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Sandi, working with you was an absolute pleasure. It has got to be the most intimidating things in the world to open up all of your dirty financial secrets to a stranger I met on the internet. Yet, I never once felt uncomfortable during our work together. In fact, I actually looked forward to our chats, which were always insightful and productive. You were nothing but supportive, compassionate and understanding and in the end, helped me to see that I can do this and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you so much for helping me get through this difficult time. S. Cameron

So I’ve been playing around with the spreadsheet today (among things I never thought I would say with such a positive feeling behind it) – both exploring what I need to do to get through the next few tighter months but also looking at what it would take to be living comfortably both with and without the work I don’t love (so short and long term)…and it was amazing to see what concrete numbers looked like and also how achievable it is when you have such a clear goal to aim for. It also has me looking at my business in a totally new light. The best words to describe how I’m feeling are empowered and totally grateful.

I couldn’t be more thankful for your guidance so far, Kathryn, your work is life changing! I hope you know just how important your role is to your clients. M. Shepherd

Julia is incredibly knowledgeable, and is filled with great advice. She created a very thorough, and personal plan for me that will help me stay on the right track to achieve my goals. I look forward to continue to work with her throughout the stages of my planning needs. J. Clyne

At age 56, I had no experience, and little knowledge of financial planning. I was a bit dubious of engaging a financial planner that I would not be meeting in person, but I was pleasantly surprised. Sandi Martin conducts herself in a very professional and organized manner. Setting up a telephone appointments was easy via her on-line calendar. She is personable, explains things clearly and was open to answering all my questions. My request was to plan for my retirement. She put together a professional report using the details of my one year, five year and ten year goals. Her report was clearly presented in a very readable format. Sandi demystified the world of investing and I feel much more confident moving forward. M. Kavanagh

As a successful entrepreneur and capable in the financial arena, I needed a financial resource to assist me passing along education and values of financial accountability and education to my 40ish sons and their wives. Due to family dynamics it was not working. Julia with her excellent accounting background and people skills was able to make significant progress which resulted in gratifying results in the areas of education, accountability and discipline.

Providing this gift to my family does not have a price. Over several months and sessions we accomplished a lot and Julia’s contribution was necessary and very valuable. Julia has the accounting background, people insights and care about her client success — all of which were used in our process. A. Szocs

Working with Sandi was informative, fun and confidence-inspiring–and one of my best financial moves ever! L. Smail

I cannot say enough about the help Julia has given us to get where we want to go. Amazing what you can do with the right help. Highly recommend that you contact her. You will be surprised at just how much more you could be doing. S. McNally

Working with Kathryn was my birthday present to myself. I knew I wanted to have more structure around our finances and stop living minute to minute. I wanted to confront the uncertainty that not really understanding money can cause.

A couple of years and several dozen direct transfers later, our family is in a place of freedom. We’re home owners and our feeling of security is tenfold what it was before she came into our lives. We have adequate insurance and a bank account that practically manages itself. More importantly we feel peace when we think about the future and excitement about what is possible.

Like many people, my husband and I grew up in families where money was spent quickly without a lot of thought to the future. Today, we feel Kathryn gave us the education that my parents weren’t able to provide, and it’s a gift we hope to give our boys.

My husband and I don’t for one second regret the money we spent to have Kathryn help us consider our long term and short term goals and develop an action plan to get there. We believe money coaching is a unique offering and one that can’t be done well by the big or small banks. She took the time to get to know us even when the conversations veered from finances to careers to family. I recommend her wholeheartedly and do so regularly. J. & C. Kaisla

If you’re willing to work virtually, I’d highly recommend Sandi Martin at Spring Financial Planning. She charges for advice only.

I live in the Vancouver area, and worked with Sandi over Skype to get my in-laws set up with a full financial plan for their retirement drawdown. She also helped with moving from an expensive wealth management firm to a robo-advisor. Sandi is WONDERFUL – thorough, easy to talk to, highly knowledgeable, no-pressure and generous with her time. C. Da Roza

We are in our mid 40s and have accumulated a fair amount of assets over the years. We are both childless, debt-free and express a desire to retire at 50. This being said, we were very unsure as to whether we were able to achieve this, as well as maintain our existing lifestyle. We wanted an independent opinion devoid of any influence from any financial institutional affiliation.

After meeting with Julia and sharing with her all our confidential financial details, she was able to extrapolate and compile all our particulars. She then arranged a meeting where she presented us with a very complete portfolio of our affairs. This was preceded by a comprehensive explanation of our situation whereby if all needs maintain the same, she confirmed and assured us that we are able to retire at 49 and 50. We feel that Julia is our personal ‘CFO’ and we do not hesitate to contact her when we have any financial doubts or concerns.

We are very impressed with Julia’s professionalism and attention to detail and we highly recommend her to anyone who has ever wondered about their current financial circumstances. She has definitely given us peace of mind.

D. Huang

I have give your request for feedback some thought and cannot find any aspect of our engagement during this process that I would change. I found your approach and advise informative and helpful. You solicited information, asked questions and ensured that I was aware that I also should be asking questions for clarification or additional information. B. Lambert

Thank you so much for this, Kathryn! It makes such a difference to have a plan and to know that all is not doom and gloom in terms of my finances and retirement. I feel much more optimistic, and even though I would still retire yesterday if I had the money knowing that there will be enough when I do go, and knowing when I CAN go, is just a complete game changer. Thank you again. B. Brighton

When looking for a financial planner, my fiancé and I wanted someone who understood our goals, as well as our relationship to money. Julia did a great job with walking us through exactly what was needed to buy a house, put away money for retirement and also still have accessible funds for emergencies. As a business owner it was also important for me to have someone who understood the risks and challenges involved in this choice of career. Julia was able to give financial advice in this area, as well as direction for how to create a profitable company.

Overall I would recommend Julia as a financial advisor who cares deeply about her clients and is always there to adjust the plan should changes or challenges arise. J. Munro

Kathryn, I just wanted to let you know we’ve just filed our first tax return since we’ve been on the Money Coach plan you set up for us AND we’ve paid off all our outstanding tax balances from previous years AND we have money in our TFSA to cover this year’s taxes with plenty left over. And to think that before we started working with you we were going under so fast we were staring bankruptcy in the face. Thank you so much for all your time, patience and hard work – you have made a huge difference to our quality of life and we feel like we have an actual shot at the future we wanted for ourselves and our family. Thanks once again, and you can probably expect to hear from us in the next 6 – 8 months for a ‘check-up’! N. Stinton

From our first telephone conversation with Sandi we knew that we had made the right decision. Sandi is very knowledgeable and her honesty is refreshing. We now have a financial plan in place to be better prepared for retirement and have certainly become more informed investors. We have learned that it is best to go with a fee only service to truly receive unbiased advice. L. Backer

While financial conversations can be daunting and confusing, Julia has a way of making the information understandable and relevant. The Financial Plan she put together for us has provided context, clarity, and comfort. It’s also a great tool to help us make decisions and stay on track toward our financial goals over the long haul. Everyone should have one! C. Ducharme

Sandi has been an excellent guide to me and my family into the financial fields of retirement, investing and saving, and has provided me with information, advice and tutelage on strategies for reaching our (what at first seemed daunting) goals.

When I first approached her I had a small scope of inquiry in mind but as she took me through her process I realized there were many more factors to consider; this process expanded my financial goals and consequently my set of possibilities and choices. Specifically, there were so many factors to retirement that were new to me and Sandi was able to demystify them with a detail and analysis that rolled over into my knowledge of investment types.

One of the most valuable arguments to choosing a financial advisor is the information they give you in relation to your own situation rather than in abstraction – it makes the process so much more interesting and even exciting. Sandi is an enthusiastic listener and thorough in her critical analysis and I recommend her to anyone who wants to take a personal leadership in their finances.

S. Wasyk