Cindy Marques, Financial Planner

09/19/2023

👩‍🏫 TOMORROW! Join me for a FREE webinar on September 20th– ESTATE PLANNING 101: Everything you need to know about wills. Registration now open. 👇

🗓️ September 20, 2023 - 12:00pm EST:
https://my.demio.com/ref/ZTnReN797dklocRQ

In an ever-changing world, securing your family's future is paramount.
Discover why having a will isn't just a legal document; it's your legacy, your wishes, and your peace of mind all in one.

💰 Assets go where you want: With a will, you decide who gets what when you're not around. It's your way of ensuring your hard-earned assets go to the right people or causes.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Kids' Guardian: If you have children, you can name a guardian for them in your will. This ensures they'll be taken care of by someone you trust if something happens to you.

💼 Executor in Charge: You can pick someone you trust to be the executor. They'll handle your affairs and make sure your wishes are carried out.

💞 Family Harmony: A clear will can prevent family feuds over inheritance, reducing stress during an already tough time.

💵 Tax Benefits: Wills can help you minimize the tax bite on your estate, leaving more for your heirs.

😌 Peace of Mind: Ultimately, a will gives you peace of mind, knowing your affairs are in order, and your loved ones are looked after.

So, whether you're young or old, having a will is a smart move. It's your way of taking care of your people, even when you're not around.

We’ve partnered with Willful, Canada’s top estate planning platform, to offer an exclusive webinar! Join Cindy Marques, CFP®and Willful’s David Burnham as they debunk common estate planning myths and discuss the importance of making a will.

Hear from our partners at Willful on how to create your own will with ease and confidence.

11/03/2022

👉If you can't manage $100, you can't manage $100,000.
Just because you don't have a lot to work with, doesn't mean there's no point in learning how to manage what you have. In fact, it is EXACTLY the time to learn how to get your sh*t sorted. 👀
Having money doesn’t itself impart any money management skills. This is why lottery winners often lose it all. If someone is careless with the money they have now, they won’t suddenly adopt the self-discipline and control to budget and manage an abundance of cash when it’s handed to them. That’s just not how it works. In fact, quite the opposite. 🙃
Wealth takes time and effort guided by core fundamentals of financial management. In other words: Financial Literacy is the key to building sustainable wealth!💡

07/16/2022

A couple dollars a month might actually be costing you hundreds of dollars more than you think! 🤔

You’ve probably heard the term “latte factor” thrown around ☕ -- a term coined to describe the impact that seemingly small and insignificant purchases have on your cash flow. The thing with these “latte factor”-type purchases is that most of them are made for the sake of providing little conveniences. They’re fleeting moments that fly under our radar because we’re not really paying attention to them and so we barely notice that we spent the money. 👀

But if you’re not careful, all of these convenience fees can end up sabotaging your bank account since we don’t think much about spending it. And that’s the thing… you’re not thinking about paying them. And if you’re not regularly tracking your expenses, you won’t even notice the impact that they have on your monthly cash flow. 📉

This becomes a serious problem when you consider the fact that it may very well be what’s keeping you from paying off those debts sooner, or setting aside some savings to invest. And this is called the OPPORTUNITY COST, which describes the potential profit or loss involved in choosing to spend your money one way versus another. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Guys. I'm not trying to say that your latte is why you can't afford to buy a home… we've got bigger economic problems behind all that. But it's worth considering the OPPORTUNITY COST of redirecting some of your smaller expenditures towards activities that will reap much larger rewards financially! 📈

Who needs January to set a new resolution? I'll be over here setting some Summer money makeover resolutions to maximize my financial potential. Who’s with me?! 🤑

01/27/2022

Your subconscious is playing games with you, and it's costing you money! 😬💵

💁🏼‍♀️LOSS AVERSION = the behavioural tendency to prefer the aversion of a loss over an equivalent gain. In other words, we feel more pain from a loss versus excitement over an equivalent gain.

Why?

I see this happen often. Many of you have expressed extreme guilt over dipping into your slush funds to cover the cost of a purchase, yet barely flinch at accruing the equivalent debt balance instead… despite the obvious fact that it's going to cost you more money to let it sit on your credit card over time.

Remember, your slush fund is a savings account specifically to spend on large purchases beyond the scope of your regular monthly expenses. Yet we tend to feel more pain over "losing"/using our savings versus "gaining" a debt balance.

👉So how can you use this to your advantage?

Defeat your spendthrift urges by leaving your credit card at home and shopping with your debit card insead (or cash... do people still use cash?). I can guarantee that the loss aversion phenomenon will leave you feeling some real pain as you watch your bank account balance (or cash stash) deplete. Watching your money disappear feels like a truly tangible loss, whereas tapping your credit card does not.

🔥🔥🔥
Ready to level up your money game with smart, tailored financial planning strategies? I've got you.

👀Keep your eyes peeled for the next round of coaching registrations, opening soon! Link in bio at to join the waitlist!

06/16/2020

Trudeau promises to extend the CERB benefit. More details to come...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that the federal government will extend the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), with details to follow in the days ahead.

05/27/2020

MONEY spoke to numerous experts about the best path forward.

05/26/2020

I had the pleasure of hosting another live session today, chatting cash flow management, government benefits and how to deal with debt during the pandemic!
Thank you Toronto Professional Women's Meetup for hosting me and I look forward to connecting further with all of the incredible guests who watched our session!
Still wondering how to navigate your finances on a reduced income? Ready to take control and set yourself up for success despite the global setbacks? Book a FREE consultation with me to pick my brain: https://calendly.com/cindy-marques/consultation-zoom

05/17/2020

Everything you need to know about everything that's available to Canadian citizens right now. 💵
If you have questions and need support navigating your benefits, I'm here for you. 🙋🏼‍♀️

04/27/2020

Many of you are still wondering whether you qualify for the support you've already been receiving. 🤔
For some, it's because you're unsure when/if Service Canada was going to pay you and so you simultaneously applied for the CERB manually through the CRA. For others, it may be that you applied for the CERB but then started receiving more income for the month than you anticipated...
Now with the Wage Subsidy made available Trudeau has stressed that you can't have BOTH the subsidy and the emergency benefit and you'll have to pay one back. 🙅‍♂️
There are a lot of opportunities for Canadians to make honest mistakes with what they're entitled to and how/when they should receive it. 😣
I'm doing my best to field all of your questions and help guide you with my content. But ultimately it's upon each and every one of us to do our own due diligence and prepare ourselves for the tax bill attached to these benefits and/or the requirement to pay it back entirely. 💵
💌 DM me directly for general questions.
👩🏼‍💻 Book a FREE consultation with me for 1:1 support at www.cindymarques.com

04/24/2020

Service Canada was inundated with EI applications and couldn't keep up with demand. To help ease the administrative burden, the majority of individuals who applied for EI as of March 15 or later were automatically enrolled in CERB. ✔️
For some of you that actually meant an increase in support income, and for others a decrease, depending on your EI payment amount. 💵
Either way, it's still there for you once you exhaust the CERB payments, assuming you remain unemployed by that time. 🙇🏼‍♀️
💌 DM me directly for general questions.
👩🏼‍💻 Book a FREE consultation with me for 1:1 support at www.cindymarques.com

04/23/2020

Feeling overwhelmed? Looking for some guidance?
Despite the fact that it's finally considered an act of heroism to just stay home and play video games all day, somehow it just doesn't feel as amazing as we all hoped that fantasy would be. 😕
Your job is gone. Your income is dependent upon government assistance. And you already ate two weeks worth of snacks in one bored night. 🙄
So what's your plan? How will you set yourself up for financial success despite a pandemic? What have you done to ensure you're still taken care of once the government benefits run dry? 🤷🏽‍♂️
😬 If these questions are triggering some anxiety, then it's time we talked. You deserve a sounding board to put your mind at ease. I'm here for you. 🙋🏼‍♀️
💌 DM me directly for general questions.
👩🏼‍💻 Book a FREE consultation with me for 1:1 support at www.cindymarques.com

04/22/2020

Many of you may have already been collecting EI benefits before the pandemic broke out. Whether they were due to job loss🤷🏼‍♂️, disability🤕, or parental leave🤰🏽.
You might be wondering whether you qualify for CERB since you didn't actually lose your job due to COVID-19, but you clearly cannot return to work because of it.
➡️ Anyone whose EI benefits ended by January 5, 2020 is eligible to claim CERB as long as you are still unemployed or earning less than $1000/mth*.
*earnings cap is based on the specific 4-wk CERB benefit periods to determine eligibility.
💌 DM me directly for general questions.
👩🏼‍💻 Book a FREE consultation with me for 1:1 support at www.cindymarques.com