Money Moxie - 5 Mistakes Mutual Fund Investors Are Making In Search Of Low Management Fees

Over the last five years the investment industry has seen some drastic changes.  Some are good, and will go go a long way to enhance the investor experience, creating more transparency and professionalism among advisors and while raising the standards on how advisors practice their craft.  Others are well intended, but whenever an industry goes through such dramatic changes over a short period of time there are definitely fall outs. The mutual fund industry is no exception. We have now gone from the era when some investors had no idea how their advisor got paid or how the expenses for running a mutual fund operates to a complete obsession with fees. Not that there are not mounds of printed material given and/or mailed to investors.  Heck, some people do not even bother to open their mail.  People are busy and stressed with life in modern day economy and they do avoid giving attention to a lot of things, especially reading financial information. 

The behemoth of the mutual fund industry was built on embedded fees and it worked so well over the years that the Canadian mutual fund industry is now well over the trillion dollar mark. People who would be totally left out of the financial markets have been able to invest and create a different future for themselves and their families.  Now, with long term meaning until the next hot thing comes around, discount brokerages and day trading, exchange traded funds (ETF's), not to mention that everybody's neighbour or kid is a trading or market expert, things have changed. Now we have the new kid on the block - Crypto - getting a lot of attention. I have my own opinions on "crypto" which will be another post.  What hasn't changed though is investor behavioural psychology and that is why I feel that there should have been much more effort put into investor education and financial literacy before rolling out some of the changes.  The current situation is kind of reminding me of the multi-level marking buy term and invest the difference era of the life insurance industry.  It didn't work out so well for a lot of people who ended up with dud policies and they didn't get rich in the twenty years they were supposed to so that they wouldn't need the life insurance. There were lots of "pie in the sky" marketing and so many people got fooled all because sales people told vulnerable people they were being ripped off by owning permanent life insurance.  So here we are at another juncture in the financial services industry that will impact millions of people in the years to come.

The only thing that's constant is change so I believe when the dust settles everything and everyone will find their new normal. In the mean time here are five mistakes I see investors making in pursuit of low management fees.

Mistake #1 - Dumping a well managed fund with proven track record with good returns for a do-it-yourself option even though they do not have the knowledge, time, experience to "do it yourself". They hear the argument from friends, or from a competitor who wants their business and of course the competitor shows them a fund with 20 or 30 basis points lower management fee without properly comparing investments and they jump.

Mistake #2 - Not taking income tax into consideration when deciding to move non-registered investments.  So is triggering a $30,000, $50,000 or even a $100,000 capital gains to save 20 beeps of management fee worth it?  This tax issue is huge because depending on age and financial situation having additional taxable income could throw off qualification for many benefits and programs.  But tell me who likes paying an extra $10,000, $15,000 or $25,000 in income tax?

Mistake #3 - Not finding out the cost of fees (deferred sales charges, transfer out fees) before making the decision to move an account.  Sometimes a few months would make a difference.  Sometimes the change can be made in stages but because the homework is not done, the costs of moving the funds erodes or even wipe out completely any gain or potential gain by paying a lower management fee. In many cased the client wind up in a much worse situation.

Mistake #4 - Lower management fee does not automatically mean higher returns. 

Mistake #5 - Chasing returns.  If you are chasing returns, chances are good that you are chasing last years returns. Returns are always in the rear view mirror, so having a plan and knowing your risk level and selecting investments that align with your comfort level and your money philosophy is more important than chasing returns in the long run.

Want to know more? get in touch.

Beverley

Investment Fund Advisor & Life and Health Insurance Advisor

Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc.

Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network

Ontario Central Region (OCR), GTA West Branch

5070 Dixie Road

Mississauga, On L4W 1C9

T. (905) 276-9456, Ext 4414

E. beverley.allen@dfsin.ca

November 21, 2022

The Law Of Survival: Adaptability

Change is hard.  Change is inevitable and in modern economies change is constant.  Sometimes change happens quickly - blink and your life changes.  As with nature, so it is with humans, on broader societal level like after the "9/11"  terror attack on the United States or recent hurricane that decimated many of the islands that make up The Bahamas. In the case of the terror attacks life as we knew it changed forever - for everybody on the planet.  On a personal basis life could be just humming along and wham, out of nowhere something happens - sudden illness, death of a loved one, a breakdown in a significant relationship, and everything changes.  As the saying goes, life must go on, so we recalibrate and carry on.

No doubt that people who are more adaptable recover faster and do better over all.  No where is there  more evident of this than in the modern day workforce.  Take for instance a lady I know who worked part-time as a cashier at a popular discount grocery chain.  She had resigned herself to a very ordinary life as a low wage income earner, then her employer shut down.  She then saw an opportunity to change her life - in mid-life! She went back to school, retooled herself to work in a sector of the economy that was growing in demand and from then on life took off.  She worked two jobs, became a homeowner, made it into the "middle class" and the *"20% club". She retired with a company pension and personal retirement savings.

One of my favourite life changing stories is of another lady who was made redundant in the hospital cutbacks of the Mike Harris era in Ontario. This lady, a wonderful Christian woman, was divorced and raised her four children in one of the troubled subsidized housing complexes in Toronto. The layoff was a gift! Although not far from retirement, she took her severance pay and purchased a lovely two-family home in the suburbs. She continued to work in the same position in the health care sector and worked well past the normal retirement age. She  also graduated to the middle class, and into the *"20% club". Now retired for many years, income from the rental suite in her home, on top of her employer and government pensions, affords her a comfortable retirement and she will have a legacy to leave for her children and grandchildren.

Contrast these two stories of resilience with others in similar situations who took their lay-off as an opportunity to "take it easy", then found it too difficult to get back in the workforce and life goes downhill from there. I know many of those stories as well.  Because of this, I would say adaptability is the key to survival, financially, socially and psychologically. 

Over the last four decades my industry - the financial services industry - has gone through major  transformation as well.  With the so called four  pillars - insurance - investments - banking and real estate coming down, how financial services are delivered and by whom has gone through major evolution.  A new round of evolution started around ten years ago and the changes are picking up speed. With the average age of advisors in Canada being over 55 years old, many advisors unable or unwilling to adapt have left the industry or opted for early retirement.  Others see opportunities for personal and professional growth.  I am one of those who see opportunities to grow and redefine myself so that I can continue to add value to the people I serve.

I am excited for the future!

Beverley

Investment Fund Advisor & Life and Health Insurance Advisor

Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc.

Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network

Ontario Central Region (OCR), GTA West Branch

5070 Dixie Road

Mississauga, On L4W 1C9

T. (905) 276-9456, Ext 4414

E. beverley.allen@dfsin.ca

* The "20% club" I refer to is the statistics on net worth of Canadians - 80% have investable assets under $50,000.

The Top 5 Lies I Used To Myself

Spoiler alert, spoiler alert! I used to lie to myself a lot. We all lie to ourselves but of course we don't do it intentionally except on the occasions when we are having a pity party.  It all happens unconsciously in the subconscious mind after repeated reinforcement fed by believing thoughts we did not "hold up to the light of day" and examine if they are true or not.  We lie to ourselves and yet we demand absolute truth from those around us because we are honest upstanding human being citizens.  Imagine that? No wonder there is such a tremendous lack of compassion in our world.

Intellectual knowledge of this phenom wont change a thing though.  I considered and prided myself as one of those honest, upstanding human beings and so it was intentional focused effort to get through one of the most difficult periods on my earthly sojourn that lead me to the work of Byron Katie @ByronKatie, TheWork.com lead me to this awareness. It is close to twenty years now.  During one of our sessions my coach put on a tape of a talk by Byron Katie; prior to that I never heard of her but that was life changing for me. In the tape Ms. Katie relayed the dramatic story that a mistrusting young wife told herself about her husband every time he's late getting home followed by her punch line "just because you have a thought doesn't mean you have to believe it". That session definitely ignited in me the habitual practice of reflection and self-examination.  Here are the top 5 lies I told myself, in no particular order of frequency or intensity.

#1. No one was there for me - lie, lie, lie! Perhaps some people who I expected or wanted to be there for me during my difficulties were not there.  They did not show up in any way, as a matter of fact some ran for the hills, however God placed some very awesome people in my life at every step of my journey.  When I shifted my focus to being grateful and thankful for those who showed up my hurts vanished as I was no longer a victim of circumstances and more help, more opportunities and more appreciation showed up as well.

#2. I raised my children by myself - this could not be more false! Many single and divorced parents tell themselves this lie.  Every single step of the way there we incredible people in my life.  While there were no biological grandparents around and certainly not the closeness of uncles, aunts and cousins I grew up with, every place lived I met and lived and worshiped among terrific people.  Even now when I visit my old neighbourhood in Heart Lake Village, Brampton Ontario I instinctively say to myself "this was a great place to raise my children, I could not have picked a better place to live - I could still live here".

#3. Life is hard - yes it is hard if that is what I tell myself.  My grandparents' lives were hard, and in some cases brutal! I remember hearing stories from my maternal grandfather, Granville, affectionately called Pupa, about living in Cuba and working on the Panama Canal.  He returned home a sick man and remained sickly for the remainder of his life.  My parents' lives were hard, they mostly farmed on challenging terrain, they had eight children to feed but my life hard - no way. I had challenges and difficult situations to overcome but I cannot honestly say my life has been hard.


#4.  I don't need anybody, I can do life all by myself .   What a big fat lie, ouch! Some, if not all of these lies we tell ourselves come from a place of hurt. I do appreciate all my teachers who have helped me on this journey into spiritual awakening. I am grateful for all of them - the ones who write books, have talks and TV shows, the ones who I can call and reason with, all giants in their own way.

#5. I am not important.  Yes I am! If I was not important I would not have been born, hello!! We are all important just as we are because we are all in service of something bigger than ourselves.  The fact that there are over 7 BILLION people on earth and every one has a unique finger print is the dead give away - you think?  My journey to this realization has astounded and fascinated me the most so far.

My dear friend, I truly hope that this will inspire you to examine your thoughts today.  Make your own list and as my friend and former coach Pat Williamson would say "bring out the garden sheers and start snipping the stories".  Suffering ends when we cut the stories and change our perspective on past events.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Beverley

Investment Fund Advisor & Life and Health Insurance Advisor

Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc.

Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network

Ontario Central Region (OCR), GTA West Branch

5070 Dixie Road

Mississauga, On L4W 1C9

T. (905) 276-9456, Ext 4414

E. beverley.allen@dfsin.ca

#Desire #Faith #Courage #GrowthMindset #PersonalGrowth #ChangeExperience

Money Moxie: The Power Of Intention

I'm still pumped after completing the Think & Grow Rich Mastermind book study at the end of January.  I am also majorly stoked about what studying this book did for Paul Martinelli and so many others; and to see how energized he still is about using the book to help others rise to their purpose. More than twenty thousand enthusiastic people from around the world participated in the book study with Paul and Roddy - is that not amazing?

Well, Hill promised that "the secret" is revealed at least once in every chapter and also that every reader would get insights and inspirations and I have gotten them, some I will be sharing with you my fans. This is the fourth time I read the book, and my second Master Mind study; each time around I have gotten more out of it. Now, my biggest revelation to date is the fact that even though the book came out of a study - research which lasted more than twenty years, the whole premise of it is based on spiritual laws!  As I participated in the study in 2018 and now in 2019 I cannot help but conclude that Napoleon Hill was way ahead of his time.  The way he condensed twenty plus years of research into this book of thirteen principles that are so effective and have stood the test of time is a testament to that. Spiritual laws are infallible, they work for anyone and everyone who apply them with INTENTION.

According to  Deepak Chopra, author of The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success, intention and desire are intertwined, they drive each other.  He said that attention energizes while intention transforms and intention is the real power behind desire.  This clicked for me. Looking back at the things that worked well for me and those that didn't, I now understand better than I ever have.

So then, how do we tap into this incredible power?  I believe that we need to honestly assess ourselves. We need to search our hearts to find our true desires.  When we do this we will find that some of the things that we thought we wanted are not that important to us after all.  Some things and situations that we spent a lot of time on may not even make our short list.  This exercise will be very valuable because after we eliminate the time wasters, we will now have the time and the focus to act on our true desires.

Here are three other steps that all the leading authority figures whose books I have read or listened to have stated as important to harnessing the power of intention.

1) Make a list of of your desires.  Read the list every morning after waking up and before going to sleep at night, and also during quite times.  Carry the list with you at all times so you have it available.

2) Surrender the list (to God), trusting that he got this! Trust also that he knows what you do not, so time and timing are in his control.  Detach yourself from the outcome while happily doing the actions that will take you in the direction of your dreams.

3) Stay true to yourself, be established in your faith; do not be influenced by the opinion of others. Only share your desires with those who have similar desires and support you.

I can also recommend John C. Maxwell's book, Intentional Living which I read in 2017; it was instructional and informative just like all of John's other books. Whatever you desire I wish you much success.  

If you live in Ontario and you desire financial security for your family, please feel free to contact me, I would love to hear from you.  If not, contact a reputable advisor in your jurisdiction.

Beverley

Investment Fund Advisor & Life and Health Insurance Advisor

Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc.

Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network

Ontario Central Region (OCR), GTA West Branch

5070 Dixie Road

Mississauga, On L4W 1C9

T. (905) 276-9456, Ext 4414
E. beverley.allen@dfsin.ca

#MoneyTalk #MoneyTalkwithBevAllen #TheValueOfSoundAdvice  #MoneyMoxie #MoneyMindset #RetirementReadiness #FinancialNeedsAnalysis #FinancialPlan #FinancialSecurity

#coaching #investments #mentoring #persistence #howto #planning

Money Moxie - Why We Need A Plan & An Advisor-Coach-Mentor

      TAGR  Companion Text

We are at the end of January, one month out of the new year has now been crossed off the calendar.  Did you complete or review and update your Life Plan, outlining your purpose, vision and goals?  Did you create a plan for 2019 as your road map for the year?  If you haven't yet done so, finish reading this blog post and then immediately commit to set aside time to do so.

For the past sixteen days I have been doing this study with Paul Martinelli and Roddy Galbraith. Oh my, are they ever great teachers mentors!  The depth and breadth of their knowledge and their ability to inspire is amazing.  I have decided,  like Paul,  I will study the book for the rest of my life. 

As Paul reiterated in his teaching video, the book is "Think & Grow Rich, not think and get rich", so intentional persistent application of the principles contained in the book is required. Napoleon Hill also made sure to stress that the application of the principles will not work if done in a hap hazard way.  Without a strong desire, a written plan and persistent action towards attaining your financial desires, they are  are just wishes.

Something else that hit me recently during the study on Persistence -  Hill said only 2 out of every 100 people have a definite goal and a definite plan for its attainment, thus having the awareness of how to transmute desire into it's monetary equivalent. The other 98% has to be taught/coached! Today,  over 80 years after the book was first published still only 1% of the population controls more than 80% of the world's wealth.  80% of the population in USA and Canada have investable assets of $50,000 or less. That means in spite of the progress made over the last 100 years,  in terms of wealth and financial security,  there is much work that needs to be done!

The final chapter in the book is the Epilogue - How to Outwit the Six Ghosts of Fear.   In this chapter Hill instructed readers to take an inventory of themselves and find out how many of the "Ghosts" of fear are standing in their way before they can put the any portion of the thirteen steps of the philosophy into use successfully, as the mind has to first be prepared to receive it.  And how do we prepare the mind? "It begins with study, analysis, and understanding of the three enemies which you will have to clear out - indecision, doubt and fear." In other words, we need to be aware of what is holding us back and address it before we can move forward.

Four out of the six fears cited by Napoleon Hill involve our financial welbeing that can be helped  by working with advisors, coaches and mentors.  Here are the six fears as listed in the book:

Poverty

Criticism

Ill Health

Lost Love

Old age

Death

Interestingly, research shows that advised households accumulate over 2.7 times the assets non-advised households over a 15 year period.* The longer the period, the greater the impact.  So even though Think & Grow Rich was published almost 80 years before the study, the philosophy of the book is more relevant and more needed than ever.

Need help?  Call or send me an email.


BEVERLEY ALLEN, FLMI

Beverley

Investment Fund Advisor & Life and Health Insurance Advisor

Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc.

Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network

Ontario Central Region (OCR), GTA West Branch

5070 Dixie Road

Mississauga, On L4W 1C9

T. (905) 276-9456, Ext 4414
E. beverley.allen@dfsin.ca

*Study, The Value of Advice, published in 2012 by the Investment Fund Institute Of Canada (IFIC).

#MoneyTalk #MoneyTalkwithBevAllen #TheValueOfSoundAdvice  #MoneyMoxie #MoneyMindset #RetirementReadiness #FinancialNeedsAnalysis #FinancialPlan #FinancialSecurity

#coaching #investments #mentoring #persistence #howto #planning

Money Moxie - Practicing Consistency

"If you are persistent, you get it.  If you are consistent, you'll keep it.  Consistency is key." Serita Jakes 

Consistency is the secret sauce to sustained success.  If you observe the people who stay on top of their game - industry, profession, career - they share one think in common, and that is consistency.

I joined a mastermind group back in December to study the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.  I first read the book back in May of 1988 and it has been sitting on the shelf ever since.  I was home with a cast on a broken leg and grieving the loss of my beloved mother, it was Winter, and it sucked to be laid up big time.  I saw the promotional information  for the mastermind and thought, let me pull this book out and read it again, which I did.  After finishing my second read I could not help asking my self, "why was I not reading this book every six months?"  I decided to join up the TAGR mastermind group anyway, just so I could get a "deeper dive" into the text and get the benefit of the group wisdom.  The first assignment in the study was to read the chapter on persistence every day for fourteen days consecutively.  If we missed a day, we would have to start over from day one again! For quite a few years I have been attempting to become more consistent in my daily routines as I realized that great skill and knowledge and persistence but not consistently applied will cause one to come up short more often than not.  But  it was this assignment that brought out the reality of this awareness!  To get this assignment done I had to create a routine for reading and follow it consistently.  Is this easy? No it is not!  Especially with many tasks and interactions to cause distraction.  But a decision has to be made, if this is important to you, once you make the decision you definitely will do it.

To be successful at anything, a high level of consistency must be maintained. I can tell you those who develop routines and follow them consistently are less frustrated and more successful. They are more productive, they accomplish more for sure.  I was a young administrator working in a branch office of a life insurance company when I had a chat with one of the older and very successful agents.  He told me about his daily routine.  He said he got up the same time every day, read, have the same thing for breakfast and go to the barber for a shave before coming to the office.  He had lunch the same time every day!  That impressed upon my mind and I never forgot that conversation.  There were times when I criticized folks who I thought were not flexible enough because of their strict adherance to established routines but I later evolved on the matter as I realized that it worked for them.  My personality is of such that too much routine would make me feel like I'm in a straight jacket, but I never the less need to set up strict routines in the areas that matter the most to me or I'm likely to sabotage myself.  Many creative people hate routines but they are very necessary in some areas of life.

"Riches do not respond to wishes.  They respond only to definite plans, backed by definite desire, through constant persistence."  Napoleon Hill - Think And Grow Rich

When it comes to your major life goals, your money goals, being consistent is a must.  Consistently making, updating and following a budget means you will stay on track with spending and saving.  Having a plan in place to save and invest will keep you moving in the direction of your dreams.  The majority of people I have met with significant assets did not inherit them nor did they win the lottery! What they did do though is have some form of "forced" savings and investing, whether it is through their work in Group Retirement and Thrift Plans or individual plans they set up themselves through an advisor.  If you are going to wait until you have a big chunk of money before you start investing, it is a slim chance you will, because when that big chunk comes, if it comes at all, something will be waiting for it!

Once you have created a plan for your money goals and implemented programs toward their attainment, it is imperative to review them on a consistent basis.  Make adjustments as necessary.
For instance, if you start earning more money, you can increase your weekly or monthly savings and investment allotments, if you have a temporary setback you can lower them and reset them later.  Without regular review though, it is easy to lose track of the original goals and just let your plan drift.

Aspire to be consistent in all that you do so that it becomes part of your character.

BEVERLEY ALLEN, FLMI

Beverley

Investment Fund Advisor & Life and Health Insurance Advisor

Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc.

Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network

Ontario Central Region (OCR), GTA West Branch

5070 Dixie Road

Mississauga, On L4W 1C9

#MoneyTalk #MoneyTalkwithBevAllen #TheValueOfSoundAdvice  #MoneyMoxie #MoneyMindset #RetirementReadiness #practicingconsistency

Money Moxie - Money Mindset

Mindset is the single most important determinant of success or failure on the road to wealth accumulation and the creation of generational wealth.  What exactly is mindset?  Dictionary.com defines mindset as "a fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretation of situations".  This is pretty clear and accurate definition as it relates to all things money.  Mindset is "hard wired" way of thinking based of beliefs and experiences accumulated through family upbringing, life experiences, religious and spiritual beliefs plus our own fears, desires and expectations based on how we interpret the world around us.  Much of the hard wiring is on an unconscious level so we are not even aware of how these unconscious beliefs affects our decisions.

I have encountered some distinct patterns and mindsets during the course of my career in the financial services business and as a keen student in the school of life.  Take life insurance for instance; I have had highly intelligent and educated prospective clients say that they do not believe in life insurance and yet they understood life insurance as what it is - a tool where by you make arrangement for a sum of money you have not yet accumulated (and in many cases may not accumulate over a lifetime) to be paid out to the beneficiary or beneficiaries upon the death of the insured person.  Clearly any responsible person who does not have a trust fund set up for them, no longer lives in a village where family members take care of each other, who has created financial obligations (a family, debt) should have at least sufficient life insurance to take care of their funeral expenses and other financial obligations.  It would not take long in a casual chat about life insurance before the story where someone in the family - a parent, or grandparent "got taken to the cleaners" or lost money through an insurance company or an insurance agent, usually many many years ago before the insurance industry became the highly regulated and before systems now common place were even invented.  Ditto for investing in the stock markets.  A bad experience in the family repeated often creates a mindset that says only the bank is safe, or only the very rich can afford to invest in the stock markets.  The sad thing is that the negative experience sometimes has no resemblance whatsoever to the current reality and yet is is used as a block or hindrance to making beneficial decisions today.  In 1997 I ran into an old school mate who was living in New York.  I had not seen him for over twenty years.  Getting reacquainted we had many conversations about different aspects of life.  In one such discussion he told me that he would never buy a house in New York.  I was puzzled by this statement as he had a family and they were living a a rented house but his wife wanted them to have their own home and this became a bone of contention in their marriage.  After sharing my philosophy on home ownership and how it could be worthwhile for them if thy got a multi-family property I could see light bulbs popping.  Did not hear from my friend for about six months after that.  One morning my phone rang and upon answering I heard his voice, he sound very upbeat, even excited.  After exchanging pleasantries he went on to tell me that he and his wife had purchased a home and how happy that had made her.  The property was a triplex so the family occupied one unit while the other two were rented out.  From what I know, they still own the home.  Given they way real New York estate has gone in the last twenty years it worked out very well for them.  Mindsets can change, especially if it is a position taken without proper information and or out of fear.

Driving around you sometimes see bumper stickers that read "I AM SPENDING MY CHILDREN'S INHERITANCE".  This is good for a few kicks and giggle, but a mindset like this will stop some people from planning for when they will no longer be around.  If they have assets it is  lawyers, accountants and the government who become their most significant beneficiaries.  Quite often this mindset is an excuse to explain away an embarrassing financial reality or poor spending habits.

Some stances on money are not hard wired but are born out of bitterness and disappointments from children and other family members.  People do feel let down after making tremendous sacrifice  and the hurt and disappointment and feelings of being let down cause them to make decisions that are detrimental to their own future as well as that of future generations.  Take for example this lady I will call Velma (not her real name), she was so hurt by the behaviour of one of her daughters that her share as a beneficiary on the life insurance was kept at a very small percentage until finally the relationship was repaired.  Velma was so happy about being able to see her grandchildren from this daughter she went and had her will redone and changed her beneficiary designations to leave a more equitable share of her estate for this daughter.    I call these types of situation "soft wiring" or situational mindset.

Releasing Negative Mindsets & Money Blockers

"You cannot change your destination overnight but you can change your direction." Jim Rohn

Thought patterns more deeply ingrained because of generational baggage and trauma are more challenging to shift or overcome but it is certainly possible.  "I want to be more successful with my money and at life, where do I start?"  First comes awareness, by reading this you are connecting with the writing and becoming conscious of the need to look at what needs to change.  You most definitely will be getting little ah ha moments.  Keep going, the more you pay attention, the more frequently they come.  The good thing is once you see, you cannot "unsee", and if you build a strong desire the information and opportunities you need will find their way to you.  I strongly suggest you get a personal coach, and depending on your family history and life experience you may be wise to also seek professional counselling.  Trying to move forward without dealing with your "blockers" would be like trying to swim against the current during a storm.

I could not write about money mindset without talking about the influence of our religious beliefs on how we view and deal with money.  Because I am a Christian I know the damages that "wrong believing" taught and practiced  in many church denominations can do.  I experienced this first hand, and I see it with other practicing Christians in my business and hear about it through other personal encounters.  I was a young Christian mother, around thirty two years old, going through a difficult time in life.  I have always been a believer, raised in a Christian home, but my mother was a pragmatic Christian.  She was not one of those women who saw church attendance as being more important that caring for her young children.  I was baptized in the Apostolic faith, which was new to me,  and found some of their practises much too rigid and impractical in a changing world but I wanted to be a good church member so I followed along.  Some of the older members were exceptionally hard on the young women, even those with young children.  I remember once arriving at church and being accosted and chastised by an Evangelist that I was "running down money" because I was absent from the mid-week services.  I never discussed my personal business with this lady, she know nothing about me.  I was going through so much at the time, having two young children and a husband who was not cooperating or pulling his share of the family responsibilities.  That experience left me so hurt me that it took me a while to get over it, but I never forget it.  Not long after that I moved from the city to the suburbs and never returned to that church, having been back only once for a funeral.  Yes, even the church that should be a place of refuge sometimes pile on more hurt and damage than the outside world.

Small changes add up and pay huge dividends.  For me leaving the city for a nice suburban town in a lovely family oriented neighbourhood was the first of many significant moves that I made on my journey through the the second phase of my life.  Act II, as I call it,  was all about raising my children to be successful adults, surving and thriving in self-employment and coming out at the other end sane and healthy.  By making intentional changes to steer your life in the direction of your dreams you will reinvent yourself without even realizing it!  You have to be prepared to make shifts in your belief system and do things that you may not otherwise be prepared to do though, otherwise it will not happen for you.

Here are some books that have helped me that you may want to read.
1) Ageless Body, Timeless Mind by Deepak Chopra.
2) Intentional Living by John C. Maxwell.
3) The 15 Invaluable Laws Of Growth by John C. Maxwell.
4) How Successful People Think by John C. Maxwell.

In case you are wondering, yes, I love John Maxwell's work!  He is the number one leadership expert and I do believe he leads by example.  He also happens to be an ordained minister.

Good reading,

BEVERLEY ALLEN, FLMI

Beverley

Investment Fund Advisor & Life and Health Insurance Advisor

Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc.

Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network

Ontario Central Region (OCR), GTA West Branch

5070 Dixie Road

Mississauga, On L4W 1C9

#MoneyTalk #MoneyTalkwithBevAllen #TheValueOfSoundAdvice  #MoneyMoxie #MoneyMindset #RetirementReadiness 

Money Moxie - The Power Of Patience

So much has been written about persistence, but patience, not as much.  Yet patience is the wrapping around PERSISTENCE and FAITH that binds them together and make them work.  Patience is the missing component in the formula for success at everything we undertake, and with investing and financial planning PATIENCE is vital.

 As a matter of fact, from my thirty years plus experience as an Insurance Advisor & Investment Fund Advisor, I see where many people who desire financial security or to leave a legacy for their heirs and loved ones stumble and fall because of lack of patience.  Sometimes it's a lack of faith as well as patience but mostly  patience.  We believe the event of retirement is too far away to think about it now, let alone start planning for the day when we would "pack it all in" and take life easy or do something entirely different.  The prospect of paying for a life insurance policy for forty or fifty years is a turn off for many, because they cannot see the value of making such a commitment to ensure a legacy to their loved ones, even when we see and hear about people dying from various causes every single day!  Yet time marches on.  Some are lucky enough to realize this in time to be able to take action, others reach a place of regret once they realize that time passed them by and they did not head advice or take action on the desires of their heart.

I was at the Creflo & Taffi Dollar Change Experience Day at the Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto back in August.  Dr. Dollar was teaching a message on Grace which got my attention and I have been meditating on it since. That lesson birthed something in me! He taught us that according to the scriptures, we already have faith.  "Every man has been given a measure of FAITH", and we need only "FAITH the size of a MUSTARD SEED" to move mountains.  Creflo Dollar said what we need to do is have FAITH long enough until what we are believing for comes about. We stop believing, and give up, sometimes just when the answer was around the corner, citing many scriptures as well as modern day examples of patience at work.   In other words, we do not have enough PATIENCE to wait until our plans come into fruition.  Not so surprising as we live in the days of instant gratification, fame without the sweat, and the throw away society.  There is no gratification with impatience, none!

Once we become aware of our own deficit in patience, we cannot  "unsee" it.  As we work on growing our patience brain and emotional muscles, we begin to observe others who are strong in this area of life, and on the flip side, those who lack patience stand out a great deal more.  Yesterday,
Tuesday September 4th, 2018, being the first working day after the Labour Day,  was one of those days where my patience muscles were tried and I got to observe the consequences of impatience.  It seems like so many people made the decision that they were going to act on lingering "stuff" yesterday.  I had an out of town client passing through who decided to stop to inquire about a pending issue.  I had to call the company involved, and of course, the call queqe was long, Mr. Impatience was getting anxious, his wife sat quietly beside him, reassuring him, "dear we are here already, might as well wait and get this over with" she said.  I could see the grimace starting to appearing on his face.  Feeling empathy for him, I said "let's give it a few more minute, after that the best thing I could do is send an email and wait for the answer".  I would update you at that time I told him.  He squirmished a little in the chair and then decided they would leave.  No sooner he was out the door I got connected to a customer service representative who apologized for the wait and mentioned how busy the phones have been in the afternoon.

Just prior to Mr. Impatience's arrival I had delivered a life insurance claim cheque to a beneficiary.  The process for handling the claim required a few extra steps because of where and how the insured had died.  I had explained all this when helping with the initial forms but I reassured her to just follow the steps to the conclusion.  She did not listen at first, trying to take short cuts, and of course screaming at the me and the insurance company!  I was nice but firm.  If you just provide the information that is asked of you, whether you think it is relevant or not, things will move along much faster, I assured her.  Once she did what was required, the process worked as was expected, I came back to work from the long weekend to find her benefit cheque, including interest earned on the proceeds during the time waiting for settlement!  Huge lesson for Ms. Impatience, and I got to be the observer.  In the end I learned that payment was made without one of the initially stated requirement which was a big relief and benefit to the beneficiary as it would have cost money as well as a longer wait if the company insisted on it.

I could write about patience as it relates to investing without sharing the contrast to these two investors with you.  Mona was downsized from her company the same year as Lindsay (not their real names).  They had transferred their severance pays and pension funds to our firm, myself being the advisor.   They commenced taking income from their retirement funds in the same year (1998) and things were working rather smoothly for both of them.  Lindsay, having a bigger portfolio and was being pursued by some "hot shot" brokers, was more demanding.  Of course, each time he met with another broker he would call and we would go over every recommendation, compare and when he would realize that he already got what the "hot shot" brokers were selling.  Mona is a Christian lady, who is typical individual who listens, asks questions, weighs the answers and then make decisions and trust.  Lindsay was also a Christian who TRUSTS, but PATIENCE was not his strong suite.  Then 9/11 hit, everybody who was exposed to the financial markets "lost" money after 9/11 and the subsequent financial crisis.  During the turbulence, I did the usual due diligence of meeting with clients, going over what they had invested in, and all that.  Mona stayed put, riding out the downturns and things worked out beautifully for her.  I was preparing for her annual review meeting last week and couldn't help but gasped when I looked deeply at the number - her net investment, the amount withdrawn (the cumulative income payments) and current account value.  After drawing maximum  income permitted under a Locked-In Retirement Income Fund for approximately 20 years, her account value was still over 66% of initial investment.  She has such a heart of GRATITUDE, and does not shy about praying for guidance for her advisor.  Lindsay, on the other hand, demanded his money be moved around according to what others were saying and doing, and even though his account recovered the losses of both the 9/11 and Corporate Crisis market downturns he started making large withdrawals which undermined the purpose of the accounts and eventually transferred out to the bank.  Based on what I have learned (still in touch with him) things did not go nearly as well for him as for Mona.  The moral of this story is, because you are a Christian does not mean you automatically have patience, does not mean you will always make the right decisions.  There are essential principles of life which the Christian has to learn just like the non-christian.  Life is a journey and we all have the opportunity to learn and grow.

Since I am a person of faith I close with these quotes from the Bible scriptures:

Proverbs 28:20 (KJV)- A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh hast to be rich shall not be innocent.

2 Peter 1:6 - (NIT) And to knowledge self-control; and to self-control, patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness,👪👫👩👨😇✌👏👏👏

May you grow in patience, by GRACE, through FAITH,

BEVERLEY ALLEN, FLMI

Beverley

Investment Fund Advisor & Life and Health Insurance Advisor

Desjardins Financial Security Investments Inc.

Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network

Ontario Central Region (OCR), GTA West Branch

5070 Dixie Road

Mississauga, On L4W 1C9

#MoneyTalk #MoneyTalkwithBevAllen #TheValueOfSoundAdvice  #MoneyMoxie #ThePowerOfPatience #Patience