Planning Your Legacy: A guide to preserving and growing your wealth

It’s impossible to accurately forecast everything that will take place in your future. It’s a fact of life that we exist in uncertainty, placing one foot in front of the other with a plan in mind, yet without guarantee that it will come to pass. While most of us envision our later years with rose coloured glasses, to bring that reality to fruition requires an investment in planning ahead and working with your trusted advisor to design wealth plan.

A study recently conducted by CIBC[1] found that nearly half of all Canadians do not have a thorough financial plan for their future. Of the Canadians who did report having a financial plan, a third of them shared that the plan consisted merely of a budget.

While a budget is important, it’s hardly enough to guarantee a secure financial future. Put it this way: A budget is to a financial plan what brakes are to a car. While important, you would hardly want to take a road trip if you didn’t also have an engine and a comfortable place to sit.

Budget
A budget is a plan that details where, when, and how much money is allotted to various expenses. For the past nine years[2], Canadians have cited debt repayment as their number one financial goal. And while paying down debt is an important factor in growing one’s financial abundance, it is only one piece of a larger puzzle. Budgeting for credit card and mortgage payments may relieve you of debt, but it won’t guarantee greater wealth in the future.

Legacy wealth plan
A legacy wealth plan goes beyond a budget to create a detailed plan of how you and your family will achieve your short and long term financial goals. The legacy wealth planning process should begin with a thorough look into your current financial situation, and the destination goals you’ve set as your intention. From there, a legacy wealth plan outlines all the steps that need to be taken to help you get to where you want to be.

About this guidebook
Zeifmans has prepared this guidebook in an effort to help you better understand the various facets of a legacy wealth plan. These include:

– Succession planning
– Charitable giving
Tax minimization
Wealth management
Trusts
– Wills
– Inheritance
– Cross-border matters
– Family governance
– Insurance

At Zeifmans, our team has 60 years of experience developing customized, innovative financial strategies that utilize each of the above listed pieces to form a perfectly configured legacy wealth plan. Our solutions harness our specialized knowledge and out-of-the-box thinking to take our clients where they want to go financially, preserving and growing their hard-earned wealth for the long-term. Click here to read the full guidebook.

[1] Newswire, “Nearly half of Canadians lack a financial plan, putting their goals at risk: CIBC poll”, https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/nearly-half-of-canadians-lack-a-financial-plan-putting-their-goals-at-risk-cibc-poll-611618505.html

[2] Cision, “Canadians say paying down debt is their top financial priority in 2019: CIBC poll”, https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/canadians-say-paying-down-debt-is-their-top-financial-priority-in-2019-cibc-poll-703542692.html

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