Building Your “Dream” Team

 

Do you have a dream team working to build your dreams?  You may assume you can do things on your own with a little help “here and there”.  If you think you don’t need a dream team, you may choose to re-think your strategy.  With help from professionals, you can move your dreams forward effectively and perhaps more quickly. 

 

A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^® professional acts as your GPS system to guide you in the right direction and identify areas which require attention.  Only by working together as a team with other professionals do big and little things get accomplished.  Someone once said that when Mother Teresa spoke, everyone listened. Even today, her profound messages ring true.  One of my fondest quotes from Mother Teresa paraphrased is “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.”

 

Why is it important to rely on professional help?  Here are some reasons.

 

1.               Discovering effective strategies to accomplish our dreams may be identified by someone else other than ourselves. You’ve heard the common advice about getting a second opinion. When one effective strategy is put in place, we trigger a ripple effect for others. For example, when you can find ways to reduce your taxes, you redirect money to fund other dream ambitions.

 

2.               Knowing all the features and benefits of every financial product would be impossible.  We simply don’t know what we don’t know. Matching specific products to our needs is best discussed with an expert. For example, the most recent challenge is when it is suitable to use a Tax Free Saving Accounts (TFSA) versus a Registered Retirement Savings Account (RRSP)?  Again, the usual response is “it depends.” 

 

3.               Creating a smarter “you” happens when you seek advice from professionals.  A favorite proverb says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” We learn from each other.  “Book knowledge” is different when applied to real-life experiences.  Professed professionals learn from their clients’ circumstances and then pass on their experiences.

 

 

Financial Planning Wheel

 

With all the different aspects in the development of your financial plan, you need to engage others’ expertise.

q    A tax advisor needs to know the total amount held in registered investments in order to withdraw the money effectively. 

q    Having one investment advisor ensures investments are diversified so you do not face unnecessary market risk. 

q    An insurance representative determines whether you have adequate insurance to cover gaps in your coverage.

q    A lawyer designs your Last Will and Testament to safeguard your final wishes. 

q    A financial planner creates a picture with financial numbers to ensure you can retire with your desired income.

These illustrations are a sampling of the importance of hiring the “right people” to work with you to uncover the loopholes in your financial plan. When you engage the right professionals, you are in essence building your dream team to move your dreams forward both effectively and efficiently. 

Time for Review

I am certain you don’t need someone telling you how quickly time is passing.  One peek at the calendar shows just how close we are to the end of June which is a sign that half of 2016 has disappeared before our eyes. 

Like many corporate employees face mid-year performance reviews, this is a good time to review your New Year’s Resolutions. Remember the personal goals, dreams and aspirations you made at the beginning of the year.  Go ahead. Blow the dust off the list.  It’s time for review. 

It’s possible you didn’t get started or simply stalled on moving forward.  Now is the best time to reignite the spark. If you can’t find your list or can’t remember the things on your list, create a new one. If a corporation can set a different fiscal year-end so can you! Your personal fiscal year may run from July 1^st to June 30^th.  “New Year’s Resolutions” can be created any time.

Here are three ways to help motivate you into keeping your commitments. 

1.     Watch the video below, Start Saving Now.  You may recognize some do’s and don’ts to ensure you achieve your desired plans.

 

2.    Refer to the blog, The Five Strategies for Sticking with Your Financial New Year’s Resolutions for additional ideas.

 

3.    Lastly, repeat Step One and Two as necessary to charge your human battery so that you can create an everlasting commitment to follow through with your plans.
 

When the time comes for the next review, you will feel confident that you did your best.  You had a list; you created sound strategies; and you overcame obstacles. The best part will be that you achieved your dream, goal, or aspiration.  You can then expect the best performance review of your life.

 



Five Strategies for Sticking with Your Financial New Year’s Resolutions

 

 

Envision taking a trek across the desert.  Surely you would plan for an excursion like this.  You wouldn’t simply forge ahead without pre-determining the things you needed to take: sunblock, compass, water, miner’s light, and appropriate clothing for varying weather temperatures – hot at noon and cold at night.  Your determination to preplan ensures the journey will be enjoyable and you will survive to tell about it.

I see New Year’s Resolutions in the same way.  You may envision where you want to go financially but you don’t take the appropriate time to plan the journey to ensure your New Year’s Resolutions survive.  The typical promises to pay down debt or save more money do not stand a chance without a definite action plan.  Let’s see if the following five strategies can make a difference in approaching your New Year’s Resolutions with gusto.     

1.     Create a Vision Board.  Having a vision board gives meaning and life to “seeing is believing”.   If you want to save $1,000 or $10,000, scribble this balance on a copy of your bank statement.  If you want to see your loan paid off, do the same. Cross out the present balance and write a BIG FAT ZERO under the outstanding balance column.  Clip pictures of your dream Disney World vacation, a new car, or a newly-renovated kitchen.  You may add quotes, draw, or write about the things you want in your life. In essence you are writing your goals, dreams and aspirations in new creative ways on a poster board.  At a quick glance you can see the things you want and add them to memory.  This is the first step to a successful financial plan.  When you do this, you establish a target. Zig Ziglar said, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.”  Ensure you aim at the things you want.

  

2.    Track your spending.  I know you are going to hate this strategy until it eventually becomes a habit.  Many methods allow you to track your spending.   With the use of phone apps, software programs, on-line banking, or spreadsheets, you can see where you spend your money. The fact is your discretionary spending, not fixed expenses, kills your best intentions of following through with your New Year’s Resolutions. You find yourself led into temptations by marketers leading you astray from your goals and dreams. Don’t be deceived into giving into temporary pleasures.  You must make the decision to resist temptation and press towards your goals.  Each passing week, you will vow to do a better job to manage your money.

 

3.    Set-up automatic transfers to saving accounts.  Getting into the rhythm of savings could be as easy as determining how much you want saved by a specific date.  The math part is easy.   The total is divided by the number of pay periods to determine how much to save from each pay cheque.  The difficult part is actually doing it.  Trusting yourself to make the transfer might not be the best choice.  You could come up with a million reasons why this can’t happen on any given payday.  Setting up automatic transfers to a savings account which you can’t see or touch is the ideal solution.  Some people can handle seeing their savings grow; others cannot because they are tempted by images of what their money could buy them. Knowing your limitations will help you determine the best approach to save and to build appropriate safeguards.            

 

4.    Draw a line in the sand, “No more debt!” Paying down debt will happen “logically” as long as you do not borrow any more money than you already owe. Term loans and mortgages have set payments and specific timelines to ensure your balance will eventually be nil.  Revolving loans (Line of Credit) and credit cards are a different kind of beast which require more discipline on your part to be paid in full.  Simply paying the interest or the minimum payment won’t reduce the balance within a reasonable time. The plan should be to apply any excess cash to the revolving credit debt.  By tracking your spending, you will know where the spending cuts can occur to create the excess cash.

5.    Create a balance of enjoying life, savings and paying down debt.  I love the children’s song, The wheels on the bus go round and round.  There’s something magical in the words found in the first verse. This may sound crazy but the song appears to speak about real life.  Take a moment and imagine your life as a bus travelling around the town. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to cruise around town with a flat tire.   The aspects of your financial life, day-to-day expenses, savings, taxes, and debt, are like wheels.  For example, if you put all your focus on paying down debt, you would not have any savings needed for car repairs, veterinary bills, or replacing much-need appliances. This leads to borrowing more money and increasing your debt.  Your savings happens to be your flat tire.  Developing strategies in proportion to your income, keeps your wheels in good driving condition to manage a well-balanced life.  

 

The Ultimate New Year’s Resolution

A healthy financial plan involves more than “paying down debt” and “saving more money”. You mustn’t forget about the other important items like: reviewing your insurance to protect yourself and your family; ensuring your Will, Power of Attorney and Health Care Directive are up-to-date to reflect your wishes; and establishing an emergency savings. When you click here and include these items to your existing New Year’s Resolutions, and take action as necessary, you will fulfill the ultimate resolution. Studies have shown that Canadians with financial plans are saving more, living well, and experience higher levels of overall contentment in their lives. Wouldn’t that be the ultimate achievement and success to fulfill your New Year’s Resolutions?         

 

Money Matters . . . And So Do Your Dreams

Our plan is to achieve our dreams but sometimes our dreams do not follow our plan.  Life happens! Our dreams may appear to wash away simply because life takes a different turn.  Because life is changing, your dreams may follow suit.

A favorite quote by Marcia Wieder, author of the book, Dreams are Whispers from the Soul, says, “There are the dreams we have for our life and then there are the dreams that life has for us.”  Life zigs and zags.  While we’re forging ahead, we should put precautions in place.

Although obstacles may stand in the way of your dreams, knowledge is powerful in terms of overcoming these obstacles. At the onset, you can start by developing a personal financial roadmap to drive your destiny.  Unforeseen events can occur so the best you can do is to build “protection” into your plan. When you look at the list of Ten Financial Items Every Canadian Should Have, having insurance is one way to protect your family and you. Drafting wills and power of attorneys ensures your intentions and wishes are known.  Creating emergency savings for those unexpected events will relieve financial stress.

This idea of taking the above precautions is not necessarily different than other precautions you presently take.  They are precautions nonetheless. 

• You carry a spare tire, jack, and tire wrench in case your vehicle has a flat tire.  
• You may carry a band-aide in your purse in case your children cut themselves.
• Before you leave your home, like my husband does, you ensure appliances are turned off to prevent an unnecessary house fire. 

Once you have built in safety features into your plan, then you can incorporate other strategies. These safety features, your building blocks, are like a stairway. You are making your plan sturdy to successfully reach your destination, your dreams.

Every dream is possible with the right strategy. With a dream list in hand, you develop a purpose for saving and making sacrifices becomes easier. It will no longer be a “have-to” but a “want-to” strategy. You may not know how to accomplish your dream.  A financial planner will be able to provide you with options to do so.

• You may want to further your education -- take a few courses, pursue a degree, or enroll in a certificate course.  However, you are unaware of the Lifelong Learning Plan to help pursue this avenue.
• You may want to purchase your first home. However, you are unaware that the Home Buyer’s Plan may be an option for your down payment. 
• You may think saving for your children’s education is a big feat. However, you may not realize the Government of Canada provides assistance with the Registered Education Savings Plan.

Always believe that anything is possible if the right strategy is built to enforce your dream.  Life happens so the best we can do is take care of money matters while we focus on our dreams.