Alana Burton- Financial Advisor

09/03/2026

Your emotions have a bigger impact on your finances than you might think. 🧠💰

Financial decisions aren’t always made with a spreadsheet and a calculator. Sometimes they’re made when we’re stressed, excited, fearful, overwhelmed, or comparing ourselves to everyone around us.

And those emotions can influence how we spend, save, invest, and plan for the future.

Fear can make us avoid investing altogether.
Excitement can lead us to take unnecessary risks.
Stress can make spending feel like a temporary solution.
Comparison can convince us we need a lifestyle we can’t comfortably afford.
Impatience can make long-term strategies feel frustratingly slow.

Good financial planning isn’t about removing emotion from the equation — it’s about creating a plan that helps you make good decisions even when emotions are high.

That might mean:
✔️ Automating your savings
✔️ Having an emergency fund
✔️ Knowing your goals before choosing investments
✔️ Understanding your risk tolerance
✔️ Building a financial plan you can actually stick with
✔️ Taking a pause before making a major financial decision

The goal isn’t to be perfect with money. It’s to become more mindful about the decisions you make with it.

💬 What emotion do you think influences your financial decisions the most — fear, excitement, stress, comparison, or impatience? Drop it in the comments.

And if you’ve been putting off getting your finances organized because you don’t know where to start, send me a message. Let’s have a conversation about where you are, where you want to go, and how to build a plan that makes sense for you.

Your money deserves a plan — not a reaction.

08/31/2026

💸 5 Money Mistakes Millennials Are Still Making

Let’s be honest — most of us weren’t taught how to manage money. We’re figuring it out as we go.

Here are 5 common mistakes I see millennials making:

1️⃣ Waiting to invest until they “make more money”
You don’t need thousands of dollars to start. Small, consistent contributions can add up significantly over time.

2️⃣ Keeping all their savings in a chequing account
Your money should have a purpose. Emergency savings, short-term goals and long-term investments all have different jobs.

3️⃣ Ignoring their TFSA or FHSA
These accounts can be powerful tools for building wealth and reaching goals — but simply opening one isn’t enough. You need a strategy for using it.

4️⃣ Focusing only on debt and forgetting about wealth-building
Paying down high-interest debt is important, but so is building assets. You don’t necessarily have to choose one or the other.

5️⃣ Putting off financial planning until they’re “wealthy”
Financial planning isn’t just for retirees or high-net-worth individuals. The earlier you create a plan, the more options you give your future self.

💡 The biggest mistake? Doing nothing because you feel like you should already know what you’re doing.

You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to start.

Make your money mindful. Make your money work for you. 💰🧘‍♀️

08/30/2026

Onto my next read 📖

The Words of Marcus Aurelius

“You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

Marcus Aurelius
Meditations

A reminder for my Modern Monk journey:
Control what you can.
Accept what you cannot.
Train the mind.
Choose your response.
Return to the present.

08/26/2026

🐾 Happy National Dog Day! 🐾

Happy National Dog Day to the many furballs I get to love! ❤️🐶

When I’m not advising, dogsitting these beasts brings me so much joy and happiness. There’s something pretty special about the unconditional love, goofy personalities, and endless cuddles that dogs bring into our lives.

So grateful for my pack. 🐾💗

08/26/2026

Sponsor a Public Skate – Make a Lasting Impact! ⛸️

Every weekend, families, friends, and neighbours gather for a beloved Canadian tradition — Public Skating at the Ennismore and Lakefield-Smith Community Centres.

For just $2 per person, it's already affordable fun — but you can make it even better.

Sponsor a Public Skate and make one session FREE for all!
- Your business or service club gets recognized
- You support youth recreation and community wellness

Learn more or sign up: https://forms.selwyntownship.ca/Recreation/Public-Skating-Sponsorship-Form

08/25/2026

Are you making regular contributions to your TFSA, FHSA or RRSP? 💰

If the answer is “not yet,” ask yourself: why not?

You don’t need to start with hundreds of dollars a month. Sometimes the most important step is simply getting started.

Even small, automatic contributions can add up significantly over time thanks to the power of compound growth. 📈

Set it. Automate it. Let time do some of the heavy lifting.

It’s not too late to start building better financial habits—and small steps today can create meaningful long-term gains.

08/20/2026

Client Success Story 🏡

After years of hard work, discipline, and consistent saving, my clients have officially achieved a huge milestone—they purchased their first home!

By making their savings a priority and taking advantage of both their TFSA and FHSA, they turned a long-term goal into reality. Seeing them hand over the title of “renters” and step into this next chapter as homeowners is exactly why I love what I do.

Congratulations on your beautiful new home! Wishing you many years of happiness and wonderful memories.

If homeownership is one of your goals, let’s start building a plan today. With the right strategy, you can get there too. Reach out, and let’s make your dream of owning a home a reality.

08/19/2026

Insurance: Low Probability. High Impact.

Insurance is one of those things we hope we never need.

And that’s exactly the point.

It’s a low-probability, high-impact solution.

The likelihood of experiencing a major illness, becoming disabled, or dying prematurely may be relatively low—but the financial impact if it happens can be enormous.

Think about what could happen to your financial plan if your income suddenly disappeared.

Could your mortgage still be paid?
Could your family maintain their lifestyle?
Could your business continue?
Could your savings and investments stay invested instead of being used to cover an unexpected financial crisis?

That’s where insurance fits into a well-rounded financial plan.

💡 Investments help you build wealth.
🛡️ Insurance helps protect the wealth and income you’ve worked so hard to build.

The goal isn’t to insure everything.

It’s to identify the risks that could derail your financial plan and put the right protection in place.

Because financial planning isn’t just about asking, “How much can I grow?”

It’s also asking:

“What could happen that would change everything—and how can I protect against it?”

Insurance may feel like an expense when everything is going well.

But when the unexpected happens, it can become one of the most valuable parts of your financial plan.

Protect the plan. Protect the people. Protect the future. 💗

08/17/2026

Building credit starts before you need it. 💳

Parents of young adults: teaching your kids to build credit responsibly can give them a major head start financially.

And remember — no credit can be just as challenging as bad credit.

A few ways to start:

📱 Pay their own cell phone bill
💳 Get a credit card with a manageable limit
💰 Use it for purchases they can afford and pay it off monthly
🏦 Put regular bills in their own name
📊 Learn to monitor and understand their credit

The goal isn’t to encourage debt. It’s to teach responsibility, independence and financial confidence.

When they’re ready for their first apartment, car or mortgage, you don’t want them starting their financial journey from zero.

Build credit before you need credit.

FinancialEducation

08/17/2026

🧠 WHAT IF RETIREMENT PLANNING ISN’T JUST ABOUT YOUR MONEY?

I listened to a fascinating episode of The Diary of a CEO with neurophysiologist and brain-health expert Louisa Nicola, and it gave me a very different perspective on longevity.

The episode was titled:

“The Disease That Starts in Your 30s but Kills You in Your 70s.”

And one of the biggest takeaways?

👉 You don’t wait until your 60s or 70s to start thinking about brain health.

The choices we make decades earlier can influence our cognitive health later in life.

Some of the biggest takeaways I took from the conversation:

🧠 Brain health is connected to overall health.
Cardiovascular health, metabolic health, movement and brain health are much more interconnected than we often realize.

🏋️‍♀️ Muscle is more important than just looking strong.
Resistance training and maintaining muscle can support metabolic and cognitive health as we age.

🏃‍♀️ Exercise is brain medicine.
Aerobic fitness, strength training and challenging your cardiovascular system can all play a role in protecting cognitive function.

😴 Sleep isn’t optional recovery time.
Deep sleep is when the brain has an opportunity to perform important maintenance and clearance processes. Chronic sleep deprivation is not something we should simply accept as we get older.

🥗 What happens in your body affects what happens in your brain.
Nutrition, blood sugar regulation, cardiovascular health and inflammation all matter when we’re talking about long-term brain health.

🧩 Your brain needs to be challenged.
Learning new things, doing difficult things, developing new skills and continuing to challenge yourself helps maintain cognitive reserve.

👥 Social connection matters too.
Our relationships and engagement with other people are part of a healthy, long life.

And perhaps the biggest takeaway:

Alzheimer’s prevention isn’t something you start thinking about when you’re 70.

It’s about the habits you’re building at 30, 40, 50 and beyond.

That got me thinking about financial planning.

We spend so much time asking:

💰 How much money will I need to retire?
📈 What rate of return can I achieve?
🏡 When can I afford to stop working?

But perhaps we should also be asking:

“What kind of health do I want to have when I get there?”

Because the goal isn’t simply to accumulate enough money to live to 90.

The goal is to have the financial freedom AND the physical and cognitive health to actually enjoy those years.

That’s what I think mindful wealth really means.

Build the wealth. Protect the health. And plan for the life you actually want to live.

🎧 Definitely worth listening to: Louisa Nicola on The Diary of a CEO.

Podcast Episode · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett · February 5 · 2h 5m