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.”

You: A few moments of ...

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 everyone thinks it'...

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...

Retire Deb...

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?

Financial planning IS...

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 ...

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 know th...

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, but more imp...

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 will s...

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 year. I believe this is the wisest investment my clients could ever make.
 
How you ask...

Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs) were wonderful investments back in the day.
 
However, they now kind-of, sort-of suck for 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 (not all) investors.  They are tied to interest rates, and - as you probably know if you have gotten a mortgage, bought a car, or taken out a home equity loan, rates...

The top 5 reasons why paying an advisor roughly 1% per year is worth it:

1️⃣ 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙙𝙪𝙢𝙗 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨. When your rec hockey buddy tells you he's mortgaging his house to buy a penny stock or a cryptocurrency that you don't even understand, someone will be there to talk you down or at least thr...

The ultimate ‘ode to adulting’ is having an up-to-date will. There is nothing less exciting, nor less-fun to talk about with your partner, than getting a will. But here’s the thing, 100% of clients that I talk to acknowledge that they NEED a will ‼️

Here are 3 generally accepted reasons why ha...