Finance

What makes some people better savers than others? It’s a question experts have pondered long and hard about particularly in the face of the looming demographic problem of too many old people living longer and longer and too little Government savings to support them all in retirement. ​ The solution that many OECD nations have adopted, including Canada,…

My BF has a lot of original ideas. He’s one of those idea junkies. He also has a lot of one-liners that he enjoys tossing around; some good, some bad but they still evoke a smile or at the very least a smirk. ​ One that I never tire of hearing even though I hear it a…

Last week I wrote about overcoming self limiting thinking and self-doubt. I think that mountain is possibly more challenging than Everest. Mental mind traps are the greatest obstacles to success. It’s not lack of money, or shortage of time, or x, y, z that holds most of us back. It’s fear standing in the way of…

Last week at the dinner table my financial philosophy (see about me) was challenged by my two sons, ages 10 and 11. I’m not sure how it came up but one of them (probably the eldest who aspires to be the next Donald Trump) said it was nonsense that money doesn’t make you happy. “Of course…

Okay, I’m the first to admit that fees on financial products is probably the least sexiest topic on the internet (except to advisors and fund managers maybe) but really it ought to be and I was reminded again why today in a conversation with a so called “wealth manager.” ​ Let me just say firstly that I…

In the financial media, it’s good sport to slag insurers. Let’s face it, they’re easy targets. We pay, and we pay and we pay… and then when we make a claim, they tear it to pieces with loopholes and exemptions written in microprint on the back page of page 10 and we’re left high and dry,…

This week I was approached by a friend looking for some advice on money matters. I had to emphasize the fact that I am not an authorised financial advisor (AFA). Why should they or you care whether or not I am an AFA? Because new rules introduced in the last few years specify that any…

I’m not a Catholic, a Buddhist rather, but I feel like I need to start this blog as though I were going to confession: Dear Readers; Please forgive me. It’s been five long months in between blogs. ​ This is what happens when you’re not on a deadline! It’s also what happens when you are trying to find a…

Following last week’s confessional blog, I decided this week (I have good intentions for once a week blogging now) to shower you with some link love. ​ Other bloggers will know well the virtues of link love. Outbound links to other writer’s good work offers some karma kickbacks. By generating traffic for others looking to build their readership,…

I can remember very clearly my first serious speed wobble. I must have been about six or seven years old. I was flying down a very big hill on my bicycle on one of my dad’s signature all day excursions. I wasn’t wearing a helmet (you didn’t back in the ’70s) and my brakes were…

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come across the words above on sandwiches boards outside flower shops, in magazine articles, at yoga studios where I’ve practiced or random places you’d least expect. The universe was trying to send me a message. It’s funny, though I desperately wanted to believe it was possible, the…

Sometimes in life you have to take chances. Normally I don’t leave much to chance even though I do take risks. For example, I moved to New Zealand from Canada without a place to live, without a job, and basically without the foggiest idea about what I was getting myself into. Oh, and I came with…