CBC News tonight: Investors Beware!

Banking and Saving strategies, maximizing interest rates, budgeting, GICs, HISAs.
haroldcrump
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 43
Joined: 03 Dec 2008 11:05

Post by haroldcrump »

I watched this and while this is a good step in retail investor education, I was quite disappointed.
They mixed up the Madoff-style fraudulent fund managers (which affects a very, very small HNW percentage of the general population) and the much wider investment industry rip-off (which affects every single individual investor).
They ought to have focused much more on the latter.
Most smaller investors will watch this and go "meh, this guy had $10M to invest. I don't. So this doesn't affect me."
Or go "I know my financial advisor very well. He's an honest and upright member of the community. After all, he's my brother-in-law. So this doesn't affect me."
User avatar
newguy
Veteran Contributor
Veteran Contributor
Posts: 8088
Joined: 10 May 2009 18:24
Location: Montreal

Post by newguy »

Springbok wrote:
newguy wrote: Parvus, just how smart are your friends? If I read that to the majority of my coworkers they wouldn't have understood a word let alone cared.
Couldn't agree more. Never mind the general public. Even here it would help if posts were in plain English. The forum may attract a larger audience.
I don't want it to sound like I was dissing* Parvus' english. He writes more better than me. :wink: The good thing is I know there is hidden meaning in his posts whereas with blond I'm still looking for the wisdom that may be there. IOW WTF is WIIFM.

As to IG, my advisor was excellent for me starting out at 18. I never would have save and learned as much without him. He always helped me with taxes and all paperwork relating to the government, even traffic ticket negotiations. I guess I shouldn't be to hard on them.

newguy
*dissing - v, to dis, ie. show disrespect. Notice I don't make people google my every word.
User avatar
westinvest
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 898
Joined: 22 Feb 2005 01:17
Location: Okanagan

Post by westinvest »

newguy wrote: The good thing is I know there is hidden meaning in his posts whereas with blond I'm still looking for the wisdom that may be there. IOW WTF is WIIFM.
newguy
*dissing - v, to dis, ie. show disrespect. Notice I don't make people google my every word.
Normally you could look up commonly used acronyms on FWF at:
http://www.financialwisdomforum.org/for ... p?t=104499

but blonde has not seen fit to add this particular one, which is surprising given that it pretty much sums up her philosophy:

WIIFM - What's in it for me
Last edited by Peculiar_Investor on 07 Feb 2014 07:04, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: replace old domain name with www.financialwisdomforum.org to reflect new domain name effective 19-Jan-2014
User avatar
parvus
Veteran Contributor
Veteran Contributor
Posts: 10014
Joined: 20 Feb 2005 16:09
Location: Waiting for the real estate meltdown on Rua Açores.

Post by parvus »

newguy wrote:
Parvus wrote:Let's think this through. Greater financial literacy (through taxes supporting public education, among other things) may not lead to lower spreads, as investors instead opt for GICs (with embedded spreads), fixed-rate mortgages (with predictable spreads) and so on. That's fine, and perhaps retail investors should not be participants in wholesale capital markets for bonds, IPOs and secondary offerings.
Parvus, just how smart are your friends? If I read that to the majority of my coworkers they wouldn't have understood a word let alone cared. To me financial literacy is just the basics. Yoy guys have to get among the masses to see what they are thinking.
Sorry.:oops:

I suppose I've spent the past 20 years learning about investing (still learning, as a matter of fact). It took me five years to learn enough about mutual funds to gradually wind down my GIC portfolio.

Some of my friends are prudent investors, but they don't realize there are spreads on bonds, commissions on closed-end funds and the like. (Some of them wonder why pension funds don't just stick to government bonds, not realizing what impact that would have on their contribution rate.) Many of my friends have, at one time or another, taken a shot at a tech stock, sadly.

But you're right, I may be aiming too high. I recall the OSC's InvestorEd programme used to emphasize that three-fifths of the population didn't have the functional literacy to read a train schedule (or something like that).
Some examples for greater literacy;
Credit card balance insurance, an informal poll of my coworkers over the last few years >50%
CSB's by payroll deduction are the only non pension investment that all of my gf's coworkers have. (maybe ok)
Extended warranties, virtually everyone, including any gift I've received.
RRSP's, the few friends I have with these are all at IG except a few who use the bank wrap funds.
Taxes, no one does their own, (except one CA friend).
One employee was crying because she didn't know how to write a check (19yrs).
Nobody keeps the minimum balance in checking to avoid fees.
I could go on and on so just my favourite
paluwagan A scheme to save money.
Oh one more 6/49 is not a retirement plan.

newguy
Ironically, in my grade 12 class, back in the late 1970s, we all spent a few weeks watching a video series on money management by TVOntario. IIRC, it was called "Money: it's everyone's game." I suppose now it would have to be a rap video.

Added: I wrote most of this two or so hours ago, and then got on the phone with a friend for an extended conversation.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen — a wit
Imagefiniki, the Canadian financial wiki Your go-to guide for financial basics
Image
User avatar
gossg
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 375
Joined: 20 Feb 2005 02:10
Location: Calgary
Contact:

Post by gossg »

westinvest wrote:
newguy wrote: IOW WTF is WIIFM.
WIIFM - What's in it for me
Darn. And here I was hoping for something cute, like using a Nintendo WII to throw darts at an imaginary dartboard. WII Financial Management. And you don't even need to punch holes in the walls when you have a wild throw.
Post Reply