A financial plan gives you a complete picture of your finances by focusing on your current needs and future goals. It includes longer-term goals, such as retirement, and shorter-term goals, such as saving for a car or a home. It can help establish the best routes to get there on time and identifies important milestones so you know you’re on the right track. Your Scotiabank Advisor can help you build your financial plan and also serve a regular check point to help you stay on track. 

A dividend is a distribution of a portion of a company’s earnings, typically paid on a quarterly basis to shareholders. Investors in dividend-paying stocks have the option to receive regular cash flow or re-invest those dividends into additional shares. Not all dividend-paying stocks are created equal and there are many options and solutions available for investors. Your Scotiabank Advisor can help you find the investing solution that works for you. 

Figuring out your net worth is an important step in evaluating your financial health and reaching your financial goals. To calculate your net worth, make a list of all your assets (what you own) and liabilities (what you owe). The difference between the two (assets minus liabilities) is your net worth. This will give you a better picture of your spending and savings habits so you can see where you’re doing well and where you might need to make changes. 

Investing automatically with a Pre-Authorized Contribution (PAC) can help keep you on track to meet your financial goals. Pre-Authorized Contributions eliminate the guesswork of when to invest and can allow you to take advantage of potential compound growth depending on your investment. And with a PAC on your RRSP you can avoid the stress of making lump-sum contributions. Speak to your Scotiabank Advisor to set up a PAC today.

Spousal RRSPs are an effective way to split income during retirement. The long-term goal of investing in a spousal RRSP is to minimize taxes for a couple during retirement by putting retirement income in the hands of the lower-income spouse. By equalizing each spouse’s retirement income, the overall tax bill is reduced by keeping both spouses in a lower tax bracket. Talk to your Scotiabank Advisor for more details.

A rule of thumb is to save the equivalent of three to six months of living expenses in an emergency fund/rainy-day fund to get you through a financial setback or job loss. Even if you can only set aside a small amount from your paycheques, if something does come up, like a major car repair at the worst possible time, you won’t need to dip into your savings or borrow from your credit card in order to pay for it.