Expert boutique service begins to shape the experience you receive at Himmelman & Associates. The…read morethorough thought process on managing finances and estate planning not only today but we'll into the future has aided in my family over the last 20 years. I know I have a true professional, with extensive knowledge, taking a personal interest to see us reach and exceed our goals. To the team, thank you!

From the owner: We welcome the opportunity to provide you with the highest level of personal advice and service. We…read morespecialize in retirement, investment and estate planning. Our financial advisors are Certified Financial Planners and have decades of experience and knowledge in all areas of financial planning. We offer a complimentary one hour review and second opinion. Brian Himmelman, CFP, President

I should pre-face this review with a couple things: I used to deal with Glen at IG but then he…read moreretired and Jason took over my account, that happened around 2-3 years ago. For the most part, Jason is a solid guy, nice, punctual, etc. You might be confused since I'm giving him a 1 star, well here's why.... I booked a meeting with Jason on the 7th to talk about how my portfolio looked to buy a house. At the time that I made the appointment I was still looking for a house, but by the time the meeting came up, I already put an offer on a house and needed to move quick. I mentioned that we needed to move quick to Jason and that I need financing by the 14th as per my agent. He rolled his eyes to the effect that my agent is being melodramatic about being so hasty and it only takes a day or two to get financing in place. I had originally gone to BMO for my mortgage broker but the guy I was dealing with went on vacation during the time I needed him and the guy that replaced him wasn't returning my calls. So Jason made two suggestions that would be in place by the end of the day: 1) IG would be my broker or 2) Bonnie knew the guy at BMO very well and she would get him to call me back (you can find my review of Bonnie Haywood here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/investors-group-bonnie-haywood-halifax?hrid=vJHJrJKMdwmC7yb3ZPeaAw) I hear back from Jason later that afternoon, we went with option 1, he sent me the application and I filled it out and sent it back the same day. This is where it all goes to hell. For the next 3 weeks, I was out of loop communication wise and Jason met the financing deadline by a day before (even though he said it would only take a day or two to process). They even mailed out the financing papers to me on the 13h (the day before it was due) but I didn't hear back from Jason till the 23rd with the details of the mortgage and using my RRSP for the FTHB plan. He even wrote me and said 'You must be panicking right now' - damn right I am! It's the biggest financial investment of my life and you haven't been around. You said you've been on the road but couldn't take 5-10 mins to email me or call me to let me know what's going on. I understand that I'm a small fry in his big world and that things come up - that's not what the 1 star rating is for. The 1 star rating is a multi layered rating based on the following: - I didn't feel like I was appreciated even though I've known Jason for 2-3 years - I was left out of the loop for most of this process when he should've been guiding and supporting me during the entire thing - Complete lack of communication - I'm not talking about delivering instantly (that would've been nice, but I'm realistic) what I'm referring to is that he should've kept me informed on anything that caused any delays or issues along the way, which he didn't I'm currently looking for another Financial planner and will be moving my assets if possible asap.

Numbers frighten me. That's why I go to Assante…read more We've been working with Nick Grady for the past few years in order to actually have a plan when it comes to our money instead of just flying by the seats of our pants. Even though we came to him back when he had about zero chance of making any money off of us (we were in no position to start investing), he still took the time to help us out, get us on the right track, and is now able to give us great direction now that circumstances have changed. He balances the financial 'should-do's with our own personal perspectives on what we hope to achieve, meaning no pressure to do anything outside of exactly what we're comfortable with. Plus, he doesn't laugh when I ask really dumb questions or bring in a notebook just to make myself look smarter. Which I definitely did again yesterday...

Slim bags at this location (Bedford, Nova Scotia). Charging 50 to 60 dollars more on commissions…read morethan their competitors. Price drops and they put their commissions up. Never , ever will I deal with these people again.

In hind sight I wish I would have walked out the door when he said it was too late to change my…read moremind. Now I have 3 silver pieces I really don't like. I asked to see a silver round and a 5 ounce bar. He brought them over sat them in front of me behind the glass and walked back to his desk He didn't even offer to show me both sides. I said I would take 3 rounds, before I paid I said I'm ready sorry but I changed my mind, I would like to get the 5 ounce bar instead. He said he could sell me the 5 ounce bar also but it was too late to not take the 3 rounds. I hadn't even paid and like the push over I am I said ok and did the debit transaction. I use to be in customer service and in my opinion this is unacceptable. I should have been able to change my mind 5 times and never hear a word about it. I gave them 3 stars because I did get what I said I wanted initially.

A bank is a bank is a bank in my books. Banks are filled with money that I don't have, the money…read morethat I do have usually has to stay there, and everything that goes through the heads of people who work in banks actively makes mine hurt until I splurge on a $300 belt to make the pain go away. All in all, banks and I have no reason to be friends. This credit union is pretty much just like any other bank except in a nicer building. It looks all fancy with its grandiose columns which makes me pretty happy. If I have to go to a bank, it might as well be wrapped in Roman pomp. It also has a strange rule that you can slam your car into park basically on its front step if you're just running in to use the ATM. Along with the columns, this ends up making me feel all kinds if VIP...like la Lohan drunk-driving her coup right into the line-up at some LA hotspot. The staff on the inside includes multiple young bucks (nice to know that there are spots hiring new grads!) and plenty of folks who can cope with 'old person requests' much better than I ever could. I'd rather take 37 punches to the face than have to go fetch a lady crisper $20 bills for her grandson's birthday card, but I suppose that's why they work there and I don't. So in summary, Ben hates banks, this one is fancy enough to fool me into thinking I'm not just handing my money over to bills, and old people drive me crazy but are in good hands here.

Banking is one of those things that I don't think most people enjoy (except on payday of course),…read morebut I've found banking at Heritage (now part of East Coast CU) has been an absolute joy. They had a nice little display on campus during orientation, which was nice enough, but actually going in and setting up a membership was surprisingly less painful than I had expected. The place was under renovations at the time so it was a bit unorganized and not particularly pleasant to sit around in, but I was seen quickly, different staff came by to make sure I'd been looked after, which honestly got a bit obnoxious, but it was nice to know someone knew there was another living body in the room. Location isn't the greatest for people that are passing through downtown, but at the same time, neither are the other bank locations off Alderney.