Contents: Advisers don’t understand ‘alternative funds’, travel health insurance claim denied? rising equity glide-path in retirement, Canada real estate industry: “no landing, no slowdown, no correction”? pension funds eliminate underfunding but Nortel pensioners still 40% underwater, old 60:40 allocation still good- just remember to rebalance, not just index funds but portfolios built on them better, […]

Contents: Scamming the elderly, tougher standards for advisers? retirement income considerations, money resolutions, housing wealth rebound less than perceived, US housing flat in October, shorting Canadian real estate?  rising retirement/pensionable ages, Nortel pensioners screwed again? hyper-inflationary threats not materialized (so far), income gap: widens in rich countries but narrows globally, academics for sale? imploding Japanese […]

Contents: Regulators struggle with fiduciary and mutual fund fee reform, stay away from market-linked GICs, embryonic Canadian online investor advice models, catch-up steps before retirement, long-term care insurance- Not, stop-loss orders- handle with great care, Canadian real estate still on fire but experts warn of significant correction, expanded CPP dead (for now at least)- long […]

Contents: Act on underfunded retirement, emergency rooms, advice/advisers/planners vs. products/salesmen/brokers and fiduciary care, Bogle: must be a fiduciary if touching other people’s money, online automated advice, Canadian banks reject Power-of-Attorneys, home prices in Canada: off -0.1% MoM but still up 3.4% YoY, U.S. foreclosure activity lowest in 8 years, pension reform: expanded CPP? judge surprised: […]

Contents: Advisers for all, picking a financial planner, retirement date risk, snowbirds and taxes, ‘smart’ beta= dumb beta + smart marketing? mutual fund fees? foreign investor driven Miami condo construction, Roubini on housing bubbles: Canada is in, Canada’s real estate rebound? re-insurance industry fears for coastal cities, Feds put an ideological stake in the heart […]

Contents: investment advisers in Canada, long-term care insurance? Investment Policy Statements, U.S. home prices up but hottest markets slowing, Toronto condos: not about housing but profits and rents about to drop, needed/coming 401(k) changes: outcomes vs. contributions, OECD: coming austerity’s impact on pensioners, $1B spent on lawyers/”professionals” from Nortel estate, risk off the table as […]

Contents: Estate considerations, travel insurance for Canadians, delaying Social Security (and CPP/OAS), crooked advisers, financial planners/’advisers’, errors of the ultra-wealthy, Florida new foreclosures down but auctions up, expanded CPP inevitable? pension fee caps counter-productive, smart-beta risks opaque, Buttonwood conference video clips.   Personal Finance and Investments In the Globe and Mail’s “Want the kids to […]

Contents: Sharpe/Ameriks/Cunnif on retirement finance, insured annuities-still questionable, calendar based investing is astrology, fee-only vs. fee-based and ‘broker-dealers’ vs. fiduciaries, long-term care insurance owners in for another premium increase?  Canada’s house price increase slowing- or is it teetering? Canada’s house stats not all credible? Florida house sellers reducing asking prices, rising seas affect beachfront property […]

Contents: Buffett: buy and index fund, retirement investment tools, universal life still problematic, is CIPF over-rated? retirees advised to leverage? fund investor returns trail fund returns, U.S. housing up 12.8% YoY but Las Vegas/Miami still >40% below peak, Canada’s no-bubble housing bubble, house auctions don’t need agent, investors compete with families for housing, provincial finance […]

Contents: Prepped for next crash? GIC guarantees not all the same, regaining clients’ trust, condo ‘reversions’, Florida house affordability down , signs of a bleak retirement, misleading 401(k) numbers, boomers ripping off generation X/Y/Z, what matters to charitable givers, smart(?) beta, Nobel winners on equity bubbles: apparent disagreement might just be reinforcing that passive/indexed approach […]