Nortel pensioners’ CCAA claim: How will the final windup ratio be determined? We just heard from the latest Koskie Minsky report to Nortel pensioners, that the latest ‘estimated’ windup ratio is 64%. This is the lowest number we have heard so far from official sources. The reasons suggested for this low number are because earlier […]
“This Time is Different”by Reinhart and Rogoff In a nutshell The authors provide “a quantitative history of financial crises in their various guises. Our basic message is simple: We have been here before”. They say that common theme leading to crises is “excessive debt accumulation, whether it be by the government, banks, corporations, or consumers, […]
Ontario pension reform: What really needs to be done! Reform proposals? On August 24, 2010 Ontario Minister of Finance Duncan tabled proposed reforms. These ‘reforms’ can be best described as tinkering, rather than grabbing the bull by the horn in an effort to tackle the fundamental changes that Canadian pensions, now in systemic failure, really […]
“Animal Spirits” by Akerlof and Shiller In a Nutshell Akerlof and Shiller argue that traditional macroeconomic theory has lost its way by making it more scientific, with the result that it only addresses a small part of the observed macroeconomic behavior because it only focuses on rational and economic drivers. ‘Animal spirits’ (irrational or non-economic […]
Patrik Marier- IRPP Study: Improving Canada’s retirement saving- Lessons from abroad, Ideas from home Summary Patrik Marier in the IRPP study “Improving Canada’s retirement saving- Lessons from abroad, Ideas from home”indicates that “Until now Canada’s retirement income system has done well in alleviating elders’ poverty and helping workers maintain their standard of living in retirement. […]
In CARP ActionOnline’s “Ideas for an investor friendly financial industry in Canada” I suggest three changes which would go a long way to a achieve this are: fiduciary responsibility, low-cost asset management with decoupled fee-only advice, and mutual rather than public financial corporate organizations driven by customers’ best interests.
Hot Off the Web- March 5, 2012 Personal Finance and Investments In the Financial Post’s “How much does retirement really cost” Mark Miller reports that “Although the median income for retired households is 57% that of working households, retired households spend about 80% of what working households spend. More affluent households, which have been able […]
Hot Off the Web- February 27, 2012 Personal Finance and Investments In the Globe and Mail’s “Understanding MERs, Management fees, and other costs” John Heinzl explains different components of fund costs and where you can information on these: management fee (which only covers what is paid to fund manager and mutual fund trailer fee paid […]
Hot Off the Web- February 20, 2012 Personal Finance and Investments In the Financial Post’s “Early CPP will cost you” Fred Vettese writes that “About 40% of all CPP recipients get their first cheque at age 60, the earliest age possible. This is a surprisingly high take-up rate considering they incur a 36% penalty by […]
Hot Off the Web- February 13, 2012 Personal Finance and Investments In the Globe and Mail’s “ETFs spurring shift to fee-based advice”John Heinzl writes that “Traditionally, many advisers used a transaction-based compensation system in which they earn commissions for executing trades or selling mutual funds. But the move to low-cost ETFs is going hand-in-hand with […]
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