Scantlebury Wealth Management

It is not uncommon to learn by doing. When working with clients on their estate planning needs, I have often asked a simple question: “if you were to die today, would you want to donate some of your estate to any particular charity?”. Oftentimes, that question does not trigger a response. That is not surprising. However, one time, it did. The client’s answer was simple: “I had not given it much thought”. Yet, the conversation did not stop there. My question - if you were to die today, would you want to donate some of your estate to any particular charity - led to a different response: an exchange. After some talking, we made a plan, and that plan led to action. Eventually, we figured out the desired outcome, and she changed her will. Within six months, she had passed; and, a charity received a big cheque.  We often don’t think about what would happen once we pass. However, for just a second, imagine that you could give a gift of several thousand dollars to a charity - like an endow...

So almost a decade ago, I was handed a file. I was asked to work with a person who had recently moved from Quebec to Calgary. She had some assets with the firm I was working for and she was really in a horrible state.  Having moved from Quebec to Calgary - to leave an abusive relationship - she had very few assets. At that point, she was just a single mother trying to make ends meet and she had very few ends. One of the assets she had was a RRIF. I found this curious because the lady was only a few years older than me. At the time, I was in my late thirties and she was in her early to mid 40s.  For those who don’t know, a RRIF is a Registered Retirement Income Fund. It is not normally the financial structure that anyone under the age of 60 uses, let alone someone who is still employed. Given my confusion, I asked her a question: Why did she have a RRIF? Her answer was simple: she needed the money to make ends meet. Another advisor, at my same firm, had recommended the action a...

At the beginning of a new year, many of us make resolutions. We resolve that we will lose weight, exercise more, read more, clean or declutter our homes. The idea of making a resolution is simple: we want to make sure that we don’t repeat the mistakes of our previous year. Thus, these resolutions are a symbol of what we want to be or become. So, if resolutions are symbols, their power is in their belief and use. Many people start with a resolution to be better at managing their money. Some people will start to catch up on their taxes or put their receipts away. Others will start to look at their investments or call their financial advisor/ planner in January. However, by about now, March, many of them have given up. They may not have made the large RRSP deposit they wanted to make, or have not recovered from Christmas - as they had hoped. Accordingly, they have given up. Well, I am here to say that there is hope. We can start today to improve our finances. Today can be January or March...