Portfolio Review and Investment Manager search: A Case Study
Welcome back to another exciting installment in our 2020 series of case studies. This month, we’re introducing you to Olivia, who came to us looking for a portfolio review. Our case studies use real stories about real clients (mashed up with many other client stories...
Money Smart Kids – September’s Great Reads
This month's top reads from Karen Richardson focuses on providing parents and teens with the tools to help create money smart kids! As a mom of a busy family, September is a month full of new beginnings for me each year. Kids are heading back to school (or some form...
August 2020 Update
In Canada, we often think that summer is over when August is over. However, we like to remind ourselves (and anyone else who might listen) that the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere is absolutely not over until Tuesday, September 22nd. That’s right: the summer...
Disabled Child: Financial Planning for Long Term Care
In this month’s case study, we’re sharing the financial story of a family with a disabled child who will require long term care. Before we introduce you, we’re circling waaay back to the beginning of the year (was that just eight months ago?!), when we let you in on...
Our Money Stories by Eugenié George: A Book Review
I’ve been waiting for Eugenié George’s Our Money Stories to come out since she talked about writing it on Nerd’s Eye View (a financial planning industry blog written by Michael Kitces). What drew me to Eugenié, and got me excited about her book, was her insistence...
Spring’s August Top Reads
How great was it to enjoy Kathryn’s curating last month and have Karen’s top reads to look forward to next month? I’ll answer for all of us: very. I hope every single one of you is finding a (safe) way to enjoy the summer. Hopefully on, in, or beside the water, with a...
Cross-Border Finances: A Case Study
Cash Flow for Cross-Border Finances Leela is finally doing her dream job, consulting to international companies on how to create inclusive environments within their organizations. She also helps her clients deal with internal biases and speaks to large audiences...
Intentional Money Management – July’s Great Reads
Sandi’s Great Reads have been legendary here at Spring. We always look forward to her list of reads - she’s such a great curator. She’s also reading a lot more than the rest of us, so we thought we’d start giving her a hand. Going forward, the rest of the planning...
June 2020 Update
What a month, what a year. It’s hard to be a person right now, and it’s hard to be mindful, goal-oriented, and thoughtful about our futures. It’s times like these that, more than ever, we need to rely on our plans. We gave our thoughts on all of that in last...
Portfolio Second Opinion: A Case Study
Welcome back to another case study! If you’re new here, our case studies involve mushing together similar client stories, scrubbing away any identifying details, and sharing how we’re helping Canadians in various financial situations with cash flow, retirement...
Your Financial Wellness Plan
Financial Wellness Plan & Amplifying Diverse Voices The purpose of our regular Great Reads feature has always been to reduce the mind-boggling number of smart and interesting articles, blog posts, podcasts (and occasional comic strips) produced in a given month to...
May 2020 Update
The Spring team kicks off each calendar year with a post we call What We Want for You in… *current year.* For 2020, we wanted you to have practical examples of design thinking - the implementation of last year’s theme - so that you have some of the tools you need to...
Variable Income Case Study: Terri
We’re back with another case study, this time with “Terri.” Terri is 42 years old, single, and works as a pharmaceutical rep earning commission income that varies wildly from month to month. With variable income, it’s hard to save money without knowing when the next...
Integrated Investing by Bonnie Foley-Wong Book Review
I had the pleasure of sitting in on a talk by Bonnie Foley-Wong of Pique Ventures on the concept of Integrated Investing for a small group of other advice-only planners. I now have a huge crush on her because of her passion for making a difference in the world through...
Tender Money Conversations
Tender Money Conversations You may have found, like me, that your ability and desire to read anything except for the back of the cereal box has diminished significantly. That’s okay - the written word will still be ready for you when you’re ready for it. I happened...
April 2020 Update
Has it only been a month since our last update? It feels like several decades have passed. The sheer volume of information we’ve received and amount of change that has occurred since the beginning of March 2020 has easily outstripped what we would have experienced in...
Line of Credit Debt Case Study
It’s time for another financial planning case study, drawn from real life work with our clients here at Spring, but smudged and blended artistically to keep you from recognizing your next-door neighbour with line of credit debt. As always, these case studies are...
April’s Great Reads
COVID-19 Top Reads As we write this, we’re in the middle of what feels an awful lot like a world-changing event. By the time you see these COVID-19 top reads, we might be already experiencing some kind of recovery, thanks to our doctors and nurses working the front...
CERB and COVID-19 Cash Flow Clinic
Note: For more information on the coronavirus and how it relates to your finances, see our dedicated COVID-19 resource page. Cash Flow Clinic Transcript Kathryn Mandelcorn (KM) 0:16 Good afternoon everybody, everybody’s admitted in, we are recording this call. So...
March 2020 Update
We hope this newsletter finds you as well as you can possibly be. It’s only been a month since our last regular newsletter, and so much has changed. Things are changing on a daily basis now, and there’s a great deal of uncertainty in the air. At Spring Plans, we have...
Financial Markets & COVID-19
Note: For more information on the coronavirus and how it relates to your finances, see our dedicated COVID-19 resource page. Financial Markets and COVID-19 Q&A Transcript 0:00 Thanks for joining this call to review what’s going on in the financial markets, and...
Retired Widow: Case Study
We’re delighted to present you with another financial planning case study as part of this year’s theme. This one was drawn from a mash-up of typical clients and scrubbed of identifying detail, because privacy. Remember, we’re writing these case studies to illustrate...
Book Review: Living Your Dream by Larry Wilson
Until I read Living Your Dream by Larry Wilson, I hadn’t found an all-purpose personal finance 101 book that delivers practical information in enough depth and breadth that I could responsibly recommend it. I’m happy to say that this streak has ended, and would...
March’s Top Three Reads
As we wait for winter to loosen her icy grip on our hearts and sidewalks, let’s take a moment to be grateful for the extraordinary amount of excellent information available to read...indoors. (Except if you live on the West Coast and have been enjoying spring since...
February 2020 Update
If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that we spent a few days at the end of January and beginning of February reviewing our 2019 and thinking about our 2020. We were lucky to be able to bring together seven of our team members from across the country for strategy,...
Renovation, Kids, and Cash Flow: Case Study
Every year, we give some thought to what we want for you in the year ahead. We proceed to spend the rest of the year riffing on that subject, hoping that multiple perspectives on a singular concept will provide the means for you to integrate it into your lives. This...
February’s Top Three Reads
There’s a common thread to Sandi’s top reads this month (and it’s not just the fact that she read them on the way to our Spring Retreat): disability insurance, moving in together, and annuities are all topics that too many people make too many assumptions about,...
What We Want for You in 2020
Have you ever heard someone say, “yeah, well - as soon as you get the financial plan, it’s out of date, so why bother?” We have. More times than we can count (although, interestingly, we hear it from other financial professionals more often than from clients). It’s...
January 2020 Update
Happy 2020! Happy Year of the Rat! Happy EVERYTHING! If you’ve been reading along with us for a few years, you’ll already know that Julia is of the opinion that the time between January 1st and the Lunar New Year (January 25 this year) is our “practice run”. It can...
Big Shiny Numbers 2020
Welcome to 2020! Each new year comes with a new set of numbers and this year - which is either the last year of an old decade or the first year of a new one, depending on who you’re talking to - is no different. Here are some Big Shiny Numbers for Canadians this...