Be very careful about blanket advice
As I make my occasional trips to the men’s comfort station, I pass through our waiting room.  Thanks to the generosity of my colleague David and his support for the publishing industry, I get to regularly see what the popular press is saying.
Imagine my shock when I saw the latest [...]

Take advantage of historically low prescribed rate on inter-family loans
If I offered to loan you money at a 1% interest rate for you to invest, do you think you could generate a return in excess of your cost of borrowing?
Today’s article is about the income attribution rules and an historic opportunity to step around their [...]

Most people in Canada receive their financial advice and direction from financial advisors, planners, and investment salespeople who are compensated by some form of commission paid by product manufacturers.
“Manufacturers” are mutual fund companies, life insurance companies and banks, supported by a retail sales network of investment dealers.
In some cases, it is the investment dealer who [...]

Overheard at the watercooler on Wednesday morning:
Bob: “I just got another invoice from my fee-for-service financial planner.  It’s annoying, but at least I know we are making financial progress and getting good value for money.”
Doug: “You mean you pay for your financial advice?  I get mine for free.”
Bob: “So you do it all yourself?  What [...]

Ah…the days are getting longer, the sun is higher in the sky, and there is that unmistakable smell of…fresh ink as tax slips are being removed from envelopes.
With the pace of economic recovery still uncertain, let’s focus on a sure thing for 2010 – reducing your income taxes and maximizing government grant money.
Use your current [...]

In the last few weeks (here and on my blog) I have written about active versus passive investing, and the use of ETFs (exchange traded fund as an investment vehicle.
However, I broke my cardinal rule of writing –start at the beginning and don’t assume people are already experts on the subject.
So, this column will attempt [...]

Finally, I can rest easy.  We may have come up with a way to reconcile two warring factions.  It may not mean world peace, but every bit helps.
There are a lot of people involved with the investment industry that absolutely believe (and believe they can prove) that active investment management outperforms passive management, otherwise known [...]

For decades, the debate has raged over whether or not active investment management and selection of stocks for a portfolio can consistently beat simply investing in a passive index, with stocks selected by a fixed set of rules.
I will dive into empirical research and expert opinions in a moment, but here are a few observations of [...]

Question: How do I find that trusted advisor?
Answer: A great place to start is to ask friends, relatives, colleagues, associates or people you respect if they have an advisor in whom they have confidence. Ask what they like about that advisor, the range of the services provided, whether or not a full written financial plan [...]

The Globe and Mail recently called the last ten years on the stock market “The Lost Decade”, during which time the Toronto Stock Exchange index grew by less than 4% annually (39.6% total) and the broad American stock index actually declined 24.1%, even before currency damage.
Most individual investors did much worse, after piling into stocks [...]