Building Wealth

For the first 30 or so years of working, saving and investing, you’ll be first in the mode of getting out of the hole (paying down debt), and then building your net worth (that’s wealth accumulation.). But don’t forget, wealth accumulation isn’t the ultimate goal. Decumulation is! (a separate category here at the Hub).

Gold guru Peter Schiff says Goldmoney deal will draw millions to BitGold

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schiff
Peter Schiff (Twitter.com)

Author and US-based gold guru Peter Schiff is teaming up with a Canadian gold fin-tech company — Goldmoney Inc. — in a deal both parties expect will accelerate the firm’s growth into “millions” of users seeking a “real-money” alternative to the “fiat” currencies of the world’s central banks.

Initial details were revealed on Friday, when Toronto-based Goldmoney Inc. (trading as XAU on the TSX), announced its plan to acquire Schiff Gold Inc. (SGI) and form a marketing and service agreement with Schiff (pictured left).

The Hub last looked at Goldmoney and its Bitgold in this post in March: BitGold: a cure for savers frustrated with low or negative interest rates? The link also contains my blog on this for the Financial Post.

And we looked at a couple of recent books on the soaring gold price in a Hub post in June. You can find the review, which includes Schiff’s The Real Crash, in this Hub review titled The New Case for Gold. The link also contains my blog on this for Motley Fool Canada.

The Goldmoney release describes Schiff Gold Inc. (“SGI”) as a “private, US-based dealer in precious metals” that was launched in 2010 under the name Euro Pacific Precious Metals. It in turn was described as “one of the largest and fastest growing retail gold dealers” that services a large client base with buy and sell orders for precious metals, storage and vaulting arrangements and gold & silver IRA arrangement services.”

Schiff is the “LeBron James of the gold market”

Continue Reading…

Young, saving, and hopefully one day buying a house

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IMG_7264By Helen Chevreau

Hub Staff

The cover story of this month’s Toronto Life magazine caught my eye straight away. “Young, Rich, and Totally Not Buying a House” it boldly claims.

As a young, not-yet-rich millennial who has no immediate plans to get into the housing market, I was intrigued. The article is written by 31-year-old Tony; a pharmacist who lives with his parents and eschews the traditional rites of passage of his peers, like home ownership.

Before I actually read the article, I was sure I wouldn’t like Tony, wouldn’t relate to him. Growing up in Toronto I’ve seen his type countless times. Money is no object, and he’s not shy to show it. A common defence from this kind of person is that ‘normal’ or ‘rational’ people who are judging him are jealous or boring (or both).

What I found interesting about this piece is that Tony seems very self-aware about his spending and lifestyle choices. He’s accepting of his friends who do choose to be “shackled to a monstrous mortgage for the next 30 years,” and he understands that sometimes it just isn’t possible to have it all.

Though much of what Tony talks about in this article is out of reach for most normal millennials (last minute trips to Asia, $200 bottles of wine), I appreciate the sentiment. Continue Reading…

Big changes for mutual fund investors

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graham-bodelBy Graham Bodel, CFA, Chalten Advisors

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Transparency, education and competition should drive better outcomes for investors.

Recent enhancements put in place by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have sought to better align the interests of investors and the investment industry that serves them.

Initiatives like the Customer Relationship Model (CRM) are designed to increase transparency and help investors make more informed decisions about the kind of advisor with whom they work and the type of products in which they invest.  The idea is that with full disclosure, investors will be armed with the right information to make better decisions and protect themselves from bad products and sales practices.

Banning fund trailer commissions

So, we were somewhat surprised by last week’s announcement by the CSA that indicates they will be moving ahead, subject to consultation with investors and the industry, with banning embedded trailing commissions on mutual fund sales.  It seems even the regulators have lost faith in transparency to properly do the job of protecting investors.  This represents a significant next step in a progression of possible measures, one that regulators in countries like the UK and Australia have already taken. Continue Reading…

7 ways to cushion volatility in second half

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Turtle with open mouthBy Adrian Mastracci, KCM Wealth

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

“Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” — James Bryant Conant, (1893 – 1978), American chemist.

Investors are on edge about the prognosis for the second half of 2016. Plenty of disarray, uncertainty and chaos is gripping stock and bond markets.

Companies will soon be reporting second-quarter earnings and future prospects. Revenue growth is the biggest challenge for companies in this environment.

The remaining central banks tools are losing effectiveness. Best to assume the second half 2016 is not a cakewalk, so be well prepared.

Some currencies have developed their own wall of worries. A sense of unease prevails as bond yields get even slimmer.

Investors may also be sticking their necks out like the turtle. Some of the risks present opportunities for the strong willed.

Consider these three pointers Continue Reading…

Happy (Financial) Independence Day!

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Depositphotos_8101987_s-2015To all our American readers, the Findependence Hub wishes a happy  Independence Day, or  as we like to say around here, Findependence Day.

Bloggers are fond of building posts around the July 4th celebration, and several are using the phrase Financial Independence Day. For instance, a year ago Forbes.com published a blog titled Financial Independence Day for Millennials.

In fact, on June 21st, 2016, Richard Eisenberg of Next Avenue and Forbes.com did just that, re-running a similar piece entitled How to Declare Your Financial Independence. And he did make an explicit reference to Findependence Day, more on which below.

This weekend’s Motley Fool Money podcast, as it was a year ago, is titled Declare Your Financial Independence. It features interviews with authors and radio personalities Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard. Continue Reading…