NELSON A financial hike Planning for the future is similar to preparing for a hike by TANYA LAING MOORE
ROCK-SOLID FINANCIAL PLANS: Bradley Roulston, CFP, has created a financial plan for the Kootenay lifestyle. —photo courtesy Bradley Roulston
Bradley Roulston is a certified financial planner (CFP) and former Toronto-based financial whiz who has been featured in Maclean’s, the Toronto Sun, Time, the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. In Toronto he had his own successful company and was a much sought-after public speaker on financial planning.
Then, while on a business trip in Vancouver three years ago, he drove through Nelson to explore a part of Canada he hadn’t yet seen—and was entranced. Before he had finished the lunch he was enjoying on an outdoor patio, Roulston had made up his mind to move to the city. Within an hour of his arrival in town, he found himself putting an offer on a home, and the rest—as they say—is history.
Roulston is now with the Nelson & District Credit Union and has used his love of the Kootenay lifestyle to create a financial plan especially meaningful to outdoor enthusiasts that uses an analogy called the Hike.
“The Kootenays are a real nice fit for me,” said Roulston, “because the people here are more driven by their lifestyles—or what I call life goals—than just accumulating wealth.
“(The Hike) is really designed around where people want to go, so it’s a different focus than most financial planning designs or software—which is how do we increase your RSP returns. I take a different perspective.”
The Hike begins by identifying where the investor wants to go in their life: what Roulston calls “viewpoints,” or life goals.
Roulston carries the model of preparing for a long hike all the way through the financial plan. He likens cash-flow management to carrying water on a hike—with debt management, tax planning and personal budgeting as valves that can be tightened to save water. A first aid kit—with items like good credit, insurance and short-term savings—symbolizes being prepared for financial emergencies. Short-term goals such as large purchases, education or opening a business are likened to packing a daypack. And finally, the largest pack is planning for retirement.
Roulston’s hope is that the Hike will engage the interest of Kootenay residents who will appreciate the outdoor analogy. Three branches of the Nelson & District Credit Union are currently using the Hike as a means of helping their clients plan their financial futures, and the model has been very well received.
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