There are a lot of people out there who are risk-averse (well, there are a lot of people out there who don’t understand how to analyze risk at all), and the idea of purchasing an individual stock (e.g. Apple or Google or Barrick Gold or whatever) really freaks them out. This is one of the reasons why so many people invest in mutual funds or ETFs – their bankers and financial advisors tell them that the key to success (and to not losing money) is diversification. Continue Reading…
On the heels of an article from Al Jazeera, noting Papandreou warning against a ‘catastrophic’ default, I noticed a second article from the Guardian describing the scene on the square in front of the Greek capital at it plays host to thousands of enraged citizens. Continue Reading…
With the Vancouver riots exploding into mainstream media yesterday following something as economically trivial as a hockey game, I thought it would be worth a discussion about whether these riots are a sign of something much larger going on. Something bigger stirring about.
Canada and the United States are very different, culturally, but sooner or later the financial hens will come home to roost in Canada, just as they are in the US. When that happens, what does Canada look like?
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If you’re an employee in Canada, you contribute to the Canada Pension Plan. And you do so by law, regardless of whether you care about it, or whether you think it’ll actually be there for you when you retire. Admittedly, the idea of the government paying you a pension when you retire might give you warm fuzzies, but the question remains – will that money actually be there when you retire? – and if it is, given the amount of inflation we’re currently experiencing, is it going to be anywhere close to enough to live on? Continue Reading…
Amidst the seeming endless real estate mania taking place in Vancouver and the rest of the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley, I think it might be a prudent time to do some thinking about whether buying that house is really the right thing to do. Continue Reading…
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