Archive for February 2014
How Safe Are Your Bank Deposits?
Canada is widely considered to have one of the safest banking systems in the world. The “Big 5” banks have proven to be safe and stable companies, both for depositors and stockholders, and neither have any worries about their money. Related: How Baby Boomers Changed The Banking Industry However, the 1980’s saw one of the…
Read MoreHave You Considered A Permanent Retirement Overseas? Read This:
Tired of shovelling snow, thousands of Canadians have decided to live in a warmer climate. We’re familiar with snowbirds, but there are many who are choosing to move permanently to somewhere nice and sunny – a place where the pace of life is slower and the quality of life higher. Why move? There can be…
Read MoreHow The Behavior Gap Affects Investor Returns
The key to successful investing is not the investment performance but the investor performance. Many of us believe that our goal as investors is to search for the investment that is better than average. But it turns out that searching for this so-called best investment leads to behavior that ends up costing us money. The…
Read MoreRRIFs (Good God, Y’all!) What Are They Good For? And So On.
As if you didn’t already worry more than enough about retirement, now is probably a good time to worry about having too much money. No. Really. The problem won’t be that you’ll have saved too much, so you can stop that thought in its tracks right now. No, the real problem is that by leaving…
Read MoreThe Diderot Effect – The Curse Of Upgrading Your Lifestyle
In the 18th century, French philosopher Denis Diderot received a gift of a beautiful scarlet dressing gown. I know it’s not something your typical guy today would get too excited about, but remember this was the 1700’s. In any case, he was delighted with his gift and promptly discarded his old dressing gown. Within a…
Read MoreAre Women Investors Too Conservative?
A recent survey by Desjardins Wealth Management found that 61% of women have a conservative investor profile. The results suggest that women take less risk than men and tend to prefer safer investment portfolios. Are women wired differently as the financial experts suggest? Do they lack confidence and knowledge? Related: 10 ways for women to…
Read MoreHow To Save On Foreign Currency Fees When Travelling
Look closely at your credit card statement after a trip out of the country and you’ll notice that your credit card company did you a favour by converting all of your foreign transactions into Canadian dollars. While the conversion is done for you at the market rate, the credit card issuer then tacks on another…
Read MoreWhat Does Pasta Have To Do With RRSPs?
Canadian financial speaker and author Talbot Stevens has written a new book called, The Smart Debt Coach, which hit the shelves this week. In it he explains a key concept that gets overlooked by most investors: when you’re saving for retirement, you should never put dry pasta in your RRSP. Related: 5 common RRSP myths…
Read MorePay For Advice Or Do It All Yourself?
Many investors these days have become disenchanted with their investment advisors who don’t keep in contact, sell a pre-determined model of products, and give abysmal service, not to mention their poor returns. They are deciding they can do a better job themselves. But how do you know you have the right skills to manage your…
Read MoreTD e-Series Funds: Not Just For Beginners
In a recent Carrick Talks Money video series on the Globe and Mail, Rob Carrick discussed the “I’m finally ready to invest” portfolio for young adults. He asked Canadian Couch Potato blogger Dan Bortolotti, and PWL Capital wealth manager Justin Bender to come up with a portfolio of exchange traded funds (ETFs) for the young…
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