2023 November Update

Last month we talked about deadlines, and ways to ease the anxiety that these sometimes create. Anxiety isn’t the only thing that deadlines create, though. Sometimes, they help us create action.

We all have competing interests in our lives, our businesses, and our dreams. When so many things are important, we can find ourselves at a stalemate. We might find that we are unable to move forward in one direction or another because we’re trying to move in every direction at once.

On the other hand, when every day seems to run into the next, with so much going on, we can often find that we focus on the noisiest thing, rather than the most important thing. As the days, weeks, and months zip by us, we lose track of what we were sure we really, really wanted and find ourselves in a place we didn’t mean to be.

As our team member Mia, who proofreads for us, recently told us: I remember when my kids were teens and I tried to be AMAZING…like Wonder Woman… Juggling to be perfect! It was all too much and she found a reality check in her book club, where the women get together to “wonder” about stuff. They reminded Mia that she is wonder-ful and regularly help her stay on track with what’s most important to her.

At Spring Planning, it’s part of our mission to encourage you to stay in that place of wonder, just like Mia, and stay on track with what’s important to you. That often means creating that initial financial plan with you that helps you design the life you really want, answers key questions, and gives you a set of guidelines for making decisions going forward. After that, we also want to be there for you as life changes and you contemplate new decisions, face differing circumstances, and make little tweaks to the big plan so the life you want is, as much as possible, the one you’re living.

This is when deadlines can be a positive, rather than a negative. Also, you can design your deadlines to meet with what makes the most sense for YOU – and then your team at Spring can help you meet them.

For some of the people we work with, that means an annual check-in meeting with a net-worth update and an opportunity to ask and answer questions. For some, especially those in retirement, it’s a deep dive into this year’s income tax planning and next year’s sources of income planning, with the support of investment managers and accountants. For others, there are quarterly or even monthly discussions, depending on what kinds of decisions you’re dealing with and how much things might change during these time periods.

The right rhythm for your deadline is the one that works for you and your unique life. It’s why we don’t mandate that you “must” work with us on a particular schedule. Some of our folks like to check in every two years, and even every five years, because that works for them. It works for us too!

If you haven’t connected in a while and would like a check-in, please get in touch at [email protected]. We’re booking into early 2024 and would love to make sure that we’ve secured time and brainspace to continue to help you create your life, well spent.

Your Spring Planning Team

Practice Notes:

We are excited to announce a partnership with the superstar team at Trella Advisory Group team. Not to worry though, Spring Planning isn’t going anywhere, but we will have more exciting benefits to offer you!

Julia will be in Kelowna on Friday December 1st for meetings and will have to replace that Free Friday with another Free kind of day to make up for it! We’ll be tidying up the last bits of the year throughout the week of December 18th and will close the office on Thursday December 21st. You’ll get one more newsletter in December before we close up 2023!

“Free” Fridays remain booked permanently in our calendars. These days are free to us at Spring because they are our opportunity to work on becoming better planners, whether through collaboration and discussion, education, research, or even a little down time. It’s been a regular practice since the summer of 2017, and we will continue to set aside the time to become better versions of ourselves every week. Even 1% better is solidly worth it, because we know that will be reflected in the work we do for you.

Spring in the News:

Globe Advisor reporter Deanne Gage hosted Julia on a LinkedIn Live event on Wednesday, November 15th to chat about how Financial Planning has evolved in the last five years and the tangible advice needed to make a difference in a client’s life. Watch the full discussion here.

Watch for Julia on Empowered TV, on December 6th at 6:30 ET / 3:30 PT. She will be talking about how to prepare children for inheritances, lifetime inheritances, estate inheritances, and more.

Please check out our media page here for videos, podcasts, interviews and more.

Planning News Digest:

• How can I minimize my income taxes? It’s almost the end of the year! Here are some great tips from Jamie Golombek at CIBC on how to minimize income taxes before year end Read the full article here.
• Considering your year-end charitable giving? Changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) after 2023 could make your donation less tax effective. If you have the ability to make a large charitable donation in 2023 to take advantage of the current tax regime, a donor advised fund (DAF) might be a solution, according to CPA Canada. The full article is available here.
• Remember the Unused Housing Tax? The filing deadline has been extended a second time to April 2024. If you own residential property through a trust, private corporation, or partnership, you’ll need to file a return even if it turns out you’re exempt. If you’re a non-resident owner of residential property please file a return as well. Interest and penalties for late filing are significant – at least $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for corporations, for each residential property. Please don’t miss this one! Read the full article here.

Feature from the Archives:

A different kind of change – We are lucky enough to have the opportunity to speak to a lot of people from all kinds of backgrounds and professions in the work that we do at Spring every day, and we’re finding a lot of commonality in one particular area.

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