Our process.
Understanding your goals to develop
appropriate financial strategies.
Fundamental Financial Planning Practices.
Certified Financial Planner (CFP) professionals must apply fundamental financial planning practices to all six Financial Planning Areas.
These elements relate to the integration and interrelationships among all the areas and are key to any and all financial planning engagements. For example, for a CFP professional to provide meaningful advice and planning, she must understand all of the client’s goals, interdependencies, overall constraints and/or opportunities in order to develop appropriate financial strategies and prioritize recommendations to optimize the client’s overall situation.
1. Collection
Gathering information
- During the first phase of your financial journey, your trusted advisor will begin gathering information; this includes everything from determining your personal financial goals, measuring financial literacy, identifying potential legal issues, and collecting relevant documentation.
- Using the information collected, your advisor will then identify significant changes in your personal or financial situation that could impact your financial future.
- Lastly, your advisor will compile all collected information and prepare it for analysis.
2. Analysis
Assessing, identifying, and evaluating strategies
- Based on a detailed assessment of the information collected during the initial phase, your advisor will establish the priority of each financial area relative to your overall plan.
- Next, your advisor will carefully identify and assess interconnections between financial planning areas. For example, a high-income client who wants to make retirement planning a priority can maximize RRSP and TFSA contributions and split retirement income with a lower income spouse.
- Your advisor will then reassess areas of challenge or opportunity and set priorities, and will take relevant economic, political and regulatory factors into consideration (e.g., inflation, interest rates, etc.).
- During the final segment of the analysis phase, an advisor will assess progress towards your goals by comparing projected net worth to current net worth and considering strategies to bridge the gap.
3. Recommendations
Establishing methods to attain goals
- Once a thorough analysis is complete, your advisor will then establish personal financial recommendations for you and determine their priorities. Additionally, your financial advisor will convert each recommendation into an attainable action item.
- Next, your advisor will establish a schedule to review recommendations considering normal business practices, individual preferences, and any unexpected changes that may impact projections.
- Finally, your advisor will evaluate and recommend adjustments to your plan, if needed.
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