I’m trying to draw a parallel between a high cholesterol diet and the current state of savings for Canadians after seeing a video this morning with some startling news. Nothing in this poll is new, we’ve heard it time and time again – however, 32% of Canadian individuals over the age of 45 have NO retirement savings, according to a CIBC.
https://www.bnn.ca/32-of-canadians-are-nearing-retirement-without-any-savings-poll-1.991680
So what does high cholesterol have with poor retirement planning? Well, I would argue that in MOST situations – it can be easily avoided!
We are encouraged every year to exercise, eat healthy, get lots of sleep and try and reduce anxiety and stress, but rarely are we encouraged to keep our finances healthy? Big corporations and even your own government encourages you to SPEND, and become CONSUMERS. BUY now, and pay LATER. The debt roller coaster that we have all been riding is a vicious one. Historically low interest rates have infected hundreds of thousands of Canadian households with a massive amount of consumer debt, and let me tell you – those days are coming to an end.
Interest rates are rising, inflation is rising, taxes are increasing and social programs are slowly being chopped up – to add insult to injury – you are getting older! With that in mind, the older you get the harder it is to “get in financial shape”, just as it is to reverse poor health brought on by a bad diet. We have the luxury to be able to turn our brains off nowadays, and occupy our minds with lots of mindless activities so that it seems as though nothing is wrong. Deep down, if you do not have a proper financial plan you are likely stressed and anxious because you know that you are not prepared for retirement or are not prepared if a critical event happened prior to retirement that impacted your income. Financial anxiety, left unchecked, can lead to some very serious health issues as well as strain relationships with family and loved ones.
In hindsight, I would suggest that I can draw a pretty good parallel between high cholesterol and poor financial planning. Being oblivious to the facts only hurts you and you alone.
Consider a saskatoon financial planner more like a personal trainer. We work with you to analyze what habits might be affecting your financial health. We work with you to help discover what your goals are, what your current level of financial preparedness is, and ways to achieve your goals in a suitable and practical way that will not affect your current lifestyle in a negative way. We work with you in a respectful manner; however some of the things we say you may not like or want to hear – but we say them for good reason, mainly to help you achieve your stated objectives! Last, we put them down for you in a formal written plan, which we encourage you to review with us at least once a year.
Lets open that conversation and make 2018 the year you finally took those steps to improve your financial health.
