Best reads and videos of May 2016 Kathy Waite Saskatchewan Regina

Most people are aware of tax-savers like RRSPs, TFSAs and RESPs, but did you know you can create your own tax shelter?

I keep hearing people say , I am not " bothering" to pay off my debt as interest is so low.
Right.........that means lots of your payment goes to capital and makes it a GOOD time to pay it off!
Sales people will tell you not to and invest because they want you to buy something they make commission on

Because of high interest rates, once you find yourself in the hole, it seems almost impossible to pay down your debt. Not only will this debt put a damper on any future plans of saving for a home or even a vacation, it also negatively impacts your credit score, which will make the idea of owning a home even more difficult to imagine.

Much of the movement away has been led by advisers looking for cheaper and easier ways to build client portfolios.
“We've heard time and time again how active managers will out-perform in down markets, but it never seems to happen, because active managers seem to mess up in bear markets as well,” said Don Phillips, a managing director at Morningstar.

“There is a subset of active managers that can and will beat the index, and I think you can make smart choices among active managers, but you need to find the ones that keep costs low and take a longer term view,” he said. “But just buying the indexes is never a terrible choice, which is why the outlook is not good for active management, in terms of net flows.”

A documentary created by a financial education website in support of passive
investing is attracting criticism. Director Robin Powell explains why

I’ve never been called a Communist before, and certainly not a Jihadist. But in the last few weeks I’ve been labelled both – and, I dare say, worse.

The reason? I’ve made a documentary about the fund industry. And it’s clearly hit a raw nerve.

It’s called How to Win the Loser’s Game and, without wanting to spoil it for you, it draws some pretty startling conclusions.

First, the average investor needs to forget pretty much everything they thought they knew about investing and ignore what the vast majority of investment professionals and money journalists say they should be doing.

The message is nothing new. There’s a wealth of independent, peer-reviewed evidence dating back to the 1950s that picking stocks and timing the market – or choosing an “expert” to do it for you – is a waste of time and money.

But the real issue is a deeper one: there are far too many powerful people doing really very well out of the status quo.

In fact I’m really quite heartened by the abuse that I and fellow campaigners for a fairer, more transparent investment industry have started to attract. I even managed a smile when a highly successful American fund manager suggested that those who rock the active boat “will surely rot in hell”. It’s certainly an improvement on being ignored.

It was Gandhi who said “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.” We’ve reached the ridicule stage already. And we’re ready for a fight.

Behavioral finance has uncovered various biases which are great for day-to-day survival, but somewhat maladaptive for long-term investing.

Any one of my clients will tell you I often say " if money were about math it would be simple , its mostly emotion "
Research proves we should avoid using recent or current market behavior to predict future market behaviour and believing you know more than other investors

The fields of behavioral finance and behavioral economics have uncovered various biases humans have which are great for day-to-day survival, but somewhat maladaptive for long-term investing.

Achieve wedded bliss by not arguing over money .....give a couple a session with a fee only financial planner

Make a plan and then get a fee only planner to check it for you.
I find people get bogged down in products, if the focused more on WHAT and WHY they want something then they would keep motivated

I was lucky enough to listen to and meet Robert in 2010 . Sense of humour and lots of life experience.

"One of the things I love about my job is that I get to have interesting and passionate conversations with North Americans regarding money, personal finance and fiscal responsibility. We all have a relationship with money – sometimes it is a good relationship – sometimes not."

Theres two sides to every argument and money isn't math but sometimes we have to believe the date and not be emotional

I have a Designation called Certified Cash Flow Specialist , i find spreadsheets and excel budgets dont keep people on track so I learnt a great method.
Always interesting to read what other people do ............

In the previous part of this article, I explained how I kept a spending log when I was a student and a new graduate but how I stopped once our income greatly exceeded our spending. As retirement approaches, however, I wanted a good idea of what our actual annual spending is. So I started doing the math but using a Black Box annual calculation rather than writing down every $1.75 spent on a parking meter. Here’s how I estimate our annual expenses and spending without keeping a log or journal.

Conventional wisdom that baby boomers are behind on retirement may grossly understate their ability to save during the empty nest red zone phase!

Once the kids are gone saving 30% catches you up