How To Invest During High Inflation
It’s common for investors to be concerned about inflation because it brings to mind the high inflationary period of the 1970s that completely wrecked stock and bond returns. It’s also easy for investors to draw spurious conclusions about government debt and linking that to the hyperinflation that occurred in Zimbabwe or Venezuela. This article aims…
Read More4 Steps To Help Your Adult Child Buy A House
Housing has always been expensive. But these days, getting your foot in the door in the Canadian real estate market is a more significant challenge than ever before. With prices increasing steadily for nearly 30 years, it’s unlikely that your adult children may be able to afford a down payment if they live in a…
Read MoreWhat Are Your Money Dials?
One of the keys to designing a great lifestyle is to align your spending with your values, or to practice conscious spending. But what does that mean, exactly? If you showed me your budget would I be able to tell if you’re a world traveler, a wine connoisseur, a golfer, a philanthropist, an outdoorsman, or…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Stocks Vs. Real Estate Edition
A good percentage of Canadians would prefer to invest in real estate (either through their primary residence or by purchasing an investment property) instead of investing in the stock market. There’s even a perception that real estate is less risky than stocks. Couple that with massive gains in house prices across the country and it’s…
Read MoreEvermore Retirement ETFs: A New Target Date Solution For Your Retirement
Investing has often been an expensive and/or complicated endeavour for Canadians. The vast majority of investors put their money into mutual funds sold by their bank or investment firm – funds which typically charge 2% or more in fees and leave Canadians with less money for retirement. Then along came exchange-traded funds (ETFs), then robo-advisors,…
Read MoreWhy Invest?
Building on my evidence based investing guide, this article further explores why we invest. When we think of investing it’s only natural to dream about discovering the next Microsoft or Amazon stock or about becoming a world-class investor like Warren Buffett. But why invest in the first place? Is it the thrill of building wealth?…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Building A Diversified Portfolio Edition
Nobel Prize winner Harry Markowitz famously said that “diversification is the only free lunch in investing.” For investors, that means diversifying their portfolio across different asset classes, different sectors, and different geographies. The goal is to reduce risk without sacrificing return. Sounds easy, right? Investing can be simple, but it isn’t always easy. Think about…
Read MoreTax Software For Your Unique Tax Situation This Year
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of TurboTax Canada. All opinions are my own. In my financial planning practice, I’ve seen the good, bad, and complicated ways that the pandemic has impacted the financial lives of Canadians. One client works in air transportation and had been sidelined collecting CERB and CRB…
Read MoreLock-In or Ride It Out: The Variable Rate Mortgage Dilemma
I’ve always been transparent about my mortgage strategy. I prefer to select a deeply discounted variable rate (prime minus 0.80% or better), but if that’s not available then I’m happy to take a 1 or 2 year fixed rate mortgage and wait for those discounted variables to return. We’ve been in our house for 11…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Can You Predict A Stock Market Crash Edition
Investors should lower their expectations for future stock returns. I’ve been saying this for a while now, but it bears repeating again now that stocks have gotten off to such a rocky start this year. Markets are largely efficient and tend to go up over the long term. But they can certainly overshoot expectations in…
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