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Six topics your financial plan should cover

By ATB Wealth 14 January 2025 3 min read

A financial planning session can quickly get personal. And it should be. Only by opening up about your spending habits, your plans for retirement or that bucket-list vacation can your financial advisor truly understand your situation and prepare a plan that’s going to make those hopes and dreams a reality.

But that doesn’t always make it easy to answer the questions, says ATB Wealth’s Mike Winsor. From his extensive planning experience, he knows there are certain topics that can feel uncomfortable or just tedious.

“With so many demands on people’s time these days, it’s getting tougher for them to focus their attention on such an important area of their well-being,” says Winsor, a CFP® professional. “But the risk of not providing all of the information or answering the tough questions, is having a plan that doesn’t help them live out all their future plans.”

There are six main categories Winsor says clients should be prepared for in a financial planning conversation.

Source: ATB Wealth


1. Investments

You’ll need copies of your investment statements including everything from assets at various financial institutions to your defined contribution pension to private equity holdings.

 

2. Retirement and savings

Besides your CPP, OAS and workplace pension statements, Winsor says this category also gets into some qualitative questions. “When do you plan to retire, will you fully or partially retire? What does retirement look like? Are you becoming a snowbird? Buying a property? They seem like innocent questions but the answers could change your whole retirement outlook so it’s important to dive into them.”

 

3. Budgeting

This can be a tricky one since Winsor says quite often people have no idea what their monthly spend is, having seen cases with individuals spending as much as 50% more than what they thought. “We’re going to look at everything—the debts you have, the interest on them, the balances, when they come up for renewal, what your plans are for them, whether you’re paying the minimum or more,” says Winsor. “I’ll also ask: What major expenditures do you expect to have over your lifetime? Are you paying for a child’s wedding? How many vehicles will you be buying in retirement? Will you have the cash for these things or have to pull money out of your investments? If it is something you want to set money aside for—or reasonably expect to spend—it is worth including in your plan’s budget.”


4. Tax efficiencies 

While this category is important for everyone, it has an even bigger impact for those with complex assets, including business owners since both personal and business taxes will be at play. Winsor says this category often relies on information from other professionals as well—such as an accountant.  


5. Wills and estates

Talking about their final years isn’t easy for anyone, but Winsor says it’s important to reframe how you think about your golden years. “I look at it as an empowerment exercise—this is how together we figure out how to fund not only your retirement, but also your estate, so that your loved ones are looked after.” He says that while sometimes clients are also embarrassed if they haven’t yet made a will or haven’t updated it, advisors aren’t there to judge. “They want to provide sound advice based on the information they have. They’ll talk about what’s been done well and what needs to be looked after.”


6. Insurance

Winsor says the biggest challenge with providing information under this topic is that a lot of people simply don’t understand the insurance products and coverage they have. “This is another area where they might need to talk to another professional, in this case an insurance advisor, to track down the information and relay it to their financial advisor.” 

Why it’s worth your time

No plan is perfect (read more about that in this article), but setting aside time for conversations, answering your advisor’s questions and rounding up the required documents will get you close. Winsor emphasizes that providing accurate information is essential for creating a successful financial plan. “It’s a balancing act—your goal is to maximize spending and enjoyment of your lifestyle without running into your number one biggest financial risk, which is running out of money in those later years.”

Winsor emphasizes that financial plans are living documents that will continue to evolve as your goals and circumstances change over time. “A financial plan is very rarely ever set in stone. The important thing is to start, have a sense of where things are trending and continue to update and revise over time.”

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