Episode 1: Introductions

Welcome to the Retire Ready Podcast, I am your host Scott Sather and this is episode 1 of what is hopefully many episodes to come. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time and what better time to start than now? Today we’re going to talk a bit about who I am, who this podcast is for, why I’ve started the podcast, and why you should listen in and hopefully subscribe.

So who am I and why should you listen to me? As I said, my name is Scott Sather, I am the Founder, President, and Financial Planner at Awaken Wealth Management and Portfolio Manager with Awaken Investments of Aligned Capital Partners in Regina, Saskatchewan. I work with clients who are 10-20 years out from retirement or are already retired and help them to simplify the journey to financial freedom. And I’ve been doing that for roughly 23 years of the 26 years I’ve been in the financial services industry. I’ve seen a lot of things over those years- both good and bad and feel I can help a lot of people to avoid some of the mistakes I’ve seen and help them live their best retirement.

So why have I started a podcast? Well like I said this something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time- in fact, I think this microphone was purchased back in 2020 so it’s been on the top of my mind and bottom and now back again. A hat tip to a few advisors out there that gave the push to just do it- Carl Richards, Cameron Passmore, Keith Matthews, Joe Curry, Mark Walhout, and Sam Lichtman just to name a few- thanks gentlemen. So again- why? Well I enjoy podcasts and have listened to many over the years and find them to be a great tool to be informed on topics. One of the things that drew me in to the industry some 26 years ago was the ability to help people make better money decisions and choices. The financial services industry does a bad job of shaming people into selling them products- that they usually do not understand, are likely paying too much for, and probably don’t need. I want to provide Canadians with the information they need and to help breakdown or simplify some of these complex retirement strategies allowing them to make confident, educated decisions towards their plans and goals. So doing the podcast will allow me to reach many who I typically wouldn’t be able to have a conversation with and to be able to keep my clients better informed as well.

One of the goals in my practice is to help to simplify the strategies in building and protecting my clients wealth- an issue with our industry is making things complicated to create necessity. So the goal is to share 10-20 minutes of relevant simple information to help you be better prepared for retirement and everything that comes with that. So whether you’re on your commute to work or getting out for a walk or run you can tune in and become a better investor and be ready for all things financial. It will be mostly me talking- cuz I’ve got some opinions on things and want to share them with you; but I will be bringing in different guest speakers, both locally, nationally  and globally as time goes on.

Our topics are going to focus on retirement and the steps you should be taking to plan for it, so this probably won’t be the podcast for you if you looking for information on buying a first house or education savings but who knows what might come down the road. Having said that things like purchasing a cottage or place south of the border would likely be topics we will cover. Or financial independence from your career job but still working in retirement doing more of the projects and things you enjoy..

We’re also not going to be providing investment advice or stock picks- if you’re looking for that, this is not the place for you. Having said that, investing and investment planning is part of the retirement planning process so we will be covering some of these things from a broad standpoint. Staying healthy in and out of retirement will be another topic we will cover as what’s the point of saving up for retirement if you’re not able to actually enjoy that next stage of life?

Our first few episodes will be covering financial advice- do you need an advisor? If you do what should you be looking for in that person? What questions should you ask? And as a bit of a teaser for those episodes, today we’re going to briefly talk about the investment F word: Fiduciary. Fid ush ia what? Fiduciary, meaning is your advisor or planner a fiduciary? Well first, what the heck is a Fiduciary? It comes from the Latin word “Fidere” which means “to trust”. If we turn to Investopedia, the definition is a person or organization that acts on behalf of another person or persons, putting their clients’ interests ahead of their own, with a duty to preserve good faith and trust. Being a fiduciary thus requires being bound both legally and ethically to act in the other’s best interests. Most Canadian advisors do not have to act as a fiduciary to their clients and instead only have to do what’s suitable.

That’s like going in to buy your wedding dress or tuxedo/suit and the person selling it to you only has to make sure it fits, not that it actually looks good on you and is the best option for your circumstances. Now I won’t much further on that today as it’s rabbit hole that could take hours.

I think that is it for today’s first episode. Be sure to subscribe on your favourite podcast player- Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts. If you have questions or would like questions answered on future podcasts please email us at info@awakenwealth.ca. New episodes of the Retire Ready podcast will be out on a semi-monthly basis, so the 1st ad 15th of the month so be sure to subscribe to stay in the know. You can also check out the Wake-Up semi-monthly newsletter at the Awaken Wealth site, which is awakenwealth.ca.

Thanks again for joining us today and I look forward to seeing you back for the next episode.