Alexandre Bernier

CFP® · CIM® · PFP®

Financial Planner and Founder, FinanceToolz.com. 18 years in banking and wealth management.

Why these calculators exist

I spent 18 years in banking and wealth management working with people on the unglamorous parts of money: what a pension actually pays, whether refinancing is worth it, how much of a bonus survives contact with the tax system. Along the way I took the CFP®, CIM® and PFP® designations.

Most financial calculators on the internet are built by copying a formula from another website. That is how a mortgage refinance tool ends up telling you a refinance saves money when it costs $16,000, and how a page confidently quotes last year's contribution limit for a whole tax year. Every number on this site is checked against the document that sets it (the revenue procedure, the mortgagee letter, the SSA fact sheet) and the source is linked so you can check it yourself.

Where a calculation depends on an assumption, the page says what the assumption is. Where a result is bad news, the page says so rather than dressing it up. That is the whole editorial standard, and it is set out in more detail in the editorial policy.

I also run financialtools.ca and financetoolz.co.uk, the Canadian and British versions of the same idea.

Credentials

CFP® · Certified Financial Planner (FP Canada)

The international benchmark for financial planning, awarded here by FP Canada. It requires examination across tax, retirement, investment and estate planning, relevant professional experience, adherence to a code of ethics, and ongoing continuing education. CFP® certification exists in the United States too, administered by the CFP Board; the standard is comparable, but this certification is Canadian.

CIM® · Chartered Investment Manager (Canadian Securities Institute)

A discretionary portfolio management designation covering portfolio construction, securities analysis and the fiduciary duties that attach to managing other people’s money.

PFP® · Personal Financial Planner (Canadian Securities Institute)

A personal financial planning designation covering the full client picture: cash flow, debt, insurance, tax and retirement.

Verify these credentials

Anyone can put letters after their name. These registries let you check mine independently. Please do.

FP Canada Planner Directory, profile 367477
CFP® certificant ID 367477
A direct link to the public certificant record. FP Canada administers CFP® certification in Canada and the directory is the authoritative check on whether that certification is current.
Canadian Securities Institute, CIM® designation lookup
CIM® and PFP®
CSI does not publish per-person permalinks, so search the directory for "Alexandre Bernier". The PFP® designation is corroborated on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn
Full professional history, and corroborates the PFP® designation.

These are Canadian designations. They are recognised professional qualifications, but they are not US regulatory registrations; see the note below.

What this site is, and what it is not

FinanceToolz is an educational resource. The calculators are built from IRS, SSA, HUD, DOL and state revenue department figures and are reviewed against those sources, but they are general information, not a personal recommendation.

Neither I nor FinanceToolz is a registered investment adviser, a broker-dealer, a CPA firm or a mortgage lender in the United States. Nothing here is investment, tax or legal advice, and no output from these tools should be treated as a recommendation to buy, sell or hold anything. For advice on your own circumstances speak to a licensed professional, and check them first: investment advisers on SEC IAPD, CPAs with your state board, and mortgage loan originators on NMLS Consumer Access.

How the content is researched, sourced and corrected is set out in the editorial policy. If you spot an error, please tell me. Corrections are triaged the same week.