Working with a financial advisor who is close to their own retirement might not be best for you. You need an advisor who isn't at the end of their career. You need to truly know they'll do the best work for you today that'll lead to your long-term success. This usually works best when you both have long-term intentions of working together. It's important to know they will be there with you as you grow.

If you know the advisor will be with you for the long haul, you know they are aligned with you, want to see you succeed with them, and thus provide more valuable insights and advice to help you make the best financial decisions in life.

A financial advisor offers many services, though the most common are investment advice, retirement planning, estate planning, tax planning, debt management, cashflow management, and insurance solutions.

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It's important to remember that your financial goals, like most things in life, may change overtime. As a result, you may need to make adjustments to your investing strategy in response to life events such as the acceptance of a new work offer, the birth of a child, or the decision to move or buy/sell a business for example.

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Financial advisors give advice on investments that meet your objectives, risk tolerance and goals, building an investing plan and making modifications where needed. Managing debt entails working with a financial advisor who can devise plans to reduce existing debt and guide you clear of financial difficulties in the future. Though in some cases, learning how to make use of debt to reduce taxes implications and leverage investments as well as understanding different kinds of debt could be beneficial to some clients. When it comes to cashflow, a financial advisor may provide advice and methods to help you come up with a spending plan that helps you fulfil your short and long term goals. Retirement planning has more to do with making use of your accumulated assets to produce a livable cashflow to maintain your lifestyle. This involves a large degree of risk management and volatility control to ensure you can produce a consistent long-term income stream. Lastly, estate planning is focused on legacy planning and managing future tax liabilities that may occur and erode your estate value.

Unless you are a financial professional who is actively researching investments, taxes, policy, law, financial products, and the most up-to-date wealth building and preservation methods, then working with a financial advisor will certainly unlock a lot of value for you.

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There's a reason why the wealthiest families in the world use financial advisors. Not everyone is interested in or capable of becoming a fulltime financial expert. Successful people know and do what they're good at and then delegate and hire the rest - so when it comes to wealth management, which is commonly outside the realm of most people's expertise, they'll simply outsource that responsibility to a professional financial advisory firm. However, what's wonderful is that over time, advisory firms and financial advisors have become more accessible to people beyond just the ultra high net worth. Today, people can find an advisor and work with them to build their wealth. Where as in the past, people would have to already be wealthy before accessing the services of an advisor.

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In the end, you can't expect yourself to do it all. Financial advisors spend most their hours staying updated on everything markets, economics, policy, and more. Then from there, taking that information and determining how that impacts their clients' assets and translating that information into actionable strategies that need to be taken and considered for a client's portfolio, and overall plan. It's a full time job that requires a large range of expertise. So for people with families, business owners, or career focused individuals who aren't specialized in the same field as advisors, you'll find more value in hiring an advisor to work for you instead of doing it on your own.

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An experienced financial advisor will consider all relevant criteria, such as your present and future income, retirement age, and preferred retirement lifestyle to help you evaluate how much you need to invest and the best investment vehicles to help you fulfill your financial objectives.

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However, the most difficult part is finding a financial advisor that works well with you. Too many people get stuck working with an advisor from the bank. It usually feels convenient and easy since you're already using that bank. Though while that may be better than no help at all, upgrading to an independent financial advisor who specializes in wealth management will significantly upgrade the value to get from an advisor. You'll probably notice your bank advisor is commonly recommending their own banks' product, advises buying the bank's preselected investments, or tries to suggest credit cards and other banking services. If you're using a bank financial advisor, it's probably time you explore a second opinion.

To find the best financial advisor, you need to know their credentials, experience, if they have product or investment limitations, how they're compensated, search for reviews, and don't be afraid to ask them plenty of questions. You should find out if they are limited with a Mutual Fund (MFDA) only license or if they have a full service investment license (IIROC). Does the institution they work for make their investment decisions more biased or do they have a limitless product shelf? Are they advisors from a bank or a wealth management firm?

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Though there are many benefits to working with a financial advisor, it is important that you feel comfortable with whomever you select and that you both maintain a strong degree of communication. You should choose a professional who takes the time to learn about you and your priorities. They should be using that information to develop a unique strategy and to provide recommendations that will get you closer to your goals.

If you're contemplating replacing your financial advisor, you’re not alone. The main reasons for leaving your current advisor include lack of communication, ineffective advice, strategies, ideas, and bad performance.

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When leaving your current advisor, first see how much of the process the new advisor can handle and help with. Here we handle the bulk of the process. We'll reach out to your old firm or institution to initiate the transfer and help you discover and prevent any potential issues that could come from your past advisor. You won't need to contact your old advisor if you don't want to. We are here to make the process seamless for you and will keep you updated. But before you decide to switch, we encourage to have a thorough conversation with a couple different advisors.

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Take the time to do your research and find an advisor that works well with you.

Different from most of Canada's largest financial institutions, when using Manulife Wealth, we have the ability to freely invest in funds that are from varies institutions with global exposure, not being limited to Manulife's products. This allows us to ensure clients are invested in what we believe are the best investment opportunities, globally. An independent financial advisor from Manulife Wealth is a financial professional who provides investment advice and manages portfolios for clients without being tied to any specific financial institution or product. They are not restricted by proprietary products or sales quotas and are able to recommend a wide range of products and strategies from different providers. They are also bound by fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of their clients.

Manulife Wealth offers critical services and tools that give independent advisors leading edge technology and compliance tools to best serve clients.

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Today, Manulife Securities is comprised of two firms: your firm, Manulife Securities Incorporated, an investment dealer and Manulife Securities Investment Services Inc., a mutual fund dealer. Pending regulatory approval, we will be amalgamating these two dealers into a new single entity called Manulife Wealth Inc. on January 1, 2024.

Our new brand name, Manulife Wealth, reflects the value of advice and the service we offer, and our dedication to supporting you with your financial goals. Over time, you will start seeing our new brand name “Manulife Wealth” as it replaces “Manulife Securities.” This change only affects Manulife Securities, and it does not impact other Manulife businesses. This will have no impact on your services or investments.

If you have questions about Manulife Securities' transformation, please contact your advisor directly. You can find more information about our transformation at www.manulifesecurities.ca/msi.

Gianluca Folino is an independent financial advisor and Chartered Investment Manager at Manulife Wealth who serves as a trusted advisor to families, entrepreneurs, and corporate decision-makers.

His specialty is untangling complex wealth structures, complex and formal trusts, holding companies, corporate surplus, pension plans, and personal accounts and assets. Then remastering a structure to convert them into cohesive, tax-efficient strategies and custom portfolios.

Free from proprietary-product constraints like bank advisors, Gianluca taps global markets to match each client’s unique objectives, applying a macro-aware, bottom-up research process that balances opportunity with disciplined risk management. Clients appreciate his calm, rational approach and his habit of translating intricate financial issues into clear, actionable steps. When he isn’t poring over economic data, he enjoys helping start-up founders, plays foosball and tennis, and recharges with family and friends.