Services

At Ron Graham & Associates, we provide:

  • Advice, not investments. We don’t sell any financial products.
  • Information in an understandable format.
  • Integrated tax and investment strategies to meet your specific needs.

Our clients’ convenience and peace of mind is of utmost importance to us. We keep our clients informed on a regular basis through periodic letters and client seminars that assist them in making sound financial decisions with our input.

We also offer quarterly reviews of clients’ investments or annual review for tax preparation. Clients can also request a follow-up meeting at their convenience.

Outstanding service based on the six-step financial planning process.

  1. Clarify your present situation.
  2. Identify your financial and personal goals and objectives.
  3. Identify financial problems or opportunities.
  4. Determine recommendations and alternative solutions.
  5. Implement the appropriate strategies to achieve your goals.
  6. Review and update your plan periodically.

The Institute of Advanced Financial Planners (IAFP), a professional association of personal financial planners, states that “Personal Financial Planning is a client-oriented process focusing on all the financial and psychological factors which have an impact on a person’s life.” The IAFP recommends the above six-step process in creating your financial plan.

How can we assist you?

Our Fee-Only Financial Planning services may take a variety of forms.

Many of our clients prefer a modular approach to their financial planning. We tailor our services to address the most pressing concerns. We answer those questions that are most important to you today. Once the initial issues have been resolved, many clients return to review other areas of their financial health.

We offer written financial plans covering tax, investment and retirement issues backed by 30 years of experience and expertise in personal financial planning. Our ability to consult with any of our associates on investment or tax-related issues adds further value and another perspective to your financial plan.

We offer financial planning, counselling and seminars to groups and are retained by many companies and levels of government to provide these services to employees.

Our comprehensive, objective approach is designed to:

  • Reduce your current and future income taxes
  • Increase your discretionary cash flow, net worth and future retirement income
  • Ensure your investments provide you the best return possible within your comfort zone
  • Protect your family from the consequences of serious illness or untimely death

We meet with you to create your own financial plan based on:

  • Where you are now (what is your current financial position)
  • Where do you want to be in the future (what are your goals and objectives)
  • How are you going to get there (what recommended strategies will you use)

We then help you implement your plan and periodically review and update it. The cost of producing a plan suited to your individual needs is charged on a fee-only basis. This can be either on a per hour basis or an agreed-upon fixed price.

Our process:

We use the following process to determine the financial plan that’s right for you.

Initial Meeting

  • Scope of Engagement
  • Estimate of Cost
  • Data Gathering
    • Goals
    • Current Financial Situation
    • Problems & Opportunities

2nd Meeting

  • Financial Projections
  • Recommendations and Alternative Solutions

3rd Meeting (if required)

  • Implementation Assistance

1 Year Meeting

  • Review

We assist clients in:

Retirement Planning

Our most popular personal service. We assist you in addressing the following questions:

  • When do you want to retire?
  • How much do you want to spend in your retirement?
  • How much do you want for your children/heirs?
  • How much do you need to save to be able to retire?
  • Are you on-track for meeting that goal?
  • Should you start your pension early?
  • When can you get Old Age Security? Will it be clawed back?
  • Should you draw from RRSPs or non-registered funds first?

Next Steps

To answers these questions for you, we typically meet with you 2 – 3 times over a period of 2 – 4 weeks and follow our general process to identify goals, current financial situation, etc. Follow-up meetings may be required for implementation and we always recommend an annual review. Generally, these meetings will also touch on some tax and investment concerns. The first two meetings generally take a total of 4 – 6 hours.

Applicable Forms

  1. What to Bring With You

Articles

  1. How Much Do I Need to Retire?
  2. What’s Best - Pay Off My Mortgage Or Contribute To An RRSP
  3. Types of RRSPs
  4. What’s Better - Paying Down My Mortgage Or Contributing To A TFSA
  5. Investment Vehicles
  6. Pension Options
  7. Creating Cash Flow From Your Investments
  8. Are You 71 This Year?

Income Tax Planning

For Income Tax Planning, we assist you in addressing the following questions:

  • Can you reduce the amount of tax that you are currently paying?
  • Should you contribute to an RRSP, a TFSA or should you invest in capital gains producing investments outside your RRSP?
  • How should you manage your investment portfolio to take advantage of tax preferred income? Are there any “tax shelters” you should consider?
  • What opportunities do you have to split your income with others in your “tax family”?

Next Steps

To answers these questions for you, we follow our general process and typically meet with you 2 – 3 times over a period of 2 – 4 weeks. Follow-up meetings may be required for implementation and we always recommend an annual review. The first two meetings generally take 2 – 4 hours.

Applicable Forms

  1. What to Bring With You

Articles

  1. Tax Planning

Annual Tax Return Preparation

We also offer personal tax preparation services, generally in March/April (the tax season). This is also a convenient opportunity to remind you of tax and retirement planning goals.

Next Steps

The tax preparation process is streamlined and can generally be accomplished in a 1 – 2-hour meeting. Bring all the required information slips with you. The return is usually completed during the meeting and filed electronically.

You will be provided with a “paper” copy of the return, and a copy is retained in our office so that we may assist in any follow-up with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Cash Flow Management

This includes reviewing your income and expenses to ensure that you are not spending more than you earn. Can you create new cash flow from your investments? How can you save money (for short-term goals, medium-term goals or long-term goals)?

We usually provide this service as part of Retirement or Comprehensive Financial Planning but is also available as a stand-alone service.

Applicable Forms

  1. What to Bring With You

Debt Management & Restructuring

Our debt management and restructuring recommendations can help you answer the following questions:

  • Are you paying the least amount of interest possible given your situation?
  • Can you reduce the amount of interest that you are paying?
  • Can you pay off your debts earlier?
  • Can you consolidate your debts?
  • What debts should you pay off first?
  • Should you pay down your mortgage or contribute to an RRSP or TFSA?

This process is often part of Retirement or Comprehensive Financial Planning but we also provide it as a stand-alone service which follows a similar format to our process.

Applicable Forms

  1. What to Bring With You

Articles

  1. What’s Best - Pay Off My Mortgage Or Contribute To An RRSP
  2. What’s Better - Paying Down My Mortgage Or Contributing To A TFSA

Investment Planning

We assist you with answering the following questions:

  • What rate of return do you need to meet your goals?
  • Are your current investments achieving that return?
  • Do you need to take risk with your investments?
  • Do you want a higher return? How do you get a higher return while minimizing the risk?
  • What asset allocation should you have?
  • What investments should you use to implement that asset mix?

Next Steps

We follow our general process and the Investment Planning component generally can be accomplished in 3 – 5 hours.

Applicable Forms

  1. What to Bring With You

Articles

  1. Investment Vehicles
  2. Creating Cash Flow From Your Investments
  3. What’s Best - Pay Off My Mortgage Or Contribute To An RRSP
  4. What’s Better - Paying Down My Mortgage Or Contributing To A TFSA

Education Funding

The cost of post-secondary education is often one of the most significant expenses a family will encounter. Questions are often asked, such as:

  • How much do you need to save if you plan on helping pay for your children’s (or grandchildren’s) education?
  • What is the most tax-effective way of saving for your children’s education?
  • Should you use a RESP or an informal trust of capital gains producing investments?

Next Steps

The earlier you can establish a plan to address the potential expenditures for post-secondary, trade school, etc., the greater the chance you will be prepared to meet those costs. This process can generally be accomplished in 2 – 3 hours.

Applicable Forms

  1. What to Bring With You

Articles

  1. How Do I Pay For Education Costs?

Insurance & Risk Planning

We’ll help you answer the following questions:

  • Do you need insurance (life, disability, critical illness, long-term care)? If so, how much and what kind of insurance?
  • Who should own the insurance (you, your company, your spouse or children)?

Some people that have insurance, don’t need it. Some people that don’t have it, need it. And, there are those that need it, but can’t get it. We can help you determine what is best for you. Our advice is not based on potential product sales, but rather on what is best for you in your personal situation.

Next Steps:

We follow our general process, which is designed to help you determine what’s best for you. This process generally takes 2 – 3 hours.

Applicable Forms

  1. What to Bring With You

Articles

  1. How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?

Estate Planning

During our time with you to gather information and make recommendations that are specific to your personal situation, we ask and address questions such as:

  • What size of estate do you want to leave?
  • How do you get it to your beneficiaries as quickly and as easily as possible?
  • Will there be enough in the estate to pay the taxes?
  • Can you reduce the taxes that you pay on your death?
  • Can you reduce the taxes for your heirs?

Everyone should have a will to ensure that their wishes are carried out upon their death. If you do not have a will, your estate could be settled in a manner that you would not approve.

Next Steps

Quite often, this service is undertaken at the time you are preparing or updating your will(s) with a legal advisor. We often work with your legal advisor to evaluate effective financial solutions to meet your goals.

While the process is similar to other financial planning processes, it is often customized to include the requisite advice from your lawyer. Gathering the information and making recommendations can generally be completed in 2 – 3 hours.

Applicable Forms

  1. What to Bring With You
  2. Estate Planning Workbook

Articles

  1. What Happens if You Die Without a Will

If you have any of the above questions or others, we can answer them without the pressure of product sales.

Corporate

Corporate Services create benefits for the employee and employer, and is a key component of a comprehensive employee benefit plan meeting employer due diligence obligations to employees.

Seminars for Employees on Financial & Retirement Planning

  • Retirement Planning
  • Financial Planning
  • Interpreting Benefit & Pension Plans

Financial Counseling for Employees

  • Retirement/Termination
  • Survivor Counselling Upon Death
  • Executive Financial
  • General Financial