If you’ve got kids in high school, you might have had the following conversation around the dinner table, or on the drive to hockey practice:

Your kiddo: “The (really far away) University of  XYZ was at my school today and I think I might want to go there when I graduate.”...

Dying is an unpleasant thing to think about. It’s also inevitable. None of us are getting out alive. Selling life insurance is almost as awful. There are few products on earth as universally despised as life insurance. No one likes to buy it, no one likes to talk about it, and...

To a person, all of my retired clients start with this goal: 'I do not want to be a financial burden.'  Sure, it is worded differently or coded as, 'Will we have enough?', but most people want the same thing - to be able to take care of themselves financially. 

Here is how to do that......

Financial planning is NOT...

A good financial plan is not a giant document filled with 50+ pages of charts, graphs, asset mixes, and predictions of inflation 40 years from now.

It is NOT a ‘road map to success.’ 

And it is almost guaranteed to NOT come true!

Wait, what?

...

As a financial advisor, I am compensated by charging my clients a percentage of their assets under management – the value of all of their accounts that I help manage.

In most cases, you can save about 1% by not using me. There are dozens of investment options out there that are very VERY...

There is an investment firm in Calgary called Mawer Investments and they are VERY good at what they do.

The company's slogan is 'Be Boring. Make Money' and that resonates with me at my core! Having been through a fair share of market dips in my 11ish year career, I LOVE boring (and you should...

Life insurance is always more expensive tomorrow than it is today! You can buy your newborn an awesome policy that will change their financial stars forever for less than maxing out their RESP costs.

There is no physical; applying is easy, and it is a GREAT way to divert grandparents’...

According to television ads, your financial advisor is a crook who's dead set on robbing you blind and leaving your family poor in retirement.

I have to hand it to the folks at @questrade, they have done a very good job of promoting their platform based on their fees being cheaper. I...

There is a correction in the market – even a recession – coming. I promise.

When, you ask? I have no clue and no one else does either – it's all speculation, but that's not the purpose of this note.

Yes, you (and your portfolio) should be ready for the eventual recession,...

Working with a (𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞) advisor won’t make you rich via hot stock tips or out-of-this-world returns. Investment selection is a small piece of what we do, but it is by no means where you get all of your value from.

Let me explain:

𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆: working with an advisor, you...

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫: 𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 ‘𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐝’ 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
 
To hire a team of CFAs, MBAs, and even PhD’s to manage your hard-earned retirement dollars, you need to only pay as little as 1% per...

Accounting is arguably as boring, if not more boring (or 10X more boring if you ask me) than investing and life insurance. It is so boring, that 'being an accountant' is my standard litmus test for the most boring job on earth

When I met the crew @truenorthaccounting my perception...