As a financial or investment advisor your clients look to you for protection: to protect their family in the event of a death, to protect their wealth, to protect themselves when the time comes to retire and more…  You are often the first person that a client will turn to in good times and bad. Sometimes people fall on hard financial times. A divorce, a job loss or even taking a tumble in the stock market can see someone who was otherwise on solid financial footing finding it difficult to make ends meet.

Most people want to do the right thing! They want to pay their bills, provide for their families and no one wants to make tough financial choices when they fall on hard times.

Unfortunately, sometimes difficult financial times lead people to make the wrong financial choices. All too often we see people who have a tax problem or excessive debts owed to creditors coming to us after they have liquidated their investments, giving all their money to their creditors in an effort to pay their obligations – yet they still find themselves owing more than they can pay, leading them to file a consumer proposal.

The challenge with this is that most people don’t know that even in a consumer proposal many of their assets like their home, vehicle and yes some investments like RRSPs can be legally protected.

Oftentimes people see a consumer proposal as a last resort – when really it is a viable option for getting out of debt that leads to quick recovery times where credit is concerned. If you have a client with financial problems the best thing to do is get them an unbiased financial evaluation from a financial consultant that specializes in consumer proposals. This way all options can be presented and strong contingency plans can be put in place which will better protect your client in the long run.

Another common occurrence is financial and investment advisors who don’t understand insolvency and submit their clients right into the clutches of a trustee in bankruptcy. This could be a big mistake. When you send your client directly to a trustee, your client is not the trustee’s client – they actually represent the interests of your client’s creditors. With that said, without your client they would not be in business so there is a high motivation to make your client feel secure and sell their services. While they may make your client feel secure at the time that they sign on the dotted line it doesn’t mean your client is safe, and the story at the time of signing can change later.

Financial consultants offer a wide range of financial services so they can present all options. Forging a strong relationship with a good financial consultant who specializes in consumer proposals will provide you and your clients with huge value in the long run.

For more information about how financial consultants can help you to protect your clients please call Michael Goldenberg at DebtCare at 416-907-2582 or visit www.debtcare.ca.