Articles

It has been many, many moons since I authored an article for Canadian MoneySaver. I was reminded of this when I was speaking at The Money Show in September 2024. There were many people that I knew, some from seemingly another lifetime. But now, we have grown older and greyer, and hopefully, wiser with the passage of time. At least some of us have. Just like many of this magazine’s readers.

In a prior article, we discussed some common mistakes investors should try to avoid when looking for big winners. A lot of times with investing, “simply” avoiding big mistakes is half the battle. It helps to cut off those left tail risks and bad outcomes and hopefully, at worst, keep mistakes small and easy to recover from. So, by tilting our odds of success away from some common mistakes, we can now look at what we think are common factors to look for when trying to determine if we have found that next big winner.

Historically, the U.S. healthcare industry has been considered a “defensive sector” as it is one of the U.S. economy’s most predictable and resilient sectors. The reasons are quite simple: people need medicines and proper medical treatment whether the economy is prospering or in a recession. Unlike the Canadian healthcare sector, where there are not many publicly traded healthcare companies, the U.S. market is highly dynamic; the industry has created some of the best performers in terms of value creation for shareholders over the years.

In recent years, self-employment has grown in popularity across Canada, with many individuals embracing entrepreneurship as a path to professional independence. The Canadian government provides many tax write-offs to Canadians, which may be desirable. However, the process of paying taxes and writing off expenses can be confusing for a newly self-employed entrepreneur. If you are newly self-employed, one of the most crucial aspects of your business to understand is taxation requirements as outlined by the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA).

I wrote an article titled, The Latest Approach to Constructing Investment Portfolios, in May 2007 for Canadian MoneySaver. In that article, I showed two key concepts. First, how incredibly connected the world’s equity markets are. The direction of global markets plays a vital role in determining the course of the TSX or the S&P 500. World equity markets do not move in a vacuum.

For those beginning their investing journey in 2025 in order to reach long-term financial goals, the endless list of investment choices can be overwhelming. It’s impossible to evaluate every investment option, and many young investors find it challenging to even get started. Add in the fear of losing money, and the default often involves giving up for now. This is costly, since what is lost is "time invested", which is one of the key elements that impacts wealth accumulation over the long term.

The interlude between Thanksgiving and Christmas can stretch on too long for those of us who love to feast on turkey with all the trimmings. But it can be a good time to gorge on stocks instead.

That’s why I’m pleased to offer hungry investors a feast of Stingy Stocks, which continues a Canadian MoneySaver tradition that spans more than two decades.

Recently I was invited to speak at a financial planning seminar where the audience included many dentists from the nearby community. The subject of Dental Association Group Plans came up, and several of the dentists in attendance asked my opinion on their plan and what it might be lacking. That afternoon I did some research on their group plan website (CDSPI) and noticed that life and disability insurance were offered, yet critical illness insurance was not.

There are over 250 million people born between 1997 and 2012 in the developed world – the Gen Z generation – and soon they’ll be the majority of workers as Boomers age out. This will give them the cultural and financial clout to set tastes and habits much different than those of preceding generations. The global alcohol and beverage industry, like many others, will have to adapt to a large consumer base that does not make getting plastered a rite of passage.