Advice-Only Retirement &
Financial Independence Planning
Ben Lee
Financial
Get a clear answer on when you can reach financial independence —and the most efficient way to get there.
- 100% advice (no investment or insurance sales)
- Flat-fee planning
- No commission
- Flexible planning options (DIY, assisted, and full-service)
You’re in the Right Place If you are wondering...
- When and how can I achieve financial independence so I can retire when I want?
- Am I saving enough for my financial independence?
- How can I most efficiently build and use my wealth?
- How do I balance savings vs. enjoy money today?
- How will my major life decisions affect my long-term finances?
- How much can I safely spend or gift in retirement without running out of money?
- How can I stress test my retirement plan against worst-case scenarios?
How Financial Planning Can Help
Retirement and financial freedom planning helps turn questions into a clear path forward.
Retirement Clarity
Understand when you can realistically reach financial independence or retirement.
Optimization Strategy
Optimize your savings, investments, and taxes to improve your long-term outcome.
Exploring What-Ifs
Test different scenarios before making important financial decisions.
Finding Balance
Understand how much to save for the future while still enjoying life today.
Financial Planning Services
Free
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Financial Planning
For financially savvy individuals looking to put in the effort and time to build their own financial plan.
- 30-day access to our retirement planning software
- Input your financial details and see your projections
- Estimate your retirement success rate
- Visualize your future financial position
- See how CPP and OAS timing affects your retirement
- Compare different saving strategies (TFSA vs. RRSP)
- Simple instructions to help you get started
- Technical support to assist with using the platform
$1,000
Assisted Financial Planning (Not for corporate)
For those who have built their own plan using our platform and want a professional to review, validate, and provide clarity.
- Includes everything in the DIY plan
- CFP® professional review of your plan
- Review and validate your financial inputs
- Confirm if your projections are realistic
- Review of AI-generated tax strategies provided by the planning software
- Review up to two scenarios you’ve built
- Understand your retirement readiness
- Get clarity on what your results mean
- Identify key gaps in your finances
- Guidance on potential next steps
- 60–90 minute 1-on-1 session
- AI-generated summary of your meeting and key insights
- Email summary of your key insights and action steps
- 2 weeks of post-meeting support
- 6-month access to the planning tool
- Fee credited toward a full financial plan if you upgrade
$2,500
Financial Planning for individuals
For individuals seeking a clear roadmap to financial freedom and a more efficient path to get there.
- We build and optimize your complete financial plan
- Up to four “what-if” scenarios to test your financial plan
- Strategies to efficiently grow your wealth
- Strategies to maximize retirement income
- Stress-testing your plan across thousands of market scenarios and inflation
- CPP and OAS timing strategy tailored to your situation
- Personalized financial plan summary
- Clear, prioritized action steps
- Access to interactive financial projections and data
- 12-month access to the planning tool
- 3 months of implementation support following delivery
- Optional ongoing updates and support
$3,000
Financial Planning for Households
For couples who want a coordinated financial plan — aligning both partners’ goals, income, and strategies to achieve financial freedom more efficiently.
- We build and optimize your complete household financial plan
- Up to four “what-if” scenarios to test your financial plan
- Strategies to tax-efficiently grow your wealth, and maximize retirement income - coordinated across both partners
- Stress-testing your plan across thousands of market scenarios and inflation
- CPP and OAS timing strategy tailored for both partners
- Clear, prioritized action steps for both partners
- Access to interactive financial projections and data
- Personalized financial plan summary
- 12-month access to the planning platform
- 3 months of implementation support following delivery
- Optional ongoing updates and support
$6,000*
Financial Planning for Corporate Owners
For business owners who want to integrate their personal and corporate finances — optimizing how they earn, invest, and extract wealth to achieve financial freedom more efficiently.
*Generally deductible as a business expense.
- We build and optimize your complete personal and corporate financial plan
- Integrated planning across your business and personal finances
- Advanced tax, retirement, and estate planning strategies to efficiently grow and extract corporate retained earnings
- Strategies to tax-efficiently grow your comprehensive wealth, and maximize retirement income - coordinated across both partners and your business (personal + corporate)
- Salary vs. dividend vs. retained earnings analysis
- Up to four what-if scenarios for your financial independence and business goals
- Stress-testing your plan across thousands of market scenarios and inflation
- CPP and OAS timing strategy within a corporate structure
- Clear, prioritized action steps
- Access to interactive financial projections and data
- Personalized financial plan summary
- 12-month access to the planning tool
- 3 months of implementation support following delivery
- Optional ongoing updates and support
50% of Initial Planning Fee
Retainer
For clients who want continuous guidance, accountability, and ongoing optimization — ensuring their financial plan evolves with changing income, tax rules, and life decisions.
- Ongoing tax planning to optimize both wealth accumulation and decumulation
- Ongoing plan updates to keep you aligned with your goals
- Re-running of scenarios as needed for major decisions or changes
- Implementation support and behavioral coaching to ensure follow-through
- Year-round access for questions and decision support
- Continuous access to interactive financial projections and data
- Updated, prioritized action steps based on your evolving situation
- Personalized annual plan summary with key strategies and tax insights
- Annual planning review meetings
- Additional meetings as needed
Financial Planning Processes
1. Create Your Free Account
Create your free financial planning account using the button below to access the platform, build your own financial projections, and get a preliminary assessment of your retirement and financial freedom success rate.
You’ll have access to the platform for 3 months.
Data Security: Your data is protected using industry-standard AES-256 encryption, both in transit and when stored, and is securely hosted on Canadian-based infrastructure.
We collect only minimal Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to reduce your data footprint.
2. Follow Our Guide to Fill out the Data and Build Your Plan
Click the button below to access the step-by-step guide for entering your data and creating your financial plan.
Please follow the guide in this order: 1. Discovery → 2. Foundation → 3. Planning → 4. Education (as needed). You can access this menu in the top-right section of the guide.
If you need any technical support, feel free to reach out to me at ben@benleefinancial.com.
1. Create Your Free Account
Create your free financial planning account using the button below to access the platform, build your own financial projections, and get a preliminary assessment of your retirement and financial freedom success rate.
Data Security: Your data is protected using industry-standard AES-256 encryption, both in transit and when stored, and is securely hosted on Canadian-based infrastructure.
We collect only minimal Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to reduce your data footprint.
2. Follow Our Guide to Fill out the Data and Build Your Plan
Click the button below to access the step-by-step guide for entering your data and creating your financial plan.
Please follow the guide in this order: 1. Discovery → 2. Foundation → 3. Planning → 4. Education (as needed). You can access this menu in the top-right section of the guide.
If you need any technical support, feel free to reach out to us at ben@benleefinancial.com.
3. Upgrade to Assisted Planning
Email ben@benleefinancial.com to get started. I’ll send you the invoice and service agreement to review and complete payment via e-transfer.
4. Book Your Assisted Planning Meeting
Once your invoice and agreement are completed, you’ll receive a link to schedule your assisted planning meeting at a convenient time.
5. Ben Reviews the Plan
After your meeting is booked, Ben will review your financial plan and scenarios, and may follow up to confirm key details to ensure your projections are accurate. Ben will prepare insights and answers to key questions such as:
If you are in the wealth accumulation phase:
- When can I realistically reach financial independence based on the scenarios I’ve built?
- Am I currently on track given my current savings and spending?
- What high-level strategies can I use to efficiently build my wealth?
If you are near or in retirement (decumulation phase):
- What is a sustainable spending level that allows me to maintain my lifestyle without running out of money?
- What high-level strategies can I use to efficiently draw down my assets and create tax-efficient income over time?
6. Assisted Planning Meeting with Ben
During the meeting, we’ll spend 1 to 1.5 hours reviewing your plan, key insights, and answering your most important retirement questions.
After the meeting, you’ll receive an email summary with key insights and action steps, along with an AI-generated summary.
7. 2 Weeks of Post-Meeting Support
After your meeting, you’ll have 2 weeks of email support for follow-up questions and clarifications related to your existing plan.
This includes minor updates such as correcting inputs or refining assumptions discussed during the meeting.
1. Create Your Free Account
Create your free financial planning account using the button below to access the platform, build your own financial projections, and get a preliminary assessment of your retirement and financial freedom success rate.
Data Security: Your data is protected using industry-standard AES-256 encryption, both in transit and when stored, and is securely hosted on Canadian-based infrastructure.
We collect only minimal Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to reduce your data footprint.
2. Upgrade to Full Service Planning
Email ben@benleefinancial.com to get started. I’ll send you the invoice and service agreement to review and complete payment via e-transfer.
3. Welcome Package
After upgrading, you’ll receive a welcome package with a clear overview of the financial planning process, step-by-step instructions to share your data, and key expectations around scope, timeline, and communication.
4. Securely Input and Share Your Financial Data
Follow the instructions in your welcome package to securely input your data and upload any required documents for the financial planning process.
5. Book a 30-Minute Data Review Call
As you complete and share your data, book a 30-minute meeting to review it and ensure accuracy. During the call, we’ll walk through your inputs, confirm key details, and address any follow-up questions.
6. Initial Plan Development
Based on the information you provide, I will develop an initial plan outlining your preliminary retirement and financial independence readiness based on your current lifestyle and savings.
7. Plan Review and What-If Scenario Meeting
The initial plan is presented during the meeting along with an executive summary. We’ll review your preliminary retirement and financial independence outlook and discuss key what-if scenarios you’d like to explore—for example, transitioning to part-time work for 10 years at 50% capacity before fully retiring.
8. Scenario Development and Finalization
Based on our what-if discussions, we model different scenarios to help you make informed decisions. From these, you’ll choose the scenario that feels most realistic, which will be used as your final plan—for example, transitioning to part-time work at 50 and fully retiring at 65.
9. Plan Optimization
Once your final scenario is confirmed, we will optimize the plan to create a tax-efficient accumulation or decumulation strategy. The plan will highlight key strategies to maximize your long-term net worth and retirement income, along with a clear savings or withdrawal plan for the year.
10. Final Plan and Implementation Meetings
Once your financial plan is finalized, we’ll review it together and outline the steps to implement the optimization recommendations. This may take place over multiple meetings.
11. 3-Months Implementation Support
For three months following the final plan meeting, we provide support to answer any questions you may have about implementing your plan recommendations.
12. Retainer
After the initial 3-month support period, you can choose to continue with an ongoing retainer for tax planning and plan updates as your situation evolves. This includes continued access for questions and support, as well as access to your financial planning platform.
Meet Ben - CFP and Certified Cash Flow Specialist
Ben Lee is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and a Certified Cash Flow Specialist (CCS®) who specializes in retirement and financial independence planning.
He provides advice-only financial planning, meaning no investment management, no insurance sales, and no commissions — just clear, unbiased guidance.
Ben works with professionals, business owners, and retirees who want to understand if they are on track and make better financial decisions with confidence.
He also collaborates with financial advisors and accountants to provide deeper planning support for their clients.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly do you do?
I provide comprehensive, advice-only financial planning focused on retirement and financial independence. This includes analyzing your current situation, projecting your future, and building strategies to optimize your wealth across investments, taxes, and long-term decision-making. My role is to give you a clear, unbiased plan that can then be implemented either on your own or with the right professionals.
Do you sell investments or insurance?
No. I don’t directly sell investments or insurance products. My role is to provide objective, strategy-first advice. Once the plan is in place, you can choose how to implement it—whether on your own, with your existing advisor, or with a professional I can introduce if needed.
If you don’t manage investments, how is the plan implemented?
You’ll receive a clear, step-by-step implementation roadmap. From there, you can implement the plan yourself, work with your existing advisor, or be introduced to a trusted advisor if needed. I can also coordinate with your advisor to ensure everything aligns with the plan.
How is my personal and financial data kept secure?
Your data is protected using industry-standard AES-256 encryption, both in transit and when stored, and is securely hosted on Canadian-based infrastructure.
We collect only minimal Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to reduce your data footprint.
Users are required to use two-factor authentication (2FA), and you can enable it as well for added security. If you choose to delete your account, your data is permanently removed after 14 days, with no ability to recover it beyond that point.
Should I hire you or a financial advisor?
They serve different roles. I act as the strategist who builds your financial plan, while a financial advisor can help implement that plan through investments or insurance. Many clients benefit from having both, working together in a coordinated way.
How do you work with financial advisors?
I work collaboratively with advisors as an independent planning partner when needed. I focus on building the strategy, while advisors can support implementation and ongoing management.
Some clients choose to implement the plan on their own, while others prefer having professional support to help take action and stay on track. This structure gives you the flexibility to choose what works best for you, while keeping your plan aligned.
Who is this service best for?
This service is for anyone who wants clarity on their retirement or financial independence. It’s especially valuable for individuals or couples with consistent savings—typically $1,500–$3,000 per month personally, or $3,000+ per month through a corporation—where planning decisions can have a meaningful long-term impact.
What makes this different from a free plan from a bank or advisor?
Many plans provided through financial institutions are designed to support ongoing investment management. My role is to focus purely on the planning itself—going deeper into areas like tax strategy, scenario analysis, and long-term optimization—so that any implementation decisions are built on a strong foundation.
What is included in the planning process?
Your plan includes financial independence projections, scenario analysis, tax-efficient strategies, and a structured action plan. It’s designed to help you understand where you stand today, how different decisions impact your future, and how to move forward with clarity.
Do you provide ongoing support?
Yes, but in a flexible way. The initial engagement is project-based, and you can return for updates or additional planning as needed. For clients who want ongoing guidance, an optional retainer is available at approximately 50% of the initial planning fee.
Alternatively, occasional plan updates—such as every few years—can be provided at about 75% of the initial planning fee, adjusted over time to reflect updates to standard planning fees. This allows you to choose the level of support that best fits your needs.
How long does the process take?
Most plans are completed within two to four weeks, depending on complexity and how quickly information is provided.
The plans are presented over 1 to 3 meetings, depending on the complexity of the plan.
How much does it cost?
Pricing is a flat fee with no hidden costs or asset-based charges, keeping the focus on delivering value through the plan itself. Assisted planning starts at $500, while full-service planning typically ranges from $2,500 to $6,000, depending on complexity.
Is this tax-deductible?
For business owners, portions of the planning may be tax-deductible depending on how it is structured.
I recommend confirming the appropriate treatment with your accountant based on your specific situation.
What if I already have a financial plan?
That’s often a great starting point. I can act as a second opinion or provide optimization, helping identify gaps, inefficiencies, or opportunities to improve your plan.
What’s the main outcome of working with you?
You gain clarity on when you can retire or achieve financial independence, confidence that your plan works under real-world conditions, and a clear set of next steps to optimize your financial situation and move forward.
See If You’re On Track for Financial Freedom
Contact Me
Email: ben@benleefinancial.com
Office Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM MST
Location: 100% virtual (Based in Calgary, Canada)