Climbing The Stairwell To Financial Wellness…

Canadians who are motivated to achieve financial wellness must climb the required sequential steps, regardless of their current age and or financial status. The process of climbing the stairwell should be systematic, structured, organized, and measurable.

Financial Uncertainty: Sadly, COVID-19 created health mayhem here in Canada, which triggered an unprepared calamity and although we did comparatively well when compared to other countries, such as the USA and India; COVID-19 spurred correlated problems; it created a dangerous state of Financial Uncertainty.

Canadians lost confidence, became more money conscious, restricted cash flow which prompted a halt in spending and unfortunately, investing. However, everyone is now fast-tracking their recovery and we can fully recover. Remember; we need cash flow and spending to bring our economy back to pre-COVID levels.

Avoiding Financial Pitfalls: It is extremely easy to be derailed without realizing it, hence, the reason to work with a financial advisor who has seen market uncertainty, understands financial pitfalls and has the roadmap to avoiding pitfalls and the skillset to reverse any negative effects. In all honesty, people do not go about looking for pitfalls, it happens naturally.

As an example, investors relying on an 8% fixed rate of return for the next 25-30 years is a financial pitfall. Why? If you are banking on your retirement portfolio generating an 8% rate of return, will be sorely disappointed and will 100% derail your retirement. The income you perceived, will sadly, not be there.                                                                    

Financial Intuition: The days of waiting around for your financial advisor to contact you simply does not work anymore; advisors are asking their investors to maintain a keen sense of intuition and to ensure they are kept aware of what is happening around them with respect to their money and the capital markets. Now, intuition propelling risk is not necessarily a bad thing, however, calculating and or mitigating risk is possible as we all become more aware of what is working and what is not.

Awareness is no longer solely an advisor’s job, advisors help their clients stay apprised of the economic landscape, educate them to become more intuitive and achieve and maintain a high level of awareness. This is critical and a necessary exercise for everyone. 

Financial Foundation: Do you have a Financial Plan? A Financial Plan is the cornerstone or concrete foundation of your financial life. It will provide a roadmap to achieving your goals however, most importantly it lays out the preferred pathway, allowing you to not only be apprised of your financial life but empowers you to grab the bull by the horn and take control of your financial lives.

Financial Confidence: The ONLY way to gain confidence is to increase your knowledge base, via a Financial Literacy Course or Workshop. I am going to refer to an earlier point, today’s consumers cannot wait on anyone to encourage them to increase their knowledge and become more financially confident. Thankfully, there are adequate online services on becoming more financially confident; simply google search; ‘gaining financial confidence’.

Financial Liberty: Can you imagine the financial independence of winning millions in a lottery? Well, the odds of winning a major national lottery range from 1 in 14 million to 1 in 33 million. The only financial independence I am aware of, is the one you create, work diligently at and control. One of the benefits of creating a financial plan or roadmap is regaining critical financial control.

Financial Achievement: You have made it; you are now entering the final stages of your lives and have achieved your goals, the goals in which you meticulously planned for 25-30 years. Now what? Maintenance and jurisprudence are more than necessary, as we still have 20-25 years to live after turning 65. One of the strategies we implement in my financial practice with our retired clients is to ensure they have a sizeable portion of your funds invested, to keep their portfolios growing.                   

Financial Legacy: More and more Canadians are leaving financial legacies for their children and grandchildren with the intention of making their financial lives a bit less stressful and in some cases, leaving assets to your beneficiaries can have favourable tax advantages...

Over and above, our clients do not have to die to have their children benefit; we have products that make this possible right now, while you are alive and can witness the joy your legacy and generosity bring…

As we wrap up this article on ‘Climbing the Stairwell to Financial Wellness’, we must remind ourselves to be more diligent, to be more aware, to take-back and maintain control management of your financial lives. Remember, pitfalls are always lurking in the dark waiting to pounce, so, do not let your guard down; ever!

Are you interested in attending a FREE, Financial Literacy Workshop? The Money Café has been hosting virtual workshops and as much as we are not yet out of the woods with COVID-19, the need for education cannot be suspended. Join Us for the next session.

For more info; email me at: riyadm@themoneycafe.ca or visit us at: www.themoneycafe.ca and share/like at www.facebook.com/retireritelifestylesolutions. To learn more about elevating your retirement, go to: www.retire-rite.ca