When pondering the financial impacts of the Covid-19 quarantine and the resulting global economic shutdown, it helps to visualize dropping a pebble in a pool of water. As any child knows, the ripples start moving away from the point of impact until they disappear across the pond and finally dissipate, and the waters return to their calm state.
Most people mistakenly believe that they will never fall victim to financial or identity theft. The sad reality is that billions of dollars are lost each year to these crimes, and the losses are only getting bigger. Here are some steps you can take to reduce your chances of becoming a fraud victim:
It appears that while many Canadians faithfully invest funds into their workplace retirement plans they are somewhat lackadaisical when it comes to determining their retirement needs as well as measuring their progress towards those needs.
In a survey conducted by Ipsos Reid in February 2015*, it was found that only 50 percent of Canadians are following a financial plan and only less than half are saving regularly for their long term retirement goals.
The fastest market correction in history, that started in the last week of February and bottomed in late March, led to the fastest bounce back over a five-week period, since about 1987 1. However, at the time of this writing, most of the major market indexes are still below their February 2020 peaks levels.
Much of what we do today is to improve our future financial position. As with anything, we can get better results by following a plan. This is why both an Estate Plan and a Financial Strategy are important for those who want to ensure better tomorrows for ourselves and our families.
Carl and Cathy are well aware of the substantial tax advantages of making charitable contributions as well as the good feeling they get by helping their favorite charity. In addition to their annual contributions, they would like to bequeath more substantial amounts to their chosen charity in their wills. Some of their more affluent friends do this. However, Carl and Cathy do not feel that they are able to.
