Getting from Here to There

You know the old commercial where a local tells a lost traveler, “You can’t get there from here.” Well, you can, and directions are available. Your financial future can never be predicted or planned with certainty. But, a stick-to-it well thought out financial plan will put you in a much better future financial position than no plan at all. Set your future financial targets, determine the course of action necessary to achieve these targets, and keep yourself on track. The spreadsheet tools at this website are designed to help individuals and couples set and achieve their financial goals. Since individuals and couples may be either in pre or post retirement modes, there are four spreadsheet workbooks in all, one for each possibility.

For those of you who want to take the minimum amount of risk with your financial assets, we also have available a book titled, “The Least-risk Road to Retirement.” Though the title implies a pre-retirement situation, for those of you who are already retired, and who wish to minimize risk, you may also find it useful. Among other things, The Least-risk Road to Retirement is a book that explains how to generate a fully inflation protected, risk-free pension, and is available to you at no extra cost should you purchase one of our financial planning spreadsheet workbooks.

 

Your Best Financial Planner is You!

There are lots of financial advisors who are most happy to sit down with you, ask you various details about your financial situation and your goals: when you would like to retire, how long you want your money to last, and so on. These people are found in various financial institutions, sometimes in large buildings with lots of staff, other times independently in smaller locations with smaller staff. Naturally, financial advisors and planners need to cover their costs – one way or another.

Professional financial planners whether they work for banks, investment companies or independently get paid either by commission or fees. Commission based financial planners (or advisors) receive their compensation from you through commissions from the financial products (such as deposits, mutual funds, and or insurance) that they advise you to place your money in. Fee only financial advisors charge by the hour or by the year for their time, and printed reports they might prepare for you. Though the commissions financial advisors and planners get are hidden from us, we can easily get information about the price of financial advice by examining the advertised charges of fee only planners. For example, if you Google “MoneySense fee only financial planners,” you can check out for yourself the prices that fee only financial planners charge. As you will see, the cheapest ones charge about $100/hr for a sit down chat, with single financial plans running from about $800 to over $4,000. One Toronto firm advertised on its website $325/hr for consultations and $4,000 for a “retirement income projection.”

My grandmother used to say, “You get what you pay for.” And, we all know from experience there is some truth in that. But, how do you think professional financial planners generate your financial plans and projections. They use exactly the same sort of formula driven software as you may acquire at this site for $39.95. Oh, and for this price, you will also get our book “The Least-risk Road to Retirement,” which you may buy separately, if you like, for $7.95. And, rather than another $150-$300 per hour, or $1,000 to $4,000 for an annual update that would be based on then current tax laws, registered savings vehicle rules and regulations, you can use your already purchased software, or purchase an annually updated version here for $14.95.