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90 days - 1.60% + MORE May 22nd

This GIC rate is offered by Oaken Financial and was updated on 2013-11-28. Click on the link above to get more details or apply online..... More »

Investors who crave safety can find little more growth May 31st

Q. I am in the process of deciding how to invest about $400,000 that I received from the sale of my home. I have maxed out my TFSA in Exchange-Traded Funds VXC, VGRO and XIC, and have purchased $300,000 in laddered GICs with maturities over a span of one to three years but would be interested in the.... More »

Near retirement with no defined benefit pension? Here’s what you need to know Oct 21st

If you’re a typical reader of this column, I’m guessing retirement is on the near-term horizon for you, or already arrived in the form of “semi-retirement.” And if you’ve diligently saved in registered and taxable plans all these decades but lack an employer-sponsored defined benefit (DB) .... More »

Helping your kids buy a home? Why a cash gift may be safer than co-signing Sep 6th

It’s not uncommon for parents to want to help their adult children enter the housing market. For some, that help comes in the form of co-signing for their child’s mortgage, but experts warn that means taking on financial risks they might not understand and could impact their own debt and.... More »

Three things retirees can do now to protect your cash flow and portfolio Mar 21st

Withdraw funds insulated from stock meltdown, review long-term asset allocation and gradually rebalance to support cash flow needs..... More »

Be boring, follow the Canada Pension Plan

– myownadvisor.ca

Recently I read about our Canada Pension Plan (CPP) reaching $200-billion mark in assets for the first time. As one of the 10-largest retirement funds in the world, it’s a financial behemoth. Here’s how our money is invested by region:

Here it is by sector:

Here are my quick takeaways from how CPP invests and what we can easily copy in our portfolios:

Canadian and North American assets make up more than half of the portfolio but this means other investments extend far beyond those borders. The lesson: diversify your investments from around the world.
Real estate does not comprise a large percentage of the portfolio. The lesson: investments go beyond your primary home.
About half of the holdings are in equities. The lesson: balance your portfolio with fixed income and other asset classes.

The boring and simple CPP investing approach has allowed this massive fund to reach record-highs and earn an annual rate of return of about 5% over the last ten years after inflation is factored in…

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