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 wa...
[Video] - How The Economic Machine Works
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...
A Story About 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...
Newsletter - January 2013
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...
Risk Free Return or Return Free Risk?
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...
Breakfast with Dan Bastasic
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...
I don't want to invest my money now because...
A lot of investors are worried these days and rightfully so, there is a lot of uncertaintly in the world right now. Whats interesting is that there has always been uncertainty and reasons why "not to invest".I will never forget a point made by Warren...
The Story of Mr. Market
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...
Variable Annuities
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...
The Three M's of Mutual Funds
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...
RRSP 101 - Deferral
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...
RRSP 101 - Deductions
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...
How long until my money doubles???
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...
A common misunderstanding about TFSA and RRSP
I am constantly explaining a common misunderstanding to people. They are not aware of their freedom with their RRSP's and TFSA's.Let me explain...What most people think is that these are accounts that you go and open at a Bank and that is the only pl...
