(Stephen) This is another segment
in CFMWS, Financial Literacy Series.

Today, we're looking into investing.

You're never too young to start investing.

The question is,

RRSPs, stocks or bonds or Bitcoin.

What is the best way to secure retirement

and live that life comfortably
once you're done working?

Ravi Chavali is a SISIP financial advisor
based in Edmonton.

He's here to guide us
through this financial journey.

Thanks for helping us out today.

(Ravi) Thanks. Stephen,
and I'm really happy to be here.

(Stephen) What should people consider

when looking into investing
for the first Time?

(Ravi) It's different, some people--

This is how I put it for most
of the members that I meet.

The most important--

One of the most important factors
we ask them to focus on

is their personal
financial road map, right?

Where do they want to be
with their finances in the coming years?

It could be, maybe,

I want to buy a house
in the next five years

or I need to buy this car,

I need to get my...

I want to travel
around the world in a few years.

Whatever that is,

whatever their personal goals are,

that's where I would start.

That's one is understand where you want
to be financially down the lane.

Number two,

I would focus on how comfortable 
they are with risk, right?

Risk is basically, as you know,
especially the stock markets,

there are their volatile at times,

depending on where you invest your money.

And it's really important

to take your personal risk
and your personal comfort zone

into consideration.

I always keep telling my member

that if you're a person
who's lose sleep over money,

taking too much risk may not
be the right way for you, right?

And there are few other factors.

So, as I said,

first, know your personal road map,

to know how much risk 
you want to take in your investments,

how comfortable you are with taking risk,

what helps you sleep at night.

Three, I would say,
diversify your investments.

It's as the saying goes, 
don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Invest in different investment vehicles.

so that you manage your risk, right?

(Stephen) How old or how young 
should you be

before you start investing?

(Ravi) It's simple.

If you start in your 20s, 
maybe you just save $100 a month.

If you start in your 30s
to make up the same amount,

you probably got a thousand dollars 
a month, right?

So where you want to be?

If you want to make, let's say, 
50,000 in your retirement,

starting age 65.

In order to save up for that,

if you start at age 20,

you save less each month,
you have more clash flow;

whereas if you started 30,

you need to make up 
for the ten years you lost,

so starting early is always good.

(Stephen) It will be scary 
when people hear though, you know,

I have to save a million dollars 
or 2.5 million dollars

by the time I'm 65.

How can I do that?

Is that a scary number for people?

(Ravi) Yes, absolutely, it is.

I get that every single time when you say 
you need to save two million dollars.

It just scares them,
but once you show them how to get there,

maybe you can start
as low as $100 a month.

Again, I'm talking to a person 
who's in his 20s.

But if you start,

you can start at $100 per month 
and still get there.

The numbers seem scary, 
but it's the power of compounding, right?

You get interest, 
you get interest on interest.

You keep going that way,

so it's not so difficult to get there.

Talk to a financial professional.

This is what I would say 
to military members.

You have a free resource SISIP.

Talk to us, we'll help you get there.

We'll take you there, so talk to us.

It's a scary number, 
but it's not difficult to be there.

(Stephen) In showing us the way,

how do you make them feel comfortable?

How do you make them feel, 
like, the 25-year-old

who comes in hasn't done anything?

You're a smart guy

cause you're in investment banking 
and you know stuff.

How do you make them feel,

"Okay, I'm willing to talk to you

and put all my financial cards 
on the table?",

because it would be 
a daunting task for many.

It's one of the most important things 
we do at SISIP.

Again, one for military members is
we understand their lifestyle.

A lot of, again, my previous manager 
used to be from the forces.

They are all veterans.

We have colleagues 
whose husbands are currently--

their spouses are currently in the forces.

And we deal with 
military members all the time.

That's the only people we deal with,

so we understand your life,
we understand the stress that you are in.

We understand that the level of stress 
that your job entails.

So, that being said,

whenever, let's say, a 25-year-old,
or anyone who approaches me,

the first thing is try 
to learn about them,

be a really good listener,

and you can easily associate, right?

You have talked to so many members

and you have so many people

who have shared 
all their stories with you.

So, you have all these bunch of stories.

You have all these experiences
that you can share with the new member.

It's easy to talk too after a while.

It's really easy to be a good listener,

understand what that member needs.

Make the entire meeting about them.

It's very easy to make the meeting 
about the member.

It's all about the member.

(Stephen) Ravi, what tools are available 
out there to help people with investing?

(Ravi) So, there are a lot of...
one again, as I said,

that SISIP is your best tool.

I would say,

like, any major financial decision 
that member is looking to make

that could be as easily as buy a small,

as buying probably a 2,000 
or 3,000 dollar piece of furniture,

or buying a half a million dollar house.

Any major financial decision 
that you're planning to make.

Just talk to us.

We are one phone call away, right?

We'll help you.

We'll look at your
personal financial situation

and make an assessment

whether it's a good idea 
at this point of time,

or maybe you can push this
a couple of months later.

The important thing is don't...

The biggest problem that we see 
with military members

is sometimes, yeah, it's temptation.

You want to purchase stuff, 
you want to buy stuff,

but don't end up in big debts, right?

And that's that happens a lot.

That is never good.

Having too much debt is never good.

Money would never be 
in your pocket, right?

You got to manage that wisely.

It's your hard-earned money.

You have worked really hard for it.

And the idea is to keep 
as much of it as possible

and spend it for yourself.

Don't pay a huge amount of interest
to the bank or someone else, right?

Don't get yourself into any major debt.

So any major financial decision
that you need to make.

One of the biggest tools you have.

It's a free, absolutely free resource.

You have SISIP.

Give us a call, we're just 
one phone call away.

(Stephen) Ravi, thank you 
for this, you're great.

Thank you.

Ravi Chavali is a SISIP 
financial counsellor

based in Edmonton.

Contact your local SISIP 
financial advisor today at <i>sisip.com</i>

to review your financial plan

and set yourself on a path 
to financial health.