Many Older People Need Better Financial Advice
Many older Canadians are not getting the proper financial advice, writes Peter Watson. The quality of the financial advice you get from your advisor is both understandable and concerning. Younger investors aged 18 to 34 are not happy with their financial advisor, according to a Vanguard study. Only just over one in three felt they […]
Investment Regulation Can be a Negative for Investors
In our modern-day world regulation and compliance issues seem to be everywhere. My observation of regulation is it continues to get more complex and more time-consuming. That is certainly true in the investment business. On a positive note, I agree there should be a high standard of conduct for people providing financial planning and investment […]
Better financial management is needed in Ontario
There is a level of hypocrisy on how our Ontario government implements financial management, writes Peter Watson. On a positive note, starting next year Ontario students must achieve 70 per cent on a financial literacy test as a requirement to graduate from high school. Education Minister Stephen Lecce said one of the skills taught will […]
Will Trump Issues Cause a Stock Market Crash?
What we know from history is stock markets can be very volatile when the world is nervous, writes Peter Watson. There is potential for periods of nervousness ahead. Donald Trump, the former president, was recently found guilty on all 34 counts by 12 members of the jury. Immediately after receiving the verdict, he staged an […]
Businesses are Failing
The cruel reality of owning a business is sometimes they fail, writes Peter Watson. There is financial hardship within the business community. Some businesses are closing their doors. We recently went on a shopping outing in a different community. The stores seemed surprisingly deserted. One business owner explained what we noticed. Business activity in their […]
Government Debt is a Risk for Canadians
Government debt is a financial risk that affects us all, writes Peter Watson. Will the mountain of federal and provincial debt cause Canada to go into a financial tailspin? Let’s consider the facts. The recent federal budget projected a deficit of $40 billion. This will add to our debt which is already over $1 trillion. […]
April Showers Bring May Flowers
A comparison between how flowers grow and investing, writes Peter Watson. Today we are going to look at investing through the eyes of Mother Nature. Humans often rate the weather as good or bad. Sun is good. Rain is bad. The same rating system can be applied to investing. Stock market increases are good but […]
Disappointing Federal Budget
The federal budget was disappointing, writes Peter Watson. This federal budget was a missed opportunity. But first we will start with a positive. The budget contained many strategies designed to build more housing units. These ideas were publicized in previous weeks. Affordable housing is an issue for Canadians and a political requirement if the Liberal […]
Stock Markets are Shrinking
There are significantly less publicly traded shares available to individual investors, writes Peter Watson. Investors can purchase publicly traded shares of companies they wish to invest. This can be via a direct purchase or by owning a mutual fund that has acquired shares. Most portfolios have a strong allocation to stocks and therefore the declining […]
News can be confusing for investors
News can be very confusing, writes Peter Watson. We live in the modern age of 24 seven news streaming at us from our smart devices. That can cause a problem. The psychology of news or more importantly how people interpret news is based on our desire to hear the bad things of life. News that […]