2008 January | WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com

Selecting a Financial Planner

Posted by Preet on Jan 31, 2008 | 13 comments

A reader asked a question regarding how to select a financial planner. I’ve been humming and hawing trying to figure out the best advice to provide on how to go about doing this. I decided to do a Google search on that very question. There were a number of things I noticed: 1. There are lots of “checklists” out there on how to pick a financial advisor. 2. Many of those checklists are written by financial advisors. 3. Just as many of those checklists are written by financial advisor association groups. (Who basically steer you to one of their members) 4. I couldn’t find any truly good lists/articles (mind you I only looked for about 10 minutes, but...

The RRSP Book Gets National Press

Posted by Preet on Jan 30, 2008 | 5 comments

I was quite surprised to see that Tuesday’s National Post included a 3/4 page article on yours truly! I had a great chat with Jonathan Chevreau after he agreed to take a look at the RRSP book. You can read the article that appeared in the paper here. (I say ‘surprised’ because I didn’t think it would be such a lengthy article.) Mr. Chevreau even posted a follow up article on his blog, The Wealthy Boomer. You can read the follow up by clicking here. You’ll note that there was a fair bit of coverage on some of the products I use (or don’t use). I had some phone calls with mutual fund providers and ETF manufacturers today as a result...

Build Your Own Principal Protected Notes

Posted by Preet on Jan 29, 2008 | 4 comments

*An intermediate level topic today. Principal Protected Notes have many critics – mostly because of the fees and all the clauses that seem to favour the issuer as opposed to the investor. For those who are not familiar with Principal Protected Notes (PPNs), essentially they are investments that will guarantee your principal investment for a set number of years, while at the same time allowing for the participation in the gains of riskier investments (if they make money). So on the surface, it would seem that you are getting the best of both worlds. You are guaranteed not to lose money as long as you hold your investment for a set period of time (normally around...

Are you saving comfortably? Maybe it's time to up the ante…

Posted by Preet on Jan 28, 2008 | 5 comments

Usually when the new year rolls around, I will suggest to my clients who are saving through PAC plans (Pre-Authorized Contributions) to increase their regular contributions by a set percentage (usually by inflation if not more). The main reason is that they have normally gotten used to their regular savings activities, and while there may have been some "teething" problems at the beginning, maybe now it is not "cramping their style" anymore. For example, let’s say someone set up a $100/month savings plan at the beginning of 2007. Come the New Year, I would ask them if they would like to try saving $110/month for a few months. The next year,...

Money Movie Giveaways! Win a free DVD!

Posted by Preet on Jan 24, 2008 | 31 comments

I mentioned that I would be running some exciting promotions on this blog and here is the first! I’m going to be giving away a DVD Movie about Money every two months – and the movies were all featured on the Forbes list of "Top Movies about Money". 1. Wall Street2. Boiler Room3. Casino4. Trading Places5. Glengarry Glen Ross6. Ocean’s Eleven (The original from 1960) Every two months I will be running a give-away and picking a winner at random and they will have their pick of one of the above listed movies. Once a winner picks a movie, it will be removed from the list. So the first winner will have their pick of any of the above listed...

The Toronto Maple Leafs are Hockey's Most Valuable Team at $413 Million

Posted by Preet on Jan 24, 2008 | 0 comments

Ah yes, the business of sports is a whacky one. Athlete salaries are reaching new highs every year as are the brands of the teams themselves. The Toronto Maple Leafs are hockey’s most valuable team according to Forbes magazine. (This clearly has nothing to do with how well the team is performing.) Here is a list of the the most valuable teams of different sports: 7. US Auto Racing – Roush Fenway NASCAR Team – $316 Million6. Hockey – Toronto Maple Leafs – $413 Million5. Basketball – New York Knicks – $608 Million4. Baseball – New York Yankees – $1.2 Billion3. World Football – Manchester United – $1.4...

Analysts have a tough job

Posted by Preet on Jan 23, 2008 | 0 comments

I studied neuroscience in university and I was supposed to be a bio-tech stock analyst when I first got into the financial industry – but as I was studying for the preliminary exams I found myself more attracted to the financial planning aspects of finance. I’m pretty happy in retrospect that I picked financial planning… I like the direct contact with retail investors. Analysts have a tough job. They are putting forth the views they have based on the information available to them – and I’m sure they do a much, much better job at that than I could ever do. But the problem then, must be that they do not have all the correct information...