How The Behavior Gap Affects Investor Returns
The key to successful investing is not the investment performance but the investor performance. Many of us believe that our goal as investors is to search for the investment that is better than average. But it turns out that searching for this so-called best investment leads to behavior that ends up costing us money. The…
Read MoreRRIFs (Good God, Y’all!) What Are They Good For? And So On.
As if you didn’t already worry more than enough about retirement, now is probably a good time to worry about having too much money. No. Really. The problem won’t be that you’ll have saved too much, so you can stop that thought in its tracks right now. No, the real problem is that by leaving…
Read MoreThe Diderot Effect – The Curse Of Upgrading Your Lifestyle
In the 18th century, French philosopher Denis Diderot received a gift of a beautiful scarlet dressing gown. I know it’s not something your typical guy today would get too excited about, but remember this was the 1700’s. In any case, he was delighted with his gift and promptly discarded his old dressing gown. Within a…
Read MoreAre Women Investors Too Conservative?
A recent survey by Desjardins Wealth Management found that 61% of women have a conservative investor profile. The results suggest that women take less risk than men and tend to prefer safer investment portfolios. Are women wired differently as the financial experts suggest? Do they lack confidence and knowledge? Related: 10 ways for women to…
Read MoreHow To Save On Foreign Currency Fees When Travelling
Look closely at your credit card statement after a trip out of the country and you’ll notice that your credit card company did you a favour by converting all of your foreign transactions into Canadian dollars. While the conversion is done for you at the market rate, the credit card issuer then tacks on another…
Read MoreWhat Does Pasta Have To Do With RRSPs?
Canadian financial speaker and author Talbot Stevens has written a new book called, The Smart Debt Coach, which hit the shelves this week. In it he explains a key concept that gets overlooked by most investors: when you’re saving for retirement, you should never put dry pasta in your RRSP. Related: 5 common RRSP myths…
Read MorePay For Advice Or Do It All Yourself?
Many investors these days have become disenchanted with their investment advisors who don’t keep in contact, sell a pre-determined model of products, and give abysmal service, not to mention their poor returns. They are deciding they can do a better job themselves. But how do you know you have the right skills to manage your…
Read MoreTD e-Series Funds: Not Just For Beginners
In a recent Carrick Talks Money video series on the Globe and Mail, Rob Carrick discussed the “I’m finally ready to invest” portfolio for young adults. He asked Canadian Couch Potato blogger Dan Bortolotti, and PWL Capital wealth manager Justin Bender to come up with a portfolio of exchange traded funds (ETFs) for the young…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: A Two-Book Giveaway Edition
Last week I reviewed two personal finance books: Stop Over-Thinking Your Money! by Preet Banerjee, and The Moolala Guide To Rockin’ Your RRSP by Bruce Sellery. The authors were kind enough to each provide a copy of their book to give away to a lucky Boomer & Echo reader. We had over 80 entries to…
Read MoreFraudulent Schemes That Target The Elderly
Fraud is the number one crime against older Canadians – hitting as many as one in five seniors – according to bankrate.com. People over the age of 65 are especially vulnerable to fraudulent schemes for a number of reasons: They often live alone and are home most of the day to answer the phone and…
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