What We Do
The Nelson Planning Services team provides independent, fee for service financial planning services. More specifically, we answer your questions.
Common financial planning questions include:
When planning your finances:
- I don’t know where all my money is going, can you help me create a budget?
- I have no idea of my overall situation, can you help me put together a net worth statement?
- Should I / we strive to pay down debt or invest for the future? What is the best approach for me / us today and why?
- What do you see as our greatest opportunities for building wealth?
- What do you see as our greatest risks?
Common Questions Asked About Taxes:
- Is there any way we can reduce the taxes we are paying today on our income?
- I earn more income than my spouse, is there any way we can split our incomes equally?
- At what point in time could I potentially pay my children an income from our small business? How much income could we pay to them?
- Is there any way we can reduce the taxes we are paying on our investments?
- How can we use the Tax Act more to our advantage at this stage in our lives?
Common Questions Asked When Buying A Home:
- How much of a home can we reasonably afford?
- How should we set up our mortgage?
- Should we purchase additional life, disability or critical illness insurance on the mortgage payment amount?
- How do we save enough for a down payment?
- Should we take money out of our RRSP or TFSA accounts to create a larger down payment?
- Should we purchase a larger home today, expecting to live in this home for the next 30 years OR should we purchase a smaller home today, expecting to move as our needs change over time?
- What are the pros and cons to owning rental property?
Common Questions Asked When Investing Money:
- Where should I invest today: my Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA), into a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) for my children or into a taxable investment account?
- How much should I invest in each of these areas today?
- Which areas should I invest in first so as to receive the greatest tax benefit?
- How much risk should I take in my portfolio today?
- Am I taking too much risk in my current portfolio?
- Is my portfolio tax efficient?
- How can I reduce the investment management fees?
Common Questions Asked When Purchasing Insurance:
- What are the risks facing my family today if I were to pass away unexpectedly?
- What are the risks to my financial circumstances if I were to become ill or disabled from working? Where would my income come from if I were not able to work?
- How much insurance do I need and why?
- What are the different ways in which we could purchase this insurance?
- What are the pros and cons to each approach?
- What are the pros and cons to my current insurance program?
- If I need more insurance, should I purchase more insurance through my work, through the bank or with a personally owned policy? What are the pros and cons of each option?
Common Questions Asked When Planning For Your Retirement:
- How much income can I / we expect to have when we retire?
- Where will this income come from and to what extent will it be secure?
- What source(s) of income should we draw from first, second, third or last?
- What pension option should I choose and why?
- What are the pros and cons of transferring my pension assets to a Life Income Fund (LIF) or annuity?
- What can we do to minimize tax on this income in retirement?
- How much do we need to save and invest to meet our retirement income goals?
- How much risk do we need to take in our investments to meet our retirement income goals?
- What is a realistic retirement date? Can we plan to retire gradually over time?
- When should we start to take our Canada Pension Plan retirement income benefit and why?
- What is the risk that I / we could run out of money pre-maturely?
- What is the risk that our income will not keep pace with inflation?
- How can I / we have a safe and predictable income in retirement, while minimizing taxes and with a lower risk, lower cost portfolio.
Common Questions Asked By Business Owners:
- What would be the potential impact on my business in the event of an unexpected death or disability, of myself or a key member of my team?
- As my business continues to grow, how should I best accumulate wealth? To what extent should I accumulate investment wealth in my RRSP and / or a personal investment corporation or trust?
- How can I best potentially reduce taxes by splitting income with other family members?
- How can I potentially protect my business interests in the event a shareholder of the corporation goes through a marital divorce?
- How can I potentially transition my business to a new group of owners and leaders?
- How can I best structure my retirement income as I gradually retire from my business? What can I do to make sure my income and business value remains secure until such time as I am fully bought out from the business?
If these are the types of questions that are on your mind, please contact us at 204-956-0519 or
contact us online.