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, COO, Financial Planner

Areas of Specialty: Retirement Income Planning, Family Goal Planning

Karen Richardson, QAFP™

Cash Flow & Associate Financial Planner

Areas of Specialty: Cash Flow Planning, Retirement Planning

Kathryn Mandelcorn, FMA

Director, Cash Flow Strategies

Areas of Specialty: Money Coaching, Cash Flow Planning

Darryl Brown, CFA®, BComm

Director of Portfolio Strategies

Areas of Specialty: Investment Consulting,
Portfolio Analysis

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

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...

October’s Great Reads

by Sandi Martin | October 10, 2017 | Canadian Personal Finance News | 0 Comments

A real short list this month since we’re all still figuring out how this back to school stuff works (are those of you with kids surprised every year? I’m surprised Every. Single. Year.). You have to check out the top three, but if you have time for more there’s a...

Introducing Karen Richardson

by Spring Plans | February 1, 2019 | Announcement, Cash Flow | 0 Comments

We are excited to announce that as of February 1, 2019 we have added a new member to our planning team: Karen Richardson, Cash Flow & Associate Financial PlannerKaren joins Spring after 7 years as an independent advice-only financial planner in Kenora, Ontario,...

How to Get the Best Discount on Your Mortgage

by Sandi Martin | April 10, 2013 | Blog, Debt Management, Inside the Bank, Mortgages, Personal Finance | 2 Comments

The point of this post: do the work to understand how the mortgage lending system works so you can save the most money. If you want to get the very best interest rate (read: lowest bottom line price) on your mortgage, you need to know how to see yourself the way the...

Now What?

by Sandi Martin | January 12, 2016 | Blog, Clarity Model, Goal Planning, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Hi Sandi I know you are often looking for article ideas and I'm wondering if you would feel in the mood to write something to motivate folks who are doing okay, have a plan, no debt,....but need to avoid the temptation to go into debt (aka buy a cottage). It's nice...

A Week in the Life of Karen

by Karen Richardson | September 14, 2019 | Week in the Life | 0 Comments

Tuesday, September 3rd 5:50 am I wake up because it is pouring outside and I sleep pretty close to a big window. Even though it is Tuesday, my schedule dictates it is more like a Monday. Labour Day was yesterday, and in the part of Ontario where I live, the first day...

In the Trenches: Living With Your Financial Plan and Avoiding Budget Fatigue

by Sandi Martin | April 4, 2013 | Blog, Budget Fatigue, Budgets, Personal Finance, Personal Financial Planning | 0 Comments

The point of this post: living on a budget is (most of the time) tedious and hard. Reward yourself and remember why you're doing it to make it seem less so. If you are in the first, exciting stages of setting up your financial plan, organizing your money, and living...

Book Review: Retirement Income for Life by Fred Vettese

by Sandi Martin | November 5, 2019 | Book Review, Retirement Planning | 0 Comments

When our retirement income planning clients tell us they’ve read Retirement Income for Life, or one of Fred Vettese’s other books on retiring in Canada, I usually get very excited. No, it’s not because we’re huge book nerds at Spring and love talking to people who’ve...

Price Shock: The Sting of Moving Abroad

by Julia Chung | August 25, 2014 | BBC Capital, Media | 0 Comments

Imagine being asked to do your job in an exotic city in a far flung country… Julia gives BBC Capital her planning tips.

Dear Big, Enormous Bank With Little Competition, Please Blow My Mind

by Sandi Martin | October 24, 2013 | Blog, Inside the Bank, Personal Finance, Real Customer Service | 11 Comments

Hi. You probably don’t remember me. I was one of a series of warm bodies in that cubicle in Newmarket, the office (with a door!) in Huntsville, and the other office (with a window!) in Bracebridge. I mostly didn’t meet my sales targets and never made my cold-call...

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...

Managing Uncertainty

by Julia Chung | January 22, 2018 | Accountability, Big Picture, Investing, Personal Finance, Personal Financial Planning | 0 Comments

Oh, January. The calendar New Year starts smack-dab in the middle of winter, and as much as we try to gear up and get excited about this first month, there’s something so exhausting about January. It’s cold. The bills from the holidays are rolling in. We had holidays...

December 2018 Update

by Julia Chung | December 20, 2018 | Personal Finance | 0 Comments

MERRY HAPPY!!! We hope that by the time you’re reading this, you’re feeling well-prepared for the holidays, however you celebrate them. Regardless of whether you partake of religious, non-denominational, or just no activities throughout this season, we hope you...

The Biggest Mistake New Entrepreneurs (Almost Always) Make

by Sandi Martin | July 23, 2013 | Blog, Personal Finance, Small Business | 2 Comments

The point: have a plan for the money you earn within your business, and be ruthless about it. Otherwise, you'll only succeed through sheer luck. A short meditation, today. Losing power for forty-one hours during the busiest week I've had in my practice has set me back...

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...

Design Thinking: Taxes

by Julia Chung | April 22, 2019 | Design Thinking, Income Tax, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Yum... taxes. As Canadians, we may have love-hate relationships with taxes. Or, like many of our cousins to the south, just flat-out hate-hate relationships. Regardless of how we might feel about taxes, they’re a part of our lives. We can choose to ignore them, we can...

Introducing: Kathryn Mandelcorn

by Julia Chung | December 12, 2017 | Announcement, Cash Flow, Personal Finance, Spring Original | 0 Comments

We are thrilled to announce the addition of Kathryn Mandelcorn to our planning team!

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",...

June’s Great Reads

by Sandi Martin | June 12, 2018 | Canadian Personal Finance News | 0 Comments

Finally, summer is here! While I heartily encourage you to spend every possible minute outside (as I write this indoors because I’m tired of wiping pollen off my laptop screen), you may find yourself wishing for some great reads, and boy do I have some for you. If you...

July’s Great Reads

by Sandi Martin | July 10, 2018 | Canadian Personal Finance News | 0 Comments

I don’t know about you, but the solid build up of backward progress (on what feels like all fronts) has left me feeling a little indifferent to reading personal finance stuff, as if nothing’s wrong with the world and all we need to worry about is our net worth or...

The Because Money Podcast | Episode 11: Home Buyer’s Plan

by Sandi Martin | February 20, 2014 | Because Money, Blog, Home Buyer's Plan, Mortgages, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

In this week's episode of The Because Money Podcast, we finally got to fight a little. Agreeing all the time is so boring, isn't it? What did we cover that was so controversial? Only the Home Buyer's Plan, that allows you to withdraw up to $25,000 tax-free from your...

Money Matters: Take Control

by Julia Chung | May 2, 2016 | Personal Finance, PowHERHouse Magazine | 0 Comments

Julia Chung’s article in the Spring 2016 PowHerHouse magazine outlines the basics of goal setting.

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...

Pension Income Splitting

by Julia Chung | January 4, 2016 | Personal Finance, Spring Original | 0 Comments

Yes, you can still split your pension income. The income splitting credit that the new Federal Government vowed to abolish in their 2015 election campaign was the Family Tax Cut. The opportunity for pensioners to split their qualified pension income with their spouses is still alive and well.

Family Values: How to Pay For a Large Family

by Julia Chung | March 10, 2014 | BBC Capital, Media | 0 Comments

Jim Hunt and his wife always knew they wanted to have a large family — his wife is one of five brothers and sisters, and today they have five children themselves, ranging in age from four to 10 years old. In retrospect he and his wife — a lawyer and a...

September’s Great Reads

by Sandi Martin | September 8, 2017 | Canadian Personal Finance News | 0 Comments

In my world, September is a BIG month. Summer effectively ends on Labour Day, the kids are at school, and it’s time for a hard reset (what I privately think of as a second New Year) to prepare myself for the whirlwind of the last three months of the year. In your...

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...

An Admittedly Biased Argument in Favour of Banning Embedded Commissions and Instituting a Fiduciary Standard

by Sandi Martin | June 26, 2013 | Banning Embedded Commissions in Mutual Funds, Blog, Fee Only Financial Planning, Fiduciary Standard, Personal Finance | 2 Comments

The point: I stand to benefit if embedded commissions in mutual funds are banned, and if a fiduciary standard for advisors is enacted. I don't think it invalidates my argument, but - unlike some of the voices clamouring against the increased safety for investors - at...

Planning for Retirement: Uncertainty is Certain, so Pick Your Poison

by Sandi Martin | July 28, 2016 | Blog, Personal Finance, Retirement Planning | 0 Comments

If you're planning for retirement and make the mistake of scrolling through any finance section in a slow news week, you have to ask yourself: what kind of questions are they asking to produce breathless headlines like these? Half of Canadians don't think they'll be...

What do YOU want?

by Julia Chung | January 18, 2017 | Personal Finance, Spring Original | 0 Comments

It sounds like an easy question.

Design Thinking: Charitable Giving

by Julia Chung | October 15, 2019 | Big Picture, Design Thinking, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

Autumn is a great time to think about charitable giving. As you are someone who plans ahead (or really, really wants to), getting these thoughts in place before the insanity of the holiday season truly hits your life and your pocketbook can help you focus on what’s...

December’s Great Reads

by Sandi Martin | December 11, 2018 | Canadian Personal Finance News | 0 Comments

Well, that’s nearly it, folks. 2018 is marching away, into the darkness, tucked into boots and wrapped into a warm parka, heading towards the shining beacon that is 2019. We are imagining you up to your chin in blankets, with a warm beverage by your side, cozying up...

Design Thinking: Investing

by Sandi Martin | May 23, 2019 | Design Thinking, Investing, Personal Finance, Personal Financial Planning | 0 Comments

“How should I think about investing?” is a question I wish a lot more people would ask. Why? Because there is so much more to investing - investing well - than what you should put in your portfolio and who you should get to manage it for you. Oh great, I can hear you...

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...

February’s Great Reads

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

Your portfolio is probably down right now, and I don’t want to minimize the worry some of you are feeling, especially those of you who are about to start, or are already relying on withdrawals from your investments for income. It’s no fun, but it’s also not something...

Your Design Thinking Action Plan

by Julia Chung | December 16, 2019 | Big Picture, Cash Flow, Design Thinking, Investing, Personal Finance, Retirement Planning | 0 Comments

All year long, your Spring Plans team has been using the concept of Design Thinking to contemplate many different aspects of your personal finances. Why Design Thinking? The answer has remained the same all year long: because we want you to have permission to design...

New Love: A Retirement Dream – or Nightmare?

by Julia Chung | June 1, 2016 | BBC Capital, Media | 0 Comments

You’ve found true love in your 60s. It might be a dream come true, but there’s far more to consider than just companionship. BBC Capital interviewed Julia Chung from Spring Financial Planning for her tips on starting successfully.

Cooking At Home To Save Money Will Still Cost You

by Sandi Martin | February 16, 2015 | Blog, Meaningful Spending, Personal Finance, The cult of frugality | 0 Comments

If you want to get your spending on food or any other category to line up with your income and goals, you’ll have to spend one of your other resources – your time, your capacity, even your social capital – until it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice anymore.

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...

So You Want to Have a Baby in 5 Years?

by Spring Plans | August 28, 2018 | Big Picture | 0 Comments

Before we jump in to helping you prepare your finances for parenthood, we want you to know one truth: you can be a phenomenal parent without being good at money. We didn’t put together this set of tips on how to prepare for a new baby just to add one more item to your...

Book Review: The Year of Less by Cait Flanders

by Sandi Martin | November 20, 2018 | Accountability, Big Picture, Book Review, contentment, Debt Management, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

When I picked up The Year of Less by Cait Flanders at the library, my friend at the front desk told me she read the first part, but only leafed through the rest. “Minimalism is nice, I guess, but not for me,” she said, as she handed the book to me.I wish she had read...

May’s Great Reads

by Sandi Martin | May 14, 2019 | Personal Finance | 0 Comments

If you like the idea of rental income, you may like the idea of dividend income – but is it really better than taking capital gains? Dirk Cotton takes you through the economic theory, behaviour, and history of these two strategies. In “Get More From Your Financial...

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers: Avoiding the Useless Retirement Plan, Step Two

by Sandi Martin | May 30, 2013 | Blog, Budgets, Personal Finance, Retirement, Series: Avoiding the Useless Retirement Plan | 3 Comments

The point: You can't plan where you're going until you know where you want to go and where you're starting from. Do you know what you want out of life? If that sounds like a surprisingly navel-focused question coming from a financial planner, it's only because - dare...

Book Review: Living Debt Free by Shannon Lee Simmons

by Sandi Martin | January 15, 2019 | Accountability, Book Review, Budgets, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

If you have any kind of debt at all, go read Living Debt Free, the no-shame, no-blame guide to getting rid of your debt by Shannon Lee Simmons immediately. Companion book to Worry Free Money: the guilt-free approach to managing your money and your life, Living Debt...

When You Can’t Afford Your House, Do this

by Julia Chung | December 29, 2015 | BBC Capital, Media | 0 Comments

If you’re in a cash flow bind, you don’t want to wait too long before you take action. But you should take some time to calculate the size of the problem. “A lot of times people don’t really look at their expenses,” said Julia Chung, a financial and estate planner with Spring Financial Planning in British Columbia in Canada. “They have a hard time managing the numbers.”

You’re Just Not That Interested In Cars

by Sandi Martin | April 24, 2013 | Blog, Fee Only Financial Planning, Financial Planners, Personal Finance | 0 Comments

The point of this post: It makes sense to hire a professional for an essential job you can't make time to do yourself. Do you take your car to a mechanic? You're smart. Presumably you can read. Why are you paying someone else to do work that you could - with a little...

The “Invest Better” Calculator

by Julia Chung | November 23, 2016 | Personal Finance, Spring Original | 0 Comments

Our own Sandi Martin collaborated with John Robertson, author of the Value of Simple, to create this useful calculator to help investors make an educated decision when choosing from the variety of low-fee robo-advisors now open in Canada. You can try it out...

May 2019 Update

by Julia Chung | May 27, 2019 | Cash Flow, Income Tax, Monthly Spring Update | 0 Comments

It has been an eventful month of May here at Spring, with tax season at an end and multiple statements, returns, and updates flowing in from all of you and your accountants. We hope you are as invigorated as we are about all the planning that you can do now that you...

Values

by Julia Chung | May 27, 2019 | Personal Finance | 0 Comments

At the end of January, a few members of our team got together in Port Moody, BC (thanks for the hospitality, Kathryn!) and spent several days working with Pam Schmidt, our facilitator, to really dig into our Mission, Vision, Values, and Purpose. Since we live in an...

Book Review: The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist

by Kathryn Mandelcorn | May 24, 2018 | Book Review, Budgets, Cash Flow, Relationships | 0 Comments

The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist is not a personal finance book. It’s a book that will have you exploring your values, how you define money and how you use money. Twist’s work stems from 4 decades of experience in fundraising to eradicate world hunger. She has...

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

Karen Richardson, QAFP™

Kathryn Mandelcorn, FMA

Darryl Brown, CFA®, BComm

Connect with the team on social media

What We Do at Spring

Our Process

What We’re Writing

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