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In The News
Vancouver Sun - Oct 30 2009
Web tools help diagnose your portfolio's health
When the stock market started plummeting last fall, Nanaimo investor Sharry Goldston stopped opening her account statements. They were too upsetting. more>
Globe and Mail - Oct 9 2009
Financial Facelift: Buy a home, ditch the rental
With a three-year-old child, good jobs and a promising future, Tanya and Edward are looking for a financial road map. more>
Globe and Mail - Oct 1 2009
The seven deadly sins of managing your money
We all make investing mistakes from time to time. We let our emotions take over. We get too fearful, or too greedy. We focus on short-term returns when research shows that investing is a marathon, not a sprint. more>
Globe and Mail - Sept 18 2009
Financial Facelift: Beaten by market, but eager to retire
Market meltdown has diminished Tom's investments, and now he's not sure if he can retire at 55 as he had planned. more>
Chronicle Herald - Aug 11 2009
Longer lives require new retirement strategies
Retirement isn’t what it used to be and neither is retirement planning, says the founder and president of Second Opinion Investor Services Inc. more>
Report on Business - July 30 2009
Wooing the Wealthy
As well-heeled Canadians like Ross Smith found their savings hammered by the recession, many of them began to question the people who manage their money. Often decades in the forging, relationships between the wealthy and their financial advisers have rarely undergone such a period of upheaval.
more>
Financial Post - July 18 2009
It pays to get a second opinion
Service sidesteps advisors' conflict of interest more>
Globe and Mail - May 13 2009
Deepen your investment knowledge
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Globe and Mail - May 5 2009
Like Investing? Want to get better at it?
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Globe and Mail - May 1 2009
Case studies in bad advice
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Globe and Mail - May 1 2009
Good, bad and ugly investment products
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Globe and Mail - April 28 2009
The warning signs of bad advice
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Business News Network - April 13 2009
Market Morning: Back from the Brink
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Toronto Star - March 15 2009
Rule of ages a good guide for investors
How much of your long-term savings should you put into the stock market? more>
Globe and Mail - March 7 2009
Financial advice fees: Are you getting good value?
Lewis Gitelman has been paying close to $750 per quarter in fees for financial advice and he wondered recently if that was too much. more>
CTV Consumer Alert - March 2 2009
Second Opinion Advisors.
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Toronto Star - Feb 22 2009
Not always better to shop for new investment adviser
Your investment portfolio has sunk like a stone in the past few months. more>
Toronto Star - Feb 19 2009
Looking for the right advice
Following several simple criteria can help you evaluate your investor and save yourself sleep. more>
Toronto Star - Feb 1 2009
When buy and hold is no option
"Buy and hold for the long term" is a formula, a mantra, a way of thinking embraced by the mainstream investment industry. more>
Montreal Gazette - Jan 23 2009
Take a hard look at how your portfolio performed last year
One day next month, you’ll be hearing about the horrible returns of the Caisse de dépôt et placement, the manager of Quebecers’ public pension assets like the Quebec Pension Plan. more>
Toronto Srar - Jan 21 2009
Can boomers rely on public purse?
Government pensions are secure but new stock market reality has hurt future buying power. more>
Ottawa Business Journal - Jan 14 2009
Are you in sync with your adviser?
There's nothing wrong with paying someone to do something you might be able to do yourself...more>
Business News Network - Jan 12 2009
Money Talk
Patricia Lovett-Reid interviews Warren MacKenzie on the "New Rules of Retirement". watch>
CTV News - Jan 6 2009
The New Rules of Retirement
Warren MacKenzie interviewed on "New Rules of Retirement". watch>
The Star - Jan 7 2009
Book busts myths of retirement
Warren MacKenzie, founder and CEO of Second Opinion Investor Services, Inc., has written, along with his vice-president, Ken Hawkins, The New Rules of Retirement: What your financial planner isn't telling you (HarperCollins). more>
Globe and Mail - Dec 20 2008
Salvaging your shattered holdings
When a sports franchise hits the skids, the euphemism of choice is that the team is in a rebuilding phase. more>
Toronto Star - Dec 7 2008
Investment advisers: The good, bad and ugly
For almost 20 years, I've had the same investment adviser. more>
Globe and Mail - Nov 26 2008
Is bandwagon effect taking spinoff ETF on a downward spiral?
Here's a great idea: An ETF tracking spinoffs...Or is it? more>
Morgningstar - Nov 14 2008
How to recover from a financial heart attack
Are you at risk of a heart attack, either physical or financial? more>
Toronto Star - Nov 13 2008
Gambling on Success
Seeking advice from a financial planner before investing helps
limit the risks and could deal you a winning hand. more>
Toronto Star - Nov 13 2008
Balancing Options
Following investment rules and learning from mistakes can keep you on solid footing.
more>
Forex News - Oct 2 2008
Investment Advisers Split Over Where Clients Should Put Money
Ottawa - Buy or sell? Rebalance or stay the course? Unfortunately, in these troubled economic times, investment advisers cannot seem to agree on an appropriate course of investment action. more>
Montreal Gazette - Sept 22 2008
Don't panic, but take a look at your portfolio
DON MACDONALD
The stock market has rarely provided a better lesson on the hazards of panic selling than it did last week. more>
Toronto Star - Sept 20 2008
Roller-coaster week tests small traders' stomachs
Ellen Roseman
How much stock-market risk can you stomach? more>
Second Opinion Press Release - Sept 18 2008
Five actions Canadian investors should take in response to the U.S. financial crisis
Warren MacKenzie, President of Second Opinion Investor Services Inc (“Second Opinion”) warns investors that this is no time for inaction. more>
Financial Post - July 15 2008
Is Your Portfolio Performing Well?
Research shows that most portfolios underperform the market by a wide margin More>
Gurufocus.com - July 7 2008
Telling it Like it is
If you're frustrated by your brokerage statements, take heart - you're not alone. And someone is actually trying to do something about it! More>
Financial Post - April 29 2008
Fee-only must mean just that
Warren MacKenzie, author of The Unbiased Advisor and president of Toronto-based Second Opinion Investor Services Inc., agrees with the distinction last week's column drew between fee-only and fee-based planners. More>
Todays Investor - April 3 2008
How to Avoid a Portfolio Attack
Move over, diabetes. Heart disease, step aside! Investors have another health condition to be concerned about. I’m talking about a portfolio attack caused by unnecessary or excessive financial risk. More>
Money Talk - March 10 2008
Porfolio Performance Check
Second Opinion’s President, Warren MacKenzie, makes his second appearance on ‘MoneyTalk’ with Patricia Lovett-Reid. Learn about the importance of rebalancing and how it can easily be achieved. Watch Video>
Financial Post - February 21 2008
Canada's Future? Look To Kelowna
Ken Hawkins is a good man to talk to during RRSP season. He is semi-retired, lives in Retirementville, Canada (aka, Kelowna, B.C.), is a Boomer at 57 and the work he still does concerns checking over the suitability of people's portfolios.
As vice-president of research and development for Second Opinion Investor Services Inc., and in his former life as a senior equities portfolio manager, Hawkins has seen just about every kind of mistake that people make in building their RRSPs and preparing for retirement. More>
Financial Post - February 16 2008
Keep it simple: company plans
There are three components to a good company RRSP: It should include fund options for employees to choose from, have low fees’ and most importantly, be simple to understand.
More>
Globe and Mail - February 12 2008
How to tell if it’s just a bad patch, or if it’s just some bad advice
Your January investment account statement could make for some alarming reading.
The stock markets are wildly volatile and some of the largest Canadian equity funds are down 6 to almost 9 per cent for the year to date. It’s safe to say that a lot of investors’ portfolios are falling in value, and that the trend may have a lot longer to run if the stock markets move lower in the months ahead. More>
Montreal Gazette - Jan 21 2008
How customers get nickel-and-dimed
Canadian investors who have owned U.S. stocks for the past few years know all about currency risk. They've taken a pounding as the loonie gained value rapidly against the U.S. dollar, significantly reducing the exchange value of their U.S. holdings.
Adding insult to injury was the fact Canadian financial institutions insisted on tacking on a currency conversion fee every time they made a trade or received a dividend in U.S. dollars in their RRSPs, automatically transferring the funds into Canadian dollars and taking a small, undeclared cut - typically one or two per cent - for themselves. On a $5,000 trade, that totalled $50 to $100, over and above the commission.More>
Sympatico MSN - Jan 1 2008
Getting in sync with your advisor
There's nothing wrong with paying someone to do something you might be able to do yourself -- particularly if you know you'll never actually get around to the task. That's why roughly two thirds of Canadians use some sort of financial advisor to look after their affairs. More>
Seeking Alpha - Dec 25 2007
Tactical, as Opposed to Calendar Rebalancing
Tactical rebalancing might be a better option than the commonly used calendar- or threshold-based approaches. Here is an excerpt of a note to that effect sent to me by Warren MacKenzie of Second Opinion Investor Services and author of The Unbiased Investor. More>
Montreal Gazette - Dec 10 2007
Ten ways to avoid being ripped off
During the past few months, I spent a lot of time researching stories about insurance
and mutual-fund adviser Rocco Di Stefano and the staggering losses a good number
of his clients are facing on investment notes he sold them.
Before this story, I covered the Mount Real scandal where about 1,600 small investors
have lost $130 million in similar types of investments sold to them by financial
advisers. More>
MoneySense Oct 1 2007
Wonder Woman
You can get tired just listening to Lee and Marina Carter’s daily routine. The couple is raising five kids while holding down two jobs - and all of this while Marina is going to law school part time. Lee, 44, works in a public relations firm in Calgary, earning $85,000 a year, while Marina, 33, works evenings as a web editor for a local television station, making $55,200 a year. More>
Seeking Alpha - July 1 2007
Financial Planning Tips from Warren MacKenzie
I am finding Warren MacKenzie’s The Unbiased Advisor to be a good source of financial planning tips - and not just the usual generic kind. There is also detail on specific financial products and practices. Here’s a few from his book: More>
Globe and Mail - May 29 2007
Advisers take bad rap in batch of investment books
Regulators are on always your case with new rules to follow, clients are being spoiled rotten by a never-ending bull market for stocks and now you’re the bad guy in a new crop of personal finance books. More>
Stockhouse - March 30 2007
STANDUP Advice: Second Opinion
Advice evaluation is just a click away
The business of offering financial advice is often referred to as a “trust based” business. Unfortunately, given the relatively low levels of financial literacy in Canada, most people are ill equipped to judge the merits or reasonableness of the advice they receive. To make matters worse, whenever they go to another expert for an opinion, it almost always results in the new person offering more criticism than praise about the status quo. More>
Montreal Gazette - March 19 2007
Plan ahead for meeting with adviser
The RRSP season brings many small investors face to face with their financial adviser for
the one and only time each year.
For many people, these portfolio reviews are also the only time they seriously think about
where they’re going with their retirement savings. More>
Toronto Star - February 28 2007
Diversify to shrug off bad days like these
How did you feel when you heard about yesterday’s sharp stock market selloff?
A) You shrugged your shoulders and said to yourself, “The market is taking a break after hitting so many record highs this month.”
B) You cursed the financial adviser who recommended your high equity exposure and made a promise to find someone new. More>
Toronto Star - Feb 7 2008
How do you find a good financial adviser?
It’s a question I hear all the time, often followed by a story about getting poor financial advice in the past.
Here are some hot tips from authors of recently published books that deal with this important issue. More>
Montreal Gazette - December 26 2006
Investors need to know their returns
You may remember the Beardstown Ladies investment club from the 1990s.
This group of small-town women in Illinois made a big splash with their folksy story of
beating the stock market even as they traded recipes at monthly meetings.
They claimed an astounding 10-year average return of 23.4 per cent to the end of 1993. More>