December - 2019

The value of advice

Dec 25, 2019
3 min

The value of advice

How having an advisor can bring you closer to reaching your financial goals. Ever notice how many of life’s biggest goals have some financial component? Sure, you can master a foreign language or run a marathon without making a significant financial commitment. But try buying a home, starting a family or helping your kids go to university. Same goes for retiring early or leaving a legacy. Without disciplined planning and saving, these goals can just slip away. Like many other

Matters of Fact

Dec 18, 2019
3 min

Matters of Fact

Human oddities From scratching an imaginary itch to mumbling to ourselves, many of us do some strange things, often without even realizing it. Here are some weird behaviours that are more common than you might think. Reading an entire page only to realize you checked out after the first sentence. This usually happens because you’re distracted, or your mind is elsewhere. Even though your eyes scan the pages due to muscle memory, you aren’t retaining a lot of information becaus

Take the emotion out of investing

Dec 11, 2019
1 min

Take the emotion out of investing

A common mistake is to make decisions based on emotions. In good times, investors are excited, they want to invest more and often “buy high." When markets turn negative, investors become fearful and decide to cut their losses and “sell low." The investing emotional roller coaster shows what an investor may experience as their investment rises and falls. The key is to stay disciplined and committed to your long-term investment plan to avoid riding the emotional roller coaster.

Bank of Mom and Dad

Dec 4, 2019
2 min

Bank of Mom and Dad

How you can help adult children without jeopardizing your own financial future. With the cost of housing and education continuing to rise in Canada, it’s more difficult for younger generations to get established. While average hourly earnings (adjusted for inflation) rose approximately $3 between 1977 and 2016, average housing prices have more than doubled, and significantly more than doubled in many of Canada’s urban centres. The cost of a university education has almost dou

’Tis the (spending) season

Dec 3, 2019
4 min

’Tis the (spending) season

How to keep your credit rating in good standing during the holidays. The holidays can be a magical, yet expensive, time of year for many Canadians. In this season of giving, we are often tempted to overspend on gifts for loved ones. We attend more parties and social gatherings with friends, family and work colleagues. And with the kids on break from school, it’s also a popular time of year for travel. Many people finance their holiday fun with credit cards. In fact, six out o