Kiera and I hang’n out at Point Pelee, the southernmost tip of mainland Canada. (Middle Island is actually the Southernmost point in Canada.)
The point I’m trying to make (yes, there actually is one!) is exactly what I wrote last year, i.e., personal resources (time and money) directed towards experiences as against “stuff” are the keys to both short and long term happiness. This is one of the reasons we feel so good when we are engaged in acts of giving through its many different levels – not just money, but also time, friendship and, most important … love.
SEP 23, 2015
50 YEARS OF WISDOM
BY KEITH THOMSON
It is difficult to convey in words or diagrams just how incompetent I was when I first stumbled into the financial industry in 1985. In my defense, the company I worked for, McLeod Young Weir’s idea of training was 90 days at head office in which the majority of the time was spent drinking too much at the local bar and listening to a parade…
AUG 24, 2015
WHY I INVESTED $39,530 IN THE STOCK MARKET TODAY
BY KEITH THOMSON
Quick quiz: How many times during the last four years has the market temporarily declined in one day over 3%? How many times during the four years previous to the most recent four years has the market temporarily declined in one day over 3%? Answer to question # 1 is once this past Friday. Answer to question # 2 is forty-four times. Up until last week…
JUL 23, 2015
WHO WOULD BENEFIT FROM A STOCK MARKET CORRECTION?
BY KEITH THOMSON
I recently came across the article below by one of my favourite bloggers, Ben Carlson. I must admit that I have been sounding like a broken record every time I suggest “we are long overdue for a market correction”. With the Greek “crisis” now receding into the background it looks as if once again we may have dodged another bullet. Having said that… it’s…
JUN 18, 2015
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
BY KEITH THOMSON
I recently came across this blog by Sam Altman. Although he is only 30, I thought Altman’s 36 “life advice” tips were incredibly thoughtful. I am in agreement with his comment that he usually finds such lists ‘hollow’. However, Altman’s tips captured so much wisdom … I just had to pass them along! The days are long but the decades are short By: Sam Altman…
MAY 28, 2015
THE GREATEST TRICK THE DEVIL PLAYED
BY KEITH THOMSON
The French poet Baudelaire once wrote, “The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he did not exist”. In much the same way I feel the greatest trick financial academia has played on the investing public is to have persuaded us, through the creation of theories such as the efficient market hypothesis, that “volatility” and “risk” are one and the same thing…
APR 28, 2015
A SIMPLE WAY TO BE SMART ABOUT YOUR MONEY
BY KEITH THOMSON
Happiness, at least from a financial blogging perspective, is when two of your favourite writers come together in a single post. And so it is with the Morgan Housel and Carl Richards article shown below. Line by line or in Richards case, sketch by sketch, no one does a better job of communicating “Wealth With Wisdom” than these two individuals. If you are serious about…
MAR 25, 2015
DOING NOTHING IS A DECISION
BY KEITH THOMSON
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone” —Blaise Pascal
One of my favourite financial bloggers is Ben Carlson who writes under the title “A Wealth of Common Sense”. I thought he recently knocked it out of the park with his blog about how truly hard it is to “buy and hold” (i.e. do nothing in today’s…
FEB 25, 2015
YOUR PERSONAL TAX CALENDAR
BY KEITH THOMSON
“Taxes are our way of feeding the goose that lays the golden eggs of freedom, democracy and enterprise. Someone says, ‘Well, the goose eats too much!’ That’s probably true. But better a fat goose than no goose at all” – Jim Rohn
As I have now begun to receive a flurry of tax “T-Statements” I realize, once again , it is that time of year…
JAN 16, 2015
YOU SHOULD BE AMAZED
BY KEITH THOMSON
It has been my practice to begin each year’s “Wealth with Wisdom” with a focus on all of the positives that are happening in the world today. As I become older and, hopefully, a bit wiser, I have come to the conclusion that how we perceive our world is largely a matter of choice. Personally, this is evidenced by an annual Christmas email letter our…
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