August 28, 2007

VANCOUVER – Credential Financial Inc. (Credential) is teaming up with a select group of partner credit unions and Gail Vaz-Oxlade, the host of Gemini award-winning TV show Til Debt Do Us Part, to launch a cross-country seminar series designed to help Canadians improve their financial planning.

Recent research by Ipsos-Reid found that only 25 per cent of Canadians have a formal written financial plan. This is supported by research this summer from J.D. Power and Associates that shows only 30 per cent of Canadian investors having a formal written financial plan.

“Every Canadian can better achieve their financial goals with a formal plan in place, but it is making that first step that can often seem the most challenging,” said Elaine McHarg, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer of Credential. “Our goal is to host a series of informative and engaging evenings, with Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s no-nonsense approach and vibrant and irreverent style, to motivate Canadians to start thinking about building a financial plan – and sooner rather than later.”

Credential will kick-off the Master your Finances seminars in Vancouver on Sept. 25, before stops in Edmonton on Oct. 1 and Ottawa on October 23. Three more sessions are scheduled for other cities across Canada in January, 2008.

Master your Finances will give solid financial planning basics, tips on how to get started on a financial plan, and questions you can ask your financial advisor. Each evening will include a pre-session for financial advisors, followed by Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s lively public presentation and a closing reception.

“Every Canadian, whether a student or heading into retirement, should have, and is capable of having, a financial plan,” said Vaz-Oxlade. “This series of evening events will focus on demystifying financial planning – it does not have anything to do with how much money you make, but how you use what you have to make the life you want. You can spend, save and invest, all at the same time.”

On her TV show, Til Debt Do Us Part, Vaz-Oxlade helps debt-burdened couples get to the root of their destructive spending habits.

“We believe that if Canadians are exposed to the virtues of financial planning in a creative and meaningful way, then more will start to create and improve upon their own financial plans,” said McHarg.