This is the problem.
This is the frustration around our financial system.
It’s broken.
Let me tell you how it’s broken.
It’s not that there’s a lack of information.
There’s the opposite problem with too much information and often times, not the right information and the issue of time to sort it all out.
Dr. Google doesn’t always paint a clear picture of what to do with your money and it’s definitely not tailored to you.
You don’t need cookie cutter advice.
It takes time to sort through it all, develop a plan, understand tax implications, market implications, estate implications and your financial future.
There are approx. 100,000 “financial advisors” in Canada. First of all – all these advisors are not doing holistic financial planning, most either do insurance only or investments only.
Then we get into the problem of the banking system itself and how profit driven banks are only focused on shareholder return and not actually servicing individuals unless they have many millions.
There is a huge lack of service and this is of not fault of the employees who work at these archaic institutions, but the culture and systems of these financial organizations.
Somewhere, somehow – Canadians, in general, have not received the help they need to create wealth and preserve wealth.
And don’t get me started on our education system and the lack of financial literacy and numeracy provided by schools in general.
Truly, this system needs an overhaul because it’s in the process of desecrating your wealth and leaving our country in financial ruin.
And this is all backed by statistics: (and now, get ready for this!)
- Out of 15,000,000 women working in Canada $49,721 is the average income of a woman in Canada in 2019 compared to $66,504 for men (gender wage gap)
- Less than 10 women in Alberta earn over $1,000,000 per year on their tax returns
- You are in the top 14% of Canadians if you earn $100,000 or over
- You are in the top 5% of Canadians if you earn $150,000 or over
- You are in the top 1% of Canadians if you earn $234,700 or over (which is 271,000 Canadians that fit that bill in 2017)
- You are in the top 0.1% of Canadians if you earn over $740,300
- And 2,780 Canadians earned over 2.7 million in 2017 the 0.01%
Also:
- 7% of Canadians Eligible to Hold a TFSA account have maxed out their TFSA account (which as of this year is $69,500)
- 18% of Canadians contributed to an RRSP in 2018 or about 6 Million Canadians
- 50% of Canadians will retire with debt and an average debt of over $100,000
- 59% of Canadians who are nearing retirement have no idea how much money they will need to live comfortably for the remainder of their days
- 80% of All Investment Accounts in Canada are under $100,000 in size
- The average RRSP size is $111,922 across Canada per household
- 1/3 of Canadian Households do not own life insurance according to LIMRA
- 66% of Canadians feel they are underinsured and could use more life insurance
- Only 15% of people in Canada feel “very prepared” financially if they couldn’t work
- 42% of Canadians have never even talked to a personal insurance agent for life or disability insurance
- 8% of Canadians have a critical illness policy – on a good day
- 50% of Canadians have more in credit card debt than they do in their savings
- $852 – the average net savings of the average Canadian Household
- 56% of Canadians DON’T have a will and even more don’t have an up-to-date will.
And then for women:
- the average age a woman is widowed in Canada is 56
- 50% of women who are widowed will not longer be able to keep their current standard of living or lifestyle
- 40% of marriages end in divorce
- 60% of marriages that start between ages 20-25 will end in divorce
And finally, to really drive this home:
The Value of Financial Advice Study, a huge two-year study completed in 2016 by the Investment Funds Institute of Canada, said that investors who worked with a financial advisor accumulated 290% or 3.9 times MORE in ASSETS over a 15-year period than someone investing on their own.
My two cents on this study and why it demonstrates such a dramatic difference in results from working with a financial advisor to not working with a financial advisor is this:
- behavioral psychology (managing client emotions, expectations and disciplined behaviors) played a huge part in that
- accountability
- actual tax planning to reduce taxes
- setting up structures to systematically save and do proper financial planning
All of the value add that a Financial Advisor brings to the table is worth the small cost to the client. (Don’t listen to those ridiculous commercials that say your advisor eats up 30% of your retirement savings! It’s called paying for value and no different than any other time you open your wallet to buy something! Oh and by the way, you’ve always been paying these fees and charges – you probably just weren’t made painfully aware!)
And all of this is tied together by relationships.
The importance of having a relationship with your advisor is this:
- they know you
- they know your family situation (your crazy father-in-law)
- your income
- your business, jobs & career
- your health & family health
- your fears and worries around money
- they know Y-O-U!
The benefit of a long-term relationship with your financial advisor is that you don’t have to re-explain yourself to every new “advisor at the corner bank” every time you are with them. You end up leaving a LOT of valuable information out that way, which only ends up hurting you.
And I could go on and on about this.
You get the picture I’m painting here.
I’ve outlined the problem and why the system is broken.
Here’s the solution:
I feel we are called to change and transform this patriarch system in favour of the few and channel in the new, the advice, knowledge, accountability, implementation and holistic financial planning to the masses.
This is no longer reserved for the wealthy.
This is how we are changing the game entirely across Canada.
We are rising up and taking on old, worn out, slow moving oligopoly financial systems and bringing in new, robust, quick, helpful systems and education to facilitate total financial planning.
We are unveiling a new way to do and GROW your money.
This is Wealth Spa™.
This is how you Live Your Legacy!
xx Lisa
Want to get on board? We’ll show you how. Contact us at admin@ellementsgroup.com and we’ll tell you all about it!
