The standard approach for determining insurance need begins with discounting the loss of future income if someone becomes disabled or deceased. This makes for a good start, but deeper inquiry and analysis is necessary to arrive at an amount of coverage that truly reflects the economic impact for a family that loses a mother. In […]

Despite mixed earnings,  an ongoing pandemic and the threat of considerably higher taxes coming with Joe Biden’s administration, markets have continued to nudge higher over the past couple of months.  It would be normal, with signs of an overheated market to wonder, a) why things remain so buoyant and b) when we’ll see the next […]

We’re regularly working towards improving our education so that we can help you. One of the things we did (well Mark and I did) this Christmas holiday was to review The Psychology of Money. It’s a book detailing timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness, written by Wall Street Journal columnist Morgan Housel. The book […]

There’s a cognitive bias known in Behavioral Economics named Loss Aversion Bias. Boiled right down, it means that we are roughly twice as concerned about our losses as we are our gains.  Historically speaking it’s been one of the major things that keep investors from earning what they can. For some reason, the brain is hardwired […]

With the exception of some volatility in the last few weeks, stock markets have remained amazingly resilient.  Given that corporate earnings in numerous sectors have collapsed, it would be easy to assume a significant market pullback would have similarly occurred.    That may come yet but the fact that we’ve had such relative resiliency since […]

We’re not only in a pandemic, but we’ve also got a national housing crisis on our hands.  Due to both technology and the Coronavirus, people are being left behind and losing ground in record numbers.   We may see a wave of evictions like Canada has never seen.  So, last year, CMHC set an ambitious goal.  […]

The economic and coronavirus news remains grim, yet the markets have remained on largely an upward trend.   Why? Inflation is coming.    With the news last week that the U.S. economy shrank at a historically annualized rate of almost 33% in the April to June quarter along with news that the U.S. Federal weekly […]

When I decided to join the family firm about three years ago, I made my decision on two factors. Independence and ethics.    As a child growing up in the home of a family that was always in the financial business, I learned more about it at a young age than I necessarily wanted to […]

It’s May 29th, 2020.    Canada and much of the world is opening up.  The Coronavirus is still on the march. At least for the moment, things appear to be improving.  Local infection rates are dropping. Substantial scientific progress is being made (see here, here and even here) With things looking better locally than a month […]

Markets have moved upwards over the last month despite deteriorating fundamentals.  Optimism around reopening and pent up demand, combined with the alternative of record low-interest rates, appears to be driving short-term equity performance, despite the reality of the situation at street level.  Irrespective of whether we get a second wave, a second peak or no […]