As part of my Financial Education seminars, the topic of mortgage insurance always comes up. “I don’t need more insurance, Ken. My mortgage is protected by the bank.” Is it? Let us examine exactly what you are paying for and what is actually protected.
Life happens. Sometimes life is great and other times …. not so much. Here is a list of 5 times Life Happens and you should speak to a financial planner.
Let’s talk about investment myths. Have you started investing yet? If the answer is yes, think about the last time you sat down with a financial advisor and reviewed your portfolio to ensure your investment strategy is still aligned with your goals. If the answer is no, ask yourself why not? Maybe it’s because you don’t think you can afford it, maybe it’s because you’re afraid of the risk versus reward or maybe it’s because you don’t see the value in paying fees.
Every good financial plan has a solid base. In that base are items like cash flow management, risk management through insurance and having an up-to-date will. A recent survey found that 56% of Canadian do NOT have a will. I recently had a client pass away and they didn’t have a will, which made for some very tough situations for a family already going through a difficult time.
I am not going to tell you to “buy this, sell that.” I can’t for the simple reason I have no idea who you are, what your financial goals are, what taxes you owe, what you earn, how much you have saved and how old you are. Without knowing those factors (and other relevant information), how can anyone tell you what is right for you? Instead, I am going to share 5 ideas with you.
In 1955, Cyril Parkinson wrote a humorous essay meant to critique the "efficiency" of public administration in Britain. The first sentence of that essay spawned a book (60 actually) and a whole new field of study for psychologists. That sentence was "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". That's an old timey way of saying most of us make excuses to not do something until the last minute and then rush like mad to complete it.