You might be a natural at making frugal choices when it comes to spending or perhaps you are slowly easing your way into the frugal lifestyle. Either way, know that your efforts result in additional benefits that go beyond the immediate impact of cash savings. You might not notice these nonmonetary rewards at first. That’s because in the beginning stages of adopting a frugal perspective, you’re usually focused on reaping…
A study released this week by Microsoft Advertising confirms what many have already suspected: Canadians see technology as something of a double-edged sword as they increasingly use online services and mobile devices to manage their finances. The technology company surveyed 2,000 people online, and the resulting study, dubbed The Financial Lives of Canadians, suggests consumers have passed a tipping point in terms of their routine use of online tools. Fully…
Notwithstanding the protestations of anyone who believes that surfing the Internet is a proxy for actual learning, the real world is not teachable in 140 character increments. Therefore, I generally recommend to people who genuinely want to learn about the investing and capital markets that they embark on a program to read seven seminal books that give an unvarnished look into the industry and its characters, opportunities and challenges. With…
Everyone knows it’s RRSP season, but what’s less obvious is how to best direct your contributions over the years. Different ages and life stages call for different strategies. There’s an overarching theme, though: anything you can put toward your retirement is a good thing. “When it comes to contributions, it’s a journey, not a sprint,” says ?Wade Stayzer, vice president of retail banking and investment services at Ontario’s Meridian Credit…
After years of consultations about raising standards for financial advisors many industry watchers are beginning to doubt it will ever happen. “They’ve been at this for a long time, so you sort of wonder about the ability to get to a simple result — whether there’s a will to bite the bullet,” says Ed Waitzer, a partner at Toronto law firm Stikeman Elliott LLP. Mr. Waitzer, a former chairman of…
The recent global financial crisis did more than ravage investment portfolios, wipe out employment and force people out of their homes. It also obliterated trust in the financial services industry by the people who use it most – investors. A new international study says a mere 53 per cent of investors in the United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia have faith in investment firms. What’s more, the…
Some financial advice is so oft-repeated that everyone takes it for granted: You shouldn’t bring debt into retirement. Debit cards are safer than credit cards. Older folks should invest more conservatively. As they used to say on Seinfeld, yadda yadda yadda. The problem is, a lot of that is bad advice. At best it fit a bygone era; at worst it was never right and is dangerous. Here is a…
A fascinating documentary on the ever growing concern of Canadian debt and our rising dependency on other countries.