Articles
It was a dark and stormy night…
Uncertainty and danger lurked around every corner as an eerie orange glow lingered over the street. While elbows were up, they could only remain so for so long, and one misstep could spell disaster.
Uncertainty and danger lurked around every corner as an eerie orange glow lingered over the street. While elbows were up, they could only remain so for so long, and one misstep could spell disaster.
Millions of retail investors remain underserved by traditional financial advice channels due to high account minimums, excessive fees, poor service, and a lack of trust in the advice being offered. Historically, many turned to their banks for guidance. Unfortunately, bank branch sales personnel—often cynically referred to as "regulated finfluencers"—typically promote only proprietary products, essentially acting as distributors of sponsored content. These products are frequently high-cost, actively-managed mutual funds with embedded sales commissions, creating significant conflicts of interest that regulatory frameworks attempt, but often fail to mitigate.
Many Canadians have been experimenting with Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, whether it’s a chatbot, like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, or it’s an AI-built application like video editors, content creation, audio translation, note-taking apps, etc. It has become a fast-evolving space, and we believe the tools will continue to grow at a rapid pace, but even in these early days of widespread AI, we feel there are many ways to utilize AI as a finance companion.
In terms of net worth, what does it take to be considered rich today? In the HBO series Succession, loosely based on the Murdoch family, naïve Cousin Greg boasts that he expects to inherit $5 million from his grandfather’s will, and he’ll be “golden”. “You can’t do anything with five million,” a wealthy relative tells him. “Five is a nightmare. Can’t retire. Not worth it to work. It will drive someone ‘un poco loco.’”.
In September’s issue of Canadian MoneySaver, I presented a list of eight questions to consider asking your financial advisor, and a basic overview of the sorts of answers you should be looking for. If you haven’t read that article yet, I’d suggest you go back and review it before diving into this one.
Investors interested in buying high and selling higher should hold shares of companies in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector. In its simplest sense, AI uses computer algorithms to sort through billions of bits of data to recognize patterns, then analyzes the patterns to make decisions and predictions, while, if employing machine learning, simultaneously learning from mistakes. The learning process means AI programs may become more intelligent over time, causing doomsayers to worry that eventually AI will be able to take over the world.
Very long-time Canadian MoneySaver readers may recall that I wrote several articles between 1994 and 2003. Back in the day, I wrote about contrary investing and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (“Beat the Dow”). Years later, I contributed stories talking about the inclusion of Private and Alternative Equities in your investment plan. After a five-year hiatus, I’m delighted to be back.
On Saturday, September 13, 2025, the Canadian MoneySaver team was excited to take part in The Toronto MoneyShow at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This marked our 13th consecutive year attending the event - a tradition we’re always proud to be a part of. This year’s theme, The Great Canadian Money Reset, could not have been more timely. It was reflected throughout the show in engaging sessions on topics including making the case for investing in Canadian Energy, exploring the growing influence of financial influencers, examining where we stand in the current economic cycle, discussing the hot topic of AI, and much more.
Recently, Canadians have soured on the United States as a vacation destination. Canadians are going south less and re-exploring the beauty of Canada. To me, there is much here in Canada, from the amazing beauty of Cape Breton to the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia and Alberta, and so much in between.
We Canadians love our country, our culture, and our diversity. So, many of us are shopping at home now, snowbirds are moving back, and U.S. expats living in Canada are wondering if maintaining their U.S. citizenship with costly tax filing compliance is worth it.
We Canadians love our country, our culture, and our diversity. So, many of us are shopping at home now, snowbirds are moving back, and U.S. expats living in Canada are wondering if maintaining their U.S. citizenship with costly tax filing compliance is worth it.