FEE-ONLY RETIREMENT PLANNING
Retire knowing it's all been thought through
Based in Victoria, BC and virtually across Canada
A straight answer about whether you can retire, and a clear plan for how. Dixon Davis works only on retirement planning for people with real complexity to sort through before and as they move through retirement: pensions, investments, a corporation, a business sale, a home, a blended family. The more moving pieces, the more there is to gain from a plan.
No products, no commissions.
Just a clear picture of what your money can do for the life you want, and the financial planning to make the most of it.
THE MOMENT YOU ARE IN
The years around retirement are the ones you can't afford to get wrong.
You've spent decades saving. Now come the decisions that actually shape your retirement and most of them are hard to undo.
"I'm not sure we have enough."
You've saved carefully, but no one's ever given you a clear, honest answer about whether it's truly enough to stop working.
"I don't know how to turn savings into income."
Living off a paycheque is simple. Turning RRSPs, TFSAs, and pensions into steady, tax-smart income that lasts thirty years is not.
"I don't know who to trust."
Most advice comes from someone earning a commission when you say yes. It's hard to know whose interests really come first.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF HELP
You don't have to figure it out alone or hand it over and hope.
There's a third way, and it's the one most people are really looking for: a thought partner. Someone who thinks it through with you so you stay in control of your own retirement, without carrying the weight of it by yourself.
I spent many years getting my CPA, but I left accounting because it only ever looked backward: last year's return, the next file, when what actually helps people is someone looking forward for them. Doing taxes, I watched the same thing happen over and over. People left real money on the table and never knew it. They took the wrong pension option, started CPP and OAS at the wrong time, paid investment fees that quietly ate their savings, or carried more risk than their plan ever needed. Small leaks, year after year, that added up to a lot.
But fixing leaks was never the point. It's just the start. The real work is understanding what you actually want your retirement to look like, what matters to you, what you want to do while you're well enough to do it, and then figuring out what your money can genuinely support. Once that's clear, the tax and the fees and the rest become tools in service of it, rather than the whole conversation. That's what Dixon Davis does. I start with what you want your retirement to look like, then build the plan around it, and I use everything I know as a Chartered Professional Accountant to get you more of what you're after.
A CPA & a CFP · Fee-only · Trusted in Victoria since 1988
THE DIFFERENCE A GOOD FINANCIAL PLAN MAKES
A plan isn't about the money. It's about what the money's for.
The details matter, pensions, CPP and OAS timing, fees, tax, because getting them right frees up more for the life you actually want.
Over the years I've saved clients anywhere from $40,000 to, in some cases, more than a million dollars, by catching the costly missteps that quietly drain a retirement, the wrong pension option, benefits started at the wrong time, fees that eat away at savings, a tax bill higher than it needed to be. But the number is never really the point. It's what it frees up: another few years of travel, a bigger hand for the grandkids, or the freedom to stop working sooner than you thought, along with the quiet confidence of knowing it's finally been thought through.
The fear in retirement isn't only running out. It's never quite knowing whether it's okay to spend. We replace that guesswork with real numbers, so you can help your grandkids, give to what you care about, and take the trip while you're well enough to enjoy it.
Every situation is different, and your own numbers depend on your pension, your savings, and your plans. The point is simple: getting the details right buys you more of what matters.
THE APPROACH
Getting to clarity is simpler than you'd expect.
1
An introductory call
We talk through where you are and what you want retirement to look like, and you find out if we're the right fit. No pressure, no pitch.
2
Your Retirement Plan
We start with your life and your goals, then I build you a clear, personal plan: whether you can retire, when, and exactly how to turn what you've built into steady income. Thought through, tax and all.
3
You choose what's next
Take the plan and run with it, come back for updates when life changes, or keep me alongside you for the years ahead. Your call, every time.
THE FINANCIAL PLANNING SERVICE
One place to start.
Three ways to carry on.
Everyone begins with a Retirement Plan. Where you go from there is up to you.
The Retirement Plan
The foundation. We start with what you want your retirement to look like, then build a clear, thought-through answer to whether you can retire, when, and exactly how to turn a lifetime of building into steady income, tax and all. The plan is yours to keep, with six months in the planning software to see it work.
EVERYONE STARTS HERE
THEN, THREE EASY WAYS TO CARRY ON
Take it and go
Run with your plan on your own, and come back for a lighter refresh whenever life changes. No ongoing commitment. The door simply stays open.
COME BACK ANYTIME
The Living Plan
Keep your plan alive. As markets move, tax rules change, and life shifts, we keep it current, and each year I tell you, backed by real numbers, exactly what you can spend, give, and gift without worry.
ONGOING, YEAR TO YEAR
The Care Plan
For when managing it all yourself becomes more than it should be, in later life or for those living with a disability. I become the steady hand coordinating everything, so it's handled.
FULL FINANCIAL CARE
WHY DIXON DAVIS AS YOUR FINANCIAL PLANNER
Advice that's genuinely on your side.
Nothing to sell
No products, ever
No commissions, and never a percentage of your savings. You pay a flat fee for honest advice that answers to you, not a product shelf. Your fee doesn't grow just because your savings did.
A living plan
It moves with you
The plan starts with what you want, not with a product or a portfolio. Your goals come first, and everything else—the income, the tax, the investments—is shaped to serve them.
For the long haul
Here for the whole journey
Retirement lasts decades, and so should the person helping you through it. I'm experienced enough to know what works, and I'll still be here as your plans change over the years to come.
"Mark has been working with me for a few years now to help with income planning for retirement. The plan has helped me navigate a period where I have different streams of income each year. I wish I had the advice from a fee only financial planner sooner. So I gifted financial planning services from Mark to my adult kids and their partners. One of the best investments I have made."
Jean · Professor · Victoria
IN THEIR WORDS
Trusted by Victorians since 1988 — built on a reputation for careful, honest advice, and carried forward to the same standard today.
WHO IS A FINANCIAL PLAN FOR
Wherever you are on the road to retirement.
It's not about your age. It's about the phase you're in.
5 - 10 YEARS OUT
Approaching
You want to know the numbers work, and when you can go.
WITHIN A YEAR OR TWO
At the threshold
Retirement's in sight, and it's time to turn a lifetime of savings into a paycheque that lasts.
ALREADY RETIRED
Living it
You want to stay confident, adjust as life changes, and know someone's watching it with you.
Honestly, this isn't for everyone. If retirement's still a way off and you're weighing bigger decisions first, like buying a home, starting a business, or making the most of what you've built, that's what my sister platform, Otherwise, is being built for (coming soon).
And if you're after someone to actively trade a portfolio for you, I'll gladly point you to what fits you better.