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Welcome to Smarter Financial Planning

Meet Derek Moran

Derek is a Fee For Service Financial Planner based in beautiful Kelowna, British Columbia. As a University of British Columbia graduate, former CFP, and Registered Financial Planner (R.F.P.) , he has close to three decades of experience in the financial industry.

He’s an expert in his field and was awarded Advisor of the Year in 2004. He has contributed nearly one thousand times, over twenty years to reputable publications such as The Globe and Mail and National Post.

While Derek doesn’t directly manage client investments, he offers advice, empowering his clients to make well-informed decisions. Upon request, he can connect clients with the most suitable Portfolio Managers or equip them with resources to manage their own effectively.

Derek Moran's expertise extends across various financial matters, including pensions, insurance, retirement planning, tax strategies, estate planning, cashflow management and more. Derek is dedicated to delivering comprehensive, client-centric financial solutions to a diverse clientele.

He is very good at his craft - wise, imaginative, and well informed. He has done scores of cases for Facelift and is an advisor whose counsel I would not hesitate to take. Andrew Allentuck, Globe and Mail

Thank you for your gift of time last week Derek. Of all the things I am grateful to you for, talking to me forthrightly and 'straight up' is what I value most. I don't trust very many opinions in this world - yours I do and I feel so lucky and calm to know you are there when I need you. Hope you have a good week and stay safe! Gift of Time

Thank you for giving me the push I needed! Your guidance has been truly life changing for me. I finally made it happen!

Thanks very much for today's telephone conversation. I know we are not at the 'end' but even this was immensely helpful. I am not sure I like the fact that some of my less than desirable personality traits are so transparent -- you seemed to have picked them up all too easily - but I guess to be a financial planner you also need a degree in psychology because how we each deal with money is so much part of our personality. Personality and Financial Planning

My first foray into working with a professional financial planner was a disaster. He leveraged most of my net worth to buy into projects he had designed...which turned out to make more money for him than any of his clients. The fiasco that ensued almost ended in a group law suit. I lost a bundle. When I finally got the courage up (and enough capital back) to search again for help, you can bet I looked long, hard, and very carefully. I called everyone I knew and even people I didn't know, looking for someone who was squeaky clean ethical and trustworthy, user friendly, and with the creativity and chutzpah to work with a woman with big dreams who is single, self-employed, and still a little bruised. Derek Moran has all of that. He knows I am proactive and need to control my finances, and so he wisely chose to take on more of a coaching role in our working relationship. He frames my options within the bigger picture of the economy. He asks me really smart questions, and ensures that before I take the next step, I know for certain it is safe. Derek doesn't use all the technical jargon that many professionals get stuck in - you know, the stuff that can really intimidate you. Goodness knows, there can be enough "internal noise" around your money stuff without having the added problems of someone who talks over your head or talks down at you. He makes things easy to understand. He respects that his clients are different than him and that our definition of financial security and success is different, and he works with it...without judgement. Derek was one of my finds in 2005. Definitions of Success Vary