On November 8, 2016, Americans will elect the 45th President of the United States. Many Canadians have been vehement and passionate observers of every twist and turn of the campaign. Yet, once you strip away the nasty name calling and accusations of one kind or another by both candidates, you are left with their policy pronouncements.
The one area that impacts Canada and the rest of the world directly is that of economic policy, which has very little that separates the two candidates except for some subtle and nuanced differences.
Isabel was paying for a store purchase with her debit card. She noticed the clerk was doing something with his cellular telephone, then placed it on the counter. Isabel realized that the clerk had set the phone, equipped with a digital video camera, to record her card number and PIN. Isabel immediately called her bank and canceled her debit card.
There are very passionate views on both sides of the debate as to whether it is better for individual investors to use active investment managers versus using an index approach, with its main selling feature being lower fees.
Let us discuss a scenario that faces a high number of retirees and soon-to-be-retirees all over the country. You have spent years saving for your retirement and you have made smart decisions about using the power of RRSPs to accumulate a significant nest egg.
But now you’re unsure about how best to get income from your investment portfolio as your retirement day comes ever closer. In terms of your RRSP investments, as a decision must be made before the last day of the year during which the account holder turns 71.
The media in general has a tendency to take an idea or story and run with it until the original context or point is lost in a wave of misinformation, taking a form of its own. At that point, the idea can become very dangerous to you as an individual working to build your own financial wealth and assets.
While we have covered the role of your behavior in contributing to your investment success in past articles, let us explore this idea that selling all of your investments as a tactic, in more depth.
Imagine one of the following scenarios. Suppose you have suddenly come into a significant sum of money. For the interest of this example, we will imagine that it is one million dollars. This might have come to you by way of a lottery win, an estate inherited after the death of a family member, or some other event that may have been either expected or unexpected. You now find yourself in an entirely unique financial situation from anything you have experienced before, whereas previously you were living paycheck to paycheck, you could now actually consider early retirement.
A constant dilemma for Advisors working with clients to help them realize their goals and dreams is striking a balance between the tyranny of immediate current events with the need to stay focused on your longer term goals.
The recent Brexit vote in the U.K. is a case in point. The media created a firestorm of hysteria, speculation and anxiety with its constant and overwhelming coverage of the impending vote and its aftermath.
Imagine the following scenario for a moment. You and your partner have opened a business, and are feeling extremely confident about your current success. Your primary competition across the street cannot keep up after one of their co-owners passes away, eventually closing down. Their entire customer base eventually comes your way, and business has never been better. This might be a positive scenario strictly as far as your business is concerned, but a wise businessman or woman should be thinking one thing at a time like this—what if our positions were reversed?
Harry and Sally both earned high incomes and liked to live the good life. They leased higher end European cars, took two-week exotic vacations almost every year, and lived in a house much larger than they truly needed. To accomplish this lifestyle, they put off retirement savings. Now in their forties, Harry and Sally are realizing they have some catching up to do. Listed below are a few things to consider:
Delay no more - Procrastination or bad breaks may have derailed a savings plan. Now is the time to make savings a priority.
After speaking with many clients and potential clients over the years, a pattern emerges in the direction that the interview takes. There is often a sense of give and take with the client wanting to get certain questions answered in their mind, giving out small bits of information, but withholding the rest as if to keep control of the situation. Perhaps there is a sense that full and complete disclosure can be used against them since information is often thought of as power.
