WHY WE NEED A NEW (SMALL TO MIDSIZED) HOUSING BOOM IN CANADA

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.  […]

SCHNEIDER INSURANCE UPDATE

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 […]

ON INDEPENDENCE

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 […]

THE QUESTIONS WE NEED TO ASK OURSELVES

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 […]

SCHNEIDER INSURANCE UPDATE

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 […]

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE

Famed investor Warren Buffett once said, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”  It seems like an appropriate quote for the last couple of weeks.  For the better part of two years, we’ve been concerned about and preparing for volatility in the markets.   Now it’s upon us in spades. The […]

HERE COMES THE VOLATILITY

It’s apparent that the volatility that we’ve been both expecting and have talked about for the last two years has arrived.  After a brief rally, the last five days have once again knocked off all of this year’s profit (and a bit) from stocks.  They’ve also sent markets into correction territory, as the potential of […]

THE DISRUPTION OF TRANSPORTATION (PT 2)

A few years back, in 2016 to be precise, we wrote an article on how technology was about to disrupt the future of transportation. It never got published. Perhaps it was a fear of looking too far out there that put us off, but the reality of a flying car, going to work on a […]

THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE AND ITS IMPACT ON RETIREMENT

There is a dawning awareness that recent advances in state of the art healthcare may soon start to cause actual human species change.  You can feel it slipping into discussions at the highest levels of the medical community. What’s happening? Profound breakthroughs are becoming routine and they’re compounding.  At the highest levels of medicine, the […]