My Fee Only Financial Planning and Tax Services

My Role

I am retiring and I am not taking on new clients.  Certainly, if you have questions that may have brief answers that I can  answer by email or phone, contact me from my Contact page and I will respond to let you know what I can do.   If you live in PEI and are unable to find someone for your particular needs, particularly if you are an older adult needing financial information about housing issues or estate planning (non-business), telephone me and I will see if I can help you or redirect you to someone.

For individual financial planning services, you can continue reading to see how I have approached my service delivery as an hourly based planner who sells no product.  When looking for a financial planner, for for working with your existing advisor, please see my articles on I need a Financial Advisor – Questions to Ask; as well as Questions for Financial Advisor Annual Portfolio Review; and, Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor – A comprehensive list and explanations,.

Meeting Preparation

The following description relates to my historical approach, and as noted above, I am now retiring.  You may read this to see how you should prepare for your future meetings.

For my fee only financial planning assignments, I request individuals (or couples, when applicable) to complete a Financial Planning Questionnaire and bring it with them to our meeting. As part of the preparation, I ask you to write down all of your questions and issues in advance (more will likely arise during our meeting). This preparation allows me to come up to speed quickly on your family / financial position, and enables me to ensure I focus on your specific questions and objectives at the meeting. Of course, this also improves the efficiency and effectiveness of our meeting, and, hence, reduces the time and related fees. I also ask you to bring your most recent tax return, and any other information you think is relevant to your questions (e.g. your investment portfolio statements for income forecasts and risk advice, your Will for estate planning advice, pension estimates for retirement planning, employment information for severance advice, etc.).  As a reminder, all information is held in strict confidence within my office.

Fees

I am an hourly-based fee-only financial planner. I have my CPA, CA credentials, as well as my financial planning, insurance and financial divorce counselling designations. However, I have never been licensed to provide individual investment recommendations, or to sell insurance products. I can discuss your overall investment portfolio design, risk balance and insurance needs, but cannot recommend, advise on or buy/sell individual securities or insurance policies. If you need assistance in these matters, you work with your existing investment / insurance advisors or your planner can refer you to licensed brokers.  However, be cautious to ask if they have established referral agreements with any specific individuals, and receive referral fees, commissions or other such payments.  This may reduce their objectivity, especially if you are not advised that such an arrangement exists.  You want to ensure the advice and recommendation you receive is  independent and credible.

Know that there are individuals who do “fee only financial planning” but fee only may not be what you think it is.  “Fee only” may mean that the planner charges you a percentage fee based on the value of the investments that you hold with them.  In addition, there are those that charge you by the hour for advice, and then offer to sell you product as well from which they collect a commission.  Finally, there are those that charge hourly but get paid a referral fee from another sales representative to whom they recommend.  I suggest that you need to ask questions to know if we are free from bias and have the appropriate education.  Again, please see my articles on I need a Financial Advisor – Questions to Ask; as well as Questions for Financial Advisor Annual Portfolio Review; and, Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisor – A comprehensive list and explanations,.

Remember – it is your money but there are lots of people who would like to have it.  Only you can control who gets it and how much you keep.