Why are we so afraid of financial mistakes? + MORE Jul 17th

In the minds of investors young and old, artificial intelligence (AI) is an investing theme or trend that seems to be right up there with the birth of the internet and the dot-com craze, or indeed the long-ago Industrial Revolution. But over the last 12 months, according to a recent webinar on the topic, market reaction to AI seems to have morphed from enthusiasm about an “unstoppable trend” to fear of the imminent bursting of an alleged “AI bubble.”

Our old friends, fear and greed, loom large here. Clearly, greed is uppermost to the extent AI is perceived as the next gold rush. If new AI IPOs result in quick doubles or more, who would not want to participate in such a wealth-creation event? Meanwhile, fear manifests in two ways. Most investors with significant allocation to stocks as an asset class naturally fear a crash in the stock market, especially after the kind of upward moves we’ve seen in the past year or two. But there is also so-called FOMO, or the fear of missing out on some hot innovation that promises untold riches down the line…

When Liza Akhvledziani moved to Canada as an international student, she quickly realized that money worked differently here. From building a credit history to understanding how debt could affect her financial future, she had to learn a new set of rules while rebuilding her financial life from scratch. Those experiences eventually led her to study economics, work on Bay Street and, later, co-found Chexy.

Today, as the company’s CEO and co-founder, Akhvledziani is focused on helping Canadians get more value from their everyday spending. In this edition of My MoneySense, she shares the financial lessons that have stuck with her—from why everyone should negotiate more often to the benefits of automating your finances and using debt strategically.

Who are your financial heroes?

I’m incredibly motivated by people who solve problems in very legacy, traditional industries but whose work reaches millions of people. David Vélez at Nubank is a great example. He went after one of the most traditional, entrenched parts of financial services in Brazil and proved that consumers will move when the product is meaningfully better…

Growing up, I heard one saying repeatedly: the early bird gets the worm. Like so many childhood proverbs, I accepted it without much thought—one of those quiet truths adults repeat often enough that children stop questioning them. 

For most of my life I assumed it was a lesson about hard work. Wake up early, start before everyone else, stay disciplined, and success will eventually follow. Lately, though, I have begun to wonder whether I misunderstood it entirely. Maybe it was never about waking up early at all. Maybe it was about being willing to act before you knew exactly how things would turn out.

That thought crossed my mind recently while talking with a younger colleague about investing, when Bitcoin came up. Like millions of people, I have a Bitcoin story. Around 2013, I had recently started my first business and was still learning what it meant to be an entrepreneur, which mostly involved discovering inventive new ways to worry about money. Every invoice mattered, every client mattered, every dollar mattered…

Here’s a round-up of news for Canadian investors this week.

Cogeco

Electrovaya

Blue Ant Media

Loblaw-EQB

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MoneySense is an award-winning magazine, helping Canadians navigate money matters since 1999. Our editorial team of trained journalists works closely with leading personal finance experts in Canada…