HAL SIMONSON & TEAM — ETHICAL FINANCIAL PLANNING & RESPONSIBLE INVESTING

Absolute certainty may not be possible, but perhaps we can move you in the general direction. Hal, Devon, and Scott proudly hold the CFP® designation, the financial planning profession's global standard. While we are securities and insurance licenced, we don't think of ourselves as stockbrokers or insurance agents. We are financial planners. Should you wish to check, you can verify our securities licensing at the CSA and view our IIROC AdvisorReport, confirm our insurance licences with the AIC, and search our certificant status with FP Canada.

We won't deny we register pretty high on the nerd scale, but that doesn't mean we are hard to relate to. We are real people with rich and varied lives away from the office. We love camping, travel, board games and books. And then there is food. We really like food. We love to share a meal, and more than a few laughs, while sampling local beer and spirits. Despite our fondness for science, we are much more backyard barbeque than ivory tower. You can find us cheering at a volleyball game or hoping the Oilers, the Jays, and the Raptors can somehow find a way this year. Just like you, we have dogs to walk, laundry to fold, and families to cherish.

In short, failing to plan is planning to fail. Of course things can happen that require a plan to change, but you can't say what kind of change without having a plan in the first place. Do you really want to "wing it" with your financial goals? We suspect you regularly make plans that require adjustments. When you travel to the grocery store, you know where you are and where you want to go. While your route may change, you don't just "wing it" and drive to a random building hoping to buy food. If you make and adjust your plan for something as routine as buying groceries, isn't planning to acheive your financial goals worth considering?

Strictly speaking, you don't. If you are reading this — on a computer connected to the internet — you have all the tools and information you need. We ask you, however, to consider one of our favourite quotes: "[...] if information was the answer then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs." This is from Derek Sivers, and you can find it by searching for the words "perfect abs" here. While the context is different, we think the same reasoning applies. The Income Tax Act is available online, and yet people hire accountants. Most of us know how to cook, and yet we order take-out. Perhaps we can add value, perhaps not. Why don't we have a conversation and find out?