SIMPLE, TRANSPARENT PRICING
The things people ask before they book.
If your question isn't here, the introductory call is the best place to ask it.
HOW WE WORK, AND HOW WE'RE PAID
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What does "fee-only" mean, and how are you paid?
Simply and transparently. You pay Dixon Davis a flat fee to deliver an unbiased financial plan, set by the complexity of your situation and agreed before any work begins. We don't sell products, earn sales commissions, or charge a percentage of your savings. The advice is built around your situation, not around anything we'd profit from selling you. You can see the actual numbers on the pricing page.
Do you sell investments or insurance?
No. We don't sell investments or insurance, and we don't earn sales commissions. We build the strategy, and when putting it into action calls for specific products, we can point you to providers we trust to carry it out well.
Do you manage my investments?
No. We're planners, not asset managers. We don't hold or trade your money, and we never take a percentage of it. If you want your portfolio actively managed, we'll help you understand what to look for and can introduce you to people we trust. Our job is the plan and the decisions around it.
What's the difference between a financial planner and a financial advisor?
In most of Canada, neither title is protected. Anyone can use either one, whatever their credentials or however they're paid. So the more useful question is how someone earns their fee. If the answer involves product commissions or a percentage of your assets, the advice can be shaped by that. If it's a flat fee you pay directly, it inherently isn't as biased.
What actually counts as good financial planning?
Making better decisions, not chasing returns. It's goal-setting, tax awareness, drawdown strategy, and pulling everything into one coherent picture, rather than picking stocks or choosing products before you've defined what you're actually solving for.
We'd add one thing: good planning starts by making sure you're asking the right question in the first place. Sometimes the problem someone arrives with isn't the real one, and helping you see that is part of the work.
IS THIS RIGHT FOR ME?
Who is Dixon Davis for?
People in the years around retirement: roughly the decade before, the threshold itself, or already retired. I work in particular with professors, public service and healthcare professionals, and business owners with a corporation, people whose retirement income runs through a pension or a company they built. But it's defined by where you are on that road, not by your age or your net worth.
Do you have income or asset minimums?
No strict minimum. What matters is where you are in the retirement transition, not how much you've saved. We don't believe your level of wealth should decide whether you get good advice, or what you pay for it. If retirement is still years off and you're focused on earlier decisions, our sister platform Otherwise (coming soon) is built for exactly that.
I'm not near retirement yet. Can you still help?
Dixon Davis is built specifically for the retirement transition, so if that's still a long way off, we probably aren't your best fit. That's exactly why Otherwise exists: a sister platform (coming soon) for the earlier, accumulation years, buying a home, starting a business, building and making the most of what you've got.
I'm already good with money. Is this worth it?
Often, yes. Even people who manage things well benefit from a second set of eyes, especially on tax, corporate structure, and drawdown. A full-picture review tends to catch opportunities that individual good decisions miss, not because you weren't paying attention, but because the whole picture reveals things the parts don't. The introductory call is a no-pressure way to find out if there's enough there to be worth it.
Do you work with people across Canada, or just Victoria?
We're based in Victoria and work with Canadians across the country, in person on the Island or virtually anywhere. Cross-border situations, a Canadian living abroad, or a U.S. person for tax purposes, get more complex, and we'll flag early whether we're the right fit.
WORKING TOGETHER
Who will I be working with?
Me, Mark. I'm a CPA and a CFP, which matters because a good plan starts with your life and then gets the details right underneath it, the pension choice, the drawdown, the tax, and having the same person build the plan and handle the tax means nothing falls through the cracks. You work with me start to finish, never a handoff. More about Mark.
What happens on the introductory call?
If it feels like a fit, I'll send you a written proposal: the scope of the work, the steps ahead, and the exact price, all in plain terms and with no obligation. You decide whether to go ahead once you can see exactly what's involved and what it will cost.
What do I need to prepare or bring?
Nothing for the first call. If we decide to go ahead, we'll send a short list of documents to gather before we start building. The introductory call itself just needs your questions and a rough sense of what's on your mind.
How long does the plan take?
About sixty days to build, from the end of onboarding and across three working meetings (the introductory call isn't one of them). The timeline can flex a little with how complex your situation is and how quickly we can gather what we need.
Who helps me put the plan into action?
You choose. Take the plan and implement it yourself with a clear checklist of what to do and when, or keep me alongside you through the Living Plan or Care Plan, where I coordinate with your accountant, lawyer, and investment advisor, and can introduce you to providers I trust. Both are legitimate outcomes. You decide which fits.
What happens after the plan is delivered?
That's up to you. Take it and go and come back for a refresh when life changes, move to the Living Plan to keep it current year to year, or, for later-life or disability situations, the Care Plan, where I handle the coordination. We walk through the options together when we deliver your plan.
How soon will I see the value?
Often quickly. Catching a costly misstep, the wrong pension choice, a poorly timed benefit, a tax bill higher than it needed to be, can save real money in the very first year. Other gains, smarter drawdown, better structure, a plan that keeps you pointed at what matters, compound over time. It depends on your situation, but the value tends to show up early and keep building.