“What type of content am I reading?” + MORE Nov 23rd

You can always tell by how an article is labelled what type of content you’re reading. The label appears not only on the article itself, but anywhere it appears on the website.
No label. If the only label you see is a topic tag, such as Investing or Retirement, that means you’re reading a purely editorial article. There is no paid partnership or sponsor involvement in the creation of this content.
Sponsored by. This is a paid post that is informative but also may feature a client’s product or service. These posts are written, edited and produced by MoneySense with assigned freelancers.
Partner content from. This is a paid post that is informative but also may feature a client’s product or service. These posts are written by the partner, but edited by MoneySense.
Presented by. This is an editorially driven article or content package, presented with financial support from an advertising client.
Created by. This is an unpaid article that is written by a content partner based on their expertise that will be useful and informative to the MoneySense audience…

The Great Recession scarred me. I was just about to graduate from university in 2008 when it hit: The fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis created a deluge of fear, anxiety and pure panic from all corners. The S&P 500 plunged by 57%, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 3.8% and employment dropped by 6%. Similarly, in the European Union (EU), GDP sank by 4.4% in 2009 and about 6.7 million jobs were lost from 2008 to 2013. 

Never mind that Canada barely suffered compared to the United States and Europe—Canada’s GDP fell by 3.6% for only three quarters across 2008 and 2009 before recovering, while employment dipped by just 1.8% in the same time frame. Mass uncertainty still swept the air. Home ownership and retirement plans washed away and headlines screamed that there were no more jobs to be had. It seemed the only sensible course of action was to hide out and let it all rumble over. I enrolled in graduate school. 

Eventually, the global economy did recover…

In recent years, financial planning has been reduced from a process to a product. The broader financial industry has offered financial plans, often on a one-time basis, and frequently as a prospecting tool. It is not enough to simply have a financial plan that gathers dust. Forward-looking financial planning can help you stay on track and achieve your long-term goals.

What kinds of goals should you be setting?

Many people have the goal of investing their money. But in order to invest, you have to spend less than you earn. Some people start investing too early. It probably makes sense to pay down non-mortgage consumer debt like credit cards first. It also generally makes sense to contribute to your savings (for example, to an emergency fund) before growing your wealth through investing.

If you are saving for retirement, you should try to figure out how much you should be saving. This is based on your expenses, now and in retirement, and trying to work backwards to figure out how much to put aside each month…

After cryptocurrency values started crashing hard this year, headlines of people losing millions, their life savings or retirement funds flooded the news. When crypto bank Celsius Network filed for bankruptcy this summer its customers alone lost US$5 billion. Even digital-asset evangelists like Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried saw their portfolios drop billions. But one group in particular was disproportionately affected: Black investors. 

In the last few years, several companies have used targeted marketing approaches to pitch crypto to Black communities as a tool to build individual and generational wealth. While companies like Crypto.com, EthereumMax and FTX spent millions on marketing campaigns using celebrities like Matt Damon, Kim Kardashian and Tom Brady to tout the potential of crypto investments and broaden its appeal, the messages to Black investors—using stars like Spike Lee and Kyle Lowry—were more intentional: Do not miss out on this wealth-building opportunity and get left behind…