The Best Mother’s Day Gift You Can Give Yourself
Mother dancing with child
The Best Mother's Day Gift You Can Give Yourself
By Jennifer and Andrea Kirby,
Kirby Financial Group www.kirbyfinancialgroup.com
Mothers are amazing individuals and seem to be able to balance so many things from birthday parties to high-powered careers. We are often thinking about everyone else first, our children, our friends and our family. With this, it seems that finances are often left on the back-burner.
For many women, the idea of a financial plan is overwhelming and intimidating therefore many women do not seek financial or investment advice. In our practice we see women approaching retirement that have no idea what they have or how their money will work for them.
Statistics show that women in their 60s are among the poorest group of Canadians; many of these women thought that someone would look after them and are often disappointed when they hit retirement with little or no savings. A new TD Waterhouse report says that women aged 56 to 65 wish they had received more advice on how to take care of their finances when they were younger.
Creating a financial plan does not have to be complicated and when broken down, many women feel empowered and excited when they develop a plan for retirement, debt repayment, education savings or figure out their insurance needs. Working with a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) is a great start to developing clarity around what you want to accomplish.
The Financial Planners Standards Council has a website http://www.cfp-ca.org/ that can help locate a CFP in your area. As well, the website will help guide individuals through a typical financial planning process and lists questions to ask a CFP before meeting with them.
There are also a number of great books on the market today that are good sources of information for women. "Make Money Not Excuses" by Jean Chatzky is a great beginner book if you are wondering where to start. She is a financial coach from the United States that has been featured on Oprah and various other shows. Although some of the information is US based, the same principles apply in Canada.
At the beginning of the book Chatzky talks about 8 ways to start on the road to financial awareness. Some of her suggestions include:
1) Get started now: sign up for automatic savings plan and promise not to touch these funds.
2) Call a lawyer and update your will. In Canada, lawyers can also create a personal directive and an enduring power of attorney when you update a will.
3) Pause before your purchase-for purchases over a certain amount, walk away from the store and think about whether you really need the item first.
4) Improve your credit score-pay bills on time and make sure that you have credit in your own name to build up your own score.
5) Pay off credit card debt with savings or money market accounts that you have set aside.
6) Investigate your benefits at work and make sure you are taking advantage of any retirement plans that may be available.
7) Look at all your insurance policies to make sure that you are getting the best rates possible.
8) Use debit not credit.
Tips such as these can give people good food for thought when trying to make sense of their financial life. Taking charge of your finances and being proactive with your family's financial plan is one of the best gifts that you can give yourself this Mother's Day.
Happy Mother's Day!
About Kirby Financial Group
Jennifer Kirby is a Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Life Underwriter and Registered Health Underwriter with a passion for making sense out of complex financial products. Jennifer has been working in the financial planning industry since 1995 and has a proven track record for helping clients clarify their personal and financial objectives.
Andrea Kirby has and MBA from Simon Fraser University and joined Kirby Financial Group in 2007. Andrea is dedicated to providing clients with candid, up-front advice and excellent customer service.
Please contact us anytime if we can help you with creating a financial plan.
