Advice-only planning
Clear, conflict-free financial planning for Canadians who want to understand their money.
No products. No commissions. Just advice.
Hi, I'm Levi.
I'm a physiotherapist, educator, and financial planner based in Charlottetown, PEI. I started Smallbird Financial because too many Canadians get confusing, conflicted advice about their money, often from someone who's paid to sell them something.
Teaching is what I do for a living. Here, that means explaining your options clearly and giving you a plan you can act on.
Paying 2% a year in mutual fund fees can cost you half of your investment over 40 years.
Most mutual funds don't beat the market
Many Canadians still invest in high-fee, actively managed mutual funds, yet from 2015 to 2025, 98.8% of Canadian equity mutual funds failed to beat a simple index fund, a trend that has remained true since tracking began. Canadians pay some of the highest mutual fund prices in the world, for a significantly worse result than what they could get from a simple solution.
An index fund just holds the whole market in one basket, like all the big companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange, so the "benchmark" it's measured against is simply the market's own return, the bar each fund is trying to clear.
How Smallbird is different
Most advisors in Canada are paid through the products they sell or a percentage of what they manage for you. That doesn't make them bad people, but there's an obvious conflict of interest with every sale and recommendation.
I run Smallbird differently. You pay me for advice and time, and that's it. The advice is simply what's best for you.
See it on your own numbers
Change the inputs to match your situation and see what a fee takes over time.
Assumes an 8% return before fees, compared with a 0.2% low-cost index fund. An illustration of how fees compound, not a prediction. Open the full calculator →
Fund underperformance figures from the S&P SPIVA Canada Scorecard.
Three ways to work together
Hourly Advice
Have a specific question? Book a focused session and walk away with a straight answer and a short written summary of your next steps.
Financial Foundations
A fixed-price look at your whole situation: cash flow, debt, savings, accounts, and how your investments are put together, with a written action plan you keep.
Comprehensive Financial Plan
A full plan covering retirement, tax, insurance, and estate. In development now. Want to be the first to know when it launches?
Questions I can help you answer
- Should I prioritize my TFSA, RRSP, or FHSA?
- Am I paying too much in fees?
- Should I pay down my mortgage or invest?
- Am I on track to retire when I want to?
Advice-only planning, answered
What does an advice-only planner cost in Canada?
An advice-only planner charges a flat or hourly fee you can see, instead of a percentage of your investments. At Smallbird, that's $100 an hour or $250 for the Financial Foundations package. Percentage-of-assets advisors typically charge 1% to 2% a year. On a $500,000 portfolio, that is roughly $5,000 to $10,000 every year.
Is advice-only financial planning worth it?
If you're comfortable carrying out a plan yourself, it usually costs far less than paying a percentage of your assets year after year. You get advice with no product or sales incentive behind it, you keep control of your own accounts, and a one-time fee can save you tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime compared with an ongoing percentage.
Do I need a lot of money to work with a financial planner?
No. Many percentage-based advisors want you to bring $500,000 or more before they'll take you on. Advice-only has no asset minimum, because the fee is for advice, not for managing a balance, so it's a good fit for people who are just getting started.
What's the difference between advice-only and fee-only planning?
Fee-only usually means the advisor doesn't earn commissions, but they can still charge a percentage of your investments and manage the money for you. Advice-only goes further: no products, no commissions, and no managing your money. You pay for advice and time, and you keep control of your own accounts.
Clear money advice
How long to plan for in retirement
Planning to an average age leaves about half of people short. Why Canadian retirement plans run to 94 and beyond, what planning long costs, and what a 30-year retirement looks like decade by decade.
When to take CPP (and OAS)
CPP can start anywhere from 60 to 70, and the gap between the two ends is far bigger than the usual 42% suggests. Why waiting is often the cheapest longevity insurance a Canadian can buy, who should take it early anyway, and the GIS trap in deferring OAS.
What each account costs you on the way out
An RRSP withdrawal is taxed as income, a TFSA withdrawal is not taxed at all, and a non-registered account sits in between. What the same $10,000 costs from each one, and why the bank's withholding is not the final bill.
Sign up for the newsletter
Clear, evidence-based personal finance for Canadians, most Thursdays. It's free, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
Sign up for The Smallbird BriefNot sure which option fits?
Book a free discovery call and we'll figure it out together, or send me an email if you'd rather start there.