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By Sandy Cardy
Special the Financial Independence Hub
The Holiday season is a very personal balancing act. Every year we experience the same thing – multiple events featuring gut-bloating menus and Boxing Day blow outs followed by crash dieting for both your waist-line and your bottom line. How do you find that sweet spot between making the season joyful and memorable while avoiding the perils of two to three weeks of over-eating and spending followed by a blizzard of credit card debt?
It’s no secret that Canadians, particularly Baby Boomers in their sixties, are doing a poor job of managing their retirement savings, falling well short of amassing enough retirement funds. Canadians still find it difficult to apply one of the simplest financial planning principles: pay yourself before you pay for anything else.
If, like many boomers, your retirement plan is increasingly looking like harnessing yourself to a full-time job as long as possible, what happens if you fall sick? And when you gaze with furrowed brow at your bloated credit card balances in January, not only are you even further from any savings goals, the sheer shock of the amount owing can add an unwelcome dollop of stress to already overtaxed minds and bodies. Never knowing when enough is enough, there aren’t any checks and balances on our impulse to over-consume.
Here are some tips to get re-balanced for 2017:
Every money decision you make, even the little ones, will have an impact on your retirement. Perhaps what you need now is a qualified advisor to help you achieve your goals: someone you trust wholeheartedly. A good advisor will ensure you are realizing all cost savings, and applying tax minimization strategies to build your net worth. Put it this way: it’s much more difficult to neglect simple investment principles when a financial planner is looking over your shoulder.
Healthcare advisors as important as financial advisors
Similarly, having one or more health care advisors available is essential. Whether you encounter a health crisis or want to pursue preventative health, it’s key to find nurturing and optimistic healers, either conventional or alternative, ones that involve you in your health care discussion.
