In our consumer culture, it’s pretty hard to escape the strong and conflicting message we receive about money. Does it buy happiness ? Is it the root of all evil? Can it buy love? With so many emotionally charged messages, no wonder we have a difficult time developing a healthy relationship with money. As challenging as it may be, financial health and wealth will only improve when we face our money issues square on and put a plan in place to align our finances with our values and life purpose.

How Can A Financial Plan Help Me? An 'Enlightened Financial Plan' is the roadmap that can help you practically and effectively organize your finances to support your goals, dreams and life purpose. It provides an opportunity for you to become conscious of how money flows in and out of your life and allows you to make informed decisions about how to accumulate and allocate your money. An 'Enlightened Financial Plan' will help you feel more confident that all aspects of your personal finances (debt management, retirement, saving and investing, insurance and estate planning) are taken care of so you can put money issues on the back burner and get on with the really important stuff - living a balanced, meaningful and purposeful life.

An 'Enlightened Financial Plan' starts with a commitment to self-awareness and a discovery of your values, your relationship to money and your personal definition of success. Your financial plan should also provide you with a chance to educate yourself about personal finances. While you can certainly delegate responsibility for aspects of your financial management to advisors, make sure you don't abdicate responsibility to them. So become an enlightened financial consumer and encourage your advisors to educate you as you work with them. The next step to living a purposeful life is to commit to your vision of personal and financial success and to take conscious action toward it.

Taking Conscious Action means: actively defining your personal intentions and goals; figuring out where you stand financially today; and identifying what steps you will need to take to bring your vision to reality. True financial freedom is not about how much money you have, it's about doing the best you can with what you have and living your life free from worry about money. And that's what an 'Enlightened Financial Plan' will give you.

One of the best ways to start taking control of your finances is by educating and empowering yourself about money. The Women’s Financial Learning Centre offers a variety of financial planning and money related courses for women who want to learn more about money management, investing and financial planning.

Upcoming events in Vancouver:

• Life the Life You Want with the Money You Have
  
on Wednesday May 17, 2006 6:30-8:30pm

Upcoming workshops in the Sunshine Coast:

• The Financially Enlightened Small Businesswoman
  Friday May 5, 2006 10am - 4pm

• Live the Life You Want with the Money You Have
  2 Tuesdays June 6 and June 13th 6:30- 9:00 pm

Are you looking for unbiased financial advice? One of the reasons that people shy away from using a financial planner is they are afraid that the advice may be biased toward a particular product or service. LifeDesign Financial is a fee-only financial planning and education company and we don’t receive fees or commissions for financial products or services. We offer hourly consultations or service packages and can tailor a program to meet your unique needs and budget. Contact us today for a complimentary ½ hour phone consultation to find out how we can help you take charge of your money.

"Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now", A. Lakein

Sullivan & Associates is a business-planning group dedicated to helping you take your business where it deserves to be, now.

All businesses face challenges in reaching their full potential – be they factors related to the business or the unique hurdles facing the Entrepreneur. A strong and comprehensive business plan is vital when raising capital and planning your business growth. Sullivan & Associates has the powerful combination of planning and coaching experience – which gives the grounding to succeed with your business.

Whether it’s creating a business plan or a developing a strategic plan for your joint venture, Sullivan & Associates aims to exceed your expectations and we always guarantee 100% satisfaction on our services.

You can reach Matthew Sullivan or Mary Ellen Sanajko at 604.764.6012 or info@sullivanassociates.ca