Financial planning is critical in creating a foundation for anyone wishing to become an empowered investor. Each stage of life has a specific set of issues that must be addressed to remain on track with your financial plans and today we’re zooming in on the 35 to 60-year-old age group.

During this period, most of us find ourselves extremely busy as we focus on trying to get ahead in our careers while building up our personal lives. This is also when we typically have the highest earnings of our career as we reap the rewards of the careers we’ve built up to this point. Navigating this time well is critical for setting the stage for your next phase of life.

On this episode, Keith and Marcelo talk about why a financial plan is essential for becoming an empowered investor, what you should be focusing on in the 35 to 60-year-old age bracket, how to avoid lifestyle creep, the two questions you need to ask yourself when you enter the 35 to 60-year-old group, and so much more!

Be sure to join us for our next episode as we continue to explore the various aspects of financial planning at every age by looking at the planning components for retirees. Thank you for listening!

Key Topics:

The essential components of a financial plan (2:20)
Why a financial plan is essential for becoming an empowered investor (3:40)
Why we distinguish between the 35 to 45 and 45 to 60 age groups (5:23)
The financial focus in the 35 to 60-year-old age span (7:04)
How you should approach each gear of financial planning in the 35 to 60 age bracket (8:28)
FOMO in 35 to 60-year-olds (12:10)
Who is most vulnerable to lifestyle creep? (13:14)
Financial pressures unique to the sandwich generation (15:08)
The two questions you need to ask yourself when you enter the 35 to 60-year-old group (15:51)
What you can learn from Canada’s average household savings rate over the past 30 years (16:34)
The downside of not experiencing a recession (18:16)
Understanding retirement mathematics (20:07)
What the research shows about Canadian’s readiness for retirement (21:08)
Why you need to save 20% of your income (22:42)
How much savings is enough when you’re 35 to 60? (24:52)
The benefits of financial planning (26:14)
The consequences of overlooking financial planning (26:58)
Our key takeaways for people in the 35 to 60-year-old age group (28:41)
And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

Chart | Canada’s Annual Savings Rate from 1984 to 2018
Fidelity International | Retirement Savings Guidelines
Tulett, Matthews & Associates
Keith Matthews’ Book | The Empowered Investor: A Guide to Building Better Portfolios

Thanks for Listening!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at lawrence@tma-invest.com

Follow Tulett, Matthews & Associates on social media on Facebook, LinkedIn, and more!

Follow The Empowered Investor on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram

Now that you know the key obstacles that can derail you, we’re switching gears and starting to look at the planning and building side of becoming an empowered investor. Today we’re kicking things off with our series on one of the two key roadmaps for the empowered investor, financial planning.

Creating a financial plan is an essential step for every investor since it provides a framework and action plan for achieving your future goals. We want to get down to the details so we’re breaking up this topic into age brackets, starting with planning for 25 to 35-year-olds.

On this episode, Keith and Marcelo talk about the foundational concepts behind financial planning, why it is crucial for the empowered investor, key financial principles you should focus on between ages 25 to 35, our main recommendations for 25 to 35-year-olds, and more!

Be sure to join us for our next episode as we continue our mini-series on financial planning. Thank you for listening!

Key Topics:

• Recapping what we’ve covered so far on the show (1:04)
• What is financial planning? (4:42)
• Differentiating between a financial plan and an investment plan (5:33)
• The six main sections you need to consider in your financial plan (6:55)
• Why financial planning is so important for the empowered investor (7:53)
• The three main areas of financial focus for 25 to 35-year-olds (9:12)
• Key financial principles you should focus on between ages 25 to 35 (10:54)
• The biggest obstacles to good financial planning in the 25 to 35 age bracket (13:23)
• Our main recommendations for 25 to 35-year-olds (15:08)
• Why you need to save at least 15-20% of your income (16:03)
• How to know if you’re saving enough (18:06)
• Why awareness is crucial for good financial planning (19:51)
• What you need to know about compound growth (20:51)
• Why planning is so important in the empowered investor dialogue (23:12)
• The consequences of not having a plan during your 25-35 years (24:49)
• Our biggest takeaways for 25 to 35-year-olds (26:04)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

Fidelity International | Retirement Savings Guidelines
Tulett, Matthews & Associates
Keith Matthews’ Book | The Empowered Investor: A Guide to Building Better Portfolios

Thanks for Listening!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at lawrence@tma-invest.com

Follow Tulett, Matthews & Associates on social media on Facebook, LinkedIn, and more!

Follow The Empowered Investor on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram

What does it mean to properly diversify an investment portfolio? And why is it so hard for many investors to maintain that proper diversification over long periods?

Diversification has become one of those topics everyone talks about, but many investors still aren’t confident that they have good levels of diversification. That’s a big problem since one of the greatest pitfalls of investing is not diversifying properly.

Having a properly diversified portfolio is the best defense against the unexpected events that inevitably affect the financial markets. With the pieces in your portfolio fitting together well, like a puzzle, you significantly reduce your risk.

On this episode, Keith and Marcelo talk about why diversification is important, what proper diversification looks like, common examples of under- and over-diversification, the consequences of not diversifying properly, and more!

Be sure to join us for our next episode where we’re going to introduce the dos and don’ts of financial planning. Thank you for listening!

Key Topics:

• Spotify’s latest milestone (1:35)
• Common investment mistakes (2:41)
• What it means to become an empowered investor (3:11)
• Why diversification is important (4:43)
• How we apply the concept of diversification outside of investing (6:00)
• The evolution of opportunities available to Canadian investors in recent decades (6:58)
• What proper diversification looks like in your investment portfolio (8:26)
• Examples of under-diversified portfolios from the early 2000s (11:27)
• Marcelo’s memorable experience with an under-diversified portfolio (14:16)
• How over-diversification looks in your portfolio (15:48)
• The main problem with over-diversification (16:32)
• Why investors get in trouble with diversification (17:12)
• What is a black swan from an investment perspective? (19:10)
• Why 9/11 is considered a black swan event (20:16)
• Is COVID-19 a black swan event? (21:54)
• The connection between diversification and black swans (22:48)
• The double negative impact of not diversifying properly (23:39)
• A simple way to think about diversification (24:54)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Book | The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
• Bill Gates’ TED Talk | The next outbreak? We’re not ready
• Tulett, Matthews & Associates
• Keith Matthews’ Book | The Empowered Investor: A Guide to Building Better Portfolios

Thanks for Listening!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at lawrence@tma-invest.com

Follow Tulett, Matthews & Associates on social media on Facebook, LinkedIn, and more!

Follow The Empowered Investor on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram

As an investor, it’s natural to want to outsmart the market. When you combine that with the discomfort of a volatile market like we are currently experiencing, it’s easy to see why timing the market and chasing performance are so tempting.

The noise we spoke about in previous episodes always gets louder when we’re in uncertain times. Friends, family and the media are probably telling you to be reactive and, in the moment, their advice sounds reasonable. This time is different, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not. The reactive approach means investors often end up buying and selling at the wrong points and for all their trouble, it can end up costing up to 77% of total returns. Instead, when you experience a bad market event, that’s when you most need to rely on your investment philosophy.

On this episode, Keith and Marcelo talk about why investors try to time the market, how it affects investors’ long term goals, what it means to chase performance, significant investment fads, rallies and busts since the 1990s, why it’s so important to maintain a high level of diversification, and more!

Be sure to join us for our next episode where we’ll finish up the series on investment obstacles by talking about diversification. Thank you for listening!

 

Key Topics:

• What constitutes an investment mistake (1:18)
• Why it’s important to be aware of investment mistakes (2:22)
• How do investors try to time the market? (3:47)
• The false appeal of timing the market (4:46)
• The two trades at the core of market timing strategies (5:35)
• Why market timing is often detrimental to investors’ long term goals (6:24)
• Market timing versus chasing performance (7:50)
• Significant investment fads, rallies and busts since the 1990s (9:27)
• How stock performance often occurs in cycles (13:06)
• The influences on Canadian investor philosophy (15:07)
• Dramatic stock movement in the last 10 years (15:53)
• Why it’s so important to maintain a high level of diversification (17:08)
• The shift in styles from the 1990s to today (18:07)
• How FOMO leads investors to chase performance (19:04)
• What the data shows about money managers’ performance over time against benchmarks (20:25)
• The counterintuitive evidence on how to select a money manager (22:42)
• The surprising results of Vanguard’s study on the long-term performance of Morningstar-rated funds (24:29)
• How giving in to timing the market and chasing performance impacts you personally and financially (26:36)
• Why awareness is your most important tool for avoiding investment pitfalls (27:31)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

Standard and Poor’s Report | Money managers’ performance against benchmarks
Vanguard Study | How Morningstar-rated funds performed relative to a style benchmark over three-year periods
Tulett, Matthews & Associates
Keith Matthews’ Book | The Empowered Investor: A Guide to Building Better Portfolios

 

Thanks for Listening!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at lawrence@tma-invest.com

Follow Tulett, Matthews & Associates on social media on Facebook, LinkedIn, and more!

As the great economist, John Kenneth Galbraith said, “There are two kinds of forecasters: those who don’t know, and those who don’t know they don’t know.”

It’s human nature to be drawn to stories. We all want someone to tell us how things will turn out and throughout history, people have used predictions to gain power. We see the same cycles play out in financial media and services.

From journalist predictions aimed at boosting readership and viewership to expert predictions coloured by the ingrained biases that we all have, we’re passionate about the fact that financial predictions should not be used in the management of portfolios. Predictions can easily sabotage your financial portfolio and jeopardize your long-term financial security.

On this episode, Keith and Marcelo talk about the two main sources of financial predictions, how to identify predictions, some past predictions and how they’ve stacked up against actual outcomes, the dangers of building portfolios based on predictions, and more!

Be sure to join us for our next episode where we’ll be continuing the series on investment obstacles. Thank you for listening!

Key Topics:

• Why the financial media leverages predictions for increased viewership and business growth (2:48)
• Current examples of predictions shared in the financial media (4:43)
• The difficulty with differentiating between good financial journalism and noise (5:47)
• How the financial services businesses benefit from predictions (7:16)
• Cases of memorable “flavour of the month” investment predictions (8:42)
• Why a recent prediction which recommended playing the VIX is dangerous for investors (9:52)
• Investment predictions from the book, Boom, Bust & Echo (11:59)
• Assessing the financial impact if you had invested according to the predictions of Boom, Bust & Echo (13:39)
• How investment predictions can derail long-term financial plans (15:15)
• Why following predictions often results in anxiety, rather than assurance (18:12)
• The exercise we did in 2014 to assess the accuracy of expert predictions (19:14)
• What the research shows about the performance of tactical asset strategies versus their benchmark (21:55)
• Looking back at some of the big names and predictions during the economic crisis and recovery during 2007-2012 (25:19)
• Why people are drawn to predictions despite their inconsistencies (30:44)
• How the Dunning–Kruger effect causes expert predictions to persist (32:13)
• Why you should view predictions as noise (35:53)
• How your investment philosophy protects you from falling prey to predictions (36:19)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

• David Foot and Daniel Stoffman’s Book | Boom, Bust & Echo: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Shift
• Dunning–Kruger effect graph
• Tulett, Matthews & Associates
• Keith Matthews’ Book | The Empowered Investor: A Guide to Building Better Portfolios

Thanks for Listening!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at lawrence@tma-invest.com

Follow Tulett, Matthews & Associates on social media on Instagram, LinkedIn, and more!

One of the biggest challenges of investing is being able to stop mistakes from occurring. It’s one of those areas where the winner can be the person that makes the least mistakes.

An investment philosophy that aligns with your goals and personal financial affairs is crucial for achieving financial security. It steers the decision-making process and stipulates how your money will be managed across both good and challenging times.

Especially in challenging times like the current pandemic, high levels of noise make it difficult not to be swayed to make adjustments to your portfolio based on market fluctuations and you’re particularly vulnerable when you don’t have an investment philosophy to guide you.

On this episode, Keith and Marcelo discuss why you need a strategy to avoid making investment mistakes, the components of an investment philosophy, the criteria you need to consider when developing your investment philosophy, the consequences of investing without a philosophy, and more!

Be sure to join us for our next episode where we’ll be continuing the series on the Deadly Sins of Investing by looking at why you shouldn’t build your portfolio based on investment predictions. Thank you for listening!

Key Topics:

• Common investment mistakes (1:27)
• The winner can be the person who makes the least mistakes (2:11)
• The reasons investment mistakes occur (3:05)
• Everyday sources of noise (3:50)
• How mistakes affect your long-term investment goals (5:19)
• Why you need an investment philosophy (5:48)
• How to develop your investment philosophy (6:57)
• Human nature and the need for guiding rules and principles (9:10)
• Linking an investment philosophy to an individual investor (12:07)
• Benefits of having an aligned investment philosophy (13:03)
• Consequences of investing without a philosophy (14:23)
• The impact of not having an investment philosophy in challenging times like these (16:42)
• Examples of erratic investor behavior during the 2007-2008 market decline (18:44)
• How to identify the right investment philosophy (21:10)
• Questions you should ask yourself about your investment philosophy (22:04)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

Tulett, Matthews & Associates
Keith Matthews’ Book | The Empowered Investor: A Guide to Building Better Portfolios

Thanks for Listening!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at lawrence@tma-invest.com

Follow Tulett, Matthews & Associates on social media on Instagram, LinkedIn, and more!

Long-term investment success is based on two crucial elements: following winning principles and conquering the obstacles along the way. Today we’re taking a look at the latter.

Although the details of investment success look different for every investor, we’re all aiming for the same goal – financial security. Along the journey, there’s one big obstacle that can trip up even an experienced investor. That obstacle is noise.

Noise comes from sources we’re exposed to every day and which are often packaged as helpful information. We want to empower you to not only understand the different types but to also learn how to spot and protect yourself from them.

On this episode, Keith and Marcelo discuss the way obstacles block the path to investment success, why knowing good investing principles isn’t enough, the four main sources of noise that you’ll encounter, how you can block out the noise, and more!

Be sure to join us for the next episode where we’ll be starting a series on the Deadly Sins of Investing. Thank you for listening!

Key Topics:

• How obstacles come up in your daily activities (1:29)
• Why simply following a guide is often easier said than done (3:38)
• The main obstacle to achieving financial security (4:48)
• The four types of noise affecting your investment goals (5:24)
• How general media might lead you to make bad investment decisions (6:16)
• What is a wholesaler in the context of investing? (8:31)
• Why expert predictions are inherently problematic (9:24
• How friends and family can become particularly difficult sources of noise (11:27)
• The core reason there’s so much noise around us (15:20)
• The slippery slope of tuning in to the noise (19:04)
• Why you need to stick to a long-term investing strategy (22:03)
• What previous recessions show us about investing in equities (23:44)
• How you can tune out the noise (27:05)
• Our challenge for you to try when you’re consuming media (28:13)
• The combination you need to increase the odds of your long-term investing success (28:40)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

The Investment Funds Institute of Canada/Morningstar 2007/2008 Market Correction Graph
Tulett, Matthews & Associates
Keith Matthews’ Book | The Empowered Investor: A Guide to Building Better Portfolios

Thanks for Listening!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at lawrence@tma-invest.com

Follow Tulett, Matthews & Associates on social media on Instagram, LinkedIn, and more!

Welcome to the first episode of The Empowered Investor. Today we’re introducing ourselves to you and sharing the foundational principles of the Empowered Investor. Join us on this inspiring journey, hosted by Keith Matthews and Marcelo Taboada.

Keith Matthews is the author of The Empowered Investor: A Guide to Building Better Portfolios, and a Partner and licensed Portfolio Manager at Tulett, Matthews & Associates (TMA). Keith left the institutional investment management industry in 1997 to work directly with private investors because he wanted to make a difference. He felt that he could have a positive impact on helping individuals create a successful investment experience.

Marcelo Taboada is an Associate at TMA and after finishing his studies, he decided that he wanted to work in a field that allowed him to help people and cultivate his intellectual curiosity. Marcelo decided to make the move to Private Wealth Management to grow professionally in an environment where the client is priority number one.

On this episode, Keith and Marcelo share their stories on how they joined the private client world and talk about the Empowered Investor narrative, why they believe financial security is the thread that links all investors, what you’ll learn from listening to the show, and more!

Key Topics:

• Marcelo’s role at TMA (1:26)
• How Marcelo went from childhood in El Salvador to becoming a financial advisor in Canada (3:37)
• Why Marcelo almost left finance to start a new career path (6:03)
• The benefits of an independent firm (6:55)
• Keith’s role at TMA (7:42)
• Why Keith’s inclination towards helping people led him away from bond trading (8:32)
• The aha moment that kick-started Keith’s private client career (10:16)
• Why Keith wrote The Empowered Investor (13:18)
• The common goal all investors are aiming for (14:13)
• The biggest challenge investors face (16:04)
• How our core belief will inform the direction of this show going forward (18:45)
• What you’ll learn by joining us for this podcast (19:23)
• And much more!

Mentioned in this Episode:

Tulett, Matthews & Associates
Keith Matthews’ Book | The Empowered Investor: A Guide to Building Better Portfolios

Thanks for Listening!

Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at lawrence@tma-invest.com

Follow Tulett, Matthews & Associates on social media on Instagram, LinkedIn, and more!