Design Your Future Financial Services - Brought to You by The Financial Engineer

Are you already wealthy? Meaning, you can retire on your own terms, if you wanted to quit your career tomorrow, you could. If so, congrats, that’s awesome, roughly only 10% of Canadians have the ability to retire on their own terms and if that’s you, give a thumbs up if you agree with what I’m about to share.   If you do not feel wealthy or unsure, you have lots of company.   Give a thumbs up if you find the following helpful… Have you ever asked yourself the question, why? Why are the majority of Canadians financial stressed?  Why are most living paycheck to paycheck no matter what their income level is?  I’ve been become great at asking the question Why, and I have found the answer to the following why:  Why are roughly only 10% of Canadians on the path towards to financial independence while the other 90% are not? The answer is not necessarily what you think.  Maybe, just maybe, even with all t...

When was the last time you went on vacation and didn’t even think about work? If you’re like most people, it probably seems like forever ago. Here’s an idea.  Try turning off your mobile phone. Give one person at the office the phone number of the place you’ll be staying. Before you leave, offer to take that friendly co-worker out for a nice lunch or BBQ the week you get back — they get to pick the place if you don’t get a single call. It’ll be one of the best lunches you’ll ever pay for. Hey, there's still lots of summer left!  Make the most of it!  Try turning off that cell phone while at a BBQ with friends and family too.  At the end of the summer we can chat about how to be a financial role model for your child, until then, here's the recipe for my wife's "Million Dollar Burger".  It will be a huge success! Mix: 2 lbs of Lean Ground Beef (or yummy lean Bison) 2 Eggs 1 Packet of Onion Soup Mix 1/2 Cup of Ketchup 1 Diced Onion ...

If you’re concerned about social, ethical, and environmental issues you may be pleased to learn that you can have a real, measurable impact by way of your investment portfolio. "Socially Responsible Investing" (SRI), "social investment," or "sustainable," "impact", "green," or "ethical" investing is any investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social/environmental good. It allows your investments not only to improve your own life, but also your community and the world. The importance of screening One of the challenges of Socially Responsible Investing is that it can be difficult to identify the investments that will truly benefit you along with contributing positively to the issues you care about. To ensure your investments are aligned with the social, environmental, and community issues that matter most to you, in-depth screenings of companies and their impact must be conducted, monito...

If you’re concerned about social, ethical and environmental issues you can have a real, measurable impact on them with your investment portfolio.  Socially responsible investing allows your investments not only to improve your own life, but also your communities and the world.  One of the challenges of socially responsible investing is that it can be difficult to identify the investments that will truly benefit you along with contributing the issues you care about.  To ensure your investments are aligned with the social, environmental and community issues that matter most to you, in-depth screenings of companies and their impact must be conducted, monitored and reviewed. The corporate structure, business practices, history, and of course, the return on your investment are examined in detail, which also offers an extra layer of risk management. Socially responsible investing ( SRI ), or social investment , also known as sustainable , socially conscious , " green "...

Ideally, you’ve been putting away money in your RRSP, TFSA, or other savings accounts. But are you overlooking ways to save money  now  so you can free up more for your financial strategy or help build your cash stash for a rainy day? 1. Pay Yourself First. If you’re making contributions to your RRSP at work, you’re already paying yourself first. But you can also apply the same principle to saving. (If you open a separate account just for this, it’s easier to do.) If you prefer, you can accomplish the same thing on paper by keeping a ledger. Just be aware that paper makes it easier to cheat (yourself). With a separate account, you can schedule an automatic transfer to make the process painless and fuhgettaboutit. Here’s how it works. Whenever you get paid, transfer a fixed dollar amount into your special account – before you do anything else. If you don’t pay yourself first, you might guess what will happen. (Be honest.) If you’re like most people, you’ll probably spe...

Ever consider starting your own business? Does anything sound better than being your own boss?  Well, maybe a brand new sports car or free ice cream for life. But even a state-of-the-art fully-decked-out sports car will eventually need routine maintenance, and the taste of mint chocolate chip can get old after a while. The same kinds of things can happen when you start your own business. There are many details to consider and seemingly endless tasks to keep organized after the initial excitement of being your own boss and keeping your own hours has faded. Circumstances are bound to arise that no one ever prepared you for! Although this list is not exhaustive, here are 5 things to get you started when creating a business of your own: 1. Startup cost  The startup cost of your business depends heavily on the type of business you want to have. To estimate the startup cost, make a list of anything and everything you’ll need to finance in the first 6 months. Then take...

Your biggest expense in life is taxes! If you learned how to reduce the taxes you pay, what would you do with your huge return?  • Invest?  • Buy that boat?  • Finish off your home renos?  • Have a down payment for your new home?  • Travel and enjoy your family vacation?  • or simply get rid of that high interest debt?  Taxes are not just your biggest expense, they are also hindering, sometimes stopping you from accomplishing your goals and dreams in life!  Email steve@yourfinancialpotential.ca if you would like to learn how to reduce your taxes and start dreaming again. Make sure to ask for a free copy of "Wake up and Smell the Tax Savings" and the soon to be released "Your Financial Potential: East Coast Edition" Stephan MacLellan  Mutual Fund and Insurance Representative Suite 402, 6080 Young St Halifax, NS B3K 5L2 Email: steve@yourfinancialpotential.ca Cell: (902) 240-6508 www.maritimesuccess.com UPCOMING ...

Did you have Big, Hairy and Audacious (BHA) Goals at the beginning of the new year? How are you doing with your new year resolutions? If you are like me and the majority of Canadians – life, reality, unexpected obstacles, stalls and Murphy intervened. :-/  The new you starts in Q2!  Hit “reset”, begin anew, become that new and improved version of yourself.  Wouldn’t you agree, one of the best ways to improve your life, so you can focus on what is important, would be to drastically reduce your biggest expense? Or as we say in the Maritimes, drop kick it in the neck!! Do you know what your biggest expense in life is? Well, it’s most likely TAXES!!  There are several ways to reduce your taxes and  now is great time to start!   When investing, RRSPs and TFSAs are effective, especially when properly managed. But the best and most effective way to reduce your taxes ,  increase your income and help you reach your BHA Goals is….  star...

Recently, we discussed why people are afraid of money, now we will discuss how to feel good about saving money and creating wealth.  First of all, to feel good about money, you must realize you are its master!   You control what money does and can do - very few realize this.  Money often controls the person and their beliefs what they can and can not do, but not you, not any more. Saving and Investing is a habit, and as most know, good habits are hard to start.  Example:  Exercise and eating healthy are hard to start, but become routine and enjoyable once a habit, same with saving and investing. Here's 3 tips to start the good habit of saving and controlling your $$ which will make you feel good: 1) Pay yourself first .  Invest at least 10% of whatever income you make.  If you make $100 per paycheck, invest $10, if you make $5000, invest $500 and so on. Do this on payday or better yet, have it come off you paycheck directly an...

Most likely the biggest lifetime expense you will encounter is TAXES.  If you invested $1,000 each year in a tax-sheltered plan for 30 years at 10% interest it would you give you just under $165,000!  That would be exciting result from your money that was yours all the time, but it also means that the $30,000 (30 years times $1,000) produced $135,000 of compound interest that the government was getting instead of you.  Do you feel they deserve it?  Then why let them use it? March 1st is the last day to contribute to your RRSP to receive a deduction in your 2017 income taxes.  Would you rather pay the government your money or would you like to invest in yourself? If you would rather invest in yourself and learn more, I'd be happy to send you "Wake Up and Smell the Taxes" - a book that I read back in 2008 that "woke me up!", for FREE. Simply email smaclellan02febc@wfgmail.ca to receive "Wake up and Smell the Taxes" by The Canadian Financ...

Happy New Year - I hope your new year is off to a great start! When thinking about the new year consider this – time can never be regained. Last year is gone. It's what we do this year that counts now.  2018 will the year of many great things! We will continue to work hard to ensure a solid financial future for families across the Maritimes and beyond.   Education is the first step, and that's where you come in -  what would you like to learn more about?  Your feedback is important and will influence the topics of this biweekly newsletter. Post your ideas below Bitcoin? MJ stocks and other investments? How $$ works? Insurance Tips? Leadership? New Careers? Trends for 2018? How to control time and income? Budgeting tips? Taxes and how to reduce them? RRSP vs TFSA? PK Subban? This newsletter will be educational and beneficial but better yet, let's get together to discuss your strategy for putting time on y...