Insights

Watching the market on a daily basis can feel chaotic. In this video I look at monthly stock returns for Canadian stocks going back to 1956. Up months. Down months. No observable pattern. Anxiety inducing, perhaps? You bet! But, when you zoom out and look at the data differently, we can see that stock returns as a whole are positive most of the time. Small moves upward, punctuated by significant moves both upward and downward. Volatile years like this one can be difficult for any investor. But, if you have a portfolio that is tied to a financial plan and is a good fit for you - you can tune out the noise and have a much better outcome.

The research that Lorie performed to prove that stocks returned 9% per year is a finding in historical data, which we will refer to as an “empirical” finding. It was observed in historical data, it is not a theory or a guess. Next, we might question what are the unique characteristics of stocks that made them a better investment than, say, bonds? And, then, let’s extend that further and ask - what other characteristics or “factors” exist in publicly-traded securities that we can observe “empirically”? And then finally, how can we use that insight to construct portfolios for different investors with different needs, tastes, preferences, and goals?

The analogy of changing the roof on your house is a useful one when considering the purchase life insurance as you get older. The question is, do you need life insurance as you are entering perhaps the later stages of your working life?

I sat down with David Field from Papyrus Planning about the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) program. In this discussion we cover the Canada Pension Plan program at a high level, as well as his tool the CPP Calculator, and how it can be used to help you estimate your CPP benefits.

Registered Education Savings Plans (RESP’s) are a very popular and useful way to help a loved one pay for their post-secondary education. In many cases the beneficiary of the RESP, a child or close family member, graduates high school and uses the funds in pursuit of a college diploma or a university degree. But sometimes, life changes and the beneficiary of that RESP account no longer needs the money for their education. This situation leaves the RESP holders wondering - what else they can we do with this RESP account? In this post, I offer some alternatives for families that are faced with this question.

Now that we are nearly 10 months into this "death-by-1000-cuts" bear market, you may be looking at me a little bit sideways when I say that a lot of the bad news around a possible recession, among other fears, is already priced into the market. How is this possible?

In this video, I challenge the assumption that retirees should avoid all volatility in their retirement portfolios. I look at a retiree who began retirement in 2008 with a 60% stock / 40% bond portfolio, and compared their withdrawal experience with another retiree who held only cash or short term fixed income estimates.

The decision of when to begin receiving Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits can have a huge impact on your retirement income plan. In this video, I walk through the CPP benefit at a high level, and talk about the factors that weigh on the decision of when to begin drawing your CPP.

In this video series, Jason and I talk about several estate planning issues facing soon-to-be retirees. Topics include passing down a family cottage, things to consider with second marriages, and how to properly give gifts and loans to your children.