6 Steps to Sound Financial Principles

If we had the opportunity to review your budget in the last year, we may have built a debt repayment plan, with either a “snowball” or “avalanche” approach.
Basically, the snowball approach is where you pay down your smallest debts first regardless of the interest rate, whereas with the avalanche approach you pay down the debt with the highest interest first. Both options work but a study from Harvard University suggests a higher success rate with the snowball approach.

BAIE is an acronym for Budgeting for Annual and Infrequent Expenses. We identified 4 main expense categories that are ideally saved thought the year to free up budgeting stresses.
The 4 main expense categories
• Housing
• Transportation
• Personal expenses
• Emergency fund/Taxes

If you have debts and are working to pay them off, it might be hard to build 3 to 6 months of savings. Start by saving $1,000 and then consider applying for a line of credit as an emergency.
If you are debt-free, then we recommend opening a high-interest savings account with Manulife Bank and set up an automatic deposit to the savings account in line with your pays.

While we can not predict precisely when markets will turn consistently back to positive, history has shown us that ultimately, they will.
In every past market correction, the market has bounced back most of the losses within 18 months. If your investment time horizon is long term the storm will pass, and your investments will recover.

Insurance protection is helpful during difficult times and in unforeseen circumstances where your health changes or possibly death.
Whether you are single, in a relationship or have a family, learning and implementing protection tools such as life, disability, and critical insurance can save you and your family from financial ruin. There are many types of plans and most are very affordable.

Recessions and market corrections are your best opportunities to buy and increase your wealth. We can discuss leverage loans as a potential investment tool.

Your best tool to build wealth is to invest regularly and systematically. If you haven’t started yet, I suggest starting with an amount that is meaningful to you and increase with every raise in your income.

We believe in managed solutions and your portfolios are managed by talented professionals who research and invest in good companies and avoid the underperforming ones. Portfolio managers look at recessions as an opportunity to buy companies that are discounted and reap the benefits when the market stabilizes.