Full-Service Investment Firms Can Be Challenged at Providing Comprehensive Advice
Financial advisors face challenges in delivering the services they offer, writes Peter Watson. Individual financial advisors and the firms where they are employed proudly communicate their service as “holistic advice.” That makes sense because certain things in life, including your personal finances, should be done thoroughly. However, from a theoretical perspective, nothing is always perfect. […]
Federal Government Loses Billions in Unpaid Taxes
Every year the federal government loses just over $22 billion in unpaid taxes, writes Peter Watson. A recent report from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) reviewed the years from 2014 to 2018. The total amount of federal taxes that were not collected during that time period was $111 billion. In an era of ever ending […]
Financial despair can have a silver lining
Today a story of success that contains good news and bad, writes Peter Watson. Early in their career, as the story was told, there were two major setbacks. A loss of a job and real estate. The theme of the story was how negative events can have positive outcomes. The person telling me the story […]
Seniors Face Many Financial Challenges
Financial challenges facing seniors include inflation, increasing medical costs and longevity, writes Peter Watson. Interest rates have been extremely low for years and that has hurt investment returns from Income bearing investments like Guaranteed Investment Certificates. Many seniors rely on this type of investment. The result of this extended period of low investment returns means […]
Millennials Prefer Financial Advisors More Than Robos
A study found that the number of Millennials that had an advisor was 40 per cent while those using automated financial services only accounted for seven per cent. The study was done by Natixis Investment Managers. I suspect the results that heavily favoured a financial advisor was because it surveyed those with at least US$100,000 […]
Better Investment Fees Disclosure is Proposed
Investors can look forward to enhanced disclosure of investment fees and costs on the mutual funds and ETFs they own, writes Peter Watson. This is a good thing, and it is a follow-up to cost disclosure requirements that were implemented in 2016. The new standard of disclosure is at the proposal stage and the objective […]
Significant Interest Rate Increases will be Painful
Last week the Bank of Canada increased interest rates by half a per cent. This is the largest interest rate hike in two decades, writes Peter Watson. Plus, there were warnings additional rate increases will be announced. The BOC also announced it will stop buying federal government bonds which it has been doing to keep […]
Federal budget attempts to balance many priorities
Canada is at a critical stage of our evolution. The federal budget highlighted some of the challenges we face as a nation, writes Peter Watson. The goal of a federal budget is to outline the income and expenses and how the government navigates between different priorities. I cannot remember a time where there have been […]
Financial Stress for First Time Homeowners
Two financial concerns for first-time homeowners are rising interest rates and declining house prices, writes Peter Watson. We can learn a lot about the possible negative emotional side effects of the real estate market by connecting the dots between real estate and personal finances. Many are new to homeownership. The same way some investors are […]
Over managing your investments could cost you money
There are two ways to manage your portfolio. You can take a consistent approach with little change in the allocation to stocks and maintaining that balance over time. Alternatively, you can make periodic shifts in the weighting of stocks and bonds. These shifts can be based on a specific criterion, or just your gut feeling […]
