Building Wealth
There are many definitions and meanings for the term ‘wealth’. It is often said that it is easier to build wealth over time than it is to keep it! Some confuse high incomes with wealth while others point to assets owned as an indicator of wealth. And, many people use the terms ‘assets’ and ‘wealth’ […]
Reaching for Yield in a World of Low Interest Rates
While we can talk about concepts such as inflation and purchasing power the struggle for many people today is earning enough income on their savings to meet their lifestyle needs. Interest rates and the earnings from capital through dividends, bonds and real estate rental income have dropped dramatically in the past few years. Government bond […]
What is a ‘Stock Market’ Anyway?
Imagine it is late Monday afternoon and you are wrapping up your day at a large pension plan, as you stretch, your elbow hits the sell button on the keyboard. The board lot (100 shares) of a large Canadian telephone company is quickly bought for $20 and is the closing price as the final trade […]
TFSA Time Bomb!
The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) was introduced in 2009 as a new way for Canadians to build assets and wealth on a tax-advantaged basis. Any capital gains, dividends or interest income are tax-free upon redemption from the account. The initial contribution amount was $5,000 with annual increases of $5,000. This has been increased to $5,500 […]
Investing vs. Trading
In the last article we defined investing as buying an ownership stake in companies who are profitable today and whose profits are expected to rise over time. Trading is any other form of managing your money which may or may not take into account corporate profits as part of the decision-making process. Trading, which most […]
Business Adaptation Mechanism
There is a concept in biology about the ability of organisms to adapt to changes in the environment. This adaptation process increases the odds of survival for organisms under stress due to environmental changes. A similar mechanism exists in finance that allows economic organizations, otherwise known as companies, to survive and thrive in changing or […]
Integrated Investment Management Can Save Taxes
High net worth investors are now sitting back and enjoying the summer weather, breathing a sigh of relief now that they are done with their annual tax filings. The work involved in assembling all of the relevant tax information is made more complicated by the fact they often deal with several investment firms. U.S. financial […]
Volatile Economy = Investor Fatigue
Investors are becoming increasingly exhausted trying to follow the seemingly never-ending bad global economic news. Overseas markets have put a strain on Canada even though we are more stable, economically, than most other countries in the world. Crystal balls are in short supply resulting in increased skepticism and general feeling of Is this downturn ever […]
Cooler heads will prevail
The newspaper headlines read: ‘Roller coaster stock markets have investors feeling queasy’ (The Globe and Mail; ‘The stock market crash: History repeating itself?’ (The Calgary Herald); ‘Uncertainty continues to pummel stock markets’ (Sudbury Star); ‘The next market boom may be a lifetime away’ (Financial Times). Interestingly enough, these headlines are from November 2002. One year […]
Great Depression 2.0?
It’s been a long and volatile quarter in the financial world. Markets are taking most investors on a wild and sometimes frightening ride, the news about corporate failures and bailouts is confusing and the economic news is almost certainly disheartening. As some in the media eagerly seek to assign blame for the current stock market […]