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Archive for the ‘Financial commentary’ Category

Maybe an ETF

As a category of options for individual investors, ETFs have become increasingly popular since the dawning of the new millennium.

An ETF, or Exchange Traded Fund, offers opportunity to be exposed to a vast array of segments of the marketplace, including uncommon and emerging.  Part of their flashy appeal comes from availability at relatively minimal cost, i.e. management fees.

There is greater transparency than with traditional mutual funds, concerning both fees and underlying holdings. (more…)

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Art of Communication, Financial commentary, Humour, Lifestyle & Travel, Top 10, Uncategorized

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Couching Coaching

A column in the current edition of the Insurance Journal brings up the issue of coaching, albeit within the parameters of insurance versus investment advising. 

The author is a long-time coach, author, and keynote speaker, outgrowth of a highly successful career as an insurance advisor and executive manager.  His view is that coaching advice for insurance agents and insurance-based financial advisors needs to differ from that offered to investment advisors.  In practice, many of the former group are exposed to coaching designed for the latter. (more…)

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Art of Communication, Behaviour & Relationships, Business Commentary, Financial commentary, Lifestyle & Travel, Opinion, Personal Development

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Wishful Tax Deductions & Credits

As we move into another February, it’s getting to that time for many of us to look at our income tax status for the previous year. 

We can pat ourselves on the back for the good actions we took to help lower taxes (such as make regular tax-deductible contributions to a retirement savings plan or contributions to charities eligible for tax credits).  We may also have some time left for catch-up opportunities, such as the 60 days grace period for contributions to an RRSP (in Canada). (more…)

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Financial commentary, Humour, Lifestyle & Travel, Social & political humour, Top 10

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A Wider Range of Employee Benefits

To what extent might we see the landscape expand in what are deemed to be ‘employee benefits’, in relation to being potentially taxable?

Take the case of the electric automobile. (more…)

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Business Commentary, Financial commentary, Humour, Uncategorized

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What is ‘Independent Advice’?

An article in the current edition of The Insurance & Investment Journal raises the age-old conundrum of receiving ‘independent advice’. It should be noted that the report is in support of the idea.

Why has this been such a prevailing issue, frequently a hot topic of reportage? (more…)

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Behaviour & Relationships, Business Commentary, Financial commentary, Opinion, Social & political commentary, Uncategorized

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Adding Value

The proposition of ‘adding value’ has been an underlying foundation for success in service-oriented businesses for many years.

If one wants to generate a positive, lasting and loyal, relationship with customers, providing those extra ingredients of value is vital. This could be indirectly related to business, i.e. taking clients to lunch, paying for tickets to events, etc., or more directly, such as keeping in regular contact, or going the extra mile in solving problems quickly, or obtaining more helpful data for decision making. (more…)

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Art of Communication, Behaviour & Relationships, Business Commentary, Financial commentary, Humour, Personal Development, Uncategorized

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Charitable Rewards

According to a recent report from the Fraser Institute, using tax data, the percentage of Canadians giving to charities has diminished to about 21% from a level of 25% ten years earlier. It has also gone down as a percentage of income.

Americans compare more favourably on this particular scale, with nearly 25% contributing and at a much higher rate of income than Canadians. (more…)

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Behaviour & Relationships, Business Commentary, Financial commentary, Social & political commentary, Uncategorized

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What’s in Those Titles?

An article in the April issue of The Insurance & Investment Journal tackles the issue of forthcoming restrictions on the use of financial planning titles in Ontario.

Some forks in the road needing consolidation are at the heart of this thorny issue. (more…)

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Art of Communication, Arts commentary, Business Commentary, Financial commentary, Uncategorized

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Being Advised

As we come toward the end of another calendar year, many Canadians will try to wade through a range of activities and other personal commitments.

Among issues historically many of us take stock of is our financial situation. It may involve looking to trigger capital losses to offset taxable income (gains), maximizing annual RESP or RRSP contributions (the latter with its 60 days’ grace period into the next year), and bigger picture issues such as how our investments portfolio has performed over the year, or even how effective our relationship is with our financial institution(s). (more…)

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Art of Communication, Behaviour & Relationships, Business Commentary, Financial commentary, Uncategorized

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Whoa! The Orphan Client

When I was in the financial services industry, one of the client servicing issues I dealt with, on the insurance side, concerned what have been termed ‘orphan clients’.

Such clients came about from departed representatives, tending to fall into a category of not high priority allocation, or at least not priority follow-up. They might be awaiting a trigger for administrative staff to arrange a replacement agent. (These times were on the cusp of tighter compliance expectations.) (more…)

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Behaviour & Relationships, Financial commentary, Uncategorized

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