Carl Eppstadt,   CLU, CH.F.C., CFP, C.H.F.S. SPECIALTIES: Financial, Retirement, Estate and Tax Planning. Mutual Funds, Insurance Products, RRSPs, RRIFs and Annuities.

Mr. Eppstadt has been providing independent financial strategies in the Ottawa area since 1978. He is the president of Future Financial Planning Group. He is a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), a Chartered Financial Consultant (CH.F.C), a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and a Certified Hedge Fund Specialist (C.H.F.S.).

Mr. Eppstadt holds a mutual fund license, which is sponsored by one of Canada’s largest, independent mutual fund dealers, Worldsource Financial Management Inc. He also holds a Class II Life Insurance License which allows him to deal with most life insurance companies, rather than being affiliated with only one life insurance company.

Associations and Memberships include:

• The Canadian Association of Financial Planners (now known as Advocis)
• Ottawa Estate Planning Council
• Canadian Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (Advocis)
• The Institute of Chartered Life Underwriters and Chartered Financial Consultants
• Independent Life Insurance Brokers of Canada
• Contributor to the Financial Post
• Speaker on Retirement, Estate, Pensions, RRSPs, RRIFs, Mutual Funds, Insurance and Investments
• Subscriber to Compulife software, a Canada-wide life insurance shopping service
• Subscriber to the Canadian Annuity Exchange (Cannex), a Canada-wide GICs, annuity shopping service

According to a 1995 study by Dalbar Financial Services in the United States:

Investors with financial advisors:

• achieve better performance returns
• hold their investments longer

• make poor market-timing decisions
• participate in panic selling
• chase high performers
• buy high and sell low

From 1984 to 1995, investors with financial advisors earned a cumulative real return of 96.38 per cent on equity funds, whereas no-load investors earned 79.51 percent during the same period.

Financial advisors help investors moderate their buying and selling. When stock prices fall, these investors are able to take advantage of dollar cost averaging and lower their average cost per share. And instead of being tempted by daily fluctuations of the market into making an irrational investment decision, such as panic selling or chasing a high performer, investors with financial advisors stick to their course of action.

• To provide high quality financial, estate, tax and retirement planning strategies.
• To increase retirement income by maximizing investment returns and minimizing taxes.
• To increase estate values by minimizing taxes and legal and probate fees.
• To review all available investments on the market which are offered by trust companies, life insurance companies and mutual fund companies and to provide independent advice on those investments.
• To provide tax-advantaged products with below-average risk which have consistent, above-average performance and to bring these products to the market at the most competitive fees in the industry.
• To remain as educated, as informed and as knowledgeable as possible in the areas of tax, estate and retirement planning.

At Future Financial, our main goal is to provide you with the information you need to help you through the maze of financial products. As independent financial planners, we understand the importance of investing wisely and having clear financial goals.

• We place all products, including mutual funds, GICs, annuities and life insurance, under the microscope, in order to bring you the best value products in today’s market place.
• We are consistently looking for products with below-average risk and above-average performance.
• We scrutinize all fees, including self-directed fees and mutual fund management fees, to ensure that you are treated fairly.
• We place self-directed RRSP and RRIF contracts with several different trust companies in order to suit your individual needs.
• We use flexible products and flexible, high rated companies to adapt to your changing needs.
• We use products which offer great after-tax benefits.
• We set-up your plan for maximum income splitting.
• We set-up your plan to minimize delays and costs to your estate.
• We review your investments on a regular basis to keep you informed of any changes which should be made to your advantage.

We have discovered that many of our potential clients hold investments which are underachievers, either because they did not take the time to investigate all that is available in the market place or they bought into a fund based on its past performance, only to find that fund has not performed since they bought it. They have continued to hold the fund because they do not have an expert advising them or analysing the current trends of that product.

More people are retiring earlier. The figures compiled by Stats Canada show that the median age of retirement for Canadians in the mid-nineties has dropped to 62.3 years of age from 64.9 years of age in the late seventies. Many of these people are financially unprepared. They do not have sufficient savings for retirement at the conventional age of 65, let alone at age 60. Only 11% of all Canadians maximize their RRSPs. This makes our job even more important during the accumulation period and into the income period.

Questions asked most frequently by retirees:
Can I afford to retire?
How much income will I receive in my retirement?
For how long?

At Future Financial we review all income sources, including company pension plans, government programs, income from RRSPs, non-registered accounts, investment income (potentially from home equity) and all tax credits. Our job is to maximize all of the above without exposing you to unnecessary risk.

The other side of the ledger is to review all expenses, now and into retirement. We question each expense to determine if and how it can be minimized.