Florida is often described, uncharitably, as God’s waiting room – a warm no man’s land where seniors go to wile away their remaining years. The view is that these folk, happily retired, do very little other than sit in a rocking chair and swing the occasional golf club. But conventional retirement, including this snowbird stereotype, is increasingly out of step with modern living.
Even Albert Einstein, a man with a brain capable of solving the most complex physics equations, stumbled when it came to taxes. “The hardest thing in the world to understand,” he said, “is the income tax.” These days, tax advice is everywhere. TV ‘experts’, newspaper columnists and social media influencers will dispense tips on how to keep more of your money, but these brush strokes, at best, aren’t suitable for everyone and, at worst, perpetrate damaging misconceptions about certain benefits and how to use them.
Investing money at its most basic is just delayed consumption. Putting $250 away versus buying another pair of shoes simply means you can buy those shoes at some point in the future. It makes sense then that the baseline goal of investing is to protect the purchasing power of your money. The good news is that by paying basic attention to asset allocation, tax rules, costs and generally not overmanaging, the goal of staying ahead of inflation is achievable!
Do you remember the Fire Phone, or the Coolest Cooler? What about the Microsoft Kin or Juicero? No, well you’re probably not alone.
Most investment portfolios have three basic components. Cash that has option value for future buys, equity for growth that hopefully exceeds inflation, and income that generates cash flow. Normally, our income investments are stable - we get some capital appreciation with predictable cash distributions. That was the case, until 2022!
So much of the investment industry is focused on the “how” - how to get enhanced returns, how to build a portfolio, how to save tax, or how to capture the “next big thing”. Very few companies emphasize the “Why” but given the increased commoditization of investment products and the pressure on many advisors to sell proprietary funds, it’s never been so important for individual investors to find their “Why”.
Our House, the gentle Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young classic - written, incidentally, by Graham Nash - strikes an emotional beat familiar to many homeowners or wannabe homeowners. The song describes an everyday scene yet it’s beloved by millions because, as the cliché goes, home is where the heart is. It’s also why decisions around selling or buying real estate, usually the biggest asset a person will own, go far beyond a financial transaction.
Keeping your nerve when you see minus signs on your portfolio statement is not easy. Throw in a global pandemic, the rising cost of living, interest rate hikes, and a news cycle of war and political division, and it’s little wonder many investors want to exit the market and hunker down until the good times return.
Bull versus bear? Mutual fund versus ETF? How do they work out the inflation rate? How many times have your eyes skimmed cluelessly over an article or nodded in meetings at investment terms that are familiar but mean nothing to you?
Decades into the information age, have we hit peak screens? Everywhere you look, people are offering advice. Investing “tips”, stock “insights”, and promises of “financial security” abound across social media and TV.
There’s a reason the likes of Coldplay and U2 sell millions of albums - people know what they’re getting. Whether it’s The Edge’s chiming guitar or Chris Martin’s lovelorn warbling, familiarity is comforting. Less widely known, and arguably more interesting bands, like Sparks for example, who switch up genres, often endure more sporadic profits.
Filling up your gas tank in recent months is like seeing the bill for your toddler’s birthday party – “how much?” For a smooth family life, however, both must be paid.
Gordon Gekko hasn’t done the investment industry’s reputation any favours. Michael Douglas’ unscrupulous movie character quickly became shorthand for all that is wrong with Wall Street and financial markets with his infamous ‘greed is good’ speech. But you don’t have to look too far away from the big screen to see real-life examples of people whose actions have perpetuated the link between the wealth industry, untrustworthy characters and get-rich-quick trades.
Intergenerational wealth, on our TV screens at least, conjures images of Succession’s Logan Roy dismissing one of his weasel kids with a sneer and expletive. In the real world, there is a monumental wealth shift happening, with US$30 trillion expected to be passed over to 90 million millennials in the next decade alone.
For years, you’ve dined on meat and potatoes; sturdy fare that’s given you the strength and endurance you’ve needed. Now, however, while the prime cuts of meat still deliver, the
Canada’s benchmark interest rate hit an all-time high of 16% in 1991 – and here investors are in 2022, freaking out over projections it’ll touch 1% by June. But there’s a reason for the current unease. Despite rate increases being forecast the minute governments and central banks opened the floodgates on trillions of dollars of stimulus, things have now “got real”.
