Weekend Reading: Investing In Sport Edition

A decade ago Canada launched Own the Podium to prepare its amateur athletes to reach medal finishes at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. It later expanded to include a division for summer sports called Road to Excellence. The program has been incredibly successful, with Canada winning a record 14 gold medals at the Vancouver games, and most recently earning a top-10 overall finish in Rio with 22 medals.

Investing in sport is a controversial topic. Some argue that winning medals is meaningless, while others say it’s a huge source of national pride. Canada spent $116.1 million funding athletics in the four years leading up to Rio. Compare that with the $44.3 million in government funding received prior to the 2008 Beijing Games.

In my job fundraising for University athletics I get to see firsthand how sport can have such a positive impact on our student-athletes. Our school sent three athletes to Rio, plus two others who trained with our coaches in our facilities. That’s unbelievable, but it couldn’t happen without an investment in developing and training world-class athletes.

I’m lucky that I’ve had the opportunity to meet and speak with Olympic legends like Mark Tewksbury, John Herdman, and Clara Hughes who preach about the power of sport and why it plays such an important role in society. It goes beyond the playing surface; employers want to hire athletes because of their work-ethic and leadership skills.

Keep Owning the Podium, Canada! It’s money well spent.

This Week’s Recap:

On Monday I reviewed The Essential Retirement Guide and suggested a more realistic retirement income target.

On Wednesday Marie continued her becoming a better investor series with a look at socially responsible investing.

Switching things up a bit this week with a Throwback Thursday post on the electronic age and how technology has impacted the family home.

Over on the LowestRates.ca blog I listed five reasons why your car insurance company might drop you.

Weekend Reading:

A Harvard psychologist reveals the biggest reason people don’t achieve their goals.

Tim Cestnick offers postsecondary education planning tips for the family.

In a disturbing trend, young investors are day-trading ETN’s for the fun of the oil price roller-coaster.

Michael James debunks a report from The Fraser Institute that claims the average Canadian family spent $34,154 in taxes in 2015.

Yikes! At least 70 real estate agents in Calgary are still owed more than $1 million in commissions on the homes they sold before Discover Real Estate went bust.

Rob Carrick looks at the discharge fees banks charge when you make the final payment on your mortgage.

Nelson Smith from Financial Uproar says Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung didn’t get rich by avoiding the real estate market. In fact, they would have done slightly better had they bought a home in 2010.

As our homes get smarter it could become incredibly easy to spend money.

A fun look at how 25 Canadian websites looked in the Internet’s early days. The best one has got to be Eaton’s, circa 1996.

Fast-forward back to 2016 and these websites offer reliable answers to your financial questions.

An early retirement blogger shares his philosophy on money.

Companies are starting to sweat over rising costs as more people are opting to work longer and delay retirement.

Finally, here’s an excerpt from The Modern Couple’s Money Guide by Leslie-Anne Scorgie looks at the basics of financial housekeeping.

Have a great weekend, everyone!