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Financial Tips

	12 Fast Financial Planning Tips for Women
	Choosing a Financial Advisor
	How to Have a Debt-Free Holiday Season
	Financial Fitness for Couples

Here, savvy women entrepreneurs share practical tips and advice.

12 Fast Financial Planning Tips for Women

Financial expert Joanne Thomas Yaccato shares top wealth-creation tips.

It's never too late to start financial planning. Women's financial expert and author Joanne Thomas Yaccato, President of the Thomas Yaccato Group (Tel: 416-367-3677; e-mail: joanne@tyg.ca) shares these top dozen tips for creating personal wealth:

				Share the message about the need to take financial responsability for yourself with your doughters and nieces.

1. Get organized and think about your goals, both short and long term. Where do you want to be in five years? Twenty years? Make some notes about your goals.
2. Start educating yourself about financial planning now. Read books, attend seminars, and surf the Internet.
3. Once you have a basic level of self-education (enough to ask questions and understand some of the answers), look for a financial advisor.
4. Maximize your RRSP even if you have to borrow money to do it. Make weekly or monthly contributions to make budgeting easier. Don't count on the government's ability to fund your retirement.
5. Make sure you own sufficient disability insurance to take care of yourself, should you become ill or seriously injured. Life insurance is important too but it looks after others, not you.
6. Treat your savings as an expense. The first "bill" you pay each month should be to yourself, before even the mortgage, rent or your kid's orthodontist. Try to take 10% after tax every paycheque. If you don't think you can afford it, track your spending to identify the "black holes" - where you fritter dollars away without even realizing it - and start saving there.
7. Build a financial "pyramid". The base should be safe and risk free to provide adequate dollars in case of emergency, disability or death. Investments can be more risky (with potentially higher returns) as you move towards the top.
8. Get savvy about credit. Understand how credit works and the different forms available to use - and abuse. And be honest with your creditors when you're in trouble.
9. Keep an adequate emergency fund. It can buy you time for making important decisions that could affect the rest of your life. It can also buy you freedom if your marriage, relationship or business partnership fails.
10. Draft a will. Start by putting together a list of all of your assets in order to determine a fair distribution to your loved ones.
11. Develop patience and perseverance. The road to financial success is often uphill.
12. Share the message about the need to take financial responsibility for yourself with your daughters and nieces.

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Choosing a Financial Advisor

Since women live longer than men, planning your financial future is one of the most important things to do for yourself. And if you don't have a good financial advisor to assist you, there are a myriad of choices and a long list of financial resources available to help you make those critical decisions, including financial planners,
investment advisors, stockbrokers, commodity brokers, mutual funds salespeople, insurance agents, and more. Be aware that some who call themselves financial planners are really just commissioned salespeople who want to sell you financial products. Insist on proper accreditation. Here are some guidelines to help you make the choice that's best for you and understand what you should expect from a financial advisor.

What to Look For

Find someone who:

• Is experienced and trustworthy
• Has a professional designation
• Is a good fit, sharing your philosophy of investments and money and understanding your risk tolerance
• Fully assesses both your current financial situation and future goals
• Explains investment recommendations clearly
• Gives you advice over a broad range of financial solutions
• Provides access or referrals to specialized financial services or products you may need related to estate, retirement and tax planning
• Is willing to work with other advisors you have, such as your accountant and banker.
• Clearly explains how he/she is compensated
• Can provide proof of performance

How to Have a Debt-Free Holiday Season

Here are some suggestions to help you enjoy holiday seasons without being overwhelmed by debt. As Glenis Shanks of Fresh Start Money Management & Debt Counselling Services Ltd. (tel: 780- 951-0885, e-mail: gshanks@shaw.ca) explains - planning is the key. Below are some of her insightful tips:

Financial Planning:

• Estimate holiday expenses by filling in our Christmas Planning Worksheet
• Your spending should match your available cash, not your available credit.
• If estimated expenses are more than the cash you have on hand, brainstorm how you can increase income and decrease living expenses between now and the holiday season. Also reduce the expenses on your worksheet.
• Start to save for next holiday season in January, using the Christmas Planning Worksheet as your guide. Monthly savings must fit into your family budget. Advantages of monthly savings include accessibility to purchase gifts throughout the year, your money will earn interest, and you avoid costly debt.

Gift Planning:

• To reduce gift costs, talk with family and friends about drawing names, setting dollar limits or giving to charity in lieu of exchanging adult gifts. This may be hard to do, but others are probably relieved you brought up the subject.
• Let older children and partners know how much money you have for gifts and that you will not go into debt. Let them make gift suggestions to fit your holiday season budget. (Keep a little extra money for surprises and stocking stuffers.)
• Rather than wander aimlessly in crowded stores for gift ideas, look on the Internet, in catalogues, flyers and magazines.
• Brainstorm gifts that suit each person's interests and needs.
• From your list of gifts to be purchased, see if you can group them (movies, books, music, gift certificates) and one-stop shop.
• Think of gifts that have no or little dollar value as they are often the best kind. Examples include a Christmas ornament or home-made gift, cleaning someone's home, decorating, baking, hosting a children's sleepover, burning CD's of oldies music, providing manicures or preparing family photo albums on the computer.
• Chits for lunch, a movie or ice cream in the few months after Christmas will spread out your costs and give people something to look forward to in the spring.
• Avoid last minute shopping, as you will surely "blow your budget".

Reducing Entertainment Costs:

• Have a pot luck or progressive supper or afternoon Open House.
• Do not serve liquor.
• Have a simple brunch for guests on Boxing Day rather than an expensive Christmas dinner.

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How to Have a Debt-Free Holiday Season

Here are some suggestions to help you enjoy holiday seasons without being overwhelmed by debt. As Glenis Shanks of Fresh Start Money Management & Debt Counselling Services Ltd. (tel: 780- 951-0885, e-mail: gshanks@shaw.ca) explains - planning is the key. Below are some of her insightful tips:

Financial Planning:

• Estimate holiday expenses by filling in our Christmas Planning Worksheet
• Your spending should match your available cash, not your available credit.
• If estimated expenses are more than the cash you have on hand, brainstorm how you can increase income and decrease living expenses between now and the holiday season. Also reduce the expenses on your worksheet.
• Start to save for next holiday season in January, using the Christmas Planning Worksheet as your guide. Monthly savings must fit into your family budget. Advantages of monthly savings include accessibility to purchase gifts throughout the year, your money will earn interest, and you avoid costly debt.

Gift Planning:

• To reduce gift costs, talk with family and friends about drawing names, setting dollar limits or giving to charity in lieu of exchanging adult gifts. This may be hard to do, but others are probably relieved you brought up the subject.
• Let older children and partners know how much money you have for gifts and that you will not go into debt. Let them make gift suggestions to fit your holiday season budget. (Keep a little extra money for surprises and stocking stuffers.)
• Rather than wander aimlessly in crowded stores for gift ideas, look on the Internet, in catalogues, flyers and magazines.
• Brainstorm gifts that suit each person's interests and needs.
• From your list of gifts to be purchased, see if you can group them (movies, books, music, gift certificates) and one-stop shop.
• Think of gifts that have no or little dollar value as they are often the best kind. Examples include a Christmas ornament or home-made gift, cleaning someone's home, decorating, baking, hosting a children's sleepover, burning CD's of oldies music, providing manicures or preparing family photo albums on the computer.
• Chits for lunch, a movie or ice cream in the few months after Christmas will spread out your costs and give people something to look forward to in the spring.
• Avoid last minute shopping, as you will surely "blow your budget".

Reducing Entertainment Costs:

• Have a pot luck or progressive supper or afternoon Open House.
• Do not serve liquor.
• Have a simple brunch for guests on Boxing Day rather than an expensive Christmas dinner.

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Financial Fitness for Couples

Financial counsellor Glenis Shanks' solutions for common money problems à deux.

Couples bring different things to a relationship: values, habits, attitudes, deprived or lavish childhoods and different perceptions of "needs" versus "wants." These differences result in very different attitudes and behaviours when it comes to earning, spending and investing money, observes financial counselor Glenis Shanks of Edmonton, Alberta (Tel: 780-951-0885; e-mail: gshanks@shaw.ca).

In her financial counselling work, Glenis sees common troubles shared by many different couples. These include a lack of shared financial goals and a formal household budget, mishandling of money by one partner, overspending on credit by one or both partners, the lack of a personal allowance for each partner and borrowing from (or lending to) family members. So, it shouldn't be surprising that financial difficulty is one of the top contributors to marital break-up, according to several studies.

Glenis offers these tips to help female entrepreneurs reduce the chance of running into money conflicts with your partner:

1. Set common financial goals.

2. Keep spending records and complete a budget together, then track where money is spent on an ongoing basis to provide an informed basis for future budgeting and decision-making.

3. Discuss major purchases and investments well in advance.

4. Ensure each partner has a personal spending allowance separate from the household budget. And remember your partner shouldn't have to justify what he spends his allowance on to you.

5. Divide responsibilities for paying regular bills and other expenses to ensure that one partner isn't bearing the entire financial-management burden.