Today Azfar J. Ahmad discussed Risk and Asset Allocation and the association between the two. He highlighted how investors need to consider where they are in their life economically to consider how to invest. It is important to understand that risk aversion is not just about making more returns on their money as more risk is taken on, it is also about how the income being generated within the investments are paid out. I.e.. Interest, dividends, capital gains and/or return of capital. He led the dicussion about MERs, like what does it mean when an investment has a …” 1.2% MER”? How does this number affect the rate of return on the investment? And lastly, he encouraged us to always consider weighted averages when it comes to rates of return.

Azfar would be happy to speak with any and all regarding structuring your new or existing portfolio. If you have any questions on if there are any minimums to invest or anything of that nature, he would be happy to lend a hand.

Azfar works within a team of three; himself, a colleague and a support staff. He have access to all investments and is in no way biased to any investment house when it comes to the investments themselves.

He is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) registered with the Financial Planners Standard Council (FPSC), a Personal Financial Planner (PFP) and Financial Management Advisor (FMA), both registered with the Canadian Securities Institute (CSI).

You can contact Azfar Ahmad by phone or email by going to his profile information page.

Michael McCombie from The Co-operators shared the insurance you need to consider for different stages in life. Coming from a financial advisor, these are some pretty valuable tips! Shoot Michael an email if you have any more questions related to this at michael_mccombie@cooperators.ca.

The Stages of Life & The Insurance Associated With Them

Stage 1- Getting Married and Buying your First Home
– This is the perfect time to set up a Term Life for you and your spouse. At The Co-operators we offer a variety of different Term lengths that can fit into almost any budget
– You should also be aware of the differences between Mortgage Insurance through the Bank’s and Term Life Insurance through The Co-operators. See attached documents

Stage 2- Starting your own dream business
– A very important product at this stage is Critical Illness insurance. Critical Illness insurance covers such things as Cancer, Heart Attack, Stroke, etc.. It allows a business owner to focus on recovering from an illness and not have to worry about the business surviving at the same time.
– Another important product is Disability Insurance for both Injury and Illness. This will allow you to continue to earn a salary while you are disabled or ill
– If you are in a partnership or have multiple owners, this would be a good time to look at Life Insurance to cover a Buy-Sell Agreement between partners.

Stage 3- Growing your Family (Having Kids)
– This is the time you should be sitting down with your Financial Advisor to complete a financial Life Insurance plan. Once you have kids this is the time you need to start thinking about covering off more than just your mortgage. You want to cover off such things as Income Replacement, Educational costs, as well as your Mortgage and any other debts
– At The Co-operators we also have some great products for children:
o Whole Life Headstart- This is a Permanent Life Insurance product that has investment growth allowing the policy to grow over time.
o Critical Illness Headstart- This is a critical Illness policy that will cover your child if they were to become seriously ill and allow a parent to take a year off to care for the ill child without having to worry about financial stress.

Stage 4- Setting up Final Expenses
– Once your Temporary needs no longer exist (Mortgage, Child Expenses, etc) this is the time to set up Permanent Life Insurance to cover off your final expenses and to leave some tax free money to your children.

BUYING YOUR FIRST HOME? I’VE GOT ANSWERS.

Join us and learn more about: what you need to know to buy your first home
Date: Thursday, February 26, 2015
Time: 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Location: Wharncliffe and Commissioners, 515 Wharncliffe Rd S, London
RSVP by contacting: Samantha Levac at 519-661-1312 or samantha.levac@rbc.com
Please RSVP by: Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Date: Saturday, February 28, 2015
Time: 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Location: Wharncliffe and Commissioners Branch, 515 Wharncliffe Rd S, London
RSVP by contacting: Samantha Levac at 519-661-1312 or samantha.levac@rbc.com
Please RSVP by: Friday, February 27, 2015