RKS_in_Calgary

Hi

can anyone recommend an Independent Financial Adviser in Calgary - I have asked around but most people here seem to use banks or people working for Sunlife, manulife etc?

JonboyE

It is tough to find someone who it truly independent. Look for advisers who have a Certified Financial Planner designation.

https://www.fpsc.ca/directory-cfp-pr...-good-standing

gryphea

We are using a Sunlife guy at the moment to do us a financial road map. We hooked up with him as he came to my work to give a talk and I liked him. He has CFP designation and he tells us he is not entirely tied to Sunlife; he can recommend a range of products, investments and insurances as he is also insurance certified. He also said I think that many of the places that sell products are not investment houses and so even though you take your product with them the investment is with someone else, eg you might pick Jupiter High income and take it with SUnlife but this would be the same as investing with Jupiter High Income with Manulife etc.

Anyway we are only part way through the process and so haven't had any recommendations from him yet; so we'll see how it pans out.

JonboyE

One thing to look at carefully when choosing an investment vehicle is the fees.

3% annual fees are quite typical for the sort of investments that financial advisers recommend - it is where their income comes from. Assume you invest $100 a month for 25 years in a fund that grows at an annual rate of 6%. A bloody good return these days you might think but it is actually pretty close to current long-term market growth. However, if the fees are 3% a year the total you will pay over the 25 years will be $15,064 - over half of the amount you invested. At the end of 25 years the $30,000 you invested has turned into $45,064.

Compare this with a low fee fund - like an index tracker - that only charges 1%. Total fees over 25 years will be $6,027 and at the end of the day your pot is worth $60,136.

So the question to ask is if the guys who charge 3% are going to significantly out perform the market? If not, then they are not worth their pay. Many so called financial advisers are little more than salespeople for financial products. I would be very wary of someone who is not open about the effect fees will have on your real rate of return.

gryphea

We asked our guy specifically how he made his money. He said through his fee percentage. We are not paying him for the road map, which is clearly taking some time , and so we have not signed up to anything yet. He usually charges for road maps; but not for clients Sunlife have introduced him to through a group-plan.

He said all the right noises about happier clients being more important to his long-term business etc than differences in fee income between products. But we will see what comes out of the review and what he recommends; it will be interesting. I suspect he will give us some choices as well as recommendations. I don't begrudge him making money from us- after all this financial stuff is clearly something we have no aptitude or driver for without spending a lot of time. As I am paid by the hour it makes sense to spend my hours working at what I am good at and paid well for; not at something that we have already demonstrated our tendancy to do nothing at. He also seems to know a lot about minimising tax and consults a tax accountant as part of the road map.

What's important to us is that we start doing something fairly swiftly as we don't want to retire poor.

RKS_in_Calgary

thanks for the advice, will check these things out