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

Are you Looking to Create a Positive Impact? I specialize in working with families and professionals who want to take their financial lives to the next level. I love helping those who want to focus their time and energy on their family, career and community. Let me introduce myself. I am Stephan MacLellan, my friends call me Steve. A successful engineer who solved problems, found out how things worked, and came up with practical solutions. I bring the same approach to financial management, taking the time to learn about people, their financials and their life goals before anything else.  As someone who cares about social, ethical, and especially environmental issues, I found my passion in socially responsible investing. I made this transition for one reason: to create a positive impact for you and your family . Why? Each person and family I help contributes to better, stronger, and more prosperous communities. The ability to raise our children as Maritimers, not only so t...

Did you know that many Maritimers believe they are unable get insurance? We are #1 in: obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.   Would you like to see if you are lucky enough to be accepted for a policy that many do not have the honor to have? If you think you're uninsurable - think again, you just may be lucky enough to be approved! Let’s talk - it's a great way to end Life Insurance Month and to make sure you and your loved ones are taken care of!! Dedicated to helping you reach your financial potential,  Steve MacLellan, P.Eng The Financial Engineer Mutual Fund and Insurance Representative Email: steve@yourfinancialpotential.ca Cell: (902) 240-6508 www.yourfinancialpotential.ca

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...

Do you ever feel overwhelmed and unsure what to do to make the world a better place? One of the most effective ways to make a change of the better is to invest in social and environmental friendly companies.  Watch my video. It's a win-win. The earth wins because companies need to prove their social and environmental leadership. You win because Social Responsible Investment Funds (SRI or ESG) are outperforming funds in their corresponding category and add a layer of risk management by examining their Environmental performance (E), Social responsibility (S), and Corporate governance (G). This means your investments will increase in value while being secure and stable. Learn how to align your investment goals with your personal values, to combine financial return and positive societal impact. Learn to be a responsible investor. Stephan MacLellan  Mutual Fund and Insurance Representative Email: steve@thefinancialengineer.ca Cell: (902) 240-6508 www.thefinanci...

April 17th – 2 weeks till Taxes are due – have you filed yet?  In today’s letter, we will share with you 2 things:  1 - Where to get recommended tax software  2 - Where to find more information about deductions and tax credits  Where to get recommended tax software:  Electronic filing programs must be certified and approved by the CRA. Here are 3 great programs, starting with my favorite:  1. Studio Tax – this is the program I often use - it’s 100% free and easy to use!  http://www.studiotax.com/  2. Turbo Tax – free right now, but will be $15.99-19.99 on April 23.  https://turbotax.intuit.ca/personal-tax-software/cra/ty17/free-download-b.jsp?cid=cra_fy18_ttd_e_cra_desktop_free 3. H&R Block - Offer a free program but you will end up paying at least $17.99 per return https://www.hrblock.ca/online-tax-software/  Where to find more information about deductions and tax credits:   The best place to find all the deductions to g...

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...

If you’ve ever avoided looking at your bank account, if you’ve ever panicked about your finances, if you’ve been immobilized by indecision, or if you’ve overspent yourself into debt ... you’re afraid of money.  When asked what I do for a living – I used to respond  “I help families save and protect their money”  with a nice smile. As soon as I said the word “money” I would usually see instant fear in the person’s eyes and body language. Why, in a society where we idolize athletes and movie stars who get paid the big bucks, are most people afraid or uncomfortable about talking about money? Research and from my experience, it comes down to 3 things: 1) Media – fear sells. Guaranteed on the news in the next few weeks - stories about CRA and “wealthy” people penalized for trying to reduce their taxes. Who’s the villain in most movies and what are they trying to get?  2) Our upbringing – media has also influenced how were raised and raise our children. ...