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September 2014

It’s October! This means the children are back in school now and homework is now every night with projects just around the corner. This fall brings new opportunities and exciting new goals for us here at our branch of HollisWealth, some of which we would like to share with you. First of all we would like to give thanks to everyone who came out to our client appreciation BBQ on July 19th at Memorial Park, we had a great time even with the rain and The Hope Centre benefited with the donations made that day. Stay tuned for our December newsletter as it will have all the details for our annual skating event!

Recent & Upcoming Changes:

Our office continues to invest and upgrade our technology and tools to be able to better serve our clients. Furthermore, we continue to further our knowledge through educational courses and seminars since our previous newsletter, we will expand on this in a few paragraphs. Recently our office has made the changeover to Windows 7 Operating System as well upgraded our Client Relationship software to Maximizer. Met by many challenges we would like to thank our IT person Luke in working out all the bugs and making the transition into our new systems much smoother. Maximizer our new client relations software will help us better service our clients keeping better notes with regards to personal preferences, client life events, conversations and milestones!

Our client profile forms have yet again been updated due to regulation requirements. We are now required to ask some additional questions on the new forms one of which is how long you have lived in Canada for. A reminder to clients that when booking appointments we need 7-10 business days to properly prepare for our appointment. This ensures we have sufficient time in preparing everything needed for our appointment and getting out an Agenda before our meeting, so this makes efficient use of our time together as well ensuring all relevant questions, concerns and reports are properly prepared and ready when we meet.

Please feel free to visit our updated and new website which can be located at http://www.RomanGroch.ca

Paul G. Favero of HollisWealth Niagara Falls & Stephen M. Bronn- Welcome to their clients.

We have been working diligently to get all of Paul and Stephen’s client files in order and ensuring that we are meeting expectations and financial lifestyle goals. This has been a big challenge for us over the last few months and we would like to thank all the clients that have come, being so personable and able to meet with us to discuss their dreams and financial lifestyle goals with us. Not only did we have wonderful goal setting meetings we also did address and verify that all information we have on our files is correct and up to date. Things that we have discovered while we met ranged from incorrect legal names, addresses, employment information, out of date beneficiaries etc.. We have also been updating access to our online system WealthTracker, ensuring that all the accounts are being reflected properly.

CRM2 (Client Relationship Model) – What is all the hype about ????

The Canadian Securities Administrators have published the second phase of the Client Relationship Model initiative (“CRM2”) with the aim of increasing transparency of account performance, fees, and charges across all wealth businesses. These reforms contain a comprehensive set of rules that will have a significant impact on the way advisors and the firm provide services to clients. The sweeping regulatory changes under the CRM2 initiative are to be phased in over the next three years, with the first set of amendments coming into effect on July 15, 2014 (“Year 1”).

Regulatory Focus:

CRM1- focused on increased account disclosure and enhanced suitability.

CRM2- is intended to increase transparency for clients regarding the fees they pay and provide standardized reporting with regards to the performance of their accounts.

Client Impact- CRM1:

  • Impact on management and oversight of their accounts
  • A rigorous oversight and risk management process ensures suitability of investments and account monitoring

Client Impact- CRM2:

  • HollisWealth advisors hold themselves to a very high standard and maintain open communications and transparency regarding commissions
  • Additional transparency will be provided regarding how fees are determined
  • While HollisWealth advisors often provide performance and account reporting for clients, additional standardized reporting will be available in 2016

At our office we continue to disclose any fees that our clients can be subject to both verbally and/or in writing. In order to stay current with the latest requirements (CRM2) Fund Facts (information sheet) will now be given to clients on any new investments to ensure a better understanding of the investment being made.

Financial Life Planning:

To have a successful succession plan it is very important to get your entire family involved in the process. Everyone wants to do what is best for their loved ones, but how do you know what is best for your family if you never ask them what is important to them. We continue to develop a process to better assist our clients and their families in reaching a common goal for family financial life planning.

We have been initiating our goals to helping our clients in protecting their family, estate and assets. These steps can be as simple as making sure your Wills and Power of Attorney are in place to a Financial Plan to Life Insurance. We will continue to develop new solutions to new circumstances as they arise with our clients and family. Our goal is to help our clients make decisions to reach their goals in family financial life planning.

There are many new things you must take into consideration in order to plan effectively for the future. It is never too early to begin establishing an estate plan and this becomes a critical element when you start a family and begin building assets. Here are some things to consider:

1) Wills – Have you put in writing what your wishes are should something happen to you? Is it of importance to you and your family who your various assets go to?

2) Powers of Attorney – If something were to happen to you such that you become incapacitated, who will make medical and financial decisions for you? - Your spouse, your parents?

3) Insurance – Are you starting your own business or have you entered into a business partnership with a colleague? Do you have debt, heavy dependence on your spouse’s income, or dependent children? If so, then appropriate insurance is essential. It is important to consider whether your spouse, your children or your business partner will be left with substantial financial strain should something happen to you.

Growing technologically, professionally and personally:

Roman will be attending the CI Investments Leadership Forum in Las Vegas from October 7th – 10th. Roman will also be gone from October 27th – 30th to the HollisWealth Annual MyConnect Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia as well in November Roman will be attending “Face To Face With Fidelity”. The purpose of these Conferences is to allow Roman to update, refresh and learn about areas such as new developments within HollisWealth, Tax & Estate Planning, Financial Planning, New tools available in the industry, updates on CRM2, Protecting Seniors from Fraud, Living Benefits, Insurance and Pension Benefits, Compliance issues as well an opportunity to get one on one with the actual Portfolio Managers and hear from them personally on their views and opinions. Chelsey, & Emily have updated their knowledge with learning Maximizer and Windows 7 to better service our clients and be more efficient. We have recently discovered that we have clients who are visually impaired, as well have other challenges, Maximizer our client relations software will help us store this information such that we can better assist and service our clients. Our office has also attended various Community Events which help support youth, our future leaders, in our community.

What's New?

We here at our HollisWealth office on Thorold Road, additionally will be providing more service with regards to debt management. We are investing in our clients by upgrading our skills in this area. With more and more Canadians now retiring in debt, mostly because the system is set up so we’ll do just that, we want to ensure that our clients don’t end up part of that statistic. So we are putting this plan into action.

Tip of the Quarter:

One of the greatest financial concerns of ageing North Americans is the affordable access to healthcare. In the U.S. you could be bankrupted in short order due to a major surgery or sickness if you don’t have a sufficient healthcare plan. Canadians, on the other hand, feel secure with their Provincial Health plans, such as OHIP.

But what if a very serious illness or condition such as Heart Attack, Stroke, Cancer, or leukemia were to happen to you, or your loved ones, could you afford the time off for yourself or to take the afflicted one to appointments, or extra treatment costs?

With OHIP, you are placed on the waiting list for treatment. However, if you have the funds available, you can get treatment very quickly in specialized Health Care Centers in the U.S.

Insurance is a method of reducing the likelihood of a major financial setback if a serious illness is contracted.

Ask us about Critical Illness Insurance and/or Catastrophic drug coverage, to reduce the risk due to major health concerns, which are becoming more common everyday, sad to say.