Investing

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Here’s the last principle in our series on how your finances are like your lingerie. BIG HINT: it’s the most important one! Read on for the goods.

Principle 4: You deserve a personalized fit.

You really do. Maybe you picked out that first “grown-up” bra on your own, peeked over your shoulder in the fitting room, decided it was a “good enough” fit, then plunked it down on the counter and paid. But every woman I have ever known who has been through the professional bra-fitting experience comes out a changed woman. Their clothes fit better. They stand up straighter. Their…assets are optimized.

How well your investments fit your life and how well they perform for you deserves at least the same level of care and attention as the fit and feel of your bra. And here is secret number four: getting that fit right can make a whole heckuva difference in how well you are set up to handle what life throws at you.

If you aren’t confident about how to judge how well your investments fit, consider working with someone who knows - someone who can cast a professional eye over your assets, help you understand your options, and suggest alternatives to empower you in achieving your own individual goals.

In future posts, we will explore how to find and work with a financial advisor, how various kinds of investments work, and more. But for now, pull up a chair, grab your glass of wine, and breathe: you’ve got four new secrets to share.

A version of this article was originally published at The Best Kept Secret: Toronto’s Resource for Women 40+.

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Here’s a secret: your finances are like your lingerie. How so?

In the next four posts, I’m going to give you four principles for understanding how your approach to lingerie and your approach to your finances are related.

I’ve also thrown in four secrets of financial planning designed to, well, uplift and support you in this area of life.

Principle 1: Just like your lingerie, your finances are intimate.

Our current environment is one in which almost anything is fair game for public display and comment. But even in an era of persistent, pervasive TMI (”too much information” - when everyone knows Britney Spears’…um, Read the rest of this entry »

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You probably already know that the shelf at your local bookstore has a whole section on retirement, and most of the books have titles like “The Retirement Time Bomb” and “Smart Women Finish Rich“.

Those titles are meant to be motivational, but they might only motivate you to avert your eyes when you walk past that section of the bookstore, thinking if you aren’t among the “smart women” who “finish rich,” you will…get blown up by a Retirement Time Bomb?

Read the rest of this entry »

whats-your-number-300pxwhats-your-numberThis is the question that has been floating around me, in the air, over the last few months. People ask me this question, they tell me they lie awake contemplating it, and they want to know if I know the answer: how much money do they need to save for retirement?

What is the exact number of dollars they need to have socked away in retirement savings accounts to fund a post-work life that works?

A life that includes some luxuries, some long-hoped-for travel or the freedom to immerse themselves in a favourite hobby, while ensuring the kids (if there are kids) are fed and educated and Read the rest of this entry »

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New US data released earlier this week shows that index investing beat actively-managed mutual funds for every market sector studied over the past five years - and the results are similar for the previous five-year period, too.

“The belief that bear markets strongly favour active investing is a myth,” says Srikant Dash, global head of research and design at Standard & Poor’s, in the latest Standard & Poor’s “Index versus Active” report.

Do I think this style of investing is right for everyone? Maybe not. (But I’m not everyone!) Am I giving up alpha? Probably.

But here’s the main reason I invest this way: it beats most of the readily-available alternatives, most of the time. And the reality is that I only have a limited amount of time to spend thinking about investing.

I’d way rather research recipes and contemplate my garden than track stocks or pay an advisor to pick mutual funds for me. For me, and arguably for most people like me, passive investing using index funds is the most appropriate solution.

But the whole mutual funds industry is pretty much set up to provide anything but index funds, meaning that most index investors are DIYers. I’ll be coming back to the theme of index investing, including lots of info on DIY investing, as the days roll by. Stay tuned!

And how do you know?

This morning’s Globe and Mail included an article providing advice on whether to consolidate your RRSP holdings if you have more than one.

I was one of the experts interviewed for the piece, and my contributions focused on what I think are among the most important factors for ensuring long-term investing success: Read the rest of this entry »

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