SERVICES
What a plan covers, and what happens after it’s built.
Retirement income planning for people at or near retirement, in London, Ontario.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Four things you’ll know when it’s done.
Your income schedule
Every income source mapped year by year. You'll see when each one starts, how much it delivers, and what changes along the way.
Your spending number
The most you can sustainably spend each year, and how much of that is essential. That essential figure is what gets measured against your guaranteed income. This is the one people are really worried about.
Your withdrawal sequence
The order you draw from RRSPs, LIRAs, non-registered accounts, and TFSAs, aimed at a target taxable income that keeps the lifetime tax bill as low as it reasonably can go.
Your CPP and OAS start dates
A specific age for each, decided on your numbers rather than a general rule. It's one of the few retirement decisions that can't be revisited later.
All of it arrives as a written plan you keep. Cash flow, net worth, debt, insurance, and estate considerations are covered wherever they touch the income picture.
THE PLAN ITSELF
Everything that matters on one page.
What you want to spend, what you can sustainably afford, where the income comes from, where you stand today, the risks worth watching, and what to do next. All of it on one page.
A sample plan, prepared for an illustrative household. Open the full-size version.
Figures are illustrative only and are not a projection of any client's results. Nothing shown here is advice or a recommendation.
THE RETIREMENT ADVANTAGE PROCESS
How a plan gets built.
Four steps. From the first conversation to a finished plan is usually about a month, depending on how quickly your documents come together.
STEP 01
The conversation
Thirty minutes, by phone or video. I'll ask a few questions about your situation and explain how I might be able to help. From there, we’ll see if this is the right fit.
STEP 02
The full picture
If it's a good fit, I'll send a list of documents I need to get started. We then have a longer conversation so I can understand your situation in more detail, which becomes the foundation for your plan.
STEP 03
The numbers
With the picture complete, the modelling begins. Different combinations get tested against each other until the one that fits your situation is clear. Nothing is needed from you at this stage.
STEP 04
The plan
We meet again, in person or by video, and go through the plan together. You'll hear the reasoning behind each recommendation and can ask questions about anything that isn't clear.
AFTER THE PLAN
The portfolio serves the plan.
At the end of the process, you'll have a plan, and a decision to make about it. Some people take the plan and handle the implementation themselves. Others would rather have it put in place and looked after, which means moving your accounts and having them managed by someone accountable for both.
There's no separate charge for the planning work. A single advisory fee applies once the accounts are in place.
When it's managed here, the portfolio has one job, and that's to fund the plan. Investments are broadly diversified, low cost, and built around the income you'll actually need.
ONGOING SUPPORT
A plan is only as good as what happens next.
The investments are the straightforward part. What's harder is everything around them.
Tax rules change, thresholds move, your own situation shifts, and difficult years arrive without warning. What matters is which of those actually affect you and what should change because of them. Often nothing should, and that's worth hearing too.
Twice a year we sit down. The conversation is less about the portfolio and more about what's ahead: a bigger year of spending coming up, a decision you're weighing, something that's changed since we last spoke.
And when something does need your attention, you'll hear about it from me first. The rest of the time, you get to think about other things.
What you would pay
See your own number.
What you pay each year has three parts, and all three are shown here.
- The advisory fee, which is tiered, so the rate falls as your portfolio grows.
- HST on that advisory fee.
- Portfolio costs, charged by the fund managers, currently averaging about 0.35%.
Above $5,000,000 the slider stops, but the figures below still reflect the amount you typed.
Your all-in cost
Per year
Where it goes
| Cost | Rate | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Advisory feeFor planning and investment management, charged monthly to your accounts | 0.88% | $17,500 |
| HST on the advisory feeCharged with the advisory fee | 0.11% | $2,275 |
| Portfolio costsCharged inside the funds, not billed to you | 0.35% | $7,000 |
| Your all-in cost | 1.34% | $26,775 |
Advisory fees are tiered and billed on assets under management: 1.00% on the first $1,000,000, 0.75% from $1,000,000 to $3,000,000, and 0.50% above $3,000,000. The advisory fee and HST are calculated and charged to your accounts monthly. Portfolio costs are charged by the fund managers within the funds themselves and are reflected in returns rather than billed to you. They vary by the investments selected. Figures shown are an illustrative estimate. Nothing is added beyond what is shown here. Your exact costs are disclosed in writing before any account is opened.
Still working toward retirement?
The work looks different before you retire. It's about setting a realistic retirement date, working out how much to save each year, and deciding whether RRSP or TFSA comes first given your income and timeline. Aim to get it right now, and retirement becomes a change of routine, not a leap.
Ready to get started?
Schedule a thirty minute call to find out whether this is the right fit for you.