Canadian Financial Planning, Administration, and Investing Program

Working with Advisors lays the groundwork for beneficiaries to have positive working relationships with advisors. The content reviews communication, hiring, compensation, and onboarding as well as transitioning to a new advisor or terminating an advisor relationship. The course ties relevant concepts into an animated case study that demonstrates the importance of working with advisors proactively.

• Working with Advisors

How do I build a financial plan and budget that reflects the realities of wealth?

Personal Finance Essentials (formerly Personal Finance Fundamentals Module 1) introduces personal finance through the specific context of wealth, where familiar concepts like saving, spending, budgeting, and planning become more complex and consequential. Learners explore how money can serve as “rocket fuel” for flourishing when aligned with values, purpose, relationships, and long-term goals. Through financial planning exercises, case studies, and practical tools, the module helps participants evaluate income, spending, saving, risk, charitable giving, and capital sufficiency with greater intention. The focus is not on basic financial literacy alone, but on building the judgment, language, and self-awareness needed to steward resources thoughtfully and engage more effectively with advisors and in family decision-making.

What You’ll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• Clarify how financial resources can support or undermine personal flourishing, purpose, and responsible stewardship.
• Use the Five Capitals Framework to evaluate wealth beyond financial capital, including human, learning, social, legacy, and financial well-being.
• Prioritize financial goals by distinguishing between needs, wants, and wishes in light of your own circumstances, values, and time horizon.
• Organize income, spending, saving, and budgeting information to make more intentional financial decisions and prepare for advisor conversations.
• Evaluate trade-offs among savings strategies, passive income opportunities, risk management tools, capital sufficiency, and charitable giving options.

The Experience

This self-paced module combines reflection, practical worksheets, case studies, calculators, and curated podcasts to help learners apply personal finance fundamentals in the context of wealth. Learners engage with the Five Capitals Assessment, financial visioning exercises, needs-wants-wishes categorization, goal-mapping activities, and budgeting tools, including a Basic Budget Review Sheet and Annual Budget Review Sheet. These resources help participants connect income, spending, saving, risk, giving, and long-term planning to their values, priorities, and responsibilities.

The experience emphasizes application rather than technical mastery. Through a financial planning exercise, family wealth case studies, charitable giving decision case study, and featured resources on succession, wealth dynamics in friendships, insurance planning, capital sufficiency, and impact giving, learners practice moving from ideas to analysis. Calculators for retirement and education goals support practical estimation, while the podcast examples broaden the conversation to include family complexity, stewardship, risk, philanthropy, and advisor readiness.

Estimated Completion Time: 3 hours

Featured Resources:

• Podcast with Octavian Pilati entitled, Managing Succession in Crisis
• Podcast with Jazmín Aguilera entitled, The Cut-How do I Deal With My Rich Friends
• Podcast with Fernando Pou and Rino Schena entitled, Thinking Outside the Box: Insurance Solutions for Families
• Podcast with Ron Cordes entitled, Moving to 100% Impact: The Cordes Family Story
• Podcast with Christina Burroughs and Will Froelich entitled, Capital Sufficiency
• Five Capitals Assessment, Scott Peppet
• Family Retirement Goals Calculator
• Education Goals Calculator
• Basic Budget Review Sheet
• Annual Budget Review Sheet
• Wealth Workbook

How can I read financial statements well enough to ask better questions and make more informed decisions?

How to Read Financial Statements (formerly Personal Finance Module 2) introduces the accounting systems, records, and financial statements that help individuals, owners, beneficiaries, and stakeholders understand the financial health of a business or enterprise. Learners explore accounting methods, the accounting cycle, ledgers, accounts, debits and credits, and the three core financial statements: the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. The emphasis is not on memorizing formulas, but on building judgment: what changed, why it changed, whether it is sustainable, what risks remain, and what decision should follow.

What You’ll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• Distinguish among cash basis, accrual basis, and tax basis accounting so that you can better understand when income and expenses are being recognized and why reported performance may differ from cash reality.
• Identify how transactions move through journals, ledgers, trial balances, and financial statements so that you can evaluate the reliability of financial reports and ask informed questions about how numbers were produced.
• Interpret income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements so that you can separate profitability, financial position, and cash movement when evaluating a business or investment.
• Use basic financial analysis techniques and ratios so that you can assess liquidity, leverage, profitability, operating performance, and shareholder return with more confidence.
• Read financial statements together so that you can recognize when headline results, such as net income or cash balance, may not tell the full story about sustainability, distribution capacity, or long-term stewardship.

The Experience

This module combines self-paced reading, accounting examples, financial statement walkthroughs, ratio analysis, case studies, and applied homework. Learners begin with the mechanics of accounting, including accounting systems, the five-step accounting cycle, ledgers, accounts, debits, credits, and double-entry bookkeeping.

The experience then moves into practical interpretation of financial statements. Learners review income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements, analyze examples through a variety of case studies, and use horizontal analysis, vertical analysis, liquidity ratios, leverage ratios, profitability ratios, and normalized return metrics. 

Estimated Completion Time: 1.5 hours

Featured Resources:  

  Articles/Books

• "How to Read Apple's Balance Sheet" by the Investopedia Team
• Historical Financial Ratios by IBS World
• Create a Financial Report

How do I use financial information to evaluate cash flow, distributions, and real-world financial decisions?

Financial Statements for Decision Making and Governance (formerly Personal Finance Module 3) builds on prior work with financial statements and basic analysis by focusing on how financial information supports practical decision-making. Using personal planning tools and case-based business analysis, you will examine how income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, budgets, and forecasts can clarify goals, liquidity, trade-offs, trust distributions, debt, investment sales, and stewardship responsibilities. Through Charlotte’s personal financial planning case and the ABC Company shareholder case, the module helps you move from reading financial information to using it with greater clarity, discipline, and confidence.

What You’ll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• Use financial statements, budgets, and forecasts to evaluate whether personal financial goals are realistic.
• Compare cash flow, liquidity, timelines, and funding sources before committing to a major goal or purchase.
• Identify trade-offs involved in using debt, selling investments, changing spending, or requesting a trust distribution.
• Separate strong headline results from underlying performance, cash generation, and sustainability.
• Ask clearer questions before supporting a financial decision as a beneficiary, owner, board member, or advisor-facing participant.

The Experience

This module uses self-paced reading, worked examples, case studies, reflection prompts, and homework exercises to help you apply financial information in practical contexts. You will work through Charlotte’s financial planning scenario to see how goals affect net worth, liquidity, cash flow, emergency reserves, and future flexibility.

You will also analyze ABC Company from the perspective of a long-term shareholder or board member. The case asks you to read the income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, liquidity ratios, leverage ratios, and return metrics together, then consider what they reveal about performance, sustainability, and stewardship. The experience emphasizes disciplined questioning, trade-off analysis, and decision readiness rather than technical accounting mastery.

Prerequisites: How to Read Financial Statements

Estimated Completion Time: 4 hours

What does a trustee actually do, and how can beneficiaries understand whether a trust is being administered effectively?

Trust Administration Basics explains what trustees actually do to administer a trust, viewed from the perspective of an informed beneficiary. Beneficiaries are not responsible for managing the trust, but they benefit from understanding the trustee’s responsibilities, the professionals involved, the records and reports that support administration, and the communication practices that help the trust operate effectively. This module helps learners see trust administration as an ongoing process of oversight, decision-making, coordination, documentation, and communication.

What You'll Be Able to Do On the Other Side

• Identify the core responsibilities trustees carry out when administering a trust.
• Recognize the key questions beneficiaries can ask to better understand how a trust is being managed.
• Distinguish between the trustee’s responsibilities and the beneficiary’s role in the trust relationship.
• Explain how trustees work with advisors, accountants, attorneys, investment professionals, family office staff, and co-trustees.
• Use trust reports, communication rhythms, and annual administration timelines to stay informed and prepare for trustee or advisor conversations.
• Identify signs of strong trust administration, including ethical conduct, organized records, clear communication, and appropriate follow-up.
• Apply trust administration concepts to case studies, sample documents, and real-world trust scenarios.

The Experience

In this module, you will follow Sarah’s experience as she begins asking more informed questions about how her family trust is administered. You will review common trustee responsibilities, explore communication expectations between trustees and beneficiaries, examine the roles of professionals in the trust administration ecosystem, and use practical question sets to understand how a trust operates. You will also apply what you learn through a case study, review a sample trust agreement, and engage with a curated book chapter on trustee administrative functions. Throughout the module, the focus is on helping beneficiaries understand the trustee’s job, ask better questions, and participate more confidently in the trust relationship.

Prerequisites: Introduction to a Trust, Trustee Responsibilities, Trustee Types, Sourcing a Trustee, How Trusts Work: Purpose, Parties, and Protections, Revocable vs. Irrevocable Trusts: How Trusts Work With an Estate Plan, and Advanced Trust Topics: Asset Protection, Tax Planning, and Giving are Recommended

Estimated Completion Time: 1.5 hours

Featured Resources:

• The Estate of Forgey Case
• Sample Trust Agreement
• Estate & Trust Administration for Dummies, 2nd Edition by Margaret Atkins, EA & Kathryn A. Murphy, Esq.

How can I understand investment decisions and participate more confidently in conversations about wealth, risk, and long-term growth?

Investing Basics: Asset Classes, Liquidity, and Growth (formerly Investing Fundamentals Module 1) introduces investing fundamentals in the context of significant wealth, where decisions are shaped by liquidity needs, time horizon, risk, taxes, fees, distributions, family goals, and long-term stewardship. Learners explore asset classes, portfolio construction, goals-based investing, equities, fixed income, mutual funds, ETFs, SMAs, alternatives, hedge funds, digital assets, compounding, and the forces that can erode investment growth. Trusts are introduced as a common context for these decisions, but the broader focus is helping participants build the language, judgment, and confidence to engage more meaningfully with advisors, trustees, family office teams, and family members.

What You’ll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• Identify major asset classes and investment vehicles and describe how each may support liquidity, income, preservation, growth, or diversification.
• Interpret how liquidity, time horizon, risk tolerance, taxes, fees, inflation, and spending or distributions affect investment decisions and long-term outcomes.
• Use a goals-based framework to connect personal, family, or portfolio objectives to appropriate investment principles and asset types.
• Compare common investment options, including equities, fixed income, mutual funds, ETFs, SMAs, alternatives, hedge funds, and digital assets, by their structure, risks, liquidity, and role in a portfolio.
• Ask more informed questions of advisors, trustees, or family office teams about investment strategy, performance, fees, diversification, and alignment with long-term goals.

The Experience

This self-paced module combines plain-language explanations, reflection prompts, mini-cases, activities, worksheets, videos, and podcast resources to help learners make sense of investing in a wealth context. Participants classify asset classes, evaluate liquidity needs, map goals to investment principles, review equity and fixed-income examples, compare fund structures, and explore alternative and digital assets.

The course emphasizes practical engagement over technical mastery. Through liquidity scenarios, goals-based strategy examples, compounding exercises, hedge fund due diligence prompts, and quilt map activities, learners practice interpreting investment trade-offs and preparing for more productive conversations with advisors, trustees, family office teams, and family members.

Featured Resources: 

• StockTrack Personal Trading Simulator
• "Senior and Subordinated Debt" by the Corporate Finance Institute
• Bond Yield to Maturity Calculator
• Interactive Compounding Interest Worksheet
• Compound Interest Calculator 
• Wealth of Wisdom by Tom McCullough & Keith Whitaker
• Podcast with David McCombie entitled, Private Equity Perils and Pearls
• Podcast with Jenna Arnold entitled, Impact Investing
• Scott Peppet's Financial Capital Series, "Compound Interest"
• Tharawat Magazine, "The Future of Family Offices"

What should I understand about investment risk, asset allocation, and my role in reviewing a trust portfolio?

Investment Risk, Allocation, and Performance (formerly Investing Fundamentals Module 2) helps you explore how investment risk, return, asset allocation, and reporting come together in managing personal and trust assets. It explains why risk tolerance, financial archetypes, trust objectives, portfolio construction, and performance reporting may not always point in the same direction. Through trust-focused examples, statement review activities, and role-mapping exercises, the module helps you move from passive receipt of information toward more informed engagement with trustees, advisors, and investment decisions.

What You’ll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• Identify how your risk tolerance and financial archetype may influence your response to volatility, losses, and investment decisions.
• Compare personal risk preferences with the risk profile, purpose, and investment guidelines of a trust.
• Interpret core investment reporting elements, including market value, net flows, investment earnings, asset allocation, risk allocation, and benchmarks.
• Evaluate whether a portfolio’s allocation, risk exposure, and manager performance appear aligned with stated goals and policy targets.
• Ask clearer questions of trustees or advisors about portfolio construction, performance, red flags, rebalancing, and role responsibilities.

The Experience

This module combines self-paced reading, reflection prompts, trust-based examples, and practical activities that help you connect investment concepts to real decisions. You will assess your own risk comfort, consider how trust objectives shape asset allocation, and review examples of conservative, balanced, and aggressive portfolios.

You will also work with sample investment statements, benchmarking exercises, red-flag scenarios, and role-mapping prompts. These activities are designed to help you read reports with more clarity, recognize where further explanation may be needed, and participate more thoughtfully in conversations with trustees, advisors, and family members.

Featured Resources:

• Classic Risk Tolerance Assessment 
• Wealth of Wisdom, Chapter 13: How Can You Make Sure Your Portfolio Lines Up with Your Actual Goals? by Ashin Chhabra
• From Passive to Purposeful: Empowering the Affluent Investor, Kelly Winget, The Tamarind Learning Podcast
• Family Trust Companies: Preserving Multigenerational Wealth, Cindy Steeb, The Tamarind Learning Podcast
• Consolidated Reporting 101, Jeremy Langlois, The Tamarind Learning Podcast
• Fraud Risk and Family Wealth: What Every UHNW Family Should Know, Mona Manahi, Corient
• Navigating Asset Allocation in a Low-Yield Landscape, Ronen Schwartzman, The Tamarind Learning Podcast
• Sample Performance Report

How do you make investment decisions with more clarity, structure, and alignment when wealth is shared or complex?

Investment Governance for Shared Family Capital (formerly Investing Fundamentals Module 3) introduces investment governance as a way to bring structure, clarity, and alignment to complex wealth decisions. Learners examine how values, goals, roles, and decision rights shape investment choices, especially when capital is shared across a family, trust, or advisory structure. The module helps participants move from informal preferences to clearer decision rules, stronger role clarity, and more productive conversations with advisors, trustees, and family members.

What You’ll Be Able to Do on the Other Side

• Articulate an investment philosophy that reflects your goals, values, risk tolerance, time horizon, and personal or family context.
• Separate personal investment preferences from shared family, trust, or fiduciary decision-making requirements.
• Evaluate whether a proposed investment aligns with an IPS, governance framework, liquidity needs, risk profile, and long-term objectives.
• Compare ESG investing, impact investing, and philanthropy as different tools for aligning capital with purpose.
• Ask more precise questions about investment committees, advisor selection, fiduciary alignment, roles, authority, and decision-making process.

The Experience

This self-paced module uses governance tools, reflection prompts, case studies, sample documents, and decision exercises to help learners see how investment decisions are structured in practice. Participants examine sample investment philosophies, compare ESG, impact investing, and philanthropy, review IPS components, explore investment advisory committees and charters, and consider how roles and authority shape investment oversight.

The module centers on applied case learning. Through the Morgan family case, learners practice identifying shared values and decision rules for family capital. Through the Hemmingway case, they evaluate an investment opportunity against an IPS, distinguish trust governance from personal wealth strategy, and consider how different family members can pursue separate investment paths without creating unnecessary conflict.

Prerequisites: Investing Basics: Asset Classes, Liquidity, and Growth, Building an Investment Portfolio