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The team at MoneyAdvisor.ca
Plan. Protect. Prosper.
Simplifying Your Financial Goals
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Written and photographed by Mary Savage
K
evin MacLeod learned about financial investing the hard way – he lost more than he made by trusting the advice of strangers. Once bitten, twice shy… During his early 20s, MacLeod borrowed $21,000 to invest in an RRSP. The bank referred him to a stockbroker and inside of two years, his entire investment was gone. But MacLeod still had to repay the loan. Fast-forward a few years later, MacLeod sold his successful retail business for a handsome profit and once again went in search of investment advice. At the time, he and his wife were raising a young family and he needed to secure their future. This time, he listened to many advisers. He spent time listening as they all tried to sell him what they thought he needed. However the advisers neglected to ask MacLeod a few key questions: how should he best plan for the future based on his individual needs? What was the best way to
protect his young family, protect their assets and secure their future? Discouraged but not deterred, MacLeod decided his best option was to seek his own counsel and pursue a career in financial planning. In the late 1990s, he landed a job and after three years, he had earned his Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation. “Anyone can become a financial planner simply by saying they are a financial planner, but the CFP designation takes many years of industry experience, coursework and continuous education to earn,” remarks Kevin MacLeod, president, MoneyAdvisor.ca. “And when I started to think about getting into the business, that first experience proved to be a valuable lesson: I would never do that to someone,” says MacLeod. “I couldn’t live with myself by taking that kind of risk with someone’s hard-earned money.”
MoneyAdvisor.ca | 15 Years