Tag Archives: Financial Independence

How to find your Encore Career

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | May 5, 2015

By Sheryl Smolkin, Retirement Redux

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

I recently interviewed Lisa Taylor, president of Challenge Factory, for savewithspp.com. Challenge Factory helps individuals make career transitions and employers dealing with an aging workforce.

Her organization draws on the talents of a wide variety of professionals as required by individual clients. But what’s really interesting is that they have a roster of over 160 people who are experts in their own jobs, who have agreed to take on Challenge Factory clients for one-day test drives.

“If you’re in one occupation, and you’re thinking that you might want to go and do something totally different, the best way to make a decision is to do a dry run,” Taylor says. “This gives our clients an opportunity to spend a day with an expert in that particular field to find out if their assumptions are really true and whether the job is really as great as they thought it would be.”

A life stage that can last 20 or 25 years

I asked Taylor what the terms second act, encore or legacy careers really mean to her. Continue Reading…

Weekly wrap; Getting Financially Real, Post-budget politics, 50 top financial sites

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | May 2, 2015

A group of (mostly American) financial blogs and a few international ones have teamed up to create We are Financially Real, part of the 2015 Financial Literacy Awareness Carnival.

It’s hosted by Los Angeles-based Certified Financial Planner Shannon Ryan and her website, The Heavy Purse.

As you can see via this link, there’s a nice list of financial blogs participating, including Broke Millennial and its post, The Day I Got Bullish With Money, and many more from blogs like Club Thrifty, Color Me Frugal, Financially Blonde and Reach Financial Independence (now there’s a blog title we can relate to!)

“For the past three years, it’s been my privilege to host a Financial Literacy Awareness Carnival where I gather top finance bloggers to share their stories and motivate readers to become financially literate,” Shannon told the Hub via email, “Money is something every single adult handles, and too few make confident money decisions due to a lack of financial literacy. The mistakes they make, sometimes without even realizing it, have a lasting impact. It’s my hope through the carnival that we inspire readers to get Financially Real with their lives and reclaim their financial power.”

Budget Redux Continue Reading…

What’s the right amount of retirement income?

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | April 30, 2015

By Marie Engen, Boomer & Echo

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

“Money may not be the most important thing in life, but it’s way up there with oxygen.” – Zig Ziglar

How much is enough? That’s a question that’s asked often. Everyone measures the concept of “enough” differently. Some of us think in terms of dollars per month or year:

$50,000 per year
$5,000 per month

Or, you may think of a percentage of pre-retirement income: 70-85%.

Many want to know what the “average” Canadian needs, or what “most” people require.

The proper question is, “What is enough for me?”

If you are retired, or close to it, I’m going to give you an assignment (should you wish to accept it). Spend some serious time with this. You are going to make three budgets. Continue Reading…

Unified & Defined: finally, some plain-English definitions for financial planners

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | April 29, 2015

Here’s my latest MoneySense blog, which looks at a new book that provides unambiguous definitions of common terms like financial planning. Click on The New Definition of Financial Planner for the MoneySense blog.

Below is a guest post by Cary List himself, president and CEO of the Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC). We thought we’d give Hub readers the take on the new book right from the horse’s mouth!

Unified & Defined: Let the Canadian Financial Planning Definitions, Standards & Competencies Be Your Guide to Sourcing the Right Professional

By Cary List, CA, CPA, CFP®

President & CEO, Financial Planning Standards Council

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Studies have clearly demonstrated that Canadians are not getting the financial help they need from qualified, professional financial planners. This is partially the result of a lack of understanding of how to identify a qualified financial planner and of what they should expect of a financial planner and/or a financial plan.

Today’s unregulated financial planning environment leaves many of us vulnerable and at risk of receiving advice from individuals who call themselves financial planners but who have not had to attain any qualifications specific to the financial planning practice and who are not held accountable to any oversight body related to the financial planning advice they offer.

Anyone outside Quebec can still call themselves a financial planner

Moving from Accumulation to Decumulation can be traumatic!

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | April 29, 2015

Good MoneySense blog today by fee-for-service planner Jason Heath. In Scared to spend your retirement savings?, Heath touches on a theme I suspect many baby boomers are going through as they prepare for the transition from full-time work to semi-retirement and ultimately full retirement.

I can relate to the anguish expressed by the subject of the piece, a single man now 56 who hopes to retire by 62 after a three-year transition phase of part-time work.

After 30 to 40 years of working, saving and investing — much of it tax-driven behaviour based on RRSP/IRA contributions and contributing to employer pensions — there’s a real paradigm shift involved in moving from the “Wealth accumulation” mindset to the “Decumulation” one.

That’s why Continue Reading…