If you want to go somewhere, a map is a good tool to have. To head in the right direction financially, a financial plan is the roadmap you need. And the good news is you don’t have to be rich or a high-income earner to make a plan.
“There’s this opinion in the market that you have to be wealthy to have a financial plan,” says Darren Devine*, Sun Life Financial advisor and President of Devine and Associates Financial Services Inc. “I don’t believe that to be the case. A person who works for minimum wage is still eventually going to retire. A good plan is simply going to produce results that mirror your lifestyle.”
According to Devine – a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional – people avoid meeting with a financial planner because they feel their income doesn’t justify the need. Many people also perceive financial planning as a complicated process that requires a huge time commitment. Devine says that’s an unfortunate misconception that leaves many without solid financial plans for their future.
“A comprehensive plan makes sense for a complicated, sophisticated situation,” he says. “For most people, that type of plan is overkill. If it takes a lot of time, it becomes a barrier to discovery, communication and completing a plan.”
For low- and moderate-income earners who look to their retirement years with anxiety, Devine says the emergence of simplified financial plans is a step in the right direction. These slimmed down versions of financial planning resources avoid the huge collection of data often associated with complex plans. Instead, they focus on the nuts and bolts that are foundational pieces of a solid financial plan.
“Everyone has to earn an income to live, and some people are more successful than others,” says Devine. “That doesn’t matter. If you’re generating income, you have to look to your future income. If someone said to me they wanted to retire at 65 and told me how much money they make, I could tell them how much of that income they would have to set aside to reach their goal. The challenge isn’t the plan itself but in finding time to easily build that plan.”
Devine says anything the financial industry can do to rip down the barriers that prevent people from developing even a simplified financial plan will have an impact.
“Encouraging people to put together a light, simplified plan is going to be a pivot point in the industry,” he says. “There isn’t a stage in life where it’s too late to reach out to a planner for help. We have people at 49 asking to sit down and chat. They just want me to reassure them that everything’s going to be okay.”
To learn more about what’s involved in developing a simplified financial plan, contact Devine & Associates Financial Services Inc. at 519-780-1730.
*Mutual funds distributed by Sun Life Financial Investment Services (Canada) Inc.
Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada is a member of the Sun Life group of companies.