can ask the right questions in the interviews.  You want to make a decision because this is going to allow you to succeed personally and professionally.  The financial incentives should be a bonus for getting to do the job you want in the company culture you want.
4. Accept the great role and move forward – once you have the job you hoped, go back to your advisor and top up any coverage you may need, set-up your new savings plan, and get them to help you understand your group benefits and how to maximize any company matching plans or services.

You should have the flexibility to find an amazing role at any point in your career. A financial advisor can help you get on the right track financially so you can then take the best professional path for you; even if it’s a bit of a meander or a totally new off-shoot. Personally owned critical illness, living benefits, and RRSPs are a great way to make sure that you protect your greatest asset – your ability to earn an income – and find meaningful work that meets your “must-haves.”

Good luck!

~Margaret

 

p.s. If you are a recent graduate in many fields, including a professional or graduate programme, you may be eligible for discounted offers on personally owned disability insurance. The discount stays with you so you can start with minimal coverage and increase it as your earnings increase while maintaining your discount. Talk to me to learn more.

You just never know

This is too important not to share. It’s why I take a deep breath and call people everyday and want to meet. If there is ANYONE in your life who depends on you financially you must read this.

On Thursday I was talking to a friend about a challenge I was having with a prospective client who kept delaying getting her insurance coverage, even though she knew she needed it as the higher income earner in the relationship. I was struggling to convince her that it was worth it. My friend asked if there was a high likelihood something would happen. I said “There’s not a high likelihood per say, but you just never know. Your ability to earn an income is your greatest asset, especially when someone else is linked to you financially. One in four people will have a disability that will last 90 days or more and one in three will have a critical illness (heart attack, cancer, stroke) so you just don’t know. I just want to make sure that people have life and living benefits insurance.” My friend agreed that you just never know; she recently had a neighbour killed in a school shooting. You just never know so you get the coverage. You may be healthy today but when you decide you need the coverage, you never know if you can get it.  It may be too late.

On Friday morning I was reading a book by one of the leaders in the insurance field, Bruce Etherington. He summarized what he does as showing people what happens if they live too long, die too young, or become disabled or critically ill along the way. He says he gets nervous to call family and friends about reviewing insurance coverage but he does it anyway because he couldn’t imagine it if someone in his circle had something happen to them and he could have helped make things easier for them or their family. I arrived at work feeling motivated by that purpose.

On Friday afternoon a few colleagues and I were talking about what we learned and what we could improve on in the next month.  One colleague told us about a man who had been wavering about the $40/month for life insurance because he had just bought a house and had an 18 month old and needed to figure out his budget. He’d been thinking on it for four months. In mid-January he decided to go ahead with the insurance and they booked a meeting for a week later to apply and get temporary insurance coverage so his wife and kid would be taken care of if something happened. The client didn’t have the time to meet sooner. The advisor showed up at the client’s office the next week to do the application and the client wasn’t there. My colleague waited but no one in the office knew why the man wasn’t there. The next day my colleague found out why his client wasn’t there for their meeting; his client died the night before in a car accident. Before he could get the life insurance he’d decided to proceed with.

I sat there stunned. This issue of waiting had already been weighing on my mind. I spent all weekend grateful for the clients who have purchased the insurance they need and even more motivated to reach out and make sure others have the insurance they need to protect their loved ones. It has shaken me and brought tears to my eyes several times this weekend. A man with a wife, a child, and a new house gone far too soon and sadly without the insurance coverage he wanted to provide for them.

It could be too late.  You just never know.

Women, it’s time to take a seat at the financial planning table

Women, this post is for you.  In a typical Canadian manner I’ve passive-aggressively tried to address this before.  What’s “this”, you ask?  It’s the need for women to pull up a seat at the financial planning table.  I’m going to try and put this as directly as I can and no judgment is intended by any means; however, if you are offended I’m not sorry.  I’m just not. I’m passionate about this because I care and I would be devastated if something happened to your family and I want you to be prepared.

When I first got into the business I reached out to people I had known from various times in my life to let them know what I was doing and ask for the opportunity to talk to them about their financial plan and whether I could play a role in it.  I was told by some of my women friends and acquaintances that their husbands took care of the financial plan and they didn’t know what was going on and didn’t want to suggest to their husbands that they didn’t trust what they were doing by suggesting to him that we all meet.  In discussing my surprise at this response with other women, I was told that this was likely someone brushing me off because they use the “My husband makes the decisions…” excuse themselves when they don’t want to deal with someone.  While somewhat hurt that people wouldn’t just say this to me upfront, I accepted this explanation.

But then I started canvassing for the upcoming election and I heard more than enough women tell me they vote for who their husbands tell them to.  Voting is a privilege (and a right) that people around the world literally die for so to hear that there are people who vote based on their husband’s instructions saddened me. Women fought hard for the right to vote and if you and your spouse agree, that’s fine, but you should also be able to disagree based on informed opinion. Alongside our (female) candidate, we’ve been able to engage most of the women who say their husbands decide who they vote for to talk about the issues or what concerns them and the parties’ stances so that the women may make an informed decision.  We’ve had some amazing conversations and it’s made me think that in some cases, the “My husband takes care of the financial planning” is not a brush off, it’s true and it’s time I tried to engage people in the conversation about the issue of the family’s financial plan.

I understand that we take on different roles in marriages and I’m not passing judgment on those roles (my husband will not allow me to do the laundry in the same way that I won’t allow him to unload the grocery cart); but what I am going to say is that if you truly leave the financial plan to your husband, it’s time to take a seat at the table and ask him what plans you have in place.  You need to be able to answer these questions:

• If a great opportunity came along, I know we could take advantage of it?
• I know that if one of us were out of work, or wanted to take a leave of absence from work, I know how long it would be before there was an impact on our lifestyle?
• If we retired tomorrow I know what resources are in place to fund our retirement?
• If one of us became ill or disabled, I know how much monthly income we’d have and that we have disability insurance and/or critical illness insurance in place to ensure our income and savings are minimally impacted?
• If my spouse dies, I could stay in our house and I know how much of his/her income would be replaced, that the kids’ schooling would be paid for, and that we will be okay financially?
• I know where the life insurance policies, bank account information, safety deposit box keys, wills/powers of attorney, and other important financial documents are kept and could access them in an emergency?
• I know who our financial advisor is and I have met/talked to him/her?

These may seem like “dark questions” and I can understand that you don’t want to think of them, but you need to. You need to know what you are perfectly capable of handling the family’s finances if you were put in the position to manage them and you should be comfortable with your family’s advisor.  If you want your husband to “take the lead” that is fine, but you need to know what he’s done and why.

As financial advisors, we also need to make sure that you are part of, or at least aware of, the decisions so make sure that we pull up a seat with you so that we can all discuss your family’s plan together.

Respectfully,
Margaret

What I learned about fear and unhappiness

A year ago, someone asked me this question:

Are you happy Margaret?

I had everything that should make me happy: good job, great husband, beautiful setting working in Singapore, supportive family, fun friends, opportunity to travel, etc., etc. But I had been unhappy for so long. I was unhappy and in turn I made everyone around me unhappy.  No one wanted to be near me.  No one wanted to help me deal with what was the root of my unhappiness because they didn’t know, because no one wants to be around someone who is unhappy, and because I didn’t deal with it.

So why didn’t I deal with it sooner and instead live in unhappiness while making everyone want to avoid me? Because unhappiness seemed better than the alternative: Fear.

Not fear in the feeling of being threatened, but fear in the unknown; of falling and not knowing where you’ll land.  I had thought about following my dad into financial advising for years but I was always afraid to make the leap; to leave the security of a full time job with the salary, status, benefits, and everything else that comes with it.  I was so scared to admit how unhappy I was and make a life change to take that leap and become my own boss.

But what I discovered, and what I realize now looking back at other pivotal moments of my life and career, is that fear and uncertainty will change the things that are making you unhappy when you give into the fear.  I think back to changing schools because I wanted to challenge myself by going into new programmes.  I was scared to make new friends, move out of my comfort zone, and be somewhere “new” but those decisions were (generally) the best ones I made for myself and my future.  When I took my previous job I thought I didn’t have the background and wasn’t “cool” enough.  I was scared I’d be found out as a “fraud” within a week.  While there I progressed when I volunteered for projects or accounts that scared me because they seemed beyond me. I was scared to volunteer to project manage an iPhone app development. I knew nothing about apps, didn’t even own an iPhone (still don’t), and the company was investing a lot in that app, but I put my hand up to tackle that.  Same with running a marathon, or the many sports I did as a kid. I was scared about the training, scared that I would fail.  But looking back I realized that when I had fear about doing something, I accomplished so much in the end and ended up going further than I thought possible and getting over the things that were making me unhappy.  When I was asked “Are you happy” that person was telling me that he recognized that I wasn’t and gave me an opening to admit to myself that I wasn’t. I went on holiday and spent the next two weeks scared about what would come next.

A year ago, me on Ben Nevis, scared about what was coming next…

I have no easy answers about how to get over fear. For that, I’ll send you over to Victoria Turner at Get out of Your Own Way. I have just come to realize that admitting I’m scared and giving into it leads to amazing things.  I think part of it is because when we admit we’re scared, we open ourselves up to vulnerability and to others.  When we’re unhappy people avoid us.  But when we’re scared people offer to walk beside us, offer encouragement, offer wisdom.  They check in on us and offer their connections to us.  They empower us to make the changes we need to make to find happiness again. People want to build us up to get over the fear; but no one wants to deal with your unhappiness.

So when I can look fear in the face and say “I’m unhappy and I’d rather be scared”, I can move onto the next thing. You too: Give into the fear.  There is someone who can run alongside of you and help you.  When we are scared and admit it to the people around us, even our bosses, it will hopefully allow encouragement and empathy to take over.  My relationships have improved dramatically since I gave into the fear a year ago.

Embracing fear doesn’t make everything hunky dory.  For me, it’s hard to put myself out there and I’m still scared to ask for help.  It’s the only way I’ll succeed, but I’m scared to admit that I need others in this life and journey. But then I reach out to family, friends, former colleagues, strangers, and others, and despite a lump in my throat I say “I need your help or I won’t be successful. I need you to be part of my team and support network.  Will you give me the chance to show you how I can help? If not, can you help me learn? Can you introduce me to someone I may be able to help? Can you advise me in this area?” I embrace that fear and inevitably people help me make a new connection to grow my business.

You might be scared to meet with a financial advisor thinking you don’t want to know “the truth” or you don’t have the status you think you need, or you have family expectations, or you don’t know what’s involved and think it’s beyond you, or your scared that you’ll be judged.  We will not judge you. If you are scared for any reason, I am there to encourage you along and help you to create a financial plan that you’re confident about. I want to help build you up in this area of your life.

I know that we can look at our fears together and find confidence and happiness.
Peace,
~Margaret

You want me to save HOW MUCH?

Imagine this: You’ve just graduated from school and you land a full time job!  How lucky is that? Plus, your parents let you move home!  Suddenly you go from counting every penny and working part-time to pay for school and rent, to having what seems like a lot of money! Bring on the Mexican vacation, the meals out, the weekend festivals!  This is amazing! Sure, you have debt to pay down, but you can put some money towards that and still go out all the time!  You get to live in this new found wealth and freedom.

It’s not that difficult to imagine because chances are you think (or thought) this way, or the people around you did.  You work SO hard, why not have fun with your money?

And then, this crazy “old” lady tells you that you need a financial advisor (recently a couple of recent graduates 10 years my junior said they would be “old” in 10 years, so I guess that means I’m old).  You’re young, you have debt, you’re at least 5 years away from getting married, buying a place, and 40 years from retirement.  You think that you don’t need to worry about life insurance, retirement, savings, etc.

I recently had the honour of speaking with a group of young professionals in Toronto who are part of a networking group.  They asked me to speak financial planning for young professionals after one of their members attended one of my other seminars. I think it was a great presentation (you’d have to ask them).  We touched on the four cornerstones. We talked about balancing debt repayment while saving at the same time to increase your net-worth and develop good habits.  We talked about protecting your income from unexpected breaks whether due to temporary unemployment, or an illness or injury that keeps you away from work.  We talked about the amazing opportunity fund that is Permanent Life Insurance.  And we talked about the benefits of having an advisor to set you on a path so that you don’t have to worry about the family, the house, retirement, and all that when they are staring at you in the face. Just check out this pictograph comparing people with a plan to people without:

You really are never too young or too broke to start a financial plan.  The young graduate who said he would be old in 10 years (well in all fairness to him, his girlfriend said that) is living the dream.  Employed full time right out of school, no debt, parents let him move home and bought him a car.  Seriously, the dream!  We were talking casually about what he should be saving.  I’m not sure he liked my answer. I told him at least 10% (I really suggested more like 15-20%) PLUS what he’s saving by not paying rent.  He turned to his girlfriend and said I was taking away his disposable income!  Of course I’m not and if he thought about it, we’re talking maybe a jug of beer or order of nachos he may miss out on a couple times.  I pointed out that I said to save what he would be spending in rent and car payments because if he plans to move out, he should know what he’ll be living on when he moves out without sacrificing his saving habit.  So save the 10% (bare minimum) into his long term savings and then save the costs he should expect to pay when he moves out (rent, cell phone, utilities, parking, etc.) so that it’s not a shock at that point.  If you think I’m asking you to save all your money now, just wait until you’re paying rent and all that comes with it! Even if you are paying rent, if you’re planning on buying a house, you should be saving the 10%, PLUS the difference you’ll pay in housing costs from home ownership.  If you have debt, you still want to save 10% so that you start developing assets and then strategically pay down your debt.  It’s not about taking away your disposable income or freedom, it’s about giving you the knowledge and tools to think ahead and achieve your financial goals without sacrificing at a later stage.

So yes, I want you to save at least 10%, and I want you to save what you would be paying in rent/mortgage so that you will start saving what you’ll need for that house/family/retirement down the line.  I want you to have what you want and I’m helping you to start to get there!

~Margaret

You are neither too young nor too broke to have a financial advisor

First of all, thank you to everyone who read my plea for help.  I was encouraged by the comments and notes on Facebook, email, and other ways. It’s an ongoing way that you can support me and my business and I appreciate it so much.

As a follow-up, I wanted to confront some of the common responses that I get when I suggest we connect or I ask for a referral to someone you know. I’ve also included a link to previous blog content if you want to learn more about a particular topic:

I work in X industry, I’m not exactly rolling in cash OR All my friends are broke
I get it.  I also had that attitude (I make no money) when I first started working with my dad as my financial advisor.  But that’s a great reason to get started with an advisor now.  People with financial advisors save at twice the rate as non-advised households.*

You aren’t too young or too broke to need a financial advisor.

I can help you look at your budget and also make sure you are saving effectively so that your money is earning more than inflation. Starting good savings habits when you are just getting started will be key to your long-term strategy (and will make sure you don’t leave the saving too late). I don’t discriminate based on income and in fact I take great satisfaction in working with you at any income level to set up a programme as I know that long-term it’s going to make a huge difference for you.

I have a lot of (student) debt so everything I earn is going there
We are conditioned not to like debt and student debt can feel like a huge burden. Nevertheless, debt can have several layers you may not know about – including some debt for which the interest is tax-deductible.  Let me help you to understand what the best strategies are to helping pay off your debt, while also increasing your net worth.  We’ll take a look at the whole picture so that you can feel that you’re paying off debt and saving at the same time.

I go to the bank (yourself) OR I think they already work with someone (friends)
For starters, I am not a bank.  I do offer some of the same services of a bank but it’s a very personalised experience.  As well, I can offer more products than just what your bank has on offer.  Your bank has to offer their products, whereas I can give you an option of a suite of providers.

On the second part of that statement, I know that we don’t generally talk about money and it’s a hard thing to bring up, however, there is no cost to meeting with me and you want your friends and family to have a good experience and feel that they are taken care of, right?  I’ve created a Sample referral email and I don’t expect every introduction will turn into a client but if I can help the friends and family of people I know, I realize both of our reputations are on the line and I will do everything to ensure they have a good experience.

I have coverage through work
You may have coverage through work, but do you know what you have? Is it enough to cover what you want? And have you opted into the benefits that are right for you?  I can take a look at your group coverage (health or pension) and review the coverage with you and identify any gaps you want to be aware of.  Again, no cost but a huge benefit for you.

I’m single so I don’t need to think about this
There may not be anyone “relying” on you, but you can still use a plan. Creating a plan and taking control of decisions early will benefit you at any stage, particularly if you do find yourself in a couple in future.  A financial plan can help you save for your own goals and also ensure you are self-sufficient.  If you couldn’t support yourself, do you know for sure that your parents can afford to have you move back home? Who would pay for you if you were injured, ill, or died?  I’m a huge advocate for being aware of your personal and family financial situation.  At some stage in our life we are all going to have to take control of our own financial plan.  Why not start now?

These are the most common objections I get, but if I can help address any others, let me know.

Once again, thank you for your help!
~Margaret

p.s. If you know of someone recently started or hoping to start a family I am offering a seminar on Financial Planning for Parenthood at Supperworks in Oakville on June 9.  Event details here.

The hardest part of my job…

All week I have been procrastinating on something.  Everyday I have worked on it and made little tweaks but never “actioned” it. I’ve been postponing my blog post as well because of it.  I’ve waivered about which topic to post, whether I could write this or not.  I finally scheduled both to go out at 2:00 today and plan to be away from my desk at that time so that I can’t change my mind.  What is it that I’ve been dreading?

Asking for help…

Yep, you read that right, I’ve been dreading asking for help.  I LOVE helping my clients.  That’s always been the best part of my jobs ever since I started working.  Everyday I am very happy that I get to do this, despite the drop in pay and some irregular hours.  No longer do the LinkedIn, Harvard Business review, and Forbes articles about “Signs you need to quit your job” scream at me. My husband will attest that I am WAY more tolerable to be around too 🙂 I love that I get to help people every single time I meet them.

But the hardest part of my job is that I can’t do it alone.  I have to ask for help.  I need to know how I can improve my process and I need help meeting new people.  I have a pretty good network, but I won’t be successful unless I ask my network to introduce me to their network.  I have a goal to ask every person I do a Fact Find with and present recommendations to that I will ask them for an introduction to someone else.  I will ask them to name a person they can introduce me to.  I’ve maybe done this a handful of times (probably not even if I’m honest).  I get scared of being that direct. I get scared asking for help; afterall, I’m helping you, right?  I can’t ask for help in return.  I’ve tried a few tactics to ask for introductions from friends or former clients but I fail to follow-up for fear of being told “no.”

But “No” is just a word and if I think about my own life, for every 1 person I’ve said “No, I can’t help you at this time” there are probably 8 that I’ve said “Yes, let me see what I can do.”  When I confessed to the dread I felt asking for help in my life, a friend of mine asked me to think about how I feel when I help someone; whether that’s connecting them to someone, sending them a job posting, sending them a card, or anything that they may not have even asked for help with but then are grateful for the assistance.  She pointed out that if I feel that good, wouldn’t I want someone else to feel the same? My gut feeling was to say “No”, because I don’t like putting people out.  But in the last few months I’ve connected with so many people and facilitated some introductions that have paid off for my contacts and I feel so good about it and none of it put me out.  So finally I am ready…

I’m ready to say “I need your help.”  What I procrastinated on all week was my newsletter. In addition to updates on financial topics I wrote my clients and supporters to ask for feedback on my process and to think about who they could introduce me to.  I’m going to ask you the same.  If you, a colleague, a friend, a family member, a neighbour, or the guy on the bus would like to know more about me and what I do as a Financial Advisor, I need your help to introduce me or point me in the direction of that person.  If there is a blog post you liked, please share it with others.

I sincerely appreciate your help to grow my network and introduce me to people who’d like to learn what I do.  I don’t expect every introduction will lead to a client opportunity but I do hope it will make you feel good about helping me!

Thank you for your help.  Truly, humbly, and sincerely.
~Margaret

Setting your goals to help you design a financial plan

Did you wake up this morning and think about your financial goals in 10 years?  No? It’s okay, neither did I.  But if I asked you what your life looks like in 10 years do you have an idea? Do you own a house? Are you married? What do you do with your free time?  Envisioning what your life looks like is the most important part of what I do with you and in fact, those are your real financial goals.  You may want an RRSP, but we have to understand why you do and whether that’s right for you based on your retirement goals?  Same with insurance; we’re getting you a product that is going to make sure that your family and loved ones can maintain a semblance of normalcy in a difficult time, so we have to figure out what we need to insure: the kids’ school, the mortgage, income replacement, and so on.

So how can you think about setting your goals to help design your financial plan?

Ask yourself these questions (do it with your partner too to see if you’re on the same page):

• If we were to meet three years from today, what would have had to happen between today and then, for you to feel happy about your life:
  • Personally
  • Professionally
• In ten years describe your life:
  • Where do you live?
  • Who are you living with? Kids? Spouse? Parents? In-laws?
  • Where do you work? What type of company is making you feel happy?
  • What do you do in your free time?
• When you retire, what does your life look like?
  • Are you still working in some capacity?
  • Do you travel?
  • Where are you living?
  • What occupies your time?
• What is the legacy you want to have?
  • Among your family?
  • Among your friends?
  • In your community?

If you can reflect on how you might answer these questions, we can start designing a plan that will help you have the life you hope to down the line. We’re looking into the future together to help that future come to life. It’s easier to save and plan when you know what the end goal is!

Looking forward to hearing your goals!
Margaret