In my financial planning practice I find that if a client asks a question or makes a comment it is probable that someone else had that same thought but did not take the opportunity to ask me. The ensuing discussion or explanation sometimes should be shared with a...
Feedback on my newsletter indicates some clients would like the latest information on financial products. I want to differentiate this space from the thousands of other columns and blogs on financial matters. We probably don’t need more financial information. We...
I recently started a serious fitness program that involved one on one sessions with a personal trainer. The first time we met she had me record what I had eaten for the past few days. What an eye opener. My diary showed that although I wasn’t eating enough calories...
Let me introduce Dennis to you. He was featured last August. Dennis had a busy summer. Here are a few random financial tidbits he discovered. In one survey of Canadians aged 35-44 90% agreed that it was important to have a financial plan in place at age 35. How many...
Just this month one of my clients, a couple with 2 teens, achieved a milestone in their finances. They paid off their mortgage. Their original amortization was 25 years but 11 years after purchasing their house they are now proud OWNERS and can tell their bank to take...
This is the time of year when we reflect on possible seasonal excesses and think sober thoughts of cutting back, diets, etc. In the past I have mentioned variations of the dreaded ‘B’ word , and have provided a tool for keeping track of your spending....
Here we are in the season that is supposedly summer. Hopefully everyone is enjoying their holidays. A couple ‘events’ that my clients have experienced highlight the importance of keeping up with paper correspondence. I can see you all rolling your eyes equating...
Here is a personal story on everyone’s second favorite time of year. Tax time! 2008 was the first year my daughter had an official job. Her T4 arrived the other week in the mail. So we sat down to do her tax return. Being that the T4 was the only official document she...
Zany Zant had just invented a nifty device that measured indifference and disgust. He wanted to test it and to observe if there was correlation between the two emotions. So he asked his best friend Fast Hopper if he would wear it for a day. “No prob” said Fast Hopper....
“People are living longer than ever before, a phenomenon undoubtedly made necessary by the 30 year mortgage.”(1) Want to know how quickly financial facts change? Consider that since I intended to write this newsletter the government has instituted a 360... 
