Financial Advisors??

[super stoker]

Hey all, I'm looking to become a "responsible adult" and start saving my money, investing, buying a house, etc etc but it's all pretty overwhelming especially in these economic times!  Does anyone know a good advisor in the GTA?

 

[Occam]

If you're serving (Reg or Res F), why not SISIP?

http://sisip.ca/

They don't have an office in Toronto, but I don't see why all that stuff can't be conducted over the phone.

 

[oldmtler]

PLEASE be careful and checkout any adviser thoroughly.  My wife and I are currently dealing with a situation because we didnot do enough due diligent on hiring our financial adviser, a Mr Earl Jones of Pointe Claire QC.
Make sure that they are a registered financial adviser.  Get their registration number and check them out with your provincial regulator.  Be very careful in what they invest your money in and make sure that you are covered in case they commit fraud with the investment instrument your in.  Never give them control over your money.  Always retain signature rights before any money is moved or a cheque is written.
Rule one to quote Elmer Fudd is to be "very, very careful".

 

[Redeye]

Well, me, for one.

To be serious, start at your bank.  If you are just getting going in planning for your financial future, that is the idea place to start.  As an advantage, you will not be dealing with people on commission who are planning their retirement instead of yours.  There are too many people I have seen who have dealt with horror shows, being taken advantage of because of their lack of knowledge.

If your goal is to buy a home soon, open an RRSP and start socking away as much money as you can.  You'll save on income tax and then can use the Home Buyers Plan to withdraw the money tax free for your first home purchase.

Hey all, I'm looking to become a "responsible adult" and start saving my money, investing, buying a house, etc etc but it's all pretty overwhelming especially in these economic times!  Does anyone know a good advisor in the GTA?

 

[gunshy]

Does the Forces (Reg or Res F) not have some sort of Employee Assistance Program that you can speak to an Advisor covered under benefits?

My biggest peace of advice to you... never let anyone spend your money! Always get advance from your own bank or someone qualified that has no access or vested interest in your money.

Good Luck!
gunshy

 

[Occam]

Does the Forces (Reg or Res F) not have some sort of Employee Assistance Program that you can speak to an Advisor covered under benefits?

Yes, they're called SISIP (link in my previous post).  Financial planners are on salary and not commission, and the management fees are the lowest in the business, from what I'm told.

 

[Redeye]

I'm interested to see what sort of products they can offer on the investment side.  I know they run group RRSPs through Great West Life, but don't know what they offer for investment options, or what restrictions there are on the plans.  I'll try to get some info on it to see what I find out.

With some limited exceptions, the folks at your bank are not on commission, and if you decide, for example, that mutual funds are the ideal vehicle to start investing (which is commonly the case), there is the added advantage that bank-run funds tend to have low MERs, no loads, and in a couple of cases, they perform better.

Yes, they're called SISIP (link in my previous post).  Financial planners are on salary and not commission, and the management fees are the lowest in the business, from what I'm told.

 

[dapaterson]

This is pretty random stream of thought.  I've been managing my own investments for the past 20 years or so - started putting aside into RRSPs / Mutual Funds / Stocks  when I was 19.  I've done good and bad; here are my thoughts.


Low MERs are important - that's why I used to go for index funds, and now am in index ETFs.  Index funds mirror the market - you pay the MER to the bank/investment co to manage your money.  With very few exceptions, most money managers cost you money compared to index funds.  Thus, high MERs = the bank gets rich, even if you don't.

But to start out:
If you have a regular income flow, I'd recommend pre-authorised debits to your investment acount.  Probably, if you're starting out, to RRSPs, in a single mutual fund.  Hold everything in your own name - the majority of advisors are honest, but if you find the one bad one in the bunch, you're in trouble.

So, automatic transfers.  To start out, go with a generic balanced mutual fund.  A mutual fund, by its nature, gives you some diversity.  Don't get obsessive about spreading out investments at the beginning - frankly, until you're over 30K, the additional costs of multiple investments almost cancel out the benefits.  It also gives you too much information to process for too little a return

Don't panic.  Things go up, things go down - over time, you'll learn more and rebalance (bonds vs stocks, etc) - but if you start saving even $50 per month it adds up fast.  Increase your savings when you get pay increases and it grows even faster.

Request DRIPs for all your investments.  That's "Dividend Reinvestment Plans" - the dividends and payouts from your investments get rolled back into the investments. 

Read up on investing - I like Moneysense magazine for broad topics (not detailed understandings and explanations, though).  They have a "Lazy Man's Investment Portfolio" (or something like that); I'd argue that it's still to involved, but the theory - buy, hold, adjust no more than once a year - is sound.

Everyone on the Internet has an opinion.  Many are shills, promoting their own investments.  Be selective and careful.


Most important recommendatioon for the end: If you can't understand the investment, don't invest in it.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

To bad I have a friend and ex-army buddy that does our stuff here in Vancouver. He gives us recommandations based on our level of risk. A lot of the advice is around how to use the money you have wisely and on what type of insurance to buy or not.

 

[observor 69]

My thoughts run roughly along the lines of dataperson.
So my advice is open a mutual fund account at either TD or the Royal Bank, the two top banks in Canada. I prefer TD as you can buy "E" index funds online with very low MER.
Portfolio percentage break down is fixed income  = your age, again I like the TD "e" bond index fund, the rest is in equity.
For equity buy the TD dividend fund and the "e" balanced index fund.
As dataperson said there is the "easy chair" or "couch potato" model described in the Money Sense magazine LINK.
Best piece of advice, read as much as you can on personal investing, or as Warren Buffet has said " If you don't understand it, don't invest in it."

 

[Roy Harding]

My advice would be along the same line as most previous posters.

DO NOT use an "individual" as your financial advisor.  Go with an established corporation of some kind - any of the banks is a good start.  Other companies, such as Investor's Group, ING, and the like (I'm not shilling for any of them) are a good start.  SISIP (if you're a serving member) is probably the best deal you'll find.

Find someone (employed by one of the previously mentioned corporations) that you are comfortable dealing with - then check what they're saying, then check it again, then check it again - then set something up.

If you do this right, you can be damned comfortable fairly early.  My wife was smart enough to insist we get involved in real estate and investments early.  This enable me to retire at 43 years of age - start my own corporation, and live comfortably on my CF pension and our investments (we're not rich, but there's little that we want to do that we can't afford), without worrying about how much my corporation is making (damned good thing - so far it hasn't paid for the new shop and tools).

DON'T go with an INDIVIDUAL - the papers are FULL of reports of individuals who ripped their customers off.  Earlier in this thread, Oldmtler mentioned his personal experience with such a fella' - and I'm sure it HURTS.

 

[Redeye]

Stay well clear of Investors Group. Extremely expensive funds sold DSC only by commissioned sales reps who are chasing a commission cheque.  Avoid at all costs.

Agree on RBC and TD (I worked at TD for a few years before moving to Royal, and both have great advisors and a good span of of funds.  The TD e series
are great for those who can employ them (ie know how to build a portfolio).  RBC has their D series through RBC Direct Investing which are somewhat similar.  You can't really go wrong with either firm.

 

[oldmtler]

I used Mr Earl Jones and we are in a bit of a mess because of him.  But the TD is moving mountains getting us back on track.  I can recommend them too.

 

[Cpl4Life]

Whatever you do DO NOT go with SISIP.  They are a-holes; when our daughter passed away we approached SISIP to invest the money and found they did not handle the type of investments we wanted.  We had previously tried using them for financial counselling (advise) and they said there was nothing more they could do for us (we track every penny and we budget).  So the only thing left was to use them for income tax returns.  After learning I went elsewhere to invest my money, the bloody a-holes at SISIP made me sign a letter only days after my daughter died saying I was using no other services besides the income tax service and as a result they were cancelling my services to them (ie they were firing me as a customer).  The a-holes knew where the money was coming from that we were investing too.  I should have never signed that letter, but I was so shocked they were doing that to me stupid me signed it.  But now I realize it was a god send and I would never deal with SISIP ever again; I find their services sub par at best.

Dapaterson is right, watch the MER's and other fees.  A "financial advisor" at a local credit union didn't know what the MER's were on the funds she was selling.... she had to phone the fund administrator to find out.  Apparently we were the first one she has ever dealt with who requested it.  She said most people have no clue there are fees involved when cashing out funds etc.

It doesn't take much, read some books (Canadian of course), read some discussion forums (Canadian business is a great website for research) and become knowledgeable so you don't get suckered in.

I also do not recommend Investors Group - sleeze bags imho.

 

[dapaterson]

On more thought.  Advisors who claim to work for "free" are getting commissions on the products they sell you.  One gent I know pointed out that index ETFs don't pay him anything, so he wouldn't recommend them.  Instead, he sells other investments which do pay him an ongoing income stream.  Moral of the story:  Always ask what your advisor gets paid on all your investments.

 

[Occam]

Whatever you do DO NOT go with SISIP.  They are a-holes; when our daughter passed away we approached SISIP to invest the money and found they did not handle the type of investments we wanted. 

What type of investment were you looking for?  We've been investing with them for some time now, and feel pretty confident that they offer the exact same products that the banks and investment brokers offer.

 

[super stoker]

Well, following the recommendations of some and against that of others, I am now a client of Investors Group.  I shopped around at SISIP and the banks and nobody I spoke to really seemed all that knowledgeable.  Another member of the forces referred me to his advisor and we had a meeting.  He used to serve full time in the forces, and is still in the Naval Reserve, so he has a good knowledge of the military system.  More importantly, he knows his stuff when it comes to money!  I am very impressed so far.  Thanks to everyone for their input!

 

[George Wallace]

Hey all, I'm looking to become a "responsible adult" and start saving my money, investing, buying a house, etc etc but it's all pretty overwhelming especially in these economic times!  Does anyone know a good advisor in the GTA?

Four days.  That was fast. 

 

[Redeye]

If you are saving for a home purchase and want to make use of those funds, make sure he has not sold you DSC (back end loaded funds) or you cannot get out of them for seven years without paying back his commission to IG.  Their funds are already some of the most expensive in terms of fees in Canada and the DSC thing makes it infinitely worse.  Also, though not all IG people do this - do NOT let him talk you into leveraging (ie, borrowing to invest), I have seen that end very, very badly for a lot of people, and it's done just to make them even more commissions.

A friend of mine who worked at IG use to quip that their motto should be, "We'll take your money and my experience and turn it into my money and your experience."

Well, following the recommendations of some and against that of others, I am now a client of Investors Group.  I shopped around at SISIP and the banks and nobody I spoke to really seemed all that knowledgeable.  Another member of the forces referred me to his advisor and we had a meeting.  He used to serve full time in the forces, and is still in the Naval Reserve, so he has a good knowledge of the military system.  More importantly, he knows his stuff when it comes to money!  I am very impressed so far.  Thanks to everyone for their input!

 

[super stoker]

If you are saving for a home purchase and want to make use of those funds, make sure he has not sold you DSC (back end loaded funds) or you cannot get out of them for seven years without paying back his commission to IG.  Their funds are already some of the most expensive in terms of fees in Canada and the DSC thing makes it infinitely worse.  Also, though not all IG people do this - do NOT let him talk you into leveraging (ie, borrowing to invest), I have seen that end very, very badly for a lot of people, and it's done just to make them even more commissions.

A friend of mine who worked at IG use to quip that their motto should be, "We'll take your money and my experience and turn it into my money and your experience."

LOL, nice quote.  That is good advice.  Some of my money was put into 'back end" but most is in No load because of the house thing.  I am not really sure when that will be happening but I thought it best to leave it available.  The MER's were the main concern for me, but maybe you get what you pay for?