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Remember to Beware Out There – Online & Telephone Scams

As I write this, we are just finishing the Halloween season and honestly, there’s not much scarier than having your personal information or your whole identity stolen. We have mentioned this in previous newsletters and it’s worth revisiting. We’ve had a number of clients talk to us about things they’ve

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09 2018 2

Bad Excuses for Putting Off Investing

Recent college or university graduates with their first career job have an understandable itch to spend money after years of living on Kraft Dinner. Yet this is the ideal time in life to start developing the correct habits that will lead to a comfortable future lifestyle. But we often hear

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The Safe Investing Dilemma

As John nears retirement, he is becoming concerned about covering his future living costs with income from only interest-bearing investments. Along with many other investors globally who have poured trillions of dollars into government bonds over the past decade, John wants to feel safe and have his money guaranteed. But

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07 2024 1

Diversification is Key

As with many retirement savers, it took two major stock market events (Global Financial Crisis, Global Pandemic) to convince Adam and Sonya that trying to ‘time the market’ or pick specific sectors was a costly exercise in futility. But, with the value of their RRSPs nearly halved in the 2009

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06 2024 1

Asset Building Strategies

In the last article Sue had a capital shortfall of $400,000 in order to support her desired retirement lifestyle. This amount will vary for each individual and will be larger or smaller depending upon your income, age and ability to save money as a percentage of your earned income. Broadly

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Record Stock Market Highs & Income Tax Deadlines

Since November of 2023, Global Stock Markets have been on a fantastic rally1. Obviously, this hasn’t been a straight line up, but there have been a lot more good days than bad days. The US Stock Market has hit numerous new record highs this year2. A number of European Countries

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01 2024 1

A Fresh Look at RRSPs vs. TFSAs

The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) contribution limit increased to $7,000 (from $6,500) for 2024. This new limit means that a taxpayer who has never contributed to a TFSA and has been eligible for one since its inception will have a cumulative contribution room of $95,000.   TFSAs are now a

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Happy New Year and Welcome to 2024!!!

As we’ve done for a number of years in a row now, we took some time out of the office while the girls were on their Winter Break. We had a nice time together and got some visits in with some friends and family. We hope you all had a

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Year End Tax Planning Ideas

With the year’s end fast approaching, here are some ideas to minimize your 2023 tax bill.   The first idea is to look at harvesting any tax losses in an investment portfolio to help offset any capital gains you may have triggered. Even if there are no capital gains, non-registered

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All-Weather Investing

There is almost always chatter in the media about the next possible correction or recession. The most recent buzz is about a possible US recession where Canada would likely follow suit. The chatter also includes opinions about a “soft” versus a “hard” landing, etc.   The primary challenge for individuals

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September Cool Down

Our last newsletter talked about how the Canadian Economy had slowed down in the second quarter of the year. The good news from that was the possibility that the Bank of Canada would stop raising Interest Rates. Unfortunately, we have seen more of a mixed picture since then. After falling

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Who is Your Trusted Contact Person?

Monica was alarmed to hear from her mother’s financial advisor expressing concern over some unusual financial requests. She called her mom, who seemed fine, but Monica couldn’t get the conversation with the financial advisor out of her head.   She travelled to see her mom in person and was dismayed

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Interest Rates and Your Financial Strategy

Working towards financial independence includes assumptions about how the world operates and how we navigate within that environment. These assumptions work best when the world remains the same allowing you to make reasonable future projections.   Challenges come when changes occur in the operating environment which may require reassessing wealth

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Financial Resilience

You’ve likely heard the term “financial resilience”. You may even know it refers to a household’s ability to navigate and overcome financial stress and hardships that life inevitably throws at you. But did you know that financial resilience can be measured? This calculation is based upon key indicators that include

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Warren Buffett Wisdom

Investment icon Warren Buffett says there’s wisdom in being “fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” 1 He first gave this advice in 1986 and has re-iterated it over the past few decades during times of financial uncertainty: 9/11 in 2001, the 2008 mortgage crisis, the

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TFSAs: Leveraging the Benefits

The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) was introduced in 2009 to offer Canadians an incentive to save over their lifetimes. TFSAs provide tax-free growth, flexible investment options, and easy set-up and withdrawals, making this registered account a powerful tool for financial well-being. Below are some key features.   Below are some

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Don’t Give Up on Growth

If you are a prudent investor, then you have a financial retirement plan that will ensure you have sufficient funds for the lifestyle you envision after you stop working. What constitutes sufficient depends on your ambitions and your hobbies, and also on how long you live. People are living longer,

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Key Ideas for Wealth Building Success

From listening to the media and online commentators, we have identified two key observations that can impact your efforts to build assets and wealth over time.   The first is the way many individual investors place one-way bets on their market investments. As long as the investment is making money,

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The Power of Time and Patience

It’s challenging to be patient in a fast-paced, immediate gratification world, but some things are worth the wait. Consider, for example, how a powerful financial reality (compound interest) can help investors accumulate a lot of assets over time to reward their patience and perseverance. Here’s how it works:    

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New Back Office System and a Good Finish to a Tough Year

Anyone reading my newsletters throughout 2022 is well aware that this has been a tough year. We’ve dealt with significant Inflation, higher Interest Rates and a weak Stock Market. In past years, when the Stock Market struggles, you might get some help from your Bond Funds. Not in a year

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Generating Investment Returns

During our ongoing weekly discussions with clients, we occasionally get questions from individuals about their approach to investing – particularly in terms of fees and value.   The questions are usually focused on the cost of accessing investment advice, or the cost of buying specific investment vehicles such as mutual

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Cycle of Market Emotions

Getting emotional about investments can easily lead to poor decisions as investors fall prey to negative thoughts and fears. The chart below helps to illustrate the emotional aspects of investing.   The human brain constantly searches for trends or patterns in things, trying to make sense out of even random

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The Fed ‘Put’ Revisited

When investment markets officially hit “bear market” territory in June 2022 – while Central Banks in North America and elsewhere were continuing to raise interest rates – questions began swirling about whether the US Federal Reserve (Fed) would once again rescue the markets by exercising the famous Greenspan “put”!  

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A Tough First Half to 2022

It’s been frustrating to have to report bad news in a number of newsletters this year but anyone who knows me knows that I won’t try to gloss over things. 2022 has been a tough year with War in Europe, Rising Prices across the Globe, Labour Shortages, Supply Chain Issues,

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Portfolio Diversification

Looking back over the past few years, one thing is certain – we can never be absolutely sure what the financial markets will do at any given time. We can study charts and graphs, both historical and forecasted, we can consult with economic experts, business leaders, and government officials, we

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Putting It In Perspective

The investment markets have been very “volatile” since the start of 2022. Volatile is just financial industry jargon that means markets move up and down. For retail investors, the biggest concern is when markets move down. Retail investors love when markets go up and usually cringe or flinch when they

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The Changing Business Cycle

Business, investing and life in general follow predictable ebbs and flows. The Business Cycle is no exception. This is the cycle whereby the economy goes through strong growth periods, weaker growth periods and everything in between. Governments and the Central Banks try to manage this cycle and prevent any enduring

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Dollar Cost Averaging

Let us imagine that you have a plan to be a wise investor and use your funds to make strategic deposits into your various investment funds. You’ve heard about the investment strategy of buying any time the market is low with the plan of selling when the market turns upward.

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The Shifting Economic Winds

There will likely be many impacts on the global economy resulting from the Russia-Ukraine War. The biggest casualty will most likely be the end of the “business as usual” mindset that most Canadians have lived by since at least 1980, if not since the end of World War Two.  

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When Interest Rates Rise

One way to curb rising inflation is to increase interest rates, and that is what the Bank of Canada (BoC) is expected to do incrementally – over the next year. As interest rates begin to tick upward, it is an ideal time to look at your financial position, including your

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