START WHERE YOU ARE
You don't need it figured out before you call.
Most people come to us with a version of the same question: can I actually afford to retire, and if so, how do I make it work? Many are professors, public service and healthcare professionals, or business owners with a corporation, people whose retirement runs through a pension or a company they built. Underneath the question are the real worries. Whether it's truly enough. How to turn a career's worth of saving into an income that lasts. Whether the person advising you is genuinely on your side.
Wherever you are on the road, that's the starting point. Figuring it out is the job.
A CPA & a CFP · Fee-only · Victoria, BC
You'll work with one person, start to finish: me, Mark. I'm a CPA and a CFP, a rarer pairing than it sounds. A good plan starts with your life, what you want your retirement to look like and what your money can genuinely support, and then gets the details right underneath it: the pension choice, the drawdown, the timing of CPP and OAS, the tax. Having the person who builds your plan also handle the tax means those details are done properly, not left to chance.
I don't sell products, earn commissions, or take a percentage of your savings. I left accounting for a simple reason: it only ever looked backward, and what actually helps people is someone looking forward for them. That's the whole idea here.
One person, start to finish.
WHO YOU WILL BE WORKING WITH
THE APPROACH
Getting to clarity is simpler than you'd expect.
1
An introductory call
We talk through where you are and what you want retirement to look like, and you find out whether we're the right fit. No pressure, no pitch.
2
Your Retirement Plan
I build you a clear, personal plan: whether you can retire, when, and exactly how to turn your savings into income, tax and all.
3
You choose what's next
Take the plan and run with it, come back for updates when life changes, or keep me alongside you for the years ahead. Your call, every time.
THREE WAYS TO MEET, HOWEVER SUITS YOU BEST
Virtually
At your home or office
From wherever you are.
I come to you.
A shared office space
When you'd rather meet on neutral ground.
EVERYONE STARTS HERE
The Retirement Plan.
THE FOUNDATION EVERYONE BEGINS WITH
Clear answers to the questions that matter most.
In plain language, backed by real numbers:
✓ Can you retire, and when?
✓ How much can you safely spend, without the fear of running out?
✓ Should you take the pension, or the commuted value?
✓ When should you start CPP and OAS?
✓ What's the best thing to do with the corporation?
✓ How do you turn everything you've built into a steady, tax-smart paycheque?
✓ What has to happen between now and then?
APPROACHING
5 TO 10 YEARS OUT
The question is "can I get there, and when?" We map your readiness, find the gaps, and lay out a tax-smart runway to a target date.
AT THE THRESHOLD
WHITHIN A YEAR OR TWO
The question is "how do I switch on the paycheque?" We design the drawdown: which accounts to draw first, when to start CPP and OAS, how to move from RRSP to RRIF, all arranged to keep the tax bill low.
ALREADY RETIRED
LIVING IT
The question is "am I still okay?" We pressure-test where you stand and set the plan up to stay current as life moves.
The plan is yours to keep, and it comes with six months in the planning software to watch it work. After that, a plan only stays useful if someone keeps it current, which is where the ongoing options come in.
THEN, THREE WAYS TO CARRY ON
You decide how much you'd like me alongside you.
Pick what fits, and change it whenever life does. There's no wrong answer.
Take it and go
Run with your plan on your own, and come back whenever life shifts for a lighter refresh: where you stand now, and a fresh checklist of what to do next. No ongoing commitment. The door simply stays open.
Best for: people who like to handle things themselves and check in now and then.
The Living Plan
Your plan kept alive year to year. As the market moves, tax rules change, and life shifts, we keep it current. Each year I tell you, backed by real math, exactly what you can spend, give, and gift without putting yourself at risk, and I work alongside your investment advisor and tax preparer so everyone is pointed the same way.
Best for: people actively living the decisions, who want it kept live and coordinated.
The Care Plan
Financial care, for when managing it all yourself becomes more than it should be. Think of it as home care, but for your money. I become the steady hand who organizes everything and everyone, so it's simply handled. Built by need, not age: for later-life clients, and equally for people living with a disability.
* Can also be for families with loved ones living in Victoria, in which they dont have local contact
Best for: anyone for whom carrying the load alone is too much, and their families.
These aren't rigid tiers you're locked into. Each is built for a certain moment, but you're free to choose the one that fits, and to move between them as life changes.
WHAT IT FELLS LIKE WHEN IT'S WORKING
Not a thicker binder.
A clearer head.
You stop second-guessing every large decision. You know what you can spend, and that it's okay to spend it. You know the plan is watching the things you can't watch yourself, and that the same person will still be here to adjust it years from now.
The worry quiets down, and what's left is the retirement you actually wanted.
