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As I write this, we are entering the Family Day weekend. I hope you get a few moments to enjoy time with your family and loved ones this weekend. It is not often in our busy lives that we get the chance to step back to spend quality time with our families. Please take advantage of this time and enjoy it.
We all sometimes need reminders of the things most important to us. Recently my family has gone through some health issues and it has been a huge reminder to me, of the importance of focusing attention on the ones we love and sharing our appreciation of them. We never know how many opportunities we have to share time with loved ones. My advice is to appreciate and cherish the moments you have and make them priorities.
Putting priorities on those things most important to us relates also to our financial lives. With the news, social media and coffee-talk focusing on cost of living increases, higher borrowing rates and volatile investment returns it is easy to get attracted to, or distracted by the noise. All these issues can affect your financial lives, but are they the priority? Are they the "Big Rocks"?
I was first introduced to the concept of “Big Rocks” in the mid-nineties by renowned author Stephen R. Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I encourage you to watch this short video.
"Big Rocks" may include family, work, community service and many others. We all pick the Big Rocks in our lives. Specific to our financial lives the "Big Rocks" may include:
1. Protecting our income and assets in the event of illness, disability or premature death.
2. Ensuring our estate administration documents are current, enforceable and match our intentions.
3. Developing contingency/emergency plans for our businesses, farms and even home operations.
4. Allocating cash flow to repayment of debts, saving for children’s education and our own retirement.
LifeLegacy’s planning process is designed to help you to identify your Big Rocks - for you to develop your vision of life and to implement steps to achieve it.
I had the pleasure this week to attend the Annual Update from the Canadian Association of Farm Advisors. It was a great day filled with quality presentations and it was a wonderful opportunity to connect with other local and national professionals that serve farm families. A key takeaway for me was that professionals can truly provide the most value to clients when working together as a team supporting clients in navigating complexities.
One presenter, a farm producer, wrapped up the day by commenting that she learned so much that day that her head was ready to explode. She commented that her family had been farming and ranching for over 100 yrs and she had never before heard that CAFA existed or that professionals like accountants, lawyers, agronomists, bankers and financial planners actually worked at this level of co-operation or understanding. Her family had always received advice in isolation. She went on to comment that she would look pretty smart to her neighbours if she shared all she had learned that day. LifeLegacy was founded on the premise of working collaboratively with clients’ other professional advisors. They truly are a part of your financial world. The best solutions come from working together with the families’ values, attitudes and priorities in mind. Spending a day with like-minded Farm Advisors is re-affirming that we are taking the right approach with our practice and with our clients. Even with all the distractions that we have each day it is key to focus on the "Big Rocks" for our clients and to work collaboratively with quality people to help ensure plans are effective, flexible and most importantly implemented.
Tools for you:
We are always looking for new tools and methods of helping clients. I have frequently been asked for a worksheet or a template for contingency and estate planning. LifeLegacy has recently consolidated a number of worksheets into what I hope is a useful tool to gather all your important information in one spot.
We have developed an Estate Worksheet to capture all your financial, business operation and digital information. Think of it as the place where you can store all the information that may only be in your head.
It has your contact list of the people that may need to be contacted, passwords to your computer, social media etc., location of your will, insurance policies etc. It can serve as a tool when you are travelling as well as if you were suddenly ill or incapacitated.
Along with your estate plan it will serve as a resource to your executor to settle your affairs. If you are interested in a copy I would be happy to send you one and look forward to your feedback. It is a work in progress, but hopefully can help you organize things for your loved ones. To request your copy please send me an email @ eturgeon@lifelegacywealth.com
Just a quick reminder that the 2022 RRSP contribution deadline is March 1, 2023. You still have time to make a contribution, there are many investment options including for a limited time RRSP/TFSA bonus rates up to 4.50%. Give me or Christie a Call to top up your contribution.
Ed
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