90% Of Canadians Do Not Have A Formal Financial Plan

100% Of High Rock Private Clients Do

From a piece by Jonathan Chevreau in The Financial Post: "The magic number for retirement savings  is $756,000, according to a poll of Canadians" and "while that is the average amount individual Canadians believe they'll need to amass, up to 90 per cent don't have a formal plan on how to get there."

I can tell you that everybody we (High Rock Private Client) work with has a formal plan. We call it a Wealth Forecast. In fact we will not build a portfolio strategy without one (and it is prepared by our Certified Financial Planning professional). As experts in wealth and portfolio management, we would never presume that a "one size fits all" mix of assets (stocks and bonds) is correct for everybody, something that separates us from the standard of many financial and robo-advisors.

Not only do we prepare a plan up front, there is no obligation to work with us if you don't like the plan and the accompanying strategy (or us for that matter). We know that you not only need a starting point, but regular monitoring and updating to keep the plan current. The starting point and projected net worth forecast is not worth the paper it is written on, if it is not re-visited at least one or two times per year. Life is dynamic and  change happens on many fronts and that needs to be reflected in your plan.

Everybody's goals are different and the path to achieving them is different. The average amount of dollars suggested in the above mentioned article is just a number. It does not tell you the lifestyle associated with that number. That lifestyle is purely personal: where you live, how you live, what activities you choose for retirement are yours to determine.

We can tell you if they are realistic. 

We can also tell you how you are going to get there.

We cannot predict the short-term swings in the value of investment assets in financial markets. We can, with our ability to manage risk, predetermine a long-term goal for the growth of your financial net worth: focusing on protecting your capital first and then getting the long-term average annual rate of return you require to meet your objectives for the future, while at the same time keeping the risk we need to take to get it at the lowest level as is possible.

As I have stressed in many of my previous blogs, risk is always going to be necessary to stay ahead of inflation. At the moment, the current and future expectations of the rate of inflation (or annual increase in your cost of living) can be open to a wide debate. In all likelihood, however, it is rising.

This all has to be built into your plan.

Problem is, you need to take the steps to get that plan created and executed. We are happy to help you get going, but you have to want it first.