I don't think you are looking for a financial planner, rather an unbiased review of current situation and future goals. In the past I have used Rose Raimundo, she is a private gal that will do a review of your situation and some simple future value calcs. Google her, she is located in NW Calgary.
Key steps, regardless of who you choose:
-know your spending, we keep track of any expenditure over about $10 in something called the Money Book (binder stored on the island in the kitchen). Month end I total up the spend and allocate into some categories (Transportation, food, utilities) and try to figure out if the spends are one-time (Don't expect to have the same expenditure within 3 months) or recurring (will have similar within 3 months).
-Know your income, again keep track in the money book, all cash flowing into the household every month
-Figure out what is discretionary spend...not saying to not spend it but it is the first thing to go if you need to tighten the belt.
-Try to spread out large one time expenses over some time. For example, I put my daughters driving lessons ($1000) on my Visa and spread that expense over 2 billing cycles at no cost to me.
-Plan for any large expenses (like Xmas) and spread them out as much as possible. I'm about half done my Xmas shopping already.
The challenge with retirement saving is most folks start late and need to save huge sums in order to retire. Set aside cash early, let it compound, avoid fees unless they give you access to investments nobody else can get, monitor growth and adjust risk levels to match, be realistic with cost of living (nobody wants to eat cat food in their retirement) and above all...start early. Avoid MLMs (multi level marketing, WFG et al) firms that are useless and self serving.
There are some real wise cookies on this site, tap into their guidance...Dean2, I'm lookin at you
Zeke
PS. did I mention start early?
Financial Planner/Advisor
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