Don’t put your portfolio at risk! As a financial advisor and professional planner, I’ve seen most every investment mistake novice investors are likely to make. And around this time of year, when I undertake client portfolio reviews, clients often seem overcome with...
When the holiday-spending credit card bills start coming in this month, some of us will pay off the balance to zero and calmly go on as before. Others – many others – among us will add it to the ever-growing pile of debt, try to make a minimum payment on at least...
Have you been naughty this holiday season? Financially, at least, many of us tip over to the “naughty” side, overextending our spending and maxing out our credit cards. I won’t get into other kinds of overindulgence here, but you know what they are. With the...
Pop music queen Lady Gaga is number 2 on the Forbes list of the highest paid women in music in 2013, with an annual paycheque of about $80 million. No doubt she added to her millions with this week’s appearance on NBC’s highly rated music competition The Voice,...
’Tis the season…for tips. Year-end is a great time for tax and investment tipsters. Trouble is, in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, most of us either ignore or soon forget what we’ve heard. But there are, in fact, a few year-end investment and tax tips...
You’ll see them at your local bank branch, those amateurishly handwritten whiteboard signs advertising a $700 or $800 monthly income on a $100,000 investment. That’s equivalent to around a 9% annual yield. With your average bank savings account paying some fraction...
How your savings tend to disappear - and what you can do about it This is a challenging time for building your wealth and saving for retirement. The needs have never been greater. But, increasingly, it seems as if the odds are heavily stacked against your being...
Quick! What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear someone mention “Tax-Free Savings Account”? If you’re completely honest with yourself, deep down inside, it’s not the modifier “tax-free.” Many people I talk to feel all virtuous about their TFSA,...
Do you invest on the sly? Well, it’s no secret! A friend recently told me, with some pride, that her small “private” investment account has recently performed better than the much larger portfolio she keeps with a reputable financial advisory firm. She wondered...
Many of my women clients “of a certain age” have rather substantial pension nest-eggs, either through their employer’s pension plans or through their own business or professional practice. But they do share one problem. Their pension funds are tied up in Locked-In...
I recently began volunteering with an organization called Girls Inc., one of whose valuable programs teaches teen girls the basics of investing and money management. By the end of the program, the girls will be competently managing a full-blown investment...
Ever since screen goddess Marilyn Monroe breathily sang the famous lyric in the 1959 hit movie Some Like It Hot, diamonds have come to be known as “a girl’s best friend.” You can understand why. They’re flashy and sparkly and pricey. And some girls actually drip...