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.

Self-Leadership & Money: The Top 5 Lies I Used To Myself

Self-Leadership & Money: 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 o...

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 - Fall Money Tune Up: Review Life Insurance Needs & Inforce Coverages

Fall In The City - Toronto

This is the first of the fall tune up series.  Fall is officially hear, and in a few days we will usher in October, the beginning of the last quarter of 2018. General before the winter sets in we take our cars in for servicing, making sure the vehicle is in good shape for the winter ahead.  Now is a great time to do a financial tune up, and for folks with the income and or assets to take advantage of tax planning strategies, if you start now, you will have time to implement changes before the end of the calendar year.

I am starting off with life insurance though, because this area gets neglected often. I have seen print articles where research shows that most Canadians are UNDER INSURED!  Let's face it, it's morbid and not a topic most people discuss at the water cooler (are those still around?) or in the lunch room.  This past Tuesday I delivered life insurance claim cheques to a widow.  They were clients of my office before I joined, I got them as clients after their agent left the business.  Both spouses worked in the financial industry in mid level management/lower level executive positions on the business lending side, my age group, solid family and successful in every measure for a modern middle class family.  You know what the spouse/beneficiary said to me when I when to her home to help her with the claim forms?  "I wish Peter (not his real name) had more life insurance.  I am okay but the boys are just starting out, look at home prices, they have huge mortgages."  I felt it for her.  Really, really felt for her.  You see I had been trying for three years to make an appointment to see them but because they were with great jobs in a great industry and felt secure with having no mortgage and good pensions and some personal retirement savings they were alright and always had other priorities or too busy.

Bevism:  The only insurance that will pay when you die is one that is in force.  Get covered now, and make changes when you've figured out a long term strategy, or when you can afford the plan you prefer -  Beverley Allen

By sitting down with an advisor and updating your Financial Needs Analysis, your  concerns, "wants and needs" are discussed brought up, discussed and prioritized.  Your Financial Plan is updated to include your new  goals and priorities and then you can implement programs to address those priorities.  Life insurance plays a different role at every state of life.  When you are starting out, young family, building a career, Term Life, particularly Renewable Term, is a great way to get your desired coverage on the cheap.  You should have a long term strategy, however.  If these clients had not converted their Term Life policies to permanent insurance in their forties, there would be no insurance benefits to collect because "Peter" had taken "a package" from work and had retired early, so there was no group benefits.

In a nutshell, for your fall money tune up:

1) Get a Financial Needs Analysis (FNA) done.
2) Review the report, prioritize your wants and needs.
3) Apply for new coverages, or upgrade/set up new plans according to those priorities.
4) Review/update beneficiary designations on existing plans.
5) The Will - don't have one?  Get it done!  Have a will - if there has been changes in your family or life situation, review, and update if necessary.
6) Have Term Life coverage?  Look at converting some or all of your coverage to permanent insurance.  Do not wait until you can no longer afford the renewal premiums or get a final conversion option letter from your insurance company, your choices will be quite limited at that time.

Happy fall season,

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 #FinancialNeedsAnalysis #FinancialPlan #FinancialSecurity

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