by Scott Ronalds

My sister-in-law just moved her RSP to Steadyhand. I’d been encouraging her to do it for a while, but life gets in the way. Plus, I was never too pushy. Showing up with transfer forms at my little niece’s pony-themed birthday party just isn’t cool.

She had her account with one of the big banks and was pretty indifferent towards her relationship with them. She wasn’t thrilled with her returns and suspected her fees were a little high, but the process of transferring her account seemed burdensome. It was easier to just put the whole thing off. I get it. I’ve been meaning to revisit my home insurance policy for a while, but I always come up with something better to do. Like take the dog out for a walk. Or cut my toenails.

Sis got the paperwork done though, and feels a big sense of relief. I’ve coached her on long-term return expectations and what she can expect from us. We set her up with a Strategic Asset Mix (SAM) and a monthly pre-authorized contribution plan (PAC). I walked her through our statement and she knows where to find everything she needs on it (which, she pointed out, she’s not used to). Her fee is going to be considerably lower than the bank and her portfolio much simpler. She’s even excited to start getting our Quarterly Report. OK, moderately enthused is more accurate. I’ll take it.

Mixing family and business can be touchy. If things don’t go well, it can get awkward. But I’m confident my sister-in-law is going to have a better investing experience with Steadyhand than she did with her bank. Because if she doesn’t, I might not get a pony ride at my niece’s next birthday. And that’s motivation enough.

(Note: We take client confidentiality seriously at Steadyhand. My sister-in-law was happy to allow me to reference her in this post.)