Attention Ottawa-area readers: CBC Ottawa is looking to talk to a regular investor between the ages of 25 and 50, who actively keeps an eye on the stock market and may have lost money during the economic downturn and are changing their investment strategy. If you are interested please contact Sannah Choi at 613-288-6471. You can also reach Sannah via e-mail at Sannah-(dot)-Choi-(at)-cbc-(dot)-ca.
Yes it is that magical time of the year, where banks and institutions beg you to put more money into your RRSP, because it would be a good thing for you when you get older.
Show of hands: Who believes they do this because they are worried about your Golden Years? None? Not surprised.
Banks (and Insurance companies and whomever else sells Mutual Funds) want you to put money into your RRSP now, so that you go and buy their High MER Mutual funds (with the big fat entry fee, and exit fee as well).
How many times have I heard co-workers or friends say, “I just put my money in the Canadian Stock Fund and will move it later”. When I query about the MER for this Canadian Stock Fund usually the buyer is unaware, and what the front or back load is on these funds is a mystery as well. How many folks will move it from this fund at a later date? Don’t know, but my guess would be not many move the funds ever.
I don’t have time to think about this, is another argument folks have given me for buying some very dubious Mutual Funds, which may be true, but why did you spend your money is the answer I give. Would you buy a car, house or even major appliance without knowing that there were hidden fees to buy it and then a yearly “support” fee?
So I shouldn’t buy RRSPs now? No I didn’t write that either, but wherever you invest your money, be sure you understand the costs of investing in this financial device. This doesn’t mean you should blindly go out and buy ETF’s or Index Funds, if you don’t know where (or how) they invest.
Get educated is what I am saying before you go out and buy your RRSP. If you don’t have time to do it right now, then wait until you can figure it out.
Maybe I should just get a Financial Advisor?Caveat Emptor is my response to that idea. The past few months more and more stories are coming out about Financial Advisors, and how they work, so you need to find one that you trust, and ask them, How do you make money? especially if they are offering you their services for “free” (you would be surprised what free really costs). If the advisor suddenly tries to sell you whole life insurance, get up, get your coat and walk out without a single word, and don’t come back.
The hasty or rushed decisions I have made in my life (financially) are rarely the ones I look back on with fond recollections.
I was wandering through yet another Top 10 List, and it struck me just how many Top Ten lists there are out there (not to mention David Letterman’s output of a list every night), so here is:
Here in no real order is my Top 10 list of Financial Top 10 Lists I have seen over the past little while:
Did I miss any? (yes this is what happens when I get stuck in long meetings and my mind wanders)
Time to get your collective brooms out and sweep out your investments.
As a start of year/end of year task I went through my many investment accounts (boy I really do have a lot of those, holy cow), I noticed that I had a lot of investment vehicles that I should really just eject from my portfolio. Why was I keeping them around? Some of the odd reasons I think were in my mind were:
What were the nature of this financial clutter?
Took all the proceeds from those sales and bought a Dividend ETF, unfortunately the losses cannot be taken advantage of, since they were in an RRSP. Should I be buying Dividend devices in an RRSP? Some say no, I like dividends, so that is what I did.
Still have a few Nortel shares hanging around, not sure what the heck I can do with those, guess I have to “sell” them to incur the loss which I can then use next year. Is this right? Any comments on this appreciated.
Yes the year may only be a few days old, but it can still teach us some important things even in it’s short life.
After watching the Swiss Junior Hockey Team beat a talented Russian team, 2010 has taught me there is no such thing, as a sure thing. If someone had said this might happen before the World Junior Championships started, they would have been laughed at, and when Russia was due to play the Swiss in the Quarter Finals, it was assumed that Russia would win and face Canada next, however, sometimes the sure thing, does not pay off.
Yes this is a real long shot, and the Swiss came back to earth against Team Canada in the Semi-finals, however, it is an example of how there are no sure things, and you should hope for the best but plan for the worst.
This year has already shown it may be a year of big (and hopefully not nasty) surprises. Remember this if you get a “can’t lose” piece of financial advice (or investing tip).
After leaving Burlington where the grass was green and then arriving in my home in Ottawa which was under 2 feet of snow, this year showed things can change quickly (and not necessarily for the better) very quickly. I looked at my in-laws back yard and saw green grass (OK it was a little cold down there, and there was traces of snow), but I knew that snow was going to be part of the equation, it was just when would we run into it, and how deep would it be. After skiing into my driveway, which was buried, I learned that things can change very fast.
In the world of Financial Advice, be nimble and be ready for things changing really fast (and again, not necessarily for the better).
What will the rest of this year hold for us? I don’t know, but strap in, looks like it might be a very interesting one.
I am just that lazy busy that I can’t think of writing something for the Monday before Christmas so I instead give you some of the best writings from other folks this past week.
With the Holiday Season upon us, I trust everyone is finished their preparations and are all just relaxing and waiting for the festivities to commence. Yes, I am a sarcastic so and so sometimes aren’t I, but let’s not dwell on the obvious, what did those other authors write?
Hope your shopping is going well, remember YOU are the economic stimulus the economy needs (me, I’m too cheap to matter).
As the Magic 8-Ball tells us (OK Stats Canada tells us, but it sounds like the Magic 8-Ball), indications are good that the economy may be turning around. Yesterday stats Canada announced that the Leading Indicators jumped 1.3% , which suggests things may be turning around slowly in our economy.

The index seems a bit of a mish-mash of a lot of information, but as usual if you read closer you’ll see that there are some very interesting tid-bits of information in there.
So two areas of “investment” are up a fair amount which is good, and the questions now are, will this last? We shall see is the only answer, but with stocks returning to pre-crash valuations in some areas (some will never come back folks, remember that), is it safe again? Can’t tell, and we’ll only really know looking back in a few years whether this was the start of the recovery or a “suckers rally”.
Given I bought my house a long time ago, fluctuations in it’s value mean little to me, as I don’t plan on refinancing it.
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I am planning on doing a Top 10 postings for the Christmas/New Year stretch (given I may or may not be around), so if you have any suggestions for this kind of a list (top 10 for this year), please leave a comment with a title or story you may have particularly liked (written by me, that is).