The following article first appeared in the summer of 1992 edition of”The Balanced Report”.It is still appropriate today.Every few weeks someone comes to us for advice, after it is too late to do anything about his or her problem. In these cases it is very sad and frustrating to have to tell the person it is too late to change what has happened. Of course, they don’t want to hear us tell them “You should have seen us before you signed that contract, or filed that tax return”.

In some simple cases it is just a matter of getting advice on how to treat a particular income amount for tax purposes, or about the term of a mortgage renewal. In these situations we can do very little after the fact, but we can see that they don’t make a similar mistake and reorganize their affairs or investments to avoid problems in the future.

Financial Planner BEFORE proceeding with any of the following:Selling or starting a businessAccepting a retirement offerMarriage/Re-Marriage/SeparationSelling a property other than your principal residenceChanging your country of residenceReceiving an inheritanceReceiving a windfall, or lottery winningsPurchasing a major investmentIncorporating, or starting a partnership ventureTaking out a mortgage/loan or a renewal ofPurchasing Life or Disability InsuranceSigning a new willThere are probably others, but these are the most frequent requests and the ones where we can help the most.