03rd December 2008
Dictionary.com describes Risk as “the hazard or chance of loss” and Risk Tolerance as “the degree of uncertainty that an investor can handle in regards to a negative change in the value of their portfolio.”
What if we combined these two definit...
02nd December 2008
The “giving season” is nearly upon us! Not only are the malls full of Christmas decorations, and the advertisements full of toys and perfume, our mailboxes are full of year-end charity fundraising requests too. While most charities operate and have ex...
05th November 2008
There’s nothing like a dramatic move in the stock market to make people who are otherwise not very financially involved stand up and take notice – every day. Suddenly, everyone is talking about whether the market is up or down. It’s good to become m...
21st October 2008
There's nothing like a financial crisis to bring out the "talking heads" in the media. As markets toss wildly up and down, people are looking for information and answers, so financial stories have jumped out of the business sections and onto the top of ...
04th September 2008
The some telling figures appeared in an article on Advisor.ca, an online newsletter to which I subscribe. At first, I thought it was simply showing support for the work I do as a financial educator and advisor. Yet, after pondering the statistics further...
24th August 2008
“I paid too much for it, but it’s worth it.” – Samuel Goldwyn
Who hasn’t felt that way about a purchase from time to time? When it comes to being in control of money and sticking to a pre-set spending plan, most people feel that splurging i...
15th July 2008
Aside from the word money, in general, the word debt seems to have more emotion wrapped around it than just about any other word I know. The general theme is always the same: bad – bad – bad.
According to Dictionary.com, however, it has a pretty si...
30th June 2008
With summer coming up, some of us are braving the high fuel prices and driving to family gatherings or favorite vacation spots. What route would you take? Any experienced road traveler will tell you that there are two ways to go: the quick way and the enj...
10th June 2008
Are we a culture so narrow-minded that we can only see personal finance as a “vertical” process of stacking away our savings like bags of flour during a food crisis? Everywhere you turn a news article lectures us about the importance of saving money ...
25th May 2008
Today, it seems all too common that young people have very little appreciation for the concept of “work ethic”. The implications of this as it relates to the near crisis financial statistics in North America are huge.
Jobs are prolific and as a ...
08th May 2008
The tax rebate checks under the Bush administration's economic stimulus plan won't do any good if people simply put them in the bank.
Last week, an online article in the Wall Street Journal claimed that we need to save more money - even if the interest...
07th April 2008
A successful investor friend of mine recently invited me to hear a well-known tax professional speak on strategies to minimize your tax bill. The presenter spoke for an hour about simple strategies, and then he offered the audience an opportunity to purc...
19th March 2008
“We're not saving enough for retirement” “Boomers Unprepared”. This is the topic of just about every article on financial planning I've read in the last week. Every time I turn on the news or open a newspaper or magazine there is some article ...
06th February 2008
I once had a 3 ½ million-dollar client who was afraid to let his wife buy boots. Over the years Bill (not his real name) had built up a tidy nest egg, but he lived in fear of losing his money. So I'd hear from him often, usually as soon as his statem...
19th January 2008
Don't tell me you haven't made any money mistakes - better yet, don't tell yourself you haven't made any money mistakes.
Everyone makes them and I don't mean just the big ones - on a day-to-day basis, we are all guilty of making money decisions that a...
