I’ve been asked many times to share my favorite finance book, especially for beginners. Until today I have struggled to say what it was, but I think I have cracked it. The book I recommend is 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. This post will explain the reason why I found it such […]
One size does not fit all in Financial Advice
Going on what I am seeing online, even when planners take the time to make a fact find for their client, solutions are frequently very linear in thinking. I think that this this is due to 3 important factors: Lack of real world experience on the part of the planner – the industry has an […]
The Finance Forum Digest
I’ve been spending what free time I have working on the Forum, and we are starting to see some interesting conversations unfolding there. At a high level the Forum is divided into Travel (Miles, Points and Cashback) and Personal Finance (Investments, Savings, Debt, Taxes). And we also have some slightly off topic areas, the most […]
Robinhood taking from the poor and giving to the rich
Robinhood is another stock trading startup backed with heavy venture money. CNN Money states “Robinhood wants to eliminate those commissions and make trading as easy as ordering a car on Uber or Lyft.” great… just what this economy needs.Lowering the barriers to trading brings in more cheap, and dumb money. Build an App with zero […]
The Stock Market – 10 months with no gains?
I read an article this morning by Barry Ritzholtz at Bloomberg that started off with this humdinger of a statement. “Here we are, 10-plus months into the year, and we have nothing to show for it.” Then quickly caveated with an “At least, that is the case if we measure our progress by the gains (or […]
Financial Planner, do no harm
The Hippocratic Oath is most commonly associated with the medical profession, and while it was first written around 5th Century BC, it remains part of modern professional conduct to this day. The original oath is actually a quite ‘non- politically correct’Do, and most people actually think of the Hippocratic Oath with regard to the latin, Primum […]
Can you Read a MorningStar Report?
We had a conversation recently in the Forum about picking funds from MorningStar Reports. Let’s breakdown what is happening here, and hopefully provide some ideas and education on the way. Firstly, some formalities:A Mutual Fund is a collection of individual stocks, or funds that is most often actively managed by fund manager/s. Each fund has a philosophy […]
Do you know your Stop Loss Order from your Stop Limit Order?
Filling out a stock order correctly is an important skill to have for any investor, including a Passive investor as ETFs trade on the market. This post will help you understand the choices you have when placing a trade, and when to use each type of order, if at all.The below list shows the available […]
Can you afford a Financial Advisor?
There is a real battle on right now for new clients for financial advisors – the battleground is at the Generation XY level. Let’s bust through some of the bullshit, and discover who actually needs an advisor, and what fees are really worth.Firstly, we need to acknowledge that everyone is playing around with the benchmark […]
Goal Based vs Transaction Based Financial Planning
I received an email over the weekend asking me how to invest a substantial cash position. As I am not yet designated yet as a Registered Investment Advisor,I couldn’t provide specific advice. However, I found my response to be an interesting example of the differences in the planning world, it highlights not only the difference between transaction based […]