Dont Forget These Two Simple Steps When Estate Planning

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Strategic Estate Planning Barrie

The pure purpose of Estate Planning is to make an efficient transfer of wealth. 

Efficiency of Estate Planning is measured in two parts:

1) Tax: It is important to plan your estate in a way that will transfer wealth in a tax-efficient manner—setting up assets to flow so that the least amount o...

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How to Save the Family Cottage

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Save the Family Cottage - Financial Planning in Barrie

We have all heard the old saying, “Two things are guaranteed in life: 1. Death 2. Taxes.”We are at an interesting time right now where prices of assets over the last 50+ years have seen a tremendous growth spurt. I always find it interesting talk...

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4 Way's to Spend Critical Illness Proceeds

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Critical Illness Insurance Barrie

In the unfortunate event that you or a loved one is suffering from a critical illness, having critical illness insurance provides several benefits to you and to your family. Critical illness insurance is defined as insurance that pays a tax free, lum...

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5 Must Understand Financial Concepts

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Financial Planning Barrie

1) Money needs a name: Money is fluid and always moving, that’s why we call it “currency.” If you don’t put a name to it or label what it is meant to be used for, it will find somewhere to go. We need to remember this and set up automatic pla...

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How Mutual Fund Fee's Work

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Mutual Fund Fees

Mutual Funds have become a real point of contention in the media in the last few years. I recently watched a “CBC Market Place” report where a woman went to several financial institutions and asked “how do the fees with mutual funds work?”.I...

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How to Save Money on Life Insurance

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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How to save money on Life Insurance

Lets face it, no one likes buying or paying for insurance. In fact I often hear people say they feel insurance poor. From time to time I will meet people who want or already have life insurance and they say "Hey, how can I save money on life insuranc...

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Taxes 101 - What is a Tax Credit?

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Last time we talked about tax deductions. The next important piece to understand is tax credits. There is a couple more moving parts to a tax credit, but it is still simple to understand.What is a Tax Credit?A tax credit is an amount of money that wi...

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Taxes 101 - What is a Tax Deduction?

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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What is a tax deduction?

When financial planning - taxes become a very important piece of the puzzle in many different times in our lives. It is often best to start with the basics before we can go in to strategizing. This way, if everyone understands how things work, it mak...

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What's going to happen in 2014

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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 Below is a complilation of the outlook for 2014. Highlights include, The Economy, Jobs Growth, Market Forcasts and much more.Blackrock Investment Institute - 2014 Outlook            &n...

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Life Insurance Wars: Empire Strikes Back

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Life Insurance Protection

"KINGSTON, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 12, 2013) - The Empire Life Insurance Company (Empire Life) has been named the Best Life Insurance Company in Canada in 2013 by World Finance magazine in its annual insurance awards competition. The award is gi...

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[Video] - How The Economic Machine Works

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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In this video we are privileged to have one of the most succesful investors on the planet, Hedge Fund manager Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates explain how the economic machine works. I have always been very impressed with Ray Dalio's very sim...

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A meeting with Norm Lamarche

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Last week I had the opportunity to sit and listen to a presentation at our head office by Norm Lamarche.Norm Lamarche is a veteran investor who has made a name for himself over years by bringing tremendous investment performance. His investment philo...

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Is your Wallet Locked and Loaded?

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Have you ever heard the old saying “Ride or Die”? If you were a Brooklyn Police Officer in the 1970s, it meant that when you carried your gun, you were ready to use it (ride it out, or die trying); be willing to do anything if it involves persona...

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Investment and Market Commentary

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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The amount of information available in the financial services world is outstanding and overwhelming. It can be frusterating as there are so many contrarian views, and articles written by non-professional writers.We have comprised some of our more fav...

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Beware of Scams

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Scams

 Scams and frauds are all around us. I personally was scammed several years ago in a money transfer scam.A few years ago, I was in the market for a new car and found a great on an Acura sports car online through Ebay.The seller told me that he h...

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What is a TFSA?

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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TFSA

TFSA stands for a Tax Free Savings Account.The account basically allows you to save and invest without having to pay any taxes on the returns you generate from those investments. The government created the TFSA as an incentive to help Canadians save....

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A Story About How Markets Work

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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how markets work

Once upon a time, a drought comes over the land and the wheat crop fails. Naturally, the price of wheat goes up. Some people cut back and bake less bread while others speculate and buy as much wheat as they can get and hoard it in hopes of higher pri...

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What you need to know to buy Life Insurance

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Buying Life Insurance in Barrie

Life Insurance is incredibly simple.I like to think of life insurance as being similar to buying a car. There are many different types of vehicles out there... cars, trucks, vans, etc. Just like there are many different types of life insurance p...

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Newsletter - January 2013

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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May we offer our sincere wishes to you and your family for a healthy, safe and prosperous 2013.Speaking of prosperity, allow us to start with positive news...the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicts Canada will lead...

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Think Coverage Not Product

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Life Insurance Coverage

It seems alot of people may not fully understand life insurance. Countless times I have sat down with people to review their insurance needs and their existing policies and they are lacking the appropriate insurance set up.Unfortunetly, I think many...

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Risk Free Return or Return Free Risk?

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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It is interesting how herd investing and recency bias works. People often make poor investment decisions because they "Follow the Herd" and do what everyone else is doing and most people think what has recently happened will continue to happen foreve...

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Debt - The New Normal

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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It is no surprise that we are having debt issues in Canada. Most people are feeling the pressure. I have included below a piece that illustrates this reality.Much like anything in life that we are trying to fix, the first step is awareness. Be aware...

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Breakfast with Dan Bastasic

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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I had the privledge the other day to have breakfast with vetran fixed income investor Dan Bastasic. Dan has recently moved to IA Clarington from Mackenzie Financial. He now manages a corporate bond, equity income, and strategic income mandate. Dan ha...

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GIC Rates in Canada

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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To see the rates of all GIC providers in Canada click on the image belowSource: canoemoney.caDid you know you can often earn a higher rate of return and get added benefits by purchasing a GIC from a Life Insurance Company? ---When dealing in fin...

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Don't let a good Recession go to waste

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Although we may not be in the perfect definition of a recession, we can rightfully say we are in recessionary times. Unemployment is still high, interest rates are still low and economic growth has stalled.When it comes to financial decisions, most p...

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Newsletter - October 2012

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Here is a fall newsletter produced by our team, and investment dealership Banwell Financial Inc.“Quietly, ever so quietly corporate earnings in America are going to an all-time high.” Fred Sturm, Chief Global Investment Strategist Mackenzie Inves...

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The Paid to Wait Strategy

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Our Paid to Wait Strategy consists of owning a broadly diversified portfolio of select sovereign bonds, corporate bonds (investment grade and high yield), real estate investment trusts (REITs), dividend paying equities, and infrastructure assets. Thi...

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The Story of Mr. Market

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Alot of people lose a lot of money investing. Many times the reason is because they let Mr. Market take advantage of them...This story was written by father of value investing Benjamin Graham in his classic book "The Intelligent Investor" originally...

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Variable Annuities

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Stock Market volatility and low interest rates stressing out your retirement income? Guaranteed Variable Annuities provide a guaranteed floor of growth (prior to withdrawals) of 5% per year, and a guaranteed floor of income in the withdrawal phase of...

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The Three M's of Mutual Funds

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Mutual funds get alot of flack, and dont get me wrong they should there is a lot of terrible funds out there...But dont kid yourself, there is also great money managers out there who can do a far better job than you, me, or most stock brokers out the...

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Why the average person is broke

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Of 100 men at age 6554 will be BROKE (live too long)36 will be DEAD (live too short)5 will still be WORKING (no choice)1 will be RICH (money at work)Source: Statistics Canada Why the Average Family/Person is Broke !The SituationStart working: Age 30...

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RRSP 101 - Deferral

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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An important thing to understand about RRSP‘s is the concept of Tax Deferral. What does this mean?Tax Deferral–This simply means that you will not have to pay tax on the money that your money makes for you until later when you need it.Don’t wor...

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Useful Calculators

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Check out these great useful calculators that will help you understand and get organized with your financial affairs. Send us a message if you would like help using or understanding one. Financial Needs Analysis     &nbs...

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RRSP 101 - Deductions

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Alot of people arent totally aware of how the RRSP tax refund works, so I am going to do my best to explain it to you. I think it is important that people understand the pros and cons of RRSP`s and what this term even means.First off and RRSP stands...

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How long until my money doubles???

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Someone asked me the other night "Hey Mr.Cook, how long will it take to double my money?"...Now one would think that this is a question that is impossible to answer...However there is actually a very simple formula you can use that will give you an a...

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Gold, Platinum and Silver

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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Throughout history, gold has represented wealth and power.  The value of gold has withstood the test of time and today remains (increasingly) an essential part of the foreign exchange reserves of almost every nation. It is interesting to note th...

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TFSA - Not your average bank account

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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One of the most common misconceptions is that a Tax Free Savings Account is just a checking account that you get at the bank. Although some Banks offer a superior savings rate for a TFSA, you could be missing out on taking advantage of a great wealth...

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Personal and Financial Information Organizer

Geoff Cook - CFP, CHAIP

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It is important that we stay organized with our financial affairs. We reccomend keeping certain important information in a safe, easy to find spot in case in the future aspouse, family member, or friend needs to take care of something for us.Here is...

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Dont Forget These Two Simple Steps When Estate Planning

The pure purpose of Estate Planning is to make an efficient transfer of wealth. Efficiency of Estate Planning is measured in two parts:1) Tax: It is important to plan your estate in a way that will transfer wealth in a tax-efficient manner—set...

Read more
How to Save the Family Cottage

We have all heard the old saying, “Two things are guaranteed in life: 1. Death 2. Taxes.”We are at an interesting time right now where prices of assets over the last 50+ years have seen a tremendous growth spurt. I always find it interesting talk...

Read more
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