“Why do I need a financial plan?” + MORE Oct 6th

Often described as driven and passionate, business owners have to embody those traits—and more—as they continue to face challenges that test their resiliency. 

“Businesses have completely changed their operations,” says Drew Collins, a Co-operators Financial Advisor based in Brandon, MB, “like moving much more heavily into the digital side of things and reimagining the way they deliver service to clients.”

Co-operators Financial Advisor Drew Collins

Staying afloat during the pandemic meant frantic action on deck. “One minute, you’re an accountant. The next, you’re dealing with a client or you’re managing risk,” Collins adds. “I think it’s really important for small-business owners to seek qualified assistance. You wouldn’t wire a house yourself if you didn’t have that technical expertise and understanding.”

This is why Collins is so passionate about working with small-business owners, providing expert advice on protecting their assets with a tailored insurance policy, growing a healthy financial buffer and more…

To help answer that question, let’s look at the level of income you or your household are going to need to purchase a home in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), based on the benchmark home prices reported by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) in August 2022. 

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Income needed by property type

First, let’s look at the income required for home buyers across the entire GTA (both the 416 and suburban 905) by property type. 

Across the GTABenchmark home priceHousehold income neededMonthly mortgage paymentSingle-family detached$1,414,000$280,000$6,741Single-family attached$1,079,000$214,000$5,144Townhouse$838,300$167,000$3,996Apartment/condo$739,000$148,000$3,523

There’s no debating that you will require a significant household income to afford any home in the GTA…

Hiring a bookkeeper is often an expense and responsibility that many new and growing businesses simply cannot take on. Cloud accounting can be an affordable option while providing insights to optimise business operations.

Enter KPMG Finance Plus—an innovative cloud bookkeeping and reporting solution, complete with personalized support and practical insights for small- to medium-sized businesses. The advanced technology platform offers an efficient, centralized and affordable way to outsource bookkeeping and financial reporting, all overseen by a live KPMG professional.

Rodrigo Freig has benefited from the switch. A veteran of the engineering industry since 2000, Rodrigo discovered he had a passion for BIM (Building Information Modelling), and he decided to launch his own business, Modelo Tech Studio, in 2018…

We can largely control the first two by maximizing the use of tax-effective vehicles like TFSAs, RRSPs and RRIFs, and avoiding high-fee investment solutions. Stock market returns and interest rates are trickier, typically addressed by ensuring that the traditional free lunch of diversification and asset allocation are commensurate with your financial resources and lifestyle objectives. 

But what about inflation? Throughout 2022, inflation has remained elevated, triggered by the COVID recovery and stimulative monetary policy by way of ultra-low interest rates. Central banks in Canada and abroad have done an about-face, raising rates to try to slow down spending and cool inflation.

If you’re contemplating retirement or semi-retirement, is inflation a sufficient threat to consider postponing it? We tackled similar ground in this space a year ago, shortly after the COVID bear market hit…

What is financial planning?

To answer your question—and it’s a good one!—let’s think about why people get a financial plan, the benefits of having one and how you can get the most out of it.

Financial planning is about mastering change, and there are generally two types of plans: reactive and proactive.

Reactive financial plans are used when there has been a change in a person’s life and they need a solution, such as a change of jobs, divorce, when transitioning to retirement, commuting a pension, etc. 

Proactive financial planning is about thinking about life and seeing what is possible. You’re looking ahead at how to maintain and enhance your lifestyle over your lifetime without the fear of ever running out of money, no matter what. Proactive planning is almost always a work in progress, because life happens, and people’s needs and wants change…