Weekend Reading – Canadian family net worth, money mistakes, desert hermits and more
Welcome to my latest Weekend Reading edition. Ready for Christmas yet? We’re not – but getting there!
Earlier this week, I wrote about this stock that has appreciated almost 100% since I started buying it. A nice win. I hope the run continues in 2018.
I also have this giveaway underway for the next couple of weeks so do enter and share this giveaway with a friend!
Good luck with your holiday shopping and other plans and we’ll see you here next week. Hopefully I’ll get to my latest dividend income update in a few days (and maybe a few other thoughts to post as well).
Holiday cheers,
Mark
CBC profiled this study – the median net worth of Canadian families was $295,100 in 2016, a jump of nearly 15% from four years ago and almost double the 1999 level.
Here are 26 money mistakes to avoid from iSaved5k.
Millionaire Teacher Andrew Hallam recently shared some time with a desert hermit – who has found the secret to happiness.
Boomer & Echo wrote about the illusion of wealth. I’m under no illusions that I still have a lot of debt to dig out of.
Stephen Weyman wondered about the future of bitcoin. I’m still not buying any. Fear of missing out? Nah.
Here are 6 big mistakes retirees make with their investments. I found the author’s comments about the poor use of TFSAs interesting. I find it hard to believe that retirees don’t know they can use the TFSA to shelter future income tax-free; whether they are drawing down their assets or otherwise. Here’s what I put inside my TFSA.
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Other reading materials for your weekend:
Passive investing giant Vanguard is getting into the active management space. “Vanguard Group Inc. …said it will offer six actively managed exchange-traded funds aimed at giving investors exposure to specific factors like low volatility or liquidity, increasing competition in the nascent investment product area.” Or, reading between the lines, simply more ways to make more money even if they are good products.
Married with Money does not regret failing to save for retirement as a 20-something.
Mark
My name is Mark Seed - the founder, editor and owner of My Own Advisor. As my own DIY financial advisor, I'm looking to start semi-retirement soon, sooner than most. Find out how, what I did, and what you can learn to tailor your own financial independence path. Join the newsletter read by thousands each day, always FREE.
re: Bitcoin…I’m still not buying any. Fear of missing out? Nah.
As much as there is price hype, there is bubble hype. Since cryptocurrencies currently have no valuation mechanism, both types of hype are completely unfounded and useless. Currently it is mere supply-demand which is driving price. So how can you say it’s worth $100,000 if you don’t know how to value it? How can you say there is a bubble/a risky speculation if you don’t how to value it? Compared to the internet bubble of the 90’s, the current cryptocurrency “bubble” is but a fraction. As well, everyone seems to be applying stock-like metrics to cryptocurrencies and treating them as such, but they are not stocks.
I’ve been thinking a lot about cryptos lately, not about buying in but in general terms and how they relate to my financial ideologies. They challenge them greatly (e.g. why I didn’t buy in). I think a lot of people who label cryptos as risky and speculative are rooted in two mindsets: i) “traditional” economic investing (i.e. ‘old school’ companies that make stuff), and ii) risk adversion. For those who are not buying cryptos yet espouse the wonders of risk-reduced diversification…might be worth asking yourself just how truncated by bias your diversification truly is.
Would be worth remembering another paradigm shift in the financial landscape which started 40 years ago and was initially hated and a failure — the index fund. Now it is THE go to investment — there are more index funds than individual stocks!
Sometimes it really is different this time.
I’ve been thinking about crytos as well but I can’t seem to make sense of it all yet. I’m in camp #2; risk aversion. We’ll see in time if it’s different – sometimes it is and isn’t. Isn’t hindsight great in that regard??
The article by Andrew Hallam, “Desert Hermit Shares His Secret To Happiness”, was interesting. I’m going to read two books he talks about in the article, “Stuffocation” and “Affluenza”. They sound interesting.
I intend to read “Stuffocation” as well…seems to be interesting….
Great reads! I wonder if the increased net worth of Canadian families is related to increased housing prices?
Guess you didn’t actually read that “great read”:
CBC article — Canadians held $12 trillion in assets at the end of 2016, with family homes making up a third of that value.
Stats Can source material — For those who owned their principal residence, the median reported value was $349,000, up 10.3% from 2012 and double that of 1999….Home equity has risen significantly since 1999, reaching a median reported value of $238,000 for Canadian homeowners in 2016. This was an increase of 12.8% from 2012 and 115.2% higher compared with 1999.
Not sure why the government is using principal residence in a net worth report. Guess they want us to appear more wealthy than we actually are. Perhaps they need to read B&E’s Illusion of Wealth blog post.
Absolutely…meaning Canadians aren’t really saving outside their home. Not good.