Interview with MyAdvisor: on Money Questions for Retirement

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Advisor & Co, a Corporation founded in 2008, is helping people answer those questions. I connected with founder Bernie Petkau to learn more about how he went from managing a large insurance corporation to concentrating on free information for the public.

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Reporter -Tell me about your background and why you started MyAdvisor.

 

Bernie - I was a District Manager of a Mutual of Omaha division in Saskatchewan helping clients manage all phases of their lives and businesses when I realized how so many families, marriages and children were being affected by money issues. I felt powerless as I sat behind my desk and watched my clients throw away their financial futures. I knew things needed to change.

I realized that retirement planning involves a lot more than just savings and investments and yet there were no resources — especially trustworthy and affordable resources — that were truely helping people navigate this really important aspect of their lives.

We then decided to start My Advisor — a new way to approach retirement planning.

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Reporter:- Bernie What do you see and project for peoples retirement in the Future?

 

​Bernie. - Wow- loaded question

Well, The first baby boomers are turning 70 in 2016. While many predicted that boomers would continue working long past retirement age, Gallup reports that they probably have too, as a combination of inflation and low bank return rates really hurt.

 

Reporter – How has the rates affected peoples plans?

 

Bernie – After working a few clients this past few months, when they checked with their so called Advisor and current investment bank balances and what happened to their growth it was actually negative.  Imagine depositing $12,000 last year and when you look at you balance you have less than $11,000... 
 

Reporter  -How can people protect themselves?

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Bernie - Whether you save with a bank or an advisor, make sure you understand what you are purchasing, the historical averages each fund has, also why they recommend that product. One of my clients used a firm to assist him, one of the items was a single stock, which we never recommend, this particular stock has lost money the last 11 years- quarterly reports showed continual poor growth. This was an advisor who didn’t do his due diligence, but this client lost 16% of his value in 10 months. On another note, the advisor also never even told client where his money was invested. We helped client sort this out and pointed him into the proper direction.

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Reporter – What is the biggest problem people seem to have?

Bernie - Starting to plan late, as this generation continues to leave the workforce, one of their biggest fears is outliving their money. A 2015 survey found that 67% of CPA financial planners cited customers feared running out of money, more than Death, as their client’s top retirement concern, followed by uncertainty about which is better and how much to withdraw from retirement accounts RRSP'S? or TFSA's.

 

Reporter: What would you say is the number one reason people aren’t saving enough for retirement?

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Bernie: I think it changes over a person’s life cycle. When people are younger retirement may seem far away. Also, in the current economic environment, we are seeing Millennials delay the start of everything including getting jobs and forming households. For families with kids, very often the costs of education crowd out retirement savings and there is some recent research to support this.

Finally, when people are empty nesters and getting serious about saving for retirement, more and more people are finding career challenges as they hit their mid- to late-50s due to ageism. Overall, I think that people treat retirement as an “urgent should” since they have a hard time envisioning it. We are trying to break down the problem and make it more tangible and manageable.

 

Reporter – What do you Suggest?

 

Bernie – Planning for Retirement is complex. We break it down so its understandable. How much do you need? How long will you live? What is going to happen to CPP and health care costs?

We give people a simple list to assist in the planning of their own retirement, a simple questionnaire if you will. This clarifies things in their own mind, so we are all pointed in the proper direction.

The first step is to figure out what assets you have and what assets you will need. Then you can start making adjustments to make those two numbers come together.

The good news is that people have a lot more in “assets” than just their savings. Delaying the start of CPP, or investing the CPP, working part time-for a few years, lowering costs are all awesome ways to make retirement work.

 

About MY Advisor - First, Bernie was not pleased with the offerings companies gave to clients, knowing they could do much better, He aligned himself with a MGA (Managing General Authority) which gave him access to multiple corporations and ALL of their products. This allows My Advisor to get the best rates for the client, and away from commission hungry sales agent.

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The MyAdvisor specialists makes suggestions for improving your situation. More importantly, the advice lets people set their own priorities and change all aspects of their profile, enabling them to discover their own best way forward.

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Today, he helps spread a 30+ year proven plan of financial hope to audiences everywhere. An engaging and humorous speaker, Bernie is an expert on subjects like debt, budgeting, retirement, cash-flow-planning. He's available to speak at colleges and businesses, and conducts on-site training sessions at companies. Bernie also works with high-profile clients to help them develop a financial strategy to protect their wealth and secure their future.