Introduction

At Allain & Associates, we believe that it’s important to make it clear to our clients and potential clients what we do, how we do it and what type of work and results you can expect from us. As well, we want you to know what our expectations are should you choose to work with us. This full disclosure will minimize unhappy surprises and serve as the basis for a long and beneficial relationship.

Our Mission

Motivate, educate, empower, and lead our clients toward a state of being autonomous and financially independent  with the freedom to do what you want, when you want, how you want!

Scope of Our Services

Through a six step comprehensive financial planning process, your retirement planning, investments, taxes, insurance, and estate planning challenges are woven together into a personalized strategy designed to meet your life goals and objectives. 

Our specialty is personalized financial and retirement planning. Our core competency includes the design and implementation of investment portfolios to meet your intended goals and objectives. We are always working to enhance our knowledge in this area and are confident of our advice in this respect. You can count on us as your source for financial and retirement planning service and products. 

Under our holistic business model, clients have access to a full range of expertise. We are backed by a well-integrated team of specialists which include lawyers, accountants, actuaries, pension specialists, mortgage professionals, estate planning experts and more. Whenever we come across a situation that would be more appropriately handled by another specialist, we promise that we will make the appropriate referral. It is worth noting, we do not receive referral fees from other professionals to whom you may be referred

Through the professional staff our back office provider Ten Star Financial Services Inc., we are licensed to transact financial services in several classes of business: Registered (RRSP’s), Investment Savings Plans, Mutual Funds, Segregated Funds, Annuities, GIC’s, Educational Funding (RESP’s), Life Insurance, Disability, Critical Illness and Long Term Care  Insurance, as well as Group Insurance. We are unencumbered by proprietary product constraints. As such, our independence allows us the freedom to act with complete impartiality in looking after our client’s best interest.

Our Value Proposition

We are an independent full service financial planning and wealth management practice. Concentrating exclusively on that business, we are dedicated solely to the quality management of the financial and investment interests of our clients.

We offer a full range of services and products to meet the needs of individuals, families, business professionals, or owner/managers - be it capital growth; investment income; retirement, estate, education or tax planning; or life insurance. We pride ourselves on providing a level of personal service and attentiveness that has distinguished us in our business.

The Value of Independent Advice

Our independence is our strongest attribute which helps to differentiate us from our competitors. Independence means no proprietary products, or sales quotas. Our independence gives us the flexibility to choose from the best products available in the market place. Our mutual fund dealer, Ten Star Financial Inc. does not sell its own brand name mutual funds or insurance products. We are 100% independent.

Why is this important? It is important because there would never be a conflict of interest when selecting the most suitable investment or insurance products to fulfill a client’s needs. We simply would never put ourselves in a position where selling an in-house financial product would benefit our practice or Ten Star Financial more than our client. Our independence allows us to offer financial solutions congruent with our client’s needs

Our Business Principles

►   To put the best interests of our clients first

►   To anticipate and respond to change on behalf of our clients

►   To maintain confidentiality without compromise

►   To view our human resources, capital and reputation as our most important asset

►   To seek out excellence and take pride in professionalism

►   To stress creativity and imagination

►   To stress and reward teamwork

►   To value profitability and to share in it with generosity

►   To preserve our size as a valued asset

►   To maintain the highest personal ethical standards 

Our Core Beliefs

We believe that fulfilling our vision to be the best full service Independent Financial Planning practice embodies a client centered focus. This means providing personal attention. Listening to your concerns, and providing a sounding board for your ideas. As educator and coach, we help provide the discipline you’ll need to achieve your goals by keeping you focused.
 

We believe that a financial plan is at the heart of a client/practitioner relationship. While everyone’s plan is unique, a financial plan should address four basic elements: Your financial goals and priorities, how much wealth you have now, your current saving and spending patterns, and a saving and investment strategy that allow you to reach your goals within your risk tolerance.
 

We believe in synergy, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We strive to serve as our clients’ chief financial advisor. As part of this role, we coordinate the activities of existing professional advisors such as tax accountants, and estate lawyers. The result being a better integration of  the various elements in the financial planning process. I.e., risk management, taxation, estate planning etc..
 

We believe that the best client/practitioner relationships  are partnerships, with responsibilities on both sides. You are paying us to share our expertise, help you develop you financial plan, provide you with regular updates, keep you informed about investment and other planning opportunities, and provide referrals to other experts as needed. What we expect from you is full and honest disclosure, a commitment to achieving your goals, be clear about the degree of risk you are willing to take, and keeping us informed when your financial circumstances change.
 

We believe that the fundamental investment risk is not losing one’s money, but outliving it. Risk has changed, because life has changed. People are looking at upwards of 30 years of retirement, and in 30 years consumer prices triple. So the risk isn’t loss of principal, it’s the extinction of your purchasing power while you’re still alive.
 

We believe therefore, that the only safety lies in the accretion of purchasing power. If risk is the unyielding grinding down of purchasing power over time, safety can only be the building up of purchasing power. We define accretion of purchasing power as a positive return from our investments, net of inflation and taxes. Investments which provide such a return are by our definition, safe. Those that do not are not. By this definition, common stocks are by far the safest financial instrument in the long run.
 

We believe that the great long-term risk of stocks is not owning them. On July 8, 1932, the intra-day low of the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 40. In January of 2000, the Dow closed at 11,700. The intervening period was the worst in human history: Depression, WWII, Cold War. However anecdotally, we surmise from this data three things: The right time to buy stocks is now (as long as you have the money); the right time to sell them is never (unless you need the money); the great risk is not owning them.
 

We believe that everything you need to know about the movement of stock prices can be summed up in eight words: the downs are temporary; the ups are permanent. We never mistake fluctuation for loss. Stock prices go down all the time – 25% or so on an average of every 5 years – but since they never stay down, it turns out not to matter. Markets fluctuate, but do not create losses. Only people can create permanent loss by mistaking a temporary decline for a permanent decline, and panicking out. No panic, no sell. No sell, no lose. The enemy of investment success is not ignorance, it’s fear. So it’s our faith, not our knowledge, that saves the investor’s financial life.
 

We don’t believe in individual stocks, we believe in managed portfolios of stocks.  We can break a pencil; We cannot break 50 pencils tied together. That’s diversification. Thus: one stock can go to zero. Stocks as an asset class can’t go to zero. There is also the issue of professional management. In 1967, NYSE volume was 80% individual and 20% institutional. Today, it’s around 80/20 the other way. We like the story of David and Goliath as much as anybody does, but the key to that story is that there was only one Goliath. When you’re still David, but almost everybody else in the game is Goliath, you’re going down. You can’t beat ‘em. Join ‘em.

We believe that dollar-cost averaging will make the dumbest person in the world wealthy. The more “knowledge” you have, the more you try to outsmart the market, and the worse you do. The more you see the market as long-term inevitable/ short-term unknowable, the more you’re inclined to just dollar-cost average, and the better you do. Dollar-cost averaging rewards ignorance with wealth.
 

We don’t believe in being afraid of  the next 25% downtick. We are afraid of missing the next 100% uptick. We have noticed that we have no ability whatever to time the markets. Still, we have found a way to manage the risk of missing the next 100% uptick down to zero. It’s called staying fully invested all the time.
 

We believe that fear, not ignorance, is the primary cause of the failure of most investment plans. In the end, which investments people buy is less important. The thing that matters most is what people do-or, with the proper advice don’t do when those investments are down 25% - 30%, which they will one day surly be.
 

We believe in increasing foreign content in registered portfolios well beyond the current constraint of 30%. A number of studies commissioned by IFIC and others have quantitatively proven that diversifying more of your portfolio outside of Canada’s 3% of world markets would have helped your bottom line and provide more money to help support your retirement. There are a number of methods to maximize your international holdings above the 30% limit.

The information contained in this commentary is designed to provide you with general information only, and is not intended to be comprehensive advice applicable to the circumstances of any individual. We strongly urge you to seek professional assistance before acting upon information included herein.