Lessons Learned - My Own Advisor

How I used to sabotage my portfolio

Posted on September 22, 2020 by Mark | 49 Comments

How I used to sabotage my portfolio Some recent reader questions prompted me to update this post – let’s go! Dedicated readers of this site will know I spend a lot of time writing about what’s working in my financial…

Some of my best personal finance advice – so you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did!

Posted on October 9, 2018 by Mark | 47 Comments

Some of my best personal finance advice – so you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did! Human behaviour is a funny thing. Some folks like to talk a big game about lessons learned but fail to act…

Great income and no financial literacy – what you can learn from this

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Mark | 16 Comments

The Financial Facelift articles in the Globe and Mail are usually pretty interesting – and a recent one got my attention. A recent edition of this series profiled a mid-40s couple with two teenage children earning a combined $244,000 per…

5 signs you’re a financial disaster

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Mark | 8 Comments

Managing money is simple but it doesn’t mean it’s easy. I’ve been guilty of some of these things in the past. I wasn’t off the rails but close enough to take initiative to get my financial act together. Here are…

Major Money Mistakes

Posted on November 15, 2015 by Mark | 13 Comments

As part of my weekend reading recently, I found this article by Gail Vaz-Oxlade about 9 money mistakes. I thought I would take Gail’s quiz and here are my results. Carrying a balance on credit cards or on a line…

Share your big fat investing mistakes

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Mark | 52 Comments

Share your big fat investing mistakes I’ve written this before on my site but it’s worth repeating: you usually don’t succeed in life without falling down flat on your face a few times. I recall Winston Churchill coined this phrase:…

10 Saving and Investing Truths

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Mark | 13 Comments

To quote the late Dr. W. Edwards Deming, a world famous author and quality management guru: “If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you are doing.” In my work, Dr. Deming’s wisdom…

Seven Smart Investing Principles for Everyone

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Mark | 19 Comments

Last fall, I obtained a copy of this document from PWL Capital entitled Seven Principles of Smart Investing. After reading this through this white paper I reflected upon how we’re applying these principles. 1. Ignore ‘hot’ investment tips We do. …

After the golden rule of personal finance follow these ones

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Mark | 31 Comments

Let’s be blunt, you can likely sum up personal finance into a few principles: Pay yourself first. Spend less than you make. You can add in “invest the difference” if you really want to. The golden rule of personal finance…

My personal finance a-ha moments

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Mark | 32 Comments

I spend a lot of time using My Own Advisor to share what’s working with our financial plan and how incremental money management changes are moving us towards financial independence. I’ve also shared some money management mistakes on this site. …