Independent Advisory
No product shelf, no trailing commissions, no conflict between what pays us and what helps you — just a written plan you own completely.
Commission-based advisors are not dishonest — but they operate inside a structure where certain products pay them more than others. Over a 20-year retirement, a 1% trailing commission embedded in a mutual fund MER costs a $500,000 portfolio approximately $120,000 in foregone compounding. The client almost never sees that number itemized. Vividbcloud charges a flat engagement fee, disclosed in full at the first meeting. We hold no product licences, carry no managed-asset fees, and receive no referral payments from product providers. Our revenue comes entirely from the planning fees you pay us — which means our analysis is structurally free to recommend whatever genuinely serves your plan, including doing nothing and staying with what you already have.
Four phases, clear deliverables at each stage.
A 90-minute meeting — in our Winnipeg office or by video — where we gather your full financial picture, clarify your retirement timeline and income targets, and identify the two or three decisions that will have the most impact on your outcome.
Over three to four weeks we build your written retirement plan: savings sequence, income model, estate alignment summary, and a set of prioritized recommendations with clear rationale for each. You receive the full document, not a summary slide deck.
A two-hour session working through the plan in detail. We answer every question until you are satisfied that you understand the recommendations and the trade-offs. No recommendation is a black box.
Once a year we revisit your plan against actual performance, tax rule changes, and any life events. We update projections, confirm or revise the sequence, and produce an amended plan document. The annual fee is lower than the initial engagement.
A financial plan is a model of the future under stated assumptions. We cannot guarantee that markets will perform as projected, that government benefit rules will remain unchanged, or that your personal circumstances will unfold as planned. We are also explicit that we do not provide legal advice, tax filing services, or portfolio management — each of those disciplines requires a separate qualified professional. What we provide is a rigorous, conflict-free planning framework that helps you make better decisions with the information available. The peace of mind comes from understanding your situation clearly, not from any promise of a specific outcome.
“I had three different advisors tell me three different things about when to convert my RRSP. What Vividbcloud provided was a single written document showing the after-tax result of each option under four scenarios. I made the decision in one afternoon and have not second-guessed it since. The flat fee felt like a lot until I read the plan.”
James F., Portage la Prairie MB
Every Vividbcloud engagement produces a written plan you own — not a verbal conversation you have to remember.
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