Financial Planning

Many of us have set long-term goals for ourselves. In many cases, to reach our goals, we need to create and maintain a financial plan. Establishing a financial plan helps you set attainable expectations for yourself and with the assistance of a financial planner, CIC helps you set realistic goals needed to achieve your long-term goal. CIC will ensure that your goals:

• Are specific
• Are realistic
• Are attainable
• Have a specified time frame

In order to be of assistance to you as a client, it is essential that we get to know your entire financial picture. This is done by collecting and analyzing all relevant financial information that you currently have which is shown in the Financial Review Checklist that can be accessed by clicking on the below link.

Relevant financial information to bring to initial meeting (Financial Review Checklist)

It is essential that we work together so that you may receive the maximum benefit from our expertise.

What is Investment Risk?

Risk is the currency we use to pay for investment returns. The risk / return trade-off refers to an important investment principle; investments that offer higher expected returns will have more risk.  Likewise, safer and lower risk investments will have lower rates of return.  However, as an investor, lower returns also offer peace of mind of not worrying about the volatility of your investments.  A big part of working together will be to determine your investment risk level.  Minimizing the chance of loss is a conservative investment, maintaining an acceptable mix of risk versus return is balanced and exposing your investments to a greater chance of loss is aggressive.

What is Risk Tolerance?

Risk tolerance is the degree of uncertainty that you as an investor can handle when there is a downturn in the market. Risk tolerance is your ability to endure investment fluctuations as well as your financial capability to take such risks. Everyone deals with risk differently. Generally speaking, when younger, you can usually endure a little more risk as you have the benefit of time on your side. You can wait for a rebound if there is a downturn in the market. However, if you are retired or are nearing retirement, you may be counting on income from your investments, and therefore will need to be more conservative with your investment portfolio. We will work together with you to revise and reassess your investment portfolio as life circumstances change over time.

How to minimize Risk

None of us can control the markets. By working together, we will determine your risk tolerance and investment time horizon to implement a plan to achieve your long term goals. In order to minimize risk it is imperative that you are patient and confident with your overall investment plan. Making changes to your investments as an emotional response to a downturn in the markets could prove damaging to your financial future.