Personal Financial Planning in Alberta
our insurance, retirement, investments, and estate planning shouldn't run as separate decisions. We bring them together. Designed for your situation, coordinated with the other professionals in your life, reviewed as your circumstances change.
The Problem We Actually Solve
Most Albertans end up with their financial life scattered across people and institutions that don't talk to each other.
An advisor at the bank handles the RRSP and TFSA. Someone else sold the life insurance years ago. A different person managed a critical illness policy that's been sitting unreviewed since. The mortgage is with another institution. The will and estate documents are with a lawyer who hasn't been involved in the financial conversations. Group benefits at work are something you're vaguely aware of but haven't really evaluated.
The problem isn't any one piece. It's that nobody is responsible for stepping back and asking how the pieces fit together. Where are the gaps. Where are the overlaps. What's outdated. What's possible if everything is designed to work as one plan.
That's the work we do. Not in place of other professionals, but alongside them. We build the integrated personal financial plan. Specialists handle their specialties. The combination delivers a meaningfully different outcome than disconnected advice.
Who We Work With
We work with individuals and families across Alberta who want a long-term planning relationship, not a one-off transaction. The personal-side clients we work best with tend to fall into a few groups.
Families with kids. Households actively building wealth, managing mortgages, raising children, and balancing competing priorities. Most of our work with this group involves coordinated insurance protection (life, critical illness, disability), education planning, retirement projections, and tax-smart account structure. The financial picture is busy and constantly evolving. Having someone responsible for the integrated plan matters.
Single professionals. Albertans building their financial foundation early in their careers. Often heavy on cash-flow planning, registered account strategy (RRSP, TFSA, FHSA), first life insurance and critical illness coverage, and groundwork for longer-term goals like buying a home or starting a business.
Pre-retirees in their 50s and 60s. Households 5 to 15 years from retirement, where decisions made now substantially affect how the retirement years play out. Strategy here centres on retirement projections, accelerating accumulation, optimizing CPP and OAS timing, structuring withdrawals, and beginning estate planning conversations. Many clients in this group come to us specifically because they sense their existing approach isn't quite right and want a real second opinion.
Retirees. Albertans already in retirement who want their drawdown strategy reviewed and optimized. Tax-efficient withdrawal sequencing, long-term care planning, estate execution, and ongoing investment coordination.
Blended families and complex personal situations. Second marriages, divorced parents with shared custody arrangements, multi-generational households, families with dependants requiring ongoing support. The financial planning needs are layered and off-the-shelf advice doesn't fit. We work through the specifics.
In all of these, what's common is the desire for someone to look at the full picture, not just sell a product or open an account.
How We Work — A Different Operating Model
The way we operate with personal clients differs from a transactional advisory relationship in a few specific ways.
Written planning. Comprehensive clients receive a written financial plan. Not a sales summary or an account opening package. An actual plan that documents the recommendations, the assumptions, the rationale, and the structure. Something you can hold, refer to, and review against over time.
Integrated design. When we recommend something, we model how it fits with the rest of the picture. A new life insurance policy isn't recommended in isolation. It's modeled against existing coverage, family needs, debts, and longer-term planning. The strategy stands on integration, not on the product.
Coordination with other specialists. We work alongside your accountant, your lawyer, and any other professional involved in your financial life. We share planning context with them where relevant, listen when they flag concerns, and align the financial structures with the work they're doing.
Ongoing review. Things change. Kids are born. Mortgages are paid off. Career changes happen. Family situations evolve. Tax rules change. The plan we build today isn't the same plan you'll need in five years. Reviews happen on a regular schedule, not just when something needs to be sold.
Honest about fit. If we're not the right team for someone's situation, we say so. There are clients we work well with, and there are clients better served by a different kind of advisor. We'd rather have that conversation upfront than waste anyone's time.
The Strategies and Services We Work With
A short overview of the personal financial planning tools and coverages we work with regularly. Each links to a more detailed page.
PERSONAL LIFE INSURANCE
Term, whole life, and universal life. Designed around what you're actually trying to protect (income, debt, family needs, estate considerations). Independent comparison across all major Canadian insurers. Learn more about Personal Life Insurance →
CRITICAL ILLNESS INSURANCE
A lump-sum, tax-free benefit if you're diagnosed with a covered condition. Useful for income replacement, treatment costs not covered by Alberta Health, and the practical realities of recovery. Term and permanent options, with return-of-premium variations where they make sense. Learn more about Critical Illness Insurance →
DISABILITY INSURANCE
Your ability to earn an income is usually your largest financial asset. Disability insurance protects that asset against the much more common scenario of being unable to work due to illness or injury. Learn more about Disability Insurance →
LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE
For Albertans planning ahead for the possibility of needing extended care later in life. The market has changed significantly in recent years. We'll explain what's actually available and whether it fits your situation. Learn more about Long-Term Care Insurance →
HEALTH AND DENTAL INSURANCE
For Albertans without employer coverage. Self-employed, between jobs, retirees who lost group coverage, or anyone who needs to bridge a gap. We work with Manulife Flexcare and FollowMe families and other Canadian providers. Learn more about Health and Dental Insurance →
TRAVEL INSURANCE
Single-trip, multi-trip, snowbird, visitors to Canada, and interprovincial coverage. We work with Manulife and TuGo, matching the plan to the trip and the traveler. Learn more about Travel Insurance →
RETIREMENT PLANNING
Written, ongoing projections for the years before and after you retire. CPP and OAS timing strategy, tax-efficient withdrawal sequencing, inflation stress-testing, and coordination with other income sources. Learn more about Retirement Planning →
ESTATE PLANNING SUPPORT
The financial-planning side of estate planning. Beneficiary coordination, life insurance for estate equalization, charitable giving structures, and integration with the legal instruments your lawyer draws up. Learn more about Estate Planning Support →
INVESTMENT PLANNING AND DISCRETIONARY PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
For investment accounts of meaningful size, we work with discretionary portfolio managers and use segregated funds where they make sense. Investment selection coordinates with the broader plan rather than being treated as a separate decision. Learn more about Discretionary Portfolio Management →
MANULIFE ONE AND BANKING COORDINATION
For households with a mortgage and meaningful cash flow, Manulife One restructures banking and debt against income, often saving years of mortgage interest without changing income, spending, or savings rates. Learn more about Manulife One →
A Note on Who We're Not For
Where we're not the best fit:
You're looking for the cheapest version of any single product. We compare across the market and recommend what fits best, not what costs least. Direct-to-consumer brokers handle low-cost transactional purchases more efficiently.
You don't want long-term planning. Some clients prefer to handle their financial life as a series of disconnected transactions. That's a legitimate choice, but it's not how we work.
You want only investment management. We do work with investment management as part of broader planning, but if all you're looking for is a portfolio manager and nothing else, a dedicated investment-only relationship usually makes more sense.
You're not interested in a written plan or ongoing reviews. The comprehensive planning model only delivers if both sides engage in it.
If any of those describe your situation, we're probably not the right fit, and we'd rather have that conversation upfront.
How to Get Started
The first step is a 30-minute conversation. We'll learn about your situation, what's prompted you to look for advice, and what you're trying to accomplish. We'll explain how we work and what we'd recommend as next steps. Most first conversations end with one of three outcomes:
We're a fit. We outline what working together would look like, agree on next steps, and start building the plan.
We're not a fit. We tell you that honestly, and where we can, we'll suggest a direction or a specialist that fits better.
The timing isn't right. Sometimes the answer is "stay in touch and circle back when [specific change] happens." That's normal.
Most first conversations take 30 to 45 minutes. By video, or in person if you're in the Edmonton area.