For Fee Financial Planner/Advisor

It's a fair price. The only thing I would add is that some Financial Institutions will kick in a Financial Plan for free if your investing over $100k in mutual funds. If you happen to be doing that, you might want to get one done via fees your already paying. If your self-directed or don't have that much invested it's a fair prices for a one time plan.

Excel spreadsheets seem a little basic though. I would expect them to use some kind of planning software to make it look nice?

zod wrote: ↑ It's a fair price. The only thing I would add is that some Financial Institutions will kick in a Financial Plan for free if your investing over $100k in mutual funds. If you happen to be doing that, you might want to get one done via fees your already paying. If your self-directed or don't have that much invested it's a fair prices for a one time plan.

Excel spreadsheets seem a little basic though. I would expect them to use some kind of planning software to make it look nice?

I was dealing with TD Wealth and received decent service from the financial advisor/planner and he was helping me move money from my LIRA to my RRSP but since he took a leave of absence and I felt like I was getting not as good service and paying the higher MER fees, I moved both of my TD Wealth accounts (LIRA and RRSP) to TD Direct Investing and changed some of my investments after moving it so don't qualify for any "free" (or included with higher MER fees) financial planning.

I did get one printout from my previous financial advisor/planner but his analysis was based on a retirement age which is higher than I'm thinking of now so seeking another opinion (since I got a somewhat detailed 20 page "free" retirement financial analysis from Sunlife who currently holds my defined contribution pension plan for where I currently work) but this was also based on a retirement age which I'm thinking of reducing.

It doesn't hurt to get a second opinion along with an analysis of my investment choices in my LIRA and RRSP since my investments in my defined contribution pension plan is very limited.

lmcjipo wrote: ↑ I was dealing with TD Wealth and received decent service from the financial advisor/planner and he was helping me move money from my LIRA to my RRSP but since he took a leave of absence and I felt like I was getting not as good service and paying the higher MER fees, I moved both of my TD Wealth accounts (LIRA and RRSP) to TD Direct Investing and changed some of my investments after moving it so don't qualify for any "free" (or included with higher MER fees) financial planning.

I did get one printout from my previous financial advisor/planner but his analysis was based on a retirement age which is higher than I'm thinking of now so seeking another opinion (since I got a somewhat detailed 20 page "free" retirement financial analysis from Sunlife who currently holds my defined contribution pension plan for where I currently work) but this was also based on a retirement age which I'm thinking of reducing.

It doesn't hurt to get a second opinion along with an analysis of my investment choices in my LIRA and RRSP since my investments in my defined contribution pension plan is very limited.

last couple weeks Imperial Service called me and asked me to move my funds from my self direct investment to their mutual fund. I asked them to move my LIRA (only 20k) to RRSP ... they said no.. not sure how TD can do that

lmcjipo wrote: ↑ I was dealing with TD Wealth and received decent service from the financial advisor/planner and he was helping me move money from my LIRA to my RRSP but since he took a leave of absence and I felt like I was getting not as good service and paying the higher MER fees, I moved both of my TD Wealth accounts (LIRA and RRSP) to TD Direct Investing and changed some of my investments after moving it so don't qualify for any "free" (or included with higher MER fees) financial planning.

I did get one printout from my previous financial advisor/planner but his analysis was based on a retirement age which is higher than I'm thinking of now so seeking another opinion (since I got a somewhat detailed 20 page "free" retirement financial analysis from Sunlife who currently holds my defined contribution pension plan for where I currently work) but this was also based on a retirement age which I'm thinking of reducing.

It doesn't hurt to get a second opinion along with an analysis of my investment choices in my LIRA and RRSP since my investments in my defined contribution pension plan is very limited.

A real financial planner/advisor should be independent of the investment products they suggest for you. I sense the people you are working with are not advisors but sales staff that provide advice on the products they sell.

dongta wrote: ↑ last couple weeks Imperial Service called me and asked me to move my funds from my self direct investment to their mutual fund. I asked them to move my LIRA (only 20k) to RRSP ... they said no.. not sure how TD can do that

TD did it for me. I only had to visit my branch and sign a few papers for them (they also made a photocopy of a government ID). One week after doing this, my RRSP and LIRA accounts were open at TD Direct Investing and once this happened, I returned to the branch so they could do the paperwork to transfer the funds which they did and it happened very fast (I think it was done within 2 business days) as it was TD Wealth to TD Direct Investing (and was completely free since it was TD to TD).

It was a lot faster than when I originally did it from Manulife to TD Wealth.

I have a few TD Direct Investing accounts and I opened all of them myself. I could have opened up the RRSP account myself as well (online) but decided to just go to the branch since I needed to go to the branch to open up a LIRA.

will888 wrote: ↑ A real financial planner/advisor should be independent of the investment products they suggest for you. I sense the people you are working with are not advisors but sales staff that provide advice on the products they sell.

Yes, you are correct that TD Wealth's financial advisors are geared more towards sales. However, the person whom I was dealing with gave me good advice. While I was with him (for a little over a year), my returns on my LIRA and RRSP was above 15% net after fees. He also gave me various scenarios on when I could retire (55, 60, 65). My relationship with him was that he recommended some mutual funds to me. I looked at their performance, what they invested in, and the MER fees and I told him whether I would purchase it or not. He also helped me start to move money out of my LIRA to put into my RRSP (on an annual basis but he only did this once since I didn't stay with him for 2 calendar years).

With what I got for free from SunLife (which is where my company's group pension plan is with), I was provided with a detailed 20 page report and he didn't try to "sell" me anything. I just gave him the amounts that I had in non-registered accounts, TFSA, LIRA, and RRSP accounts as well as what my government pension plan (QPP since I live in Quebec) values were. He crunched the numbers in his software with a retirement age of 65 and it generated the report which was placed on my secure login at SunLife for my defined contribution pension plan. He did try to get me to move my TFSA, LIRA, and RRSP accounts to them due to what he said was lower MER fees but I told him that I wasn't interested in doing this as I was doing fine with what I was paying.

$1500 is at the low end of what a financial plan done by a Certified Financial Planner would cost. It depends a lot on the complexity of your situation. Cost for a young single person with minimal debt would be lower than a married couple with kids, RESPs, insurance needs, DB pensions and maybe a small incorporated or sole proprietorship business that needs careful tax planning.

My own belief is that a young person can just consistently save about 20% of net income or 15% of gross income in a low-cost indexed portfolio all their working life and they will be in great shape or retirement. Older people with more complex situations, especially those without DB pensions that, along with CPP/OAS, will pay their retirement expenses, have a greater need for financial planning. If it gives you greater sense of security for long-term investing and retirement then $1500 is not a large cost. Especially so if it allows you to move away from a high-cost advisor.

Here is a good review of financial advisors and financial planning: https://www.finiki.org/wiki/Financial_a ... l_planning

This is a list of questions I made to ask when looking for a financial planner: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cshvon4140adw ... r.pdf?dl=0