How Our Advice-Only Financial Planning Practice Works

My wife Lindsay and I run an advice-only financial planning practice from our home in Lethbridge, AB. We work with clients virtually across Canada, mostly by email and video call.

Clients pay a flat fee of $3,600 + GST for a comprehensive financial plan, investment plan, and detailed retirement income plan — designed to maximize lifetime spending and minimize lifetime taxes. That fee includes one year of ongoing advice and support, plus a refreshed plan at the end of our year together (or beginning of the new calendar year).

Who do we work with?

We work with what I call “regular Canadians with regular problems” — the kinds of financial situations most people find themselves in:

• Canadian citizens
• T4 salaried employees and sole proprietors
• Retirees
• Account types: RRSPs, TFSAs, FHSAs, LIRAs, DCPPs, non-registered accounts, RESPs, RRIFs, and LIFs
• Income streams: defined benefit pensions, CPP, and OAS
• Primary homeowners or renters

Who do we NOT work with?

We often hear from prospective clients who assume their situation is simple — but from a comprehensive planning perspective, it isn't. Here are the situations we consider complex and mostly outside our scope:

• US (dual) citizens
• Incorporated individuals (small business owners, physicians, etc.)
• Employees with significant stock-based compensation (RSUs, ESPPs, etc.)
• Account types: Trusts (formal or informal), Corporate Investments, Margin accounts, DPSPs, RDSPs
• Income streams: farming, stock options, eligible dividends, foreign rental income, foreign pensions
• Farmland owners or those with multiple rental properties or foreign property

Beyond your citizenship, employment status, and account types, we also want to make sure you're a good philosophical fit for the kind of evidence-based advice we offer. Our core beliefs:

• Investing has largely been solved with low-cost index funds
• Investing complexity has largely been solved with asset allocation ETFs
• Capital markets work and are largely efficient
• Individual stock-picking is an unhelpful distraction at best, and a loser's game at worst
• A home is a place to live — not an investment
• Delaying CPP will lead to more lifetime income and better tax planning opportunities for most people
• It's okay — even important — to spend money to maximize your life enjoyment

We don't need to agree on everything. But if our philosophy doesn't align with your worldview and preferences, we're unlikely to have a productive engagement. This probably isn't the right fit if you:

• Believe you have the skill to pick individual stocks and outperform the market
• Believe you have the foresight to accurately time the market
• Don't believe in capital markets (gold bugs, crypto ‘enthusiasts', doomsday preppers, government conspiracy theorists)

How does our process work?

To get started, prospective clients fill out a short questionnaire on our website to help us screen for the potential mismatches described above. It's not perfect, but it's a good starting point.

The more you share in that message about your current situation and future goals, the better chance we have to steer you in the right direction (either to us, or another planner) in a timely manner.

That initial inquiry goes to Lindsay — my wife and business partner — who is your first point of contact to assess your situation and, if it's a fit, to move you quickly and efficiently through our process. You'll receive an introductory email from her with more information about our service and next steps.

Please note: We are a team of two people. We have the tremendous privilege of having built a business that is in high demand. We also have lives outside of work as parents of two teenage daughters and as a family who loves to travel.

Lindsay works Monday to Thursday from 10am to 4pm MT. Expect delays if you're communicating outside of those hours.

Think of us like a mom-and-pop bed and breakfast operation. You're going to get great service and a one-of-a-kind experience. But we are not the Hilton hotel chain running 24/7.

The Discovery Call (and Wait Times)

With strong demand and limited supply, we have no choice but to limit the number of new clients we take on. That means we are often booking discovery calls 3–5 months in advance. This is normal in the advice-only planning world, as far as I understand. The best planners are often at capacity, so wait times should be expected.

That said, due to our careful screening of “regular Canadians with regular problems” and Robb's significant online presence through this blog and multiple podcast appearances, we offer a Disney FastPass (Lightning Lane?) option to skip the introductory discovery call and move straight to the information-gathering stage.

This option is for prospective clients who already feel like they “know” Robb because they've read the blog for months (or years) and/or listened to him on podcasts such as Rational Reminder or The Wealthy Barber and feel like they connect with his style and money philosophy.

If you choose the skip-the-line option, Lindsay will send out our initial intake package to gather information from you — with the understanding that this is just a “fit check” and no formal engagement has begun. If everything looks good on our end, we'll send a formal engagement letter and begin the process.

Note: The FastPass option doesn't give you a discovery call with Robb — it skips that step entirely. Your first meeting with Robb will be the 75-minute review of your initial plan and projection.

For those who opt to wait for the discovery call, you'll receive a Calendly link to book the next available appointment.

During the discovery call, you'll meet virtually with Robb to share more about yourself, what prompted you to reach out for advice, ask questions, and Robb will walk you through the process of working with an advice-only financial planner.

Becoming a Client and Working Together

After the call, Lindsay will send an engagement letter and intake package. Once you've sent back the signed agreement and intake documents, we ask for half of the financial planning fee. That payment gets Robb started on building the initial draft of your plan.

It takes 3–4 weeks to put that plan together. We use Snap Projections software to model out your financial plan and projections. That report will include everything from your net worth and projection over your lifetime, a year-by-year, account-by-account cash flow summary showing you precisely where to direct your extra cash flow during your working years and where to draw it from during your retirement years.

Since life doesn't move in a straight line, you'll see periodic one-time expenses woven in over your lifetime for things like vehicle replacements, home renovations or planned repairs, financial gifts to children or grandchildren, charitable donations, bucket list travel, and more.

But this isn't just a bunch of numbers, graphs, and charts (though those are unavoidable). Robb has been writing about personal finance for 16 years and has written more than 1,000 financial plans. Your plan will include a written summary of your situation and goals, answers to your key questions, any red flags or opportunities worth flagging, and a clear action plan — think: do these five things and you'll be set up for success.

We'll send you the report to review, then schedule a 75-minute Zoom call to walk through it together in detail. We always stress: this is our initial interpretation of your situation mapped out over time. We're looking for the numbers to tell a story so we can make good decisions today and into the future. If we misinterpreted something, or you forgot to mention something (it happens), or the numbers are prompting a change in direction — no problem. The plan is a living document. We'll update, tweak, and refine it until it reflects a good working scenario for the year ahead.

After the initial review and any revisions, we ask for the second half of payment. That keeps Robb on retainer for ongoing advice and implementation support for the remainder of your one-year engagement. You'll have access to Robb by email and Zoom as needed — to stay comfortable implementing your plan, confident in your direction, and clear on how to stay on track.

What Happens After One Year?

The idea of low-cost, self-directed investing in an asset allocation ETF, paired with on-demand financial planning advice at key life stages — that's a pretty good recipe for strong financial outcomes over a lifetime.

What “on-demand” looks like will vary: every 3, 5, or 7 years if your situation is relatively stable; consecutive years if you have a lot of moving parts that won't resolve in 12 months; or every year if you simply value having an unbiased, independent advisor to talk to, bounce ideas off, and keep your plan current.

We're not trying to hook you into ongoing advice if life is on autopilot and you're following your plan. If that's you, we'll wrap up after 12 months and send you off with the road map we built together. Come back when your goals or circumstances change — or when you just want a check-in.

Returning clients pay half the original fee for a fully updated plan and projection, plus a one-hour review call. If you'd prefer continuity and want to renew immediately after your first year ends, same deal — half the original fee for another full year of service.

FAQs

Q: My finances are simple. I just have (insert complex situation). Can we still work together?

A: Unfortunately, no. I have, in the past, strayed outside of my “regular people, regular problems” lane and almost always regretted it. We are fortunate to be choosy with the type of clients we work with — and we choose to help as many people as we can while keeping prices affordable and straightforward. That means we must work with clients who have basic planning needs. Every complexity, however seemingly small to you, adds several hours of work to properly integrate into your plan.

Q: If our situation is not a good fit, where else can we go for advice-only planning?

A: There are several excellent advice-only planning options in Canada, depending on your needs. Here are a few to consider:

• Business owners: Spring Plans, Objective Financial Partners.
• Physicians and specialists: Panorama, Poyner Financial.
• Retirees with corps and other complexities: Sandi Martin, Evans Retirement, Parallel Wealth.
• Under 40, price-sensitive: New School of Finance.
• Cross-border, dual citizens: Modern Cents.
• Light planning, DIY investing: Clarity Personal Finance.

Q: Do you use Conquest Planning software?

A: No — we use Snap Projections for our financial planning projections and reports. Both are excellent tools, but Snap works best for our needs and the type of planning we do.

Q: It took three months to meet with you for our initial discovery call. How accessible are you during our planning engagement?

A: Fair question! We're just a team of two people, so we must limit the number of new clients we onboard so we can properly serve our existing clients. The good news is that after your initial plan is delivered, we can typically meet within 1–2 weeks to review it together. After that, you'll have unlimited access to me via email — I'll respond within 1–2 days for quick questions, or 1–2 weeks for more complex questions, additions, or changes to your plan. Virtual meetings can be arranged quickly (within a day or two) for urgent or timely needs, or pre-scheduled in advance using a Calendly link for more systematic check-ups throughout the year.

In Summary

To wrap it up, we're a small, boutique, advice-only financial planning practice that works best with regular Canadians who have regular financial planning needs.

If that sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you. Fill out our short questionnaire to get the process started.