Hello World! I'm Lisa Elle, Financial Coach of Ellements Group

Coach.

Lovely Ladies – It’s time to meet Lisa! :)

Meet Financial Coach, Lisa Elle

I need you to know why you need to meet me (because I’m fun and naturally awesome) and why you need a financial coach!

You need a financial coach (holistic financial planner or advisor) the same way you also need a lawyer, and a dentist, and an OBGYN. Don’t ever try to be a do-it-yourself investor without the proper training. Even athletes have coaches. And for some reason we will hire a fitness coach before we hire an amazing financial coach. (We also spend more time planning shopping for shoes than we do our finances… ok- I’m even in that camp!) It’s soooo important you have your team of people in place and a great team at that – you want to be on the winning team – right? Guess what! You pick this team – so make sure it’s a damn good winning team. These people help form your master mind, or people you can talk to and gain wisdom, advice and encouragement from. Financial Coaches are there to save you from your hard wired brains that make bad financial decisions (from time to time) for yourself and to help steer you in the right direction.

I’m going to say it one more time. YOU NEED TO HAVE A GREAT FINANCIAL COACH ON YOUR TEAM (did it sink in yet?!?!) I’m not talking just a service for your insurance or investments, typical of most banks (yes I’m totally not opposed to throwing big banks under the bus, it’s a love/hate relationship most of the time), I’m talking someone that you can genuinely talk to about your ENTIRE financial picture. If this is all you get out of this post and you hire a financial coach – it will be worth THOUSANDS, if not millions to you throughout your life – for your family, your estate, whatever you life’s purpose and passions may be. Good advice is worth its weight in GOLD – literally (or your favorite shoes x 1000 😉 )

And I will eat ice cream with you, and won’t make you run laps……..

Coach.

What’s Holding You Back?

DREAMS = FINANCIAL PLANNING

What do dreams have to do with financial planning? Everything.

What’s the point of saving a dime if you haven’t figured out how that dime is going to help fuel your dreams or your dreams as a family.

What good is a big pile of money with no dreams attached to it? (FYI – people with big piles of money with no dreams attached to it, end up investing in other people’s dreams by default – what do you really think all this capital in our world is used for anyways? People’s ideas – people’s dreams! You’ll be lending out your capital for other’s dreams until you finally figure out what yours are – welcome to capitalism.)

The problem is most of us give lip service to our dreams and most are too afraid to even dream a big dream at all.

We (by we I mean I) are too afraid to talk about it. Afraid to fail. Afraid to succeed. Afraid we will be alone or no one will like us when they see the real us. Afraid of what people will think. Afraid people won’t love us.

Dreams push us right out of our comfort zone. They push us out of jobs we don’t like or careers that pay us really well to stick around. They break down the walls we worked so hard to build up not to expose the real us- so the shining part of us can stay hidden in those walls and die within. After all, that’s what our society has tricked most of us into believing.

All retirement really is, is when people have made enough money, have enough money set aside, or have enough cash flow (e.g. pensions or government benefits) to quit their job and actually follow their dreams without the financial risk of putting it all on the line (and that’s if you are lucky!) So they can finally follow their dreams in whatever shape or form they come in and take the financial consideration out of the equation all together. I think as a whole we are turning to careers or jobs we actually love – if not right away, soon after. No one sticks around in a job they don’t like anymore anyways. That would be ludicrous. However, I don’t think that we have swung the pendulum quite the other way yet. I think there are lots of hidden dreams that have yet to bubble to the surface.

Everyone has dreams. Dreams make you an artist in something. You may be an actual artist, a business owner, a musician, a surgeon, a construction worker, a pilot or gardener. It’s what fuels you. It what makes you shine and your eyes light up when you talk about it.

I’m a writer. (WOW! I don’t think I have ever actually wrote those words before about myself!) I’m also a financial coach. And at 4am this morning, I’m doing what I love because I had an idea while I was sleeping that I had to get down into Evernote and literally got me out of bed with no coffee! My blood is pumping. I’m excited to be here, in front of the fireplace, cozy, and writing!

My mom is awesome. I was on the phone with her yesterday and she told me she’s heading to Phoenix next week to spend the next 2.5 months playing her Viola with an 80 piece orchestra and a huge choir and make her art unfold into a beautiful Christmas concert. I love my mom and the passion she has when she says she’s going to do this. I can’t wait to go see her play at Christmas. That is her dream. It’s her art.

My Opa and Oma had a construction company and worked so hard – as immigrants do. I don’t think it was their dream to build apartments, but they built them, rented them out and that afforded them their dream – a hobby farm when they were around 50 years old. I remember growing up on that farm. My grandparents worked harder I bet at their chickens, sheep, tree farming, bee keeping, and vegetable garden than at construction. That second life – that was their dream – and my Opa Georg was famous in his little town, because everyone knew that that man was living his purpose – his passion; you could see it in his eyes, the way he talked, the way he loved everyone. Their money fueled their dreams. It had purpose with passion and it made a difference in that town and to our family – anyone in my family will tell you that.

I’ll tell you my story around following your dreams. The truth is – although I’ve known for years what my passion and dreams were, I finally married the two in my head.

Dreams and Passions are different elements and need to mutually meet for them to create magic!

Mine are financial coaching and writing, and somehow in the last 2 years, my dream is starting to take shape although my passion has always flustered below in my belly.

I believe passion stirs deep within, while dreams whirl around us in a playful game waiting to be caught!

Honestly, nothing is more fun to me than writing or working – because I LOVE MY WORK. I like it more than wake surfing or golf or wine tasting. And that is like swearing in my family.

This is how it happened for me: true story.

It was October 2012, I was driving home Friday afternoon from the Delta Kananaskis after my work conference. The motivational speaker had struck a chord within me. I knew what I wanted to do with my life, but I actually didn’t know what my specific dream was.

I was stuck.

I’ve known for many years I have something great to share with the world. But finding my voice in this jungle with my own self-doubt yelling back at me – much stronger than my own voice (and for those that know me know I’m no shrinking violet – I’m loud!)

I remember driving down highway 40 asking God to give me a sign. He literally responded with this. A sign I had seen many times before. A simple road sign.

“Lisa, What’s holding you back?”

Somehow that sign – that moment – changed my life (Anytime God talks to you directly typically does!) I pondered that sign at so many cross-roads in my life when the question needed to be asked and I’m sure that sign will keep cropping up when I need it to.

So last Friday afternoon, October 9, 2015 (co-incidentally my daughter’s 8th birthday) on my way home from the same convention out in Kananaskis, I saw the sign again. Actually, I asked to see the sign again. So I looked for it. And there it was.

I pulled my car over and looking like a full-out tourist with my iPhone, I took a picture of this sign. It’s my Thanksgiving blessing.

I finally know my next step because I finally know my destination or at least what road I’m supposed to be on to get there.

I’ve ran out of excuses this year. Although fear will come along for the ride, I have nothing holding me back from my dreams and a purpose to my financial plan. I have nothing holding me back.

And it finally feels good to say that.

What’s holding you back?

Financial.

Up/Down Simple Planning Page

Before we can make any financial decisions, and start the financial planning process we need to get a snapshot of where we are financially so we can make a plan to get to where we want to go. In just a couple minutes, after completing the UP/DOWN Simple Planning Page, you will know which direction you are heading in. It’s black or white! There is no guessing here – like everything in life – you are either moving forward or backwards, up or down. It’s okay either way – the big point of this planning page is so you can start your ‘UP’ and stop the ‘DOWN’ward spiral. If you are ‘UP’, whether you knew that or had no clue – now you can plan your next financial milestone.

This is the first worksheet in my simple planning package that I give to clients, because honestly, most of my amazing brilliant clients may have a small clue, but on average most people don’t really know where they are at or by how much they are growing each month. It doesn’t matter if you are a bagillionaire or a dollaraire or if you are in an accumulation phase or a distribution phase. You need to take this first step and show your money who’s boss.

It doesn’t matter if you are headed up or down (yes, I say things twice!) It does matter that you know which way you are heading and to what degree so you can make financial choices and decisions based on that information going forward. Your financial coach is here to help you accomplish your next milestone (and drink wine with you!) And most importantly, whatever direction you are heading doesn’t mean anything about you! You are great no matter which way you are going!

TO ACCESS YOUR FREE PDF UP/DOWN SIMPLE PLANNING PAGE and AUDIO SIMPLY SIGN UP BELOW TO GET STARTED!

Have your completed your UP/DOWN SIMPLE PLANNING PAGE? Then please leave a comment below – because I want to hear from you! I want to know if this helped you, or gave you a new perspective – good or bad! Were you shocked? Pleasantly surprised? Or was is exactly where you thought you’d be? Does it make you want to create a new financial possibility for your life?

Insurance.

Bite the Bullet

INSURABILITY

Ever been to Costco and said you were going to ‘grab it later’ although to realize later it wasn’t there – like I’ve done 100 times.

Enter: The World of Insurability.

Insurability, in Lisa terms, is an insurance company’s opinion of you, your health, lifestyle and family history at a certain point in time, typically when applying for insurance.

Here’s the thing. When applying for Individual Health, Critical Illness, Disability or Life Insurance you NEED to get it while you are healthy. It’s this crazy thing where insurance companies don’t want to take on your smoking, drinking, diabetic deep fried Oreo habits (all the things that make for a great, GREAT stampede week!)……I think it has something to do with their business model emphasizing profits.

I had a client call me yesterday. He told me he just had a stroke and in the next breath mentioned how glad he was to have purchased his life insurance last year (and I have hundreds of stories like this). It’s so important because you just don’t know what tomorrow brings, and you have the power to take simple planning steps today. The only thing any of my clients who have had living benefits claims say the same thing; they wished they had more insurance.

So, what do you do? Get your insurance while you are young and healthy and apply preferably before Stampede.

If you are uninsurable, there are policies available, however premiums are higher.

Find an insurance broker/agent/advisor who specializes in traditional underwriting (the kind where you have to take medical tests and have a nurse come over – preferable if you are in good health) or non-traditional underwriting (policies that only ask you healthy questions and base underwriting decisions instantly on your answers). The non-traditional insurance market offers insurance products for EVERYONE…although again higher premiums and smaller payouts, however most people don’t even know that’s an option AND most insurance brokers don’t either!

Lucky for you I specialize in both. I can answer any of your ‘boring’ insurance questions. Leave a comment below or email me. I slept with an insurance textbook under my pillow for 15 years.

You never know what tomorrow holds for you and your family. I still laugh when people say, ‘well my parents lived to 100 kicking and healthy’. If that’s the story that keeps you warm at night, then I wish you sweet dreams. Reality is this….

49. That is the AVERAGE age of all Critical Illness claims in Canada (yes, average meaning half younger and half older)

56. That is the AVERAGE age of widowhood in Canada (meaning your man should not be your retirement plan).

So, do yourself a solid and get a few million dollars of life insurance on good ol’ hubby, because that story will keep you warm at night. When God takes hubby he will leave behind a Golden Gucci Purse to cuddle with.

I poke fun, but bear with me and forgive my lame-lisa-humour; I sell life insurance for a living.

What I mean to say is this. You may not die tomorrow but your insurability might, so get the proper coverage today while you are healthy.

So why not bite the bullet, before it bites you (or your husband and secure your Golden Gucci today!)

Estate.

Get the Last Word

WILLS & ESTATE PLANNING

Truth be told, I’m partial to my romantic comedies although every now and then I’ve always liked a little gun fight, the odd car chase, or even the Terminator. He always did threaten he’d be back….. (this week in a movie theater near you)

Well, here’s the thing (spoiler alert!), unlike the Terminator, in real life when we die, we are dead. We are not coming back (GASP!)…….yet, it keeps taking thousands by surprise every year.

What’s even more shocking is how many Canadian die without a will, or die intestate.

56% of Canadians do not have a will according to a 2012 survey by LAWPRO.

A will is the foundation of a good financial plan. Not only because you get to direct how your assets are distributed, but if forces self-reflection and one of my favorite planning principles Stephen Covey made famous, ‘begin with the end in mind’. Knowing what we are building, getting clear and painting that picture also helps propel us towards our goals. There are intestacy provisions which vary from province to province, however they probably won’t reflect the true wishes of most individuals and especially if you fall into any of these categories:

– if you wish your spouse to receive your entire estate
– in your second marriage
– in common-law relationship
– in same-sex relationship
– you have children from a previous marriage or born outside of marriage
– you have a child with special or circumstances
– you do not want a public trustee or government managing assets for your minor children
– you don’t want your kids to get their hands on all that money at age 18 or 19
– if you wish to do any tax planning whatsoever
– if you wish to leave any money to charity
– if you wish to appoint guardians for your minor children (and you def don’t want crazy Auntie B doing that!)
– if you wish to grant extended powers to your executor
– if you wish to establish trusts for your loved ones (so Johnny Jr. doesn’t get a $100K sports car at age 18)
– if you wish to leave money to your favorite financial coach …. (PM me for my banking details 😉 )

and finally

you need to have a will…

because who doesn’t want to have the last word.

Invest.

Creating Change

I will never promote traditional “formal” budgeting cause I think it’s boring. Yup, you heard me – I think creating a big detailed budget is for the birds and rarely works for most people (although, I will say a good “excel” spreadsheet is a total turn on for me – just not when it comes to this.) I realize that if you aren’t a spreadsheet-loving-penny-watching-crazy-er-I-mean-meticulous-money-manager then you ain’t ever gonna be one (and if you are one – GOOD ON YOU!) I also know that tracking where every penny goes is a full time job – something we don’t have time for! I’m not gonna make old dogs (or in this case my-shopping-friends) learn new tricks.

It’s probably gonna work for like a day, maybe an hour, and after you’ve written down your morning Starbucks on your budgeting log or entered in your new shiny budgeting app, you’ll be feeling proud and patting yourself on the back. Then miraculously, after the new pair of shoes you just bought hours later, you can’t seem to find a pen to write down that purchase on your budgeting log, nor in your phone app cause your battery is about to die, and we must save the battery for the important “emergency texts” we are waiting for. There’s always 3 sets of financial statements anyways…. “What Really Happened” Book, “What Hubby Can See” Book and “How Much Wine Did I Have That Night When I Bought All Those Shoes Online” Financial Hangover Book. (Wine meets Shopping – The True Danger of Online Shopping – join our support group today – sign up for my blog below! 😉 )

Before you do the dance of joy because your new financial coach said you don’t have to budget, you need to know this. The only way to create change is by action. Action in your life will create glorious transformation. If you truly want to “create change” in your financial life, then start with this easy tip – Start a PAC. Yes, I want you to start a PAC (Pre-Authorized Cheque or Pre-Authorized Debit) with me! (Literally!) I want you to call up your financial coach, and start saving what you can every month. Everyone who works can do this! PAC’s or PAD’s (whatev) start at $50 a month with most financial institutions. So if you are working you can find $50 a month to save. Then whatever amount you feel comfortable with – say it’s $200 or $500 a month, then I want you to add another $50 or $100 to that number to make it kinda feel like it’s going to hurt or pinch a bit. This is because providence moves with you once you commit and take action!

I’m not going to tell you how or where to invest it or what type of account (your financial coach will) – just to start now. And yes, this is over and above whatever your employer is doing for you right now in terms of savings and over and above whatever you are doing for ‘retirement’ savings.

This will combat the effects of any future online financial hangover and to put into effect the golden rule of “paying yourself first.”

This isn’t a marriage proposal, you can always cancel a PAC at any time. This is YOUR money going into savings and going to work for you. And what this does for you is miraculous. You are forced to save everymonth (cause if you start a PAC and you are like me – we are too lazy to stop it!) and you don’t have to think about it and typically you can go on your way living the lifestyle that you want and yes, I will guarantee you that your lifestyle will not suffer. Infact, the opposite will happen. You will begin to attract financial abundance into your life.

THIS WILL MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER THAN 80% OFF SALE AT YOUR FAVORITE DESIGNER STORE! (and calorie free!)

So trust me, call and set up a coffee with your coach now. It takes a few minutes to get your PAC set up, and then you can kiss budgeting goodbye without guilt. You can say your financial coach said so!

Insurance.

Protecting Your Babies

Have you ever thought about getting Critical Illness Insurance or Life Insurance on your babies?!

Well, truth be told, as horrible as it seems to “profit” off your child’s illness, or worse, death (yes, I’ve had this talk with many parents, many times!) – it’s something to consider for this simple reason:

If your child had to be at the hospital everyday or needed plenty of care for the foreseeable future, and you couldn’t work (remember, disability is only if you can’t work, not if your kids can’t), how would that affect your family financially? If you are a single parent, it’s probably even more important, or if you are in a partnership that requires both of you to pay the bills every month. And if the worst case scenario happens, then do you want the option to go back to work right away or not. Don’t think of it as insuring your children, think of it more as insuring your job if you can’t work.

Well I found a way to make the “uneasiness” of buying critical illness and life insurance on your children less terrible!

There is an insurance company that I use that offers a 3-In-1 policy – it’s the best I have found, and yes, I have these on my girls (I hunted for the best when I had my babies – so naturally I share that with you! I’m quite passionate about these policies.)

For whatever your selected face value, say $50,000 or $100,000 (very typical face amounts), if your child is diagnosed with a critical illness (the policy will pay out for a number of critical illnesses), or if your child dies prematurely, then it pays out the face amount upon death. So you get one or the other. However, if you are like me and you pray, hope and expect your children to grow up healthy and happy, then guess what – 20 years later you get all the premiums back! This is a lovely little lump sum of money you can gift to your child for university, perhaps a wedding, or a new home or just keep it for your next shopping trip after all you just spent 20 years having to raise that child – well deserved shopping money! Also, important to note, after 20 years, the policy becomes ‘paid up’ meaning you don’t need to make any more payments every month, and then your child has a critical illness/life insurance policy for life, just in case he/she is uninsurable at the policies 20 year mark – so you don’t have to cash it in for refund of premium. That’s like a 4-in-1 policy.

By the way, this is a great policy for grandparents to buy on their grandchildren who want to help, so if you can’t afford the premiums, ask OMA or BABA or NANA to help.

So ask me for a quote – it’s free and I will email it to you. EASY PEASY and ZERO obligation! I want to arm you with the best information to make an informed decision for your financial situation. Oh, and on that note…maybe it’s time you look at your own critical illness policy!

lisa@ellementsgroup.com

Create.

Financial Freedom

“Financial Freedom is when you never do anything that you don’t want to do for money and

you never omit doing something you want to do because of lack of money.”

∼ Phil Laut, Money is My Friend ∼