Financial Planning More Difficult for Women
Financial planning for women must account for gender inequality, writes Peter Watson. Women face financial obstacles to being financially secure. In a perfect world there would be no difference to the financial challenge between men and women. That is not the case. Women are more often underpaid when compared to equally qualified men. Earning less […]
Federal Election 2021: Will it Affect My Investments?
Investors wonder how the federal election results will affect their investment, writes Peter Watson. Investors have two questions. Who will win the federal election and how will this affect my investments? We will look at the United States for some insight. It has a two-party system. Democrats are considered more socialistic and the Republicans more […]
Successful Investing Requires a Long-Term Approach
Investors are advised to take a long-term approach to investing writes Peter Watson. Patience, patience, patience. That is a key to successful investing. Over the years I have heard many stories of people making investment decisions that ended up to be very damaging to their investment returns. In hindsight, their decision to buy or sell […]
Residential Rentals Putting a Strain on Personal Finances
Increasing residential rental rates are getting too expensive for many Canadians, writes Peter Watson. The increasingly tight residential rental market could put a strain on individuals’ personal finance. When we think of real estate our focus tends to be on homeownership and escalating prices due to supply and demand realities. More people want to buy […]
Invest in Stocks – Prepare to Lose
There will be a time when you lose money. That is a certainty. The assumption is based on a broadly diversified portfolio versus owning just a few stocks. Information is taken from the S&P 500, a US stock index. Yes, some years you win when your stock portfolio increases in value. Winning is easy. Anyone […]
Is It Time to Re-Balance Your Investment Portfolio?
Re-balancing your investment portfolio is needed when stock and bond values fluctuate, writes Peter Watson. Do you own too much stock? Recently, because of the rising stock values as opposed to bond values, your asset allocation between stocks and bonds has likely shifted. Let’s look at a simple example. The starting point of developing a […]
Investment Predictions Often Do Not Come True
Using predictions to make investment decisions can lead to disappointing outcomes, writes Peter Watson. Making investment predictions can be dangerous. A rhetorical question. Looking back to last year in March, would an investor liked to have predicted the pandemic was coming? With the knowledge of a pending COVID-19 crises, most investors would have sold all […]
Languishing can be Damaging to Your Personal Finances
Languishing after COVID-19 could be harmful to earning an income. That can be detrimental to your ability to be financially self-sufficient, writes Peter Watson. Your financial success has a new potential obstacle to overcome. This obstacle was discussed in a New York Times article earlier this year on languishing. Early research suggests that languishing could […]
Please Do Not Destroy the Planet
United Nations paper on sustainable development encourages environmental stewardship, and the recent proposal of our federal government will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, writes Peter Watson. Is there a way of investing that reflects our personal values? Yes. The best way to describe this type of investment is with the letters ESG, which stands for […]
Investment Returns are Based on Expected and Unexpected Factors
The fundamentals of investing are logical. In many cases investing can seem anything but logical. Investing in FAANG stocks produced extraordinarily high returns during the last decade. A return was expected, the extraordinary high return was unexpected. Over the last decade FAANG stocks did exceptionally well. FAANG represents Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google’s parent […]