Calgary Financial Planners

As financial planners in Calgary, we offer sound financial advice specific to your needs that integrate your goals and lifestyles. With financial advisors on our team, we balance planning for tomorrow with enjoying today.

Certified Financial Planners in Calgary

Helping Your Money Grow Securely

Creating a debt management strategy. Is it better to save interest, or free up cash flow by eliminating smaller debts first? For incorporated professionals, a debt strategy balances freeing up cash flow with saving interest while reducing taxes.
Control the Uncontrollable. We ensure our clients have the right planning to answer two questions – should they have a health or cognitive impact, what would they want to see happen and how would they pay for it to keep their overall plan secure?
Finding a work & life balance. When you know how much you need to earn to pay down your debt, save for retirement and protect you and your family along your journey, excess income can be used to accelerate any or all of these goals or be able to work a little less.
Savings. Whether your savings goals are shorter-term such as saving for a down payment, saving for educating your children, or longer goals such as retirement, we help you find the balance between your goals for today and tomorrow with confidence.

Retire With Confidence

Reduce the impact of taxation and volatile markets on your retirement. Your financial plan should connect you with your money, and give purpose behind your savings. We focus on creating 5 pools:

Your minimum desired lifestyle - to be independent of the markets’ volatility
Control the uncontrollable - to ensure that a physical or mental concern doesn’t throw your planning off course.
Discretionary - extra spending in good times, cut back when markets drop to preserve your hard-earned savings.
Retirement Assets - planning for vacation properties or other needs.
Making your money matter - how can we make the savings you don’t need for retirement matter both today, and when left to loved ones?

Certified Financial Planners

Certified Financial Planner® designation provides assurance to Canadians their financial future rests with a professional who will put their clients’ interests ahead of their own.

Financial Advisors in Calgary

As Certified Financial Planners, we focus on four key areas of your financial life: Save it, spend it, pay it down, and protect it. Your financial plan should reflect your views and comfort level on how quickly you repay your debts and how you prefer to build your savings, balanced with how much you would like to work and play. We work towards YOUR financial independence.

Financial Advice for New Physicians

We understand your concerns are typically about getting incorporated, paying off student debts, buying your dream home, and starting a family. Financial planning for physicians revolves around simplifying your life by determining how much and how long until your debts are repaid, advising on mortgage strategies, and making sure you have the kind of cash flow you need for becoming a spouse and parent. Financial advice isn’t just about recommending investments to you, it’s about setting you up the right way, and protecting what you’ve worked hard to accomplish.

Financial Advice for Established Physicians

Physicians who are further along in their careers tend to want to find a greater work and life balance. As their savings have started to grow and their debts reduced or even gone, avoiding burnout can be a key concern for many physicians. It’s critical at this stage to develop a plan that will allow them to see when they can become financially independent, which will allow them to work as much or as little as they choose. The choices you make today should preserve your ability to make choices in the future.

Financial Advice for Retiring & Retired Physicians

For many physicians, the thought of retirement can be a daunting one as they shift from the one that generates their income to having to rely on their investments and advice to create it for them. As Certified Financial Planners, we offer sound advice when you need it, and a steady hand when you don’t to allow you to move into this next stage of your life with confidence.

Ask Us How We Can Help

Financial Advisors Who Are Here to Stay

With over 30 years of helping Canadians secure their financial futures, your PlayCheques team is here to stay and connect you to your planning with clarity and simplicity.

Connect with Us & Plan for Life

Your PlayCheques team helped medical professionals like you with balancing their short and long-term goals. Whether it’s developing a debt management strategy, saving for your children’s education, or securing your financial independence, we create effective and personalized steps to work with you to create your financial pathway to success.

ASSOCIATIONS

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Personal Success Stories

"Playcheques was uber professional from start to finish. I never felt like anything was left to chance and every avenue was discussed with me so the best solution was achieved for me and my family. Would recommend them all day long. "

Deane T.

"Adrian George is professional and honest in with all of his clients. He optimizes everything and looks at his clients entire life situation to make a customized plan that works efficiently. There's no reason to use any other financial house than Playcheques in my opinion. "

Dr. John T.

"These fellows know their stuff and work super hard to help you. They really are the best!"

Dr. Joel F.

FAQs

The day you retire, all the rules change. You shift from earning your income and building savings to using your savings to create your income. How will you know if you have enough to retire? By assigning different purposes to different portions of your savings:

Minimum Desired Lifestyle. The fundamental basis for any retirement plan is to ensure you never outlive your money and are immune to market volatility. What sources of guaranteed income do you have? Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security and Defined Benefit Pensions fall into this category. Shortfall from the income received and the income needed? Consider a 1, 2 and 3-year GIC for the annual difference needed. In up markets, you’re only sacrificing returns. In down markets, these GICs preserve the rest of your portfolio!

Control the Uncontrollable. Next, we want to be able to answer two questions: if something happens to me or my partner physically or mentally, what do I/we want to have happen and how will we fund it? Your personal legal documents and funding set aside to cover for them will give you relief in knowing an unexpected health event won’t use up your other savings.

Discretionary Income. The ‘wants’ of retirement! This is where the bulk of your retirement savings will reside. In up markets, you spend and travel more, and in down markets, you cut back here. And because you’ve done the first two steps, you’re not worried about negative markets!

Toys. The first three steps are what you need to be able to retire, but savings in excess of those needs can be used towards vacation properties, nicer cars or other larger purchases without impacting your future ability to generate retirement income.

Making Your Money Matter. Finally, any assets not used by the time you pass away can be planned for 2 of 3 possible beneficiaries: your family or your friends, your community or your charity, or the Canada Revenue Agency. Make sure you pick the right 2 for you by considering pre-gifting, donations and proper insurance to pay your tax for pennies on the dollar, not dollar plus.

Rather than thinking of debt solely in terms of the highest interest rate, reframe the question this way: What is most important to me? Saving interest, freeing up cash flow, or (for the business owner) saving taxes? Car loans are often a larger payment relative to the amount outstanding due to their shorter time frame to repay. Paying them off is often less about interest saved, therefore, and more about freeing up cash flow. A mortgage, on the other hand, is often cheaper debt but early payments can create big interest savings down the road. For the business owner/incorporated professional, a 3rd question should be considered: does it make sense to pay up to 48% tax to save 5 – 8% of interest? This is where the head versus heart battle will show itself and there is no right or wrong answer. If the thought of debt truly bothers you, then set a plan for elimination that avoids high tax rates but gets debt paid off in a timeline you can live with. If you are okay with debt as long as you can save or grow your company more than the interest, then paying the minimum on personal debt may be the right solution for you.

Ultimately, working with your financial planner will help you find the right balance that is unique to you, your goals, and your values.