Weekend Reading: London Edition

Weekend Reading: London Edition

Welcome to my latest edition of Weekend Reading. I’m writing from our flat in London, whilst enjoying a coffee on this beautiful Saturday morning. We’re on day four of our 24 day trip to the U.K. that will soon take us up to the Lake District and then into and around Scotland.  London is an…

Read More

Weekend Reading: House Building Edition

Weekend Reading: House Building Edition

I got a three-month head start on working from home after I quit my full-time job in December 2019. At first, I worked from a laptop at the dining room table. It wasn’t ideal, especially when our kids were sent home for online school. We later carved out a section of the kids’ playroom and…

Read More

Weekend Reading: Breaking Up With Your Advisor Edition

Breaking Up With Your Advisor Edition

I recently coached a client through the process of transferring her existing RRSP, TFSA, and non-registered investment accounts away from high fee managed mutual funds and over to a self-directed investing platform. The goal was to reduce investment fees from an average of 2% on her balanced portfolio down to 0.25% with a balanced asset…

Read More

Time To Check In On Your Financial Plan

Time To Check In On Your Financial Plan

I quit my full-time job in December 2019, three months before a global pandemic shut down the world. I watched my investments fall by 34% in the sharpest and most rapid market decline in history. I cancelled two European vacations. While I did get a three-month head start on the whole work-from-home thing, my routine…

Read More

Weekend Reading: Update From Italy Edition

Florence

Buongiorno! We’ve spent two glorious weeks in Italy, arriving first in Rome before moving on to Florence and Venice. Three very different, yet equally amazing cities! I loved the history of Rome. We toured the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Vatican, ran through Circus Maximus and along the Tiber, tossed a coin into Trevi…

Read More

Weekend Reading: Stocks Vs. Real Estate Edition

Weekend Reading_ Stocks Vs. Real Estate Edition

A good percentage of Canadians would prefer to invest in real estate (either through their primary residence or by purchasing an investment property) instead of investing in the stock market. There’s even a perception that real estate is less risky than stocks. Couple that with massive gains in house prices across the country and it’s…

Read More

Weekend Reading: Building A Diversified Portfolio Edition

Weekend Reading: Building A Diversified Portfolio Edition

Nobel Prize winner Harry Markowitz famously said that “diversification is the only free lunch in investing.” For investors, that means diversifying their portfolio across different asset classes, different sectors, and different geographies. The goal is to reduce risk without sacrificing return. Sounds easy, right? Investing can be simple, but it isn’t always easy. Think about…

Read More

Weekend Reading: Another Money Bag Edition

Weekend Reading: Another Money Bag Edition

Welcome to another edition of Weekend Reading. I continue to get dozens of emails from readers every week and I’m pleased to share some of those questions and answers with the broader community so we can all learn from each other. Today, we’ll look at investing FOMO and regret, where to park your cash savings,…

Read More

Weekend Reading: Money Like You Mean It Edition

Weekend Reading: Money Like You Mean It Edition

Erica Alini quickly became one of my favourite personal finance writers when she joined Global News as a national money and consumer reporter. Her columns and Money123 newsletter tackle a breadth of financial topics and are must-reads each week. That’s why I was excited when I heard that Erica planned to write a book. I…

Read More