Greg Keith, Certified Financial Planner

Greg Keith, Certified Financial Planner Decision Guide for Retirement, Layoffs, and Next Chapters. Helping professionals navigate major financial transitions.

Turning scattered accounts in to one clear plan.

Dollar Cost Averaging doesn’t work. It just makes you feel better.Investors and advisors have been using this strategy f...
06/09/2026

Dollar Cost Averaging doesn’t work. It just makes you feel better.

Investors and advisors have been using this strategy for years.

You take small chunks of a larger amount of money and invest them at set intervals to reduce the risk of investing at the wrong time.

Investing a large lump sum all at once can be scary. Dollar cost averaging helps reduce that fear.

It feels disciplined and smart, but the math usually doesn’t support it.

Markets go up more often than they go down.

So, if you have the money available, investing it all at once has historically produced better returns than spreading it out over time.

Vanguard studied multiple markets over several decades and found that lump-sum investing outperformed dollar cost averaging 70% of the time, by an average of 2.5%.

That might not sound like much.

But 2.5% over 20 years adds up to a significant amount of money.

So why do people still use dollar cost averaging when it underperforms?

Because it gives you peace of mind by reducing the risk of investing everything right before a major crash.

I’m not against it.

Getting people to take action is far better than sitting in cash and waiting for the perfect time to invest.

That’s the real benefit. It’s psychology, not math.

A nervous investor who gradually invests their money and stays invested is better off than someone who waits years out of fear.

So yes, dollar cost averaging can be a powerful tool in the right circumstances.

Lump-sum investing is usually better mathematically.

Leaving your money in cash and waiting loses to both.

Which one drives your decision?

The math or the emotions?

Some people use photo shoots to look professional.I use them to recreate Talladega Nights.Every time we have a photo sho...
06/08/2026

Some people use photo shoots to look professional.
I use them to recreate Talladega Nights.

Every time we have a photo shoot, I end up sneaking in these two poses.

Blue Steel from the movie Zoolander. Not for any particular reason, I just think it’s hilarious.

The second, Shake and Bake from Talladega Nights, which has a backstory.

When Angela Dibblee and I started working together, it was just the two of us, starting from scratch.

We figured things out as we went along.

We had some great moments and also some challenging ones, but we grew like crazy.

Angela is dedicated to doing things right. She has grit, ethics, and will do whatever it takes to make the client happy.

Having her on my side was crucial.

When we opened our Sussex office, I commissioned a painting from local artist Katie Doiron to mark the milestone.

It hangs in the office and it’s always a topic of conversation when people come in.

The painting is of Cal and Ricky Bobby from Talladega Nights.

She’s Cal.

I’m Ricky Bobby, obviously. 🤣

It’s pretty ridiculous, and that’s why it’s perfect.

Here’s to many more years of Shake and Bake, Cal.

06/05/2026

Most of my clients don't call because they're worried about their investments.
They call because they just realized they have no idea what they actually own.

There's an RRSP from a job they left in 2012. A pension from the one before that. A TFSA they opened during COVID. A group plan their current employer manages. Maybe a LIRA sitting somewhere they haven't looked at in four years.

They're not irresponsible people. They're busy professionals in their late 50s who kept moving forward and let the accounts collect behind them.

The call usually starts the same way.

"I think I'm okay, but I honestly don't know. Can you help me figure out what I have?"

That's where most of our work begins. Not with a portfolio review. With a full picture of what exists, what it's doing, whether the pieces actually work together, and what decisions are coming in the next few years that will matter most.

I work with executives and senior professionals who are close to retirement and realize the financial complexity they've built up quietly needs sorting out before the paycheck stops.

Not panicked. Not lost. Just past the point where a spreadsheet and good intentions are enough.

If that's you, I'd like to hear from you. What does your situation look like right now?

My daughter recently had her annual sewing show.Each year, they put on a fashion show to show off what the kids have mad...
06/05/2026

My daughter recently had her annual sewing show.

Each year, they put on a fashion show to show off what the kids have made.

This is her 4th year taking these classes.

She has done dance. She still plays hockey. But sewing is the one thing she never complains about.

The classes are in Saint John, and we live in Hampton.

Because of sewing, she has made friends outside our little town.

Kids from different backgrounds and different ages, all in the same room learning something most adults would not even try.

Her teacher, Jacquie Woodruff, who also owns the business (The Sewist), has built something really unique.

The kind of thing that doesn’t happen by accident.

My daughter made two things this year.

A housecoat.

And a Grimace stuffy.
Yes. Grimace from McDonald’s. lol

I am proud that she found something that is completely hers.

Something she chose.
Something she stuck with.
Something she got good at.

Here are a few pictures of this year’s creations.

The Sewist Mastering the Art of Fabric

Delaying OAS is one of the smartest retirement moves you can make.Except when it isn’t.If you delay your Old Age Securit...
06/04/2026

Delaying OAS is one of the smartest retirement moves you can make.

Except when it isn’t.

If you delay your Old Age Security payment, you gain 0.6% per month, up to 36% more at age 70.

The benefits of delaying OAS rarely get talked about.

A higher guaranteed, inflation-protected payment can be valuable later in retirement.

Especially if you are healthy, still working, or already have enough income from other sources.

It can also help from a tax planning perspective.

If you retire between 60 and 65 and you’re drawing down RRSPs or a LIF, you may already be pulling meaningful taxable income.

Adding OAS on top of that can push more income into a higher tax bracket.

Although taking OAS at 65 still makes sense sometimes:

- You need the income now
- You have a shortened life expectancy
- Your marginal tax rate is lower today than it will be at 70 or 71

But a lot of people make this decision without proper thought or planning.

They are scared of missing out if they die early.

But FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is not a retirement plan.

Delaying OAS can make sense in these situations:

- You want a guaranteed, inflation-protected increase
- You want protection against living a long time
- You’re still working and don’t need the income
- You have a large RRSP or RRIF and expect higher taxes later
- You want smoother taxes throughout retirement

Every situation has a different answer.

The right answer is the one that fits your actual tax picture.

Before you decide, make sure you understand how OAS fits with your RRSPs, pensions, taxes, and long-term income plan.

“I’m scared the market is going to crash.”I hear this quite often.Usually from people who have money sitting in GICs bec...
06/02/2026

“I’m scared the market is going to crash.”

I hear this quite often.

Usually from people who have money sitting in GICs because they’re worried they’ll invest right before the next big downturn.

It’s a reasonable fear. Nobody wants to watch their hard-earned savings shrink.

But let’s look at what that fear actually costs.

If someone invested $100,000 in the S&P 500 at the start of 2019, it would be worth about $282,000 today.

Now assume their biggest fear comes true and the market crashes 29% tomorrow.

That $282,000 falls to about $200,000.

That hurts.

The person who stayed in GICs to avoid that crash would still have $125,000.

The investor who lived through a massive market drop would still have about $75,000 more.

That’s something worth thinking about.

A person who experienced a 29% crash would still be ahead of the person who never invested because they were afraid of one.

This is what makes fear so expensive in retirement.

Most retirement plans don’t get derailed by market crashes.

They get sabotaged by fear.

Markets will definitely crash again.

That’s about the only market prediction you’ll ever hear me make.

The question is whether your fear of a crash will cost you more than the crash itself.

If you’re within 10 years of retirement and wondering how much risk is appropriate for your situation, it may be worth having a conversation before fear makes the decision for you.

I hired someone who knows more than me about financial Planning software.Paul Bethel, CFP, CLU, CIM is that person.Paul...
06/01/2026

I hired someone who knows more than me about financial Planning software.

Paul Bethel, CFP, CLU, CIM is that person.

Paul is a CFP like me.

But where he separates himself is financial planning software.

He uses a program called Conquest, and is a self proclaimed Conquestador 😂

I laughed when I first heard it, but he takes this work seriously.

The plans he builds prove it. He’s a Conquest expert.

Before going out on his own, Paul spent years at Canada Life helping advisors work through the most complicated planning cases they had.

The ones that required real modelling.

Real answers.

Not back of the napkin math.

He’s also based in Halifax, which matters to me.

Paul understands Atlantic Canada. He understands what retirement looks like here.

The pension decisions.

The RRSPs scattered across three institutions.

The clients who are six months from leaving a job they’ve had for 30 years.

Having Paul in my corner means I get to do what I do best.

Sitting with clients. Having the real conversations. While Paul builds the plan in the background.

My clients deserve that.

They deserve a team that takes this seriously.

Paul is the best of the best.

Are you working with a team of experts who each bring something different?

If you’re not fully confident you’re getting the best possible advice, that’s worth thinking about.

His first $100K took 6.2 years to save. His last $100K only took 11 months.He didn’t change anything.He invested the sam...
05/31/2026

His first $100K took 6.2 years to save. His last $100K only took 11 months.

He didn’t change anything.

He invested the same amount each month and let time do its thing.

As time went on, his money started working harder and harder.

Using average S&P 500 returns, each new $100K arrived faster than the one before it because he stayed disciplined and let the markets work.

Saving in the early years can feel insignificant.

You don’t see a lot of your discipline and patience pay off until later.

Then the account starts picking up speed.

Here’s where this applies to the clients I work with in their 50s and 60s.

They’re often sitting in the later stages of this sketch.

Their portfolio has been building for decades and is gaining momentum every year.

The important part is to stay put when markets get scary and the news cycle is relentless.

Especially if you’re still more than five years from retirement.

Even when your brain is telling you to move everything into GICs and wait it out.

There’s been a lot to be scared of over the last six years.

2020 - COVID
2022 - Ukraine war
2022 - U.S. inflation hits 9.2%
2024 - Trump wins election
2025 - Tariffs (Liberation Day)
2026 - Iran war

Through all this, the index returned 120% during that period (Jan 2020 - yesterday).

Your money would have doubled if you stayed invested during that time.

Interrupting this type of compound growth in the later years can be devastating.

Protecting yourself from the short term can end up being the most expensive decision you make.

The S&P 500 is used here for illustration purposes only.

This isn’t a recommendation, just a simple example of how powerful compounding becomes in the later years of your career.

Where are you on this curve right now?

The Visual Wealth Project

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107 Germain Street Suite #200
Saint John, NB
E2L2E9

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