Our Mission

We believe that you need the tools to create financial success on your own terms.

Conflict-free financial planning equips you to make educated decisions about your future with the information available to you today.

Our Mission

We believe that you need the tools to create financial success on your own terms.

Conflict-free financial planning equips you to make educated decisions about your future with the information available to you today.

Julia Chung, CFP, CLU, FEA, TEP

Partner, Sr. Financial Planner

Areas of Specialty: Retirement Planning, Private/Family Business, Cross-Border Planning

Sandi Martin, CFP

Partner, Financial Planner

Areas of Specialty: Retirement Income Planning, Family Goal Planning

Kathryn Mandelcorn, FMA

Director, Cash Flow Strategies

Areas of Specialty: Money Coaching, Cash Flow Planning

Karen Richardson, FPSC Level 1®

Cash Flow & Associate Financial Planner

Areas of Specialty:
Cash Flow Planning, Retirement Planning

Meet the whole team

Connect with the team on social media

What We Do at Spring

To treat you as the unique person you are by listening, understanding what’s important, and working together to create your life, well spent.

We want our recommendations to our clients to be influenced only by what’s in your best interest, and never by the potential for referral fees or third-party compensation.

We don’t sell products , accept commissions, pay or receive referral fees, or earn affiliate income.

We sincerely believe that financial planning – done well – can benefit everyone, and are actively invested in mentoring and developing new financial planners.

We’ve been running a practice management peer-mentoring group since early 2016…it’s how we met, in fact!

Comprehensive Financial Planning
Retirement Income Planning
Cross-Border Planning
Family/Private Business Planning
Portfolio and Cash Flow Audits

Our Process

What We’re Writing

What I want for you in 2018

by Sandi Martin | January 3, 2018 | Big Picture, Blog, Personal Finance, Personal Financial Planning | 0 Comments

For 2018, I want you to have time. Sweet, precious, time. And understand me: I don’t want you to have more time, or productive time, or fulfilling time - all good things, don’t get me wrong, but not the kind of time I so desperately want for you. No, the kind of...

RESP Rules & Tips with Sandi Martin & Julia Chung

by Julia Chung | August 8, 2016 | Personal Finance, Spring Original | 0 Comments

Summer is the best time to learn about saving for post-secondary education. Julia Chung and Sandi Martin chatted with Modern Advisor on July 21st. Click here for the recording.

February 11th: Living & Investing In the Trudeau Era

by Julia Chung | February 7, 2016 | Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Join us for a free evening of cocktails, dinner, and insight on February 11th. RSVP today! tycuda@3macs.com

Book Review: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

by Julia Chung | April 23, 2019 | Accountability, Big Picture, Book Review | 0 Comments

The Power of Habit and its follow-up, Smarter, Faster, Better, by Charles Duhigg were some of the bright shining spots in my nonfiction reading over the past year. You never know what you’re getting into with any kind of reading, but at least with fiction, you know...

How (Not) to Consolidate Debt

by Sandi Martin | August 14, 2013 | Blog, debt consolidation, Debt Management, Personal Finance | 1 Comment

The point: it doesn't matter what method you use to pay off debt, or if you use any method at all. What matters is that you stop creating new debt. It's out there: the mathematically precise, strictly rational formula for paying off your three credit cards, small car...

The Hierarchy of Financial Needs

by Julia Chung | April 23, 2018 | Accountability, Budgets, Cash Flow, Credit Cards, Debt Management, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

In the world of financial planning, there are different kinds of planning, with different areas of focus and levels of complexity. At Spring, we divide that complexity up into Cash Flow, Comprehensive, and Advanced planning. But here’s a secret: It always comes down...

Book Review: Shannon Lee Simmons

by Sandi Martin | April 3, 2018 | Budgets, Goal Planning, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Worry Free Money: The Guilt-Free Approach to Managing Your Money and Your Life by Shannon Lee Simmons isn’t making empty promises in the title. There’s literally no guilt in it. None. The revolutionary thing about Worry Free Money is that it doesn’t start with...

Your Financial Plan is Not a Slap-Chop

by Sandi Martin | August 1, 2013 | Blog, Fee Only Financial Planning, Personal Finance | 2 Comments

The point: If you financial advisor is giving you a financial plan for "free", what's his incentive for doing it well? These days, we all want to believe that we're savvy consumers. We scoff at TV commercials for products that are worth hundreds of dollars but can be...

The Power of Confusion

by Sandi Martin | May 9, 2013 | Blog, Personal Finance, Personal Financial Planning | 4 Comments

The point of this post: the world of personal finance can be as confusing as a room full of five-year-olds playing soccer, and the financial industry needs to stop pretending that it's not. Yesterday was my oldest daughter's first day of soccer. It...

The Screaming Ninjas Are Coming

by Sandi Martin | August 27, 2013 | Blog, Budgets, Personal Finance, Personal Financial Planning, The screaming ninjas of financial catastrophe | 5 Comments

The point: Learning to live within your means is discipline you have to practice. Financial catastrophe always strikes, and having the necessary skills already mastered will mean the difference between dealing with it and moving on or being overwhelmed and giving up....

How Your Advisor’s Bad Investing Behaviour Costs You

by Sandi Martin | December 8, 2015 | Blog, Investing, Management Expense Ratio, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

The point: Yes, your own bad investing behaviour costs you, but your advisor's bad investing behaviour has the potential to cost you a lot more. First off: I'm not a portfolio manager or an investment advisor (or adviser, for what it's worth). I was a registered...

October’s Great Reads

by Sandi Martin | October 5, 2018 | Canadian Personal Finance News | 0 Comments

Just in time to cozy up in a comfy chair with whatever scalding hot drink you prefer, I present to you a few reads that got me thinking this month. They are loosely grouped around themes of cash flow and money management (like this pair on creating a financial routine...

Double the Trouble…

by Julia Chung | September 25, 2015 | BBC Capital, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Two kids in university at the same time means double the costs. The secret to saving for – and affording – two.

Important Changes to the Principal Residence Exemption

by Julia Chung | December 14, 2016 | Personal Finance, Spring Original | 0 Comments

On October 3, 2016, Finance Minister Morneau announced new measures to address the housing market, with the intention of improving fairness and integrity of the tax system as it relates to the principal residence exemption. The changes include new reporting requirements, modifications to the calculation of the tax-free amount for individuals based on a residency requirements, and an extension to the period in which a reassessment may occur.

June 2019 Update

by Julia Chung | June 24, 2019 | Personal Finance | 0 Comments

You made it! You’re halfway through 2019, and by the time this newsletter reaches you, will have already experienced the longest day of the year. Your sunshine time is shrinking now - get out there and take advantage! After all those start-of-summer, Father’s Day, and...

Yearly Maximum Pensionable Earnings Limits Increase in 2016

by Julia Chung | November 11, 2015 | Personal Finance, Spring Original | 0 Comments

The YMPE Increases on January 1, 2016. What does that mean to you? Click here to find out.

November 2018 Update

by Sandi Martin | November 27, 2018 | Big Picture, Goal Planning, Monthly Spring Update | 0 Comments

It’s the home stretch, friends. Even though we all know calendar years are arbitrary, that humans celebrate the new year at different times, and that your personal and financial growth can’t possibly be measured in tidy 365 day increments, the end of one year and...

RRSPs: Hunting Season

by Sandi Martin | May 21, 2013 | Blog, Inside the Bank, Personal Finance, Retirement | 2 Comments

The point: buying an RRSP sometime between January and March doesn't mean you have a retirement plan. Go into any bank between January 2nd and February 28th and you will be haunted by the specter of an underfunded retirement. You will be offered "retirement planning",...

December’s Great Reads

by Sandi Martin | December 12, 2017 | Canadian Personal Finance News | 0 Comments

A shorter list this month, because if you’re not baking and shopping and partying and preparing I want you to be relaxing. But if you’re relaxing already and want something good to read, you might enjoy reading about the beauty of re-gifting, budgeting like a...

OPTIMIZE!

by Sandi Martin | June 12, 2014 | Blog, Fee Only Financial Planning, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Financial planning is misnamed. It really should be called Figuring Out How Much What You Want Out Of Life Will Cost And How to Pay For It By Finding The Happy Medium Between Doing What You Have To Do And Doing What You Want To Do. I imagine this will never take on....

Julia Chung at PowHerTalks Victoria June 18th

by Julia Chung | May 10, 2016 | Personal Finance, Spring Original | 0 Comments

We’re proud to announce that Julia Chung has been selected to speak at the upcoming PowHerTalks Victoria on June 18th! We invite you to join us at this powerful event.

June 2018 Update

by Julia Chung | June 26, 2018 | Big Picture, Monthly Spring Update | 0 Comments

SUMMER!!! Despite the fact that our name is Spring, we have a strong affinity for summer. It’s what we often spend the spring season planning for - and now you can see just one of the reasons why the name resonates: we’re all about creating plans that work. Even the...

The Best In Canadian Personal Finance News

by Sandi Martin | September 2, 2013 | Blog, Canadian Personal Finance News, Personal Finance | 2 Comments

The point: There are all sorts of people online that write all sorts of personal finance advice. I read about sixty posts a day, and share some of the best on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus. Jackson Middleton and I are collaborating to put the best Canadian...

Life is a Highway: Sequence of Returns and You

by Sandi Martin | May 12, 2015 | Blog, Investing, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

The particular sequence of market returns that you’ll enjoy throughout your lifetime starts when you’re born, ends when you die, is entirely outside of your control, and, if you’re not careful, will heavily influence when you start investing, how you’ll do it, and your outlook on life when you turn those investments into income.

Cash Flow Planning – Building Confidence into Your Retirement Plan

by Spring Plans | December 20, 2018 | Cash Flow, Personal Finance, Retirement | 0 Comments

When you think about retirement planning, your mind may start to fill with acronyms: RRSP RRIF TFSA LIRA CPP OAS Just think: that’s only the Starter Pack of Financial Jargon. It gets a whole lot worse. You may think you’ll have to earn a Master’s Degree in personal...

Spring’s Summer Reading List

by Sandi Martin | July 17, 2018 | Financial Literacy, Personal Finance, Personal Financial Planning | 0 Comments

We’re readers at Spring. There’s nothing we like better in the summer than pairing up a good book, the great outdoors, and a cool drink. And let us be clear: we don’t sit around reading about money all day. That way lies madness (believe us). We want to read All The...

February’s Great Reads

by Sandi Martin | February 12, 2019 | Canadian Personal Finance News | 0 Comments

Winter weather often brings blankets, fireplaces, and hot drinks. While you’re thawing your toes, you may feel inclined to dream a little, and Sandi has the reads for you to do just that. Dreams about retirement, and who you might be when you stop working, are right...

Wealthing Like Rabbits: Book Review

by Krysten Merriman | March 7, 2018 | Accountability, Budgets, Debt Management, Personal Financial Planning | 0 Comments

Note: this is not a sponsored post, but I did receive a free copy of the book. There’s no shortage of personal finance books out there, and so many of them are nearly indistinguishable from the rest. Which make sense: the rules mostly stay the same, with occasional...

Rainbows and Unicorns: What lenders really mean when they say “affordable”)

by Sandi Martin | March 8, 2013 | Affordability, Blog, Debt Management, Mortgages, Personal Finance, Total debt service and savings ratio, Total debt service ratio | 0 Comments

The point of this post: it's your job as the borrower to figure out if you can actually afford the mortgage the bank says you can. When you think about how much money you make, do you use made up numbers or real ones? If you think that's a strange question, then...

November’s Great Reads

by Sandi Martin | November 13, 2018 | Canadian Personal Finance News | 0 Comments

Halloween has passed us by, but there are still some slightly daunting things to contemplate throughout the month of November, including talking to your parents about money, what really happens when interest rates rise, and how disclosure isn’t necessarily the...

Valuation – How Much is Your Company Worth?

by Julia Chung | November 15, 2016 | Personal Finance, Spring Original | 0 Comments

Ever wondered how to do a company valuation? Mary Gamble, Chartered Business Valuator at iValue Solutions, provides answers to common questions she receives from business owners.

Design Thinking: Income & Cash Flow

by Kathryn Mandelcorn | February 19, 2019 | Budgets, Cash Flow, Debt Management, Personal Financial Planning | 0 Comments

As promised in our What We Want for you in 2019 article, we are jacked about design thinking this year, and how you can use it to optimize your life and your finances to create the life that you didn’t know you always wanted. This month, we are applying this thinking...

Design Thinking: Emergency Preparedness

by Sandi Martin | July 19, 2019 | Big Picture, Cash Flow, Design Thinking, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

My partner Julia said something amazing when she wrote about applying design thinking to estate planning last month that I’ve been mulling over ever since: Planning for your eventual departure is truly one of the most loving and thoughtful things you can do for your...

Practice News: Collaboration with JYC Financial

by Sandi Martin | July 5, 2016 | Blog, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

It's the best time of the year! Summer in Muskoka with three young kids means lots of late afternoons at the beach, so if you happen to be in Gravenhurst on a sunny day right before dinner...you'll know where to find me.Typically, the summer months are when I try to...

2019 Federal Budget Summary

by Julia Chung | March 25, 2019 | Budgets, Home Buyer's Plan, Income Tax, Personal Finance, Retirement | 0 Comments

Every spring, the Federal Government comes out with their budget for the year - all the ways they’ll be putting our tax dollars to use and running this national operation. They often have a news release in fall that telegraphs some of the things they’re thinking about...

Announcement: Sandi Martin

by Julia Chung | July 5, 2016 | Personal Finance, Spring Original | 0 Comments

Announcement! A new collaboration with Sandi Martin of Spring Personal Finance…

July 2019 Update

by Julia Chung | July 22, 2019 | Cash Flow, Investing, Monthly Spring Update, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

We love, love, love summer. It might seem odd, given that our name is “Spring,” but there is a method to the madness. See, we love summer so much that we spend a lot of time planning for it, to get it right and to maximize our enjoyment. It is the same approach we...

Couple Money

by Sandi Martin | March 14, 2013 | Blog, Financial Infrastructure, Personal Finance, Personal Financial Planning, Relationships | 0 Comments

The point of this post: if you can't be honest with your partner about money and financial planning, why are you with them? A healthy financial infrastructure is cost-effective, simple, flexible, and intuitive. It keeps you on budget, moves you closer to your goals,...

April 2018 Update

by Julia Chung | April 23, 2018 | CPP, Monthly Spring Update, Personal Finance, Personal Financial Planning, Small Business | 0 Comments

Have you ever felt like everyone is working with the same set of information that you are - and therefore, sharing it would not be valuable? It’s a cognitive bias called “false-consensus,” which leads people to believe that their own values and ideas are “normal” and...

Quick Update: Retirement Income Interview

by Sandi Martin | May 17, 2016 | Blog, Personal Finance, Retirement Planning | 0 Comments

In case you've been missing Because Money (on hiatus as we plan for Season Three), I just did an interview with Kornel Szrejber on retirement income planning, and we managed to squeeze a few laughs out of what is traditionally a less-than-hilarious topic. Some of the...

Your Financial Advisor Might Be A Nice Person, But… (Because Money, Ep 13)

by Sandi Martin | March 6, 2014 | Because Money, Blog, Fee Only Financial Planning, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Last week's CBC Marketplace episode Show Me The Money took an average investor (with a hidden camera and glowing lights in her pants) into BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank, TD, Dundee Securities, Edward Jones, Investor's Group, Money Concepts, and Primerica shopping for...

Design Thinking: Retirement

by Sandi Martin | March 12, 2019 | Design Thinking, Personal Finance, Relationships, Retirement Planning | 0 Comments

There is a truth about retirement that I want you to understand: You don’t have to know precisely what you want to plan for the day when you stop working. Sure, it helps financial planners if you can say that you want to retire in the summer of 2021, stay in your home...

The Coming Housing Crash, And What You Can Do About It

by Sandi Martin | June 11, 2013 | Blog, Budgets, Canadian Housing Crash, Debt Management, Inside the Bank, Personal Finance | 7 Comments

The point: there are two things you can do if there's going to be a housing market crash, and worrying isn't one of them. You're here, so I'm going to take a long shot and guess that you read about money online, unless you're here for the outstanding graphics, in...

Income Splitting with Spousal Loans

by Julia Chung | August 21, 2017 | Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Ah, tax strategies. Eyed with hopeful suspicion by the uninitiated, a tax strategy can feel like a fun Spy Vs. Spy game - but that other spy? That’s the government. Many a newly minted spy would consider backing away from anything that might have you facing that...

What’s Sandi reading?

by Julia Chung | December 7, 2016 | Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Sandi Martin reads a lot – and she tells everyone which ones were the best every month. Starting in January, we will be sending you her reading list directly (if you’ve signed up for our email newsletter). In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek:

Thoughts on Privilege In Financial Advice

by Sandi Martin | November 8, 2016 | Blog, Financial Literacy, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Normally on the first or second Tuesday of the month I'm compiling and sending out a Top Three email to subscribers, highlighting the latest collection of thought-provoking, or informative posts on investing, the finance industry, retirement planning, or budgeting...

Profiting from Real Estate

by Julia Chung | August 24, 2016 | BBC Capital, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Planning on earning a fortune in the real estate market? Read this first.

If You’ve Ever Tried and Failed at Budgeting

by Sandi Martin | July 21, 2015 | Blog, Budgets, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

If you've ever tried and failed at budgeting, or if you've never tried at all because it sounds so hard and boring, this post is for you. Those of you with a budgeting system that works and that you possibly even love and want to have babies with are excused for the...

RRSP Basics

by Julia Chung | January 13, 2016 | Personal Finance, Spring Original | 0 Comments

Many people feel pretty confused about RRSPs – how they work, and why they’re useful. At the same time, people can feel embarrassed to ask for a full explanation.

To help you move forward with this useful tool, here is your RRSP Primer!

On Bank Hating Skepticism (Stop Shooting Yourself in the Foot)

by Sandi Martin | April 15, 2013 | Blog, Inside the Bank, Personal Finance, Relationships | 2 Comments

The point of this post: treat the people you're dealing with like people to reduce the chances of getting screwed by a faceless institution. Also because it's the right thing to do. I'm going to warn you: all this talk about skepticism is going to sound a bit rich...

Working with Sandi was everything I hoped for. I felt like you got to know me well and very quickly. I feel like your recommendations reflected my current reality as well as my personality. That is, you didn’t recommend things that I would never commit to.

After going through this process, I feel like I have a much better understanding of my financial picture. I so wish that I would have done this years ago!! H. Bellerose

Having an impartial 3rd-party review our entire financial situation is one of the best business decisions my wife and I have made. We consider Julia our personal CFO and have incorporated her services into all aspects of our financial lives.

There’s no pressure to purchase any investment or insurance through her or any associate she has introduced us to; but rather an assessment and guidance on plans we have for the future. C. Dewar

Well, it’s been a year since we came to see you last and enacted our plan and we are writing to tell you that we are DEBT FREE on November 1ST ON SCHEDULE!!!

Coming to see you, using your services, was the best decision we ever made as a couple. We can’t thank you enough. We couldn’t have done any of it without you. Thanks, Kathryn.

K. & J. Shorrocks

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Our Mission

Our Mission

Julia Chung, CFP, CLU, FEA, TEP

Sandi Martin, CFP

Kathryn Mandelcorn, FMA

Karen Richardson, FPSC Level 1®

Connect with the team on social media

What We Do at Spring

Our Process

What We’re Writing

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