Articles & Insights

We had the pleasure of attending both the Economic Forum early January and a full day economic update with one of our fund company partners at the end of January. The forum featured the chief economists of the big 6 Canadian Banks, it is always well attended and attracts the top investment professionals in the country. Our fund company day featured both their global macro economic strategist, their Canadian chief economic strategist, some former Bank of Canada analysts, along with a few of the top portfolio management teams in Canada.

No matter how accurate your expenses are or how much you are able to save each month, without sufficient insurance coverage your financial health has a substantial element of risk. One of the main purposes of insurance is to provide financial security and risk mitigation to ensure that retirement funds are not utilized to cover medical expenses and loss of income during recovery or potential death.

There have been many Canadian innovations over the years, but you might be surprised by these lesser-known inventions.

Preparing a will isn’t something most Canadians look forward to. Yet there are several good reasons why you shouldn’t procrastinate in getting your will prepared — especially when you consider how little it costs and the benefits that come with it.

Stocks have been up — but unemployment has also risen. Why is that? Here, we break down the major differences between the stock market and the economy.

The GAA team explores the surprising resilience of the economy and the key questions facing investors.

As always, the year has gone by far too quickly. With November here we are looking at majority of the year in the rearview mirror. If economic performance for the year could be summarized in one word, it would be “flat”. Overall, both the stock and bond indexes are at around the same spot where they started the year. There were areas that did provide growth but overall the general market was flat.

September tends to be one of the worst months for the stock market, and this year was no different. The weakness over the past month resulted in negative returns across equity markets for the third quarter. The S&P/TSX Composite, S&P 500, and MSCI World Total Return Indexes were down 2.2%, 1.0%, and 1.1% respectively, in Canadian dollars. Year to date, however, they are still up 3.4%, 13.2%, and 11.7%, respectively. The markets have been volatile recently because inflation has not declined as expected, and interest rates remain high. Investors had thought central banks would have started discussing interest rate cuts by now, but that has yet to happen.

Tax-loss selling is a popular strategy for making use of capital losses in non-registered investment accounts. The losses can be used to help offset capital gains realized elsewhere in a portfolio. As well, to the extent that capital losses exceed capital gains in a given calendar year, the residual net capital loss may be used to offset capital gains in any of the three previous tax years or carried forward for use in any future year. CRA form T1A, Request for Loss Carryback, is used to carry back capital losses to a prior year.

Many individuals wonder what they will need prior to going through a detailed financial analysis with our firm. It can vary based on a multitude of factors, however, there are some key figures that must be known prior to such an analysis.

RESPs are an effective tool for assisting family members with education costs. However, opening an RESP is not akin to setting up a trust that will flow at death to the named beneficiaries — as generally occurs with an insurance policy, RRSP or RRIF. While an effective education savings tool, an RESP can run into complications in an estate planning context, particularly in blended families.

No intended spin on Shakespeare’s Hamlet Soliloquy, “To Be or Not To Be” but it works since Central Banks find themselves in a uncertain decision inflection point – do we pause on rate raises or continue?