Part 1: Body, Fitness, & Financial Planning

'Balance in the body is the foundation for balance in life.'

If you've ever thought about your body, had it assessed, or went to a physical or had a medical check you know that your body is unbalanced or it's showing imbalances.

Unless you are a professional athlete or an aspiring one, you likely have one leg that is stronger than the other, one arm that is more dominant, and various parts of your body that are stronger/better than the others. You might have parts that constantly cause pain or discomfort; maybe it's the knees, the hips, the back (lower, middle, or upper), the neck, or the inability for your stomach to handle certain foods. There are a myriad of different things causing different people different issues, Imbalances.

If you speak with a doctor, medical professional, fitness trainer, physiotherapist, massage therapist, or any health professional, you will likely be given some direction on how to improve on those nagging areas or how best to avoid having those nagging pains. Correcting imbalances in the body is often a suggested solution, when one part hurts it's likely due to tightness, weakness, or issues in another area, our smart bodies protect that area by overcompensating onto stronger areas.

This exact thing happens with our financial situations. Hear me out here. I want you to think about the picture below, our Financial Body Parts.

Where would you place Taxes, Investments, Insurance, Bank Accounts, Salary, Business Dividends, Wills/POAs/Personal Directives, Pensions, CPP, OAS, Estate, Mortgages, Lines of Credit, Credit Cards, Cash and Cash Equivalents, Mutual Funds, Portfolios, Stocks, Bonds, etc?

Where are your pain points?

What are your stronger parts?

What plan do you have to fix those imbalances?

Is it important to focus attention on any one area or is that one left untreated ok?

Perfection is not what we're after, balance and keeping a strong holistic body is what we are after. Making your body last with minimal pain throughout your lifetime. Finding the immediate pain points and working on those first. That's our process, or should be our process, as Financial Planners. Working as financial professionals, like your health professionals, to get your Financial Parts into balance and contain the issues.

We should not assess a knee issue, let's call it paying a lot of Taxes, without understand what the parts around that are doing. Looking into what Income is coming in in order to put pressure on the Cashflow side of things; Income is what you have to report to the government and Cashflow is what you get to spend.

Nor could we assess that 'knee' (tax overpayment) issue by simply looking at the knee. We need to be able to look deeper; think x-rays, knee bending and twisting, pushing on the points to determine the part of the 'knee' causing the issue. We need to dive deeper into the entire tax situation, this allows us to strategically develop a plan and some steps to improve on the imbalance or make the area stronger.

Balance in the body is the foundation for balance in life. Balance in your overall financial situation is the foundation for balance in life. Allowing you to rest well, stress less, sleep better, worry less, and feel more at ease about your Financial Body lasting the lifetime you want it to. Shouldn't we be looking at financial preservation so you can get the most out of your life rather than spending your retirement years sitting in a chair watching the world go by because you did not correct or seek to correct the unstable parts of that financial body. I would rather you be out spending and enjoying those years as best you can or as best as you wish.

If you work with one professional, a knee specialist, they will not be looking at or giving advice on your nagging migraine issue. The body remains imbalanced. If you work with an investment advisor only they will simply be giving advice or solutions on your investments, your overpayment in taxes remains an issue or your desire to pay down your mortgage sooner remains unsolved. You still have financial imbalances.

When you look at working with a professional financial manager, a Financial Planner looks at every aspect. We want to assess your entire Financial Body, not one or two pieces, in order to give the best advice and figure out the biggest issues that you may not even see. Ex: your knee issue was being cause by tight muscles in your thighs that needed to be stretched better before and after running. You would not understand your tax over-payment issue by simply looking at your tax returns, it does not give the overall picture.

"The balanced mind is always at ease. It isn't for or against anything."

To balance the financial body we need to not be for or against any solutions. We need to look at what works best for your unique situation and aligning you with those solutions that fit best. We cannot overweight our expertise on investments and ignore your business cashflow, we cannot sell life insurance while ignoring your family situation and cashflow to align you with a product that suits you best.

In order to put your mind into balance and at ease, we need to strip down your financial situation and look at all components with no judgement. We cannot judge as every single person is imbalanced both physically and financially in one way or another. You are unique in your situation but not unique in having challenges.