In his new book, Balance, Andrew Hallam not only explains evidence-based strategies for providing the best odds of success in the stock market, he provides a lot more than that.  The book helps you answer other important questions:How can we boost longevity, wealth and happiness?When it comes to spending, what sorts of purchases really enhance happiness? And yes, some material purchases do!How should we define success? And based on that definition, how can your children be successful?Buy the book here (Affiliate link)Andrew Hallam is the international best-selling author of Millionaire Teacher, The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School and Millionaire Expat: How To Build Wealth Living Overseas. Profiled on such media as CNBC, and The Wall Street Journal, he's also the first person to have a #1 selling finance book on Amazon USA, Amazon Canada and Amazon UAE. He has written columns for The Globe and Mail, Canadian Business, MoneySense, Internaxx and AssetBuilder. Since 2016 he has spoken at businesses and international schools in over 30 different countries.

Robin Taub returns to talk about her latest book, The Wisest Investment: Teaching your kids to be responsible, independent and money-smart for life. We chat about the common concerns parents bring up with Robin with respect to money and the financial decision making skills they want to empower their children with. We then dive into what parents can expect to learn from this quick, strategy-filled guide that includes chapters and tactics for children of all ages.To take advantage of Robin's special offer (mentioned at the end of the podcast), you can email her directly at books@robintaub.com.LINKSBuy the book: Amazon affiliate linkRobin's website: https://robintaub.com/Book website: https://www.thewisestinvestment.com/

I’m joined by Erica Alini to talk about her new book: Money Like You Mean It - Personal Finance Tactics for the REAL world.Erica is the personal finance reporter at Global News, where she writes about all things personal finance, business, and economics. She’s also the author of Money123, a popular weekly newsletter on money matters. Her writing has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Maclean’s and the Globe and Mail, among others.You can also follow her on twitter here. 

Dan Bortolotti is the creator of the Canadian Couch Potato blog, and host of the (soon to be resurrected?) Canadian Couch Potato podcast. He is THE authority on index investing in Canada and has just written a new book, Reboot Your Portfolio (Amazon affiliate link). Dan joined me to explain what the book promises readers, and to discuss his journey from before knowing anything about investing himself, to becoming the writer behind the incredibly popular CanadianCouchPotato.com blog, and then eventually becoming a portfolio manager and financial planner.We cover a range of topics in this interview, including:-Dan's thoughts on how cryptocurrencies fit into a portfolio-Why investing doesn't have to be time-consuming or exciting-The rationale behind the couch potato method-How you can reboot your portfolio whether you have $1,000 or $1 million-and moreLinks:Buy the book: Reboot your portfolio (Amazon affiliate link)CanadianCouchPotato.com blogCanadian Couch Potato podcastDan's advisor website at PWL Capital Toronto

This episode is sponsored by BMO ETFs #adI speak with Kevin Prins from BMO Global Asset Management about how ETFs can be used for building and improving almost any investor's portfolio. Specific topics covered:What are asset allocation ETFs?ETF issuers have large voting rights - how do they vote at AGMs for all the companies' stocks that they hold on behalf of investors?For people who do not subscribe to the philosophy of a couch potato portfolio, how can they still use ETFs?And more...To learn more about BMO ETFs full suite of offerings visit https://bit.ly/3mA0NbsTo learn more about BMO Asset Allocation ETFs visit https://bit.ly/3Angdok Specific resources mentioned in the episode:BMO Global Asset Management's responsible investment review: https://www.bmogam.com/uploads/2021/09/e704ba9fcbadb851004de49131e2a42f/ri_annual_review_canada_en.pdfAsset Allocation 101: https://bmogamhub.com/system/files/asset_allocation_index_etfs_whitepaper-_direct_channel.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=107518ETF Tools/Screeners/Proposal builders: https://www.bmogam.com/ca-en/investors/learning-centre/etf-investing-basics/etf-tools-and-resources/

Welcome to the 100th and final episode, at least for a while, of Mostly Money. I wanted to have a special guest for this send off show, and I don’t think I can top who offered to help me out. You know when people say, our next guest needs no introduction? That is actually true in this case. He is a Canadian icon. A broadcasting legend. This guy walks into a room and time stops. And let me tell you, it really is an honour that the one and only Peter Mansbridge is my special guest today.With 50 years at the CBC, culminating in the top job, anchor of The National for many of those years, he’s seen a lot. I wanted to ask him a bit about what life is like inside a major network news department, but I also wanted to tap into the stories behind the stories of some of the big financial events in Canada - past elections, and budgets, the story behind how the GST was introduced, and more.This ties in nicely as he has a new book available for pre-sales, releasing October 5th, 2021 titled "Off the Record", in which Peter tells you the stories behind the biggest stories of our lives. I've already ordered my copy, and I just know I'll be hearing Peter's distinctive voice in my head as I read it, and I can't wait.LINKS:New book - "Off the Record"Peter's website - ThePeterMansbridge.comTwitter account - @petermansbridgeInstagram - @thepetermansbridge

Cait Flanders is back. Previously my guest on episode 63 in March of 2018, she is the author of Wall Street Journal bestseller, THE YEAR OF LESS. Described by Vogue magazine as “a fascinating look into a living experiment that we can all learn from,” it has been translated into 10 languages, and sold more than 190,000 copies.Her new book, ADVENTURES IN OPTING OUT, is a field guide to opting out of expectations, changing paths, and leading a more intentional life. Cait joins me again to talk about how her life has changed since writing her first best selling book, and explains what her newest book is all about.Instagram: @caitflandersWebsite: CaitFlanders.com

You’ve likely heard terms like ESG investing, sustainable investing, impact investing, socially responsible investing and others. But are they all the same? Today’s guest is the head of ESG at Research Affiliates. And we’re going to tackle some important questions: Does ESG lead to better returns for investors? If you don’t invest in ESG tilted portfolios, are you against the environment,  or social and governance goals? Who determines whether a portfolio or investment is ESG compliant? Is it too subjective? All that and much more on this episode of Mostly Money with guest Ari Polychronopoulos of Research Affiliates.LINKSResearch Affiliates' websiteResearch Affiliates on Twitter: @RA_InsightsWhite papers: 1. Is ESG a factor in returns? 2. What a difference an ESG ratings provider makes

What explains the meteoric rise in Canadian home prices off of a backdrop of 3 million jobs initially lost back in early 2020 with many businesses forced to be shut down and with lockdown, after lockdown? Well if there’s one person who can help answer that question, you know it’s Ben Rabidoux. He’s going to dive deep into a number of factors that, taken together, may help you figure out what’s been happening. Here’s just a sample of the topics we cover in this episode: Most of the people who lost their jobs weren’t in a position to buy in the first placeThose who were, tended to see their financial situations improve during the pandemicLower interest rates have further increased debt servicing abilityPopulation dynamics negatively affected the rental market more than the resale marketChanging consumer preferences, and so much more. Grab your popcorn, because Ben Rabidoux is going to enlighten and entertain you in this episode of Mostly Money.Ben Rabidoux is the President of North Cove Advisors, a Canadian research firm that works exclusively with institutional investors around the world, by providing coverage of Canadian housing, macroeconomic and household credit trends. He has also just launched a new firm, Edge Realty Analytics, that provides market intelligence to real estate industry professionals. You can learn more at EdgeAnalytics.ca.LINKSTwitter: https://twitter.com/BenRabidouxEdge Realty Analytics: https://edgeanalytics.ca/North Cove Advisors: https://northcove.net/

In this episode, you’re going to hear from a psychiatrist on a number of topics directly and tangentially related to finances and financial decision making. Later in the episode we talk about some financial behaviours under acute mental distress, a number of various pathways that lead to hoarding behaviours, and more. But we also discuss the effects of chronic decision fatigue, burnout, and corona insomnia that almost everyone seems to be experiencing. And I need to point out that today’s guest, Dr. Ajmal Razmy is one of my very best friends. We studied neuroscience together during our undergrad days at UofT and he continued with his masters and medical school, whereas I, after my last undergraduate exam, went to auto-racing school.Dr. Razmy is a psychiatrist and mental health specialist at Cleveland Clinic Canada with a background in healthcare with a special interest in sleep medicine and hospital administration. He is currently a practicing psychiatrist and Head of Service (HoS) for Mental Health at Joseph Brant Hospital with a focus on acute care psychiatry. In the HoS role, he is helping lead Burlington’s mental health response to the novel Coronavirus across the hospital and community systems. Prior to this role, he worked at Trillium Health Partners, where he was the Service Medical Director for Acute Care Psychiatry, and has also served as a psychiatry member of the Consent and Capacity Board of Ontario.LinksTwitter: https://twitter.com/AjmalRazmyMDWebsite: http://ajmalrazmymd.com/Cleveland Clinic: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/canada/staff/razmy-ajmal

If bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain have you feeling confused, THIS podcast episode is for you. There is a strong correlation between bitcoin cheerleading and bitcoin’s price. Whenever the cryptocurrency has seen a rapid increase in price, mainstream media coverage rises and social media goes crazy like it always does. But… how many people really know what they are talking about? Is this another case of return-chasing behaviour combined with “a little knowledge being a dangerous thing”? My guest on today’s podcast is one of the few people who can help answer a lot of questions about cryptocurrencies. Dr. Andreas Park is a professor at the University of Toronto and his research and interests have been focused on financial market structure, financial technology, and studying innovations in cryptocurrency and blockchain. And don’t worry, whether you already know a bit about cryptocurrencies or are starting from scratch, I think we hit a nice balance between explaining the basics and diving a bit deeper into the actual economics to explain how you can judge for yourself if the space is suffering from too much hype or not. Resources and Links for this episode:Twitter: https://twitter.com/financeUTMWebsite: https://sites.google.com/site/parkandreas/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/andreaspark2812/

Some people love car shopping… Others dread it. But like any industry, technological advancements have changed the landscape. When trading in an old vehicle, it used to be hard to really know what a good price might be. But for years now, you could look up comparable cars on the market, controlling for trim level, mileage, condition, and more. Some online services tell you what the dealer’s costs might be for a new car to help you negotiate with more confidence. But many people just don’t like to negotiate, and at the same time they certainly don’t want to feel like they are leaving money on the table. I had a very interesting conversation with Chris Pfaff, the CEO of Pfaff Automotive Partners who operate almost 20 locations in most major cities in Canada, selling a wide variety of cars, from McLaren and Pagani, to Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen, and more. His company launched what they called The Future Retail Model of buying cars in late 2019. No haggling. Their best price is offered first. Take it or leave it. And it’s been very successful. Chris explains the reason for the new model, whether his competitors like it or not, how his sales team reacted, and provides some thoughtful insights into the world of buying and selling cars.I need to point out that this interview was originally recorded BEFORE COVID-19, back in January of 2020. I had delayed publishing the podcast as it was originally scheduled for March 2020, but large parts of the country were being locked down at the time. Anything not Coronavirus related was just not on people’s minds. Well, we’re hopefully starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. And perhaps more people will be in the market for a vehicle in the near future, so now seems like a better time to release this episode.Links:Pfaff Auto website Facebook Page YouTube Channel Instagram 

Michael Meyer is the founder of Obolx.com - an app that helps you visualize your personal goals alongside your financial and health milestones for your entire family. Powered by AI, and using a stacked timeline visualization, it promises to help you conceptualize your life and your most valuable asset: time.Website: https://www.obolx.com/

Darin Diehl has a long history of working in the financial services as an educator and marketer. But in late 2019, he was laid off from his job. Then, in early 2020, he had a heart attack. While being diagnosed and treated for that, doctors also found out that he had advanced lung cancer. Darin thought it would be helpful to share his story, not only from a health perspective, but from a financial and emotional perspective. From what emergency funds they had in place, benefits coverage and insurance, and how his medication for lung cancer has a price tag of $130,000 per year (and he explains how those costs are subsidized).With a recent positive assessment, he now has another set of unique financial considerations: what is the balance to be found between spending more aggressively now in case his life expectancy is much shorter than his financial plan called for, versus what if he has more runway than the doctors originally predicted?Darin is sharing his story because his passion for financial education hasn't dwindled. There are many lessons and thought provoking subjects we touch on in this episode. 

Alyssa Davies joins the show to talk about how couples can talk about money. Our wide ranging conversation covers the "breadwinner mentality" and how that can cause problems in the dynamics of a relationship, how and when to start talking seriously about money with a significant other, and much more. Alyssa is one of the most popular personal finance personalities in Canada. She is the creator behind the Mixed Up Money community which has a huge Instagram following on top of a blog, YouTube channel, and TikTok account. She is a content specialist for Zolo and a published author living in Calgary, Alberta. Two-time award-winning Canadian Personal Finance Blog of the Year Mixed Up Money has over 30,000 followers across social media. Her first book, The 100 Day Financial Goal Journal, was published in 2020. Links:100-Day Financial Goal Journal: https://mixedupmoney.com/bookInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mixedupmoney/Twitter: https://twitter.com/MixedUpMoneyWebsite: https://mixedupmoney.com/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mixedupmoneyYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnqAoFeB_QAklk2yAMyVx0wColumn: https://www.zolo.ca/blog/author/alyssa-davies 

There is a BIG difference between End Of Life Planning and Serious Illness Planning.If you think estate planning is getting your wills and powers of attorney or healthcare directives set up for taking care of things when you die or are about to die, you might be making a big mistake.If you end up in an ER, the doctors aren't going to look at any end of life planning you might have in place if they think they can still save your life. This requires a whole different way of thinking about planning for serious medical illnesses. On the show today I speak with critical care physician, Dr. Daren Heyland, who is going to give us a look behind the scenes at what really happens when people and their loved ones are making decisions about their medical care when they are seriously ill, or terminal. We’ve talked a bit about estate planning on the podcast before, and my guest recently attended a financial planning seminar where the positioning of how and when certain parts of an estate plan come into place could have used some fine tuning.  He’s also going to discuss an initiative he’s been spearheading, called the Plan Well Guide, Plan Well Guide is a FREE tool to help people learn about medical treatments and prepare them for decision-making during a serious illness, like COVID-19 pneumonia for example.  Find out more here:Company: https://planwellguide.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/darenheylandFacebook: @planwellguideTwitter: @plan_well_guideInstagram: @plan_well_guideLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daren-heyland-2b674a185/ Guest Bio: Dr. Daren Heyland is a critical care doctor at Kingston General Hospital and a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Queen’s University. He currently serves as the Director of the Clinical Evaluation Research Unit (CERU) at the Kingston General Hospital.  For over a decade he chaired the Canadian Researchers at the End of Life Network (CARENET), which has a focus on developing and evaluating strategies to improve communication and decision-making at the end of life

In this episode I speak with the president of BMO InvestorLine, Silvio Stroescu, to get his response to the long wait times for clients calling in for customer service that all discount brokerages seem to be experiencing. Silvio provides some shocking numbers showing the absolute explosion in new account openings and trading activity. Year-over-Year increases in trading activity have reached +200% in some recent months. The first nine days of 2021, which is really only five trading days, saw more transactions than all of January 2020.Why the surge? And what are they doing to reduce wait times. Silvio candidly answers these questions and more. 

Erica Ehm was one of the first MuchMusic VJs, shaping and influencing an entire generation of Canadians. Her career has seen a series of reinventions. After defining the role of music television host, she became a successful songwriter winning multiple Canadian Country Music Awards, SOCAN awards, and Juno awards. But the reinvention didn't stop there. She has launched two companies, including the the first influencer agency that was born out of YummyMummyClub.ca, and Ehm & Co (EhmCo.com), a digital agency focused on connecting brands with Canadian mothers.She recently launched the "Reinvention of the VJ" podcast which not only reminisces about that golden era of Canadian music television, but what happened to much of the on-air talent after the disruptive effect of on-demand music streaming services on the industry.With so many people facing personal and professional reinvention (COVID-related or otherwise), Erica brings her experience as a reinvention expert to the podcast and shares what worked for her, and what can work for you.Mentioned in the show:THAT Kurt Cobain interview that helped defined Erica's career: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CTsGievjMUErica Ehm's blog post about her thoughts on the behind the scenes of that interview: https://www.ericaehm.com/erica-ehm-insights/2019/2/5/kurt-cobain-erica-ehmReinvention of the Vj Podcast: https://www.ericaehm.com/podcastYummyMummyClub.caEhmCo.comErica Ehm on Twitter: @EricaEhm, Instagram: @EricaEhm

Erin Bury is the co-founder and CEO at Willful, an online estate planning platform that makes it easy for Canadians to create a will in less than 20 minutes. Topics covered:Estate planning 101: basic definitions and concepts to help educate the audienceCan you leave your debt to someone in your will?The stats on who doesn’t have wills/POAs,etc.What are the biggest reasons people don’t get their estate planning documents set up?What don’t people know about estate planning that they should?What happens to your social media accounts when you die?Company: https://www.willful.co/Twitter: https://twitter.com/erinbury

David Pride was sponsored into a multi-level marketing organization at the tender age of just 15 years old. By the time he was 16, they realized he was a naturally gifted speaker on stage. Over the next three years he would recruit over 150 people into the company. He would spend a total of 13 years dedicating all his spare time to his new family before he realized he needed to get out. It took him an additional three years of therapy to de-program his brain after he left. For the first time ever, he shares his story. How he got in. How much he made (it will shock you). And how he got out. 

Founding and managing partner of Aligned Capital Partners, Christopher Enright, joins the podcast to discuss a bit about how the dealership platform an advisor uses can impact advice. With consumer preferences for how they pay for advice and products ever evolving, it's possible that some dealerships are not keeping up with those changing preferences. Inside the industry, it certainly feels like there is a small wave of change happening right now with respect to developing and deploying newer technology at the dealership level, and more flexibility with compensation options that advisors can offer. Chris helps explain why some of these changes seem to take a while, what's happening on the ground, and his vision for "bionic advisors" who can embrace technology instead of battling it.

Human trafficking survivor, author, speaker and social advocate, Timea Nagy, immigrated to Canada in 1998. Her nightmare unfolded in Toronto in that same year after arriving from Budapest, Hungary in the hopes of finding meaningful employment. The daughter of a Hungarian policewoman, Timea was held (For three terrifying months) at the hands of traffickers and was forced to work in the sex industry. Thankfully, she escaped and started life anew. Ten years later, Ms. Nagy founded ‘Walk with Me’, a non-profit organization to assist victims of human trafficking and law enforcement agencies.I met Timea at a conference where I was the MC. When Timea was interviewed on stage, you could hear a pin drop in the crowd. Everyone was captivated, and mortified, by her story. She detailed exactly how she ended up a victim, and more importantly how she now aids law enforcement agencies and financial institutions in detecting similar crimes by looking at financial transactions. Follow Timea on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TimeasCauseVisit her website to learn more about her work: https://www.timeascause.com/

The CEO of robo-advisor Justwealth drops by to explain their offering, the differences and similarities to other robo-advisors in Canada, and introduces me to mushroom coffee.

Dak Molnar is the Managing Director of the Molnar group, a commercial real estate developer and investment company. He joined me on the show to talk about Land Baron (http://www.landbaron.ca), a prospective new way for regular investors to participate in direct commercial real estate investments through an app. He also provides an insider's perspective on commercial real estate through his decades of experience in the field. DISCLOSURE: I have spoken to a company (Apply Digital) affiliated with Land Baron about possibly being engaged for consulting work for Land Baron. Apply Digital also employs a family member of mine (my brother). At the time of recording, no agreement was in place, but there is a reasonable expectation that one could be developed in the future.

Author, speaker, and consultant Robin Taub joins me to talk about a new report put out by CPA Canada that investigates how individual personality, as well as socio-economic factors like age, income and education, play an important role when it comes tofinancial habits and knowledge

Award-winning financial advisor Jason Pereira joins me to talk about the new Financial Planning Association of Canada that launched on November 19th, 2019.You can reach out to Jason about FPAC at jason.pereira@fpassociation.ca, and you can visit https://www.fpassociation.ca for more information.On the show, Jason talks about why we need this new association, and what they hope to accomplish. 

Neil Pasricha helps people live happy lives.He is a top-rated leadership keynote speaker, New York Times bestselling author, and positive psychology researcher focused on the relationship between happiness and leadership in business.Neil is one of the most popular TED speakers with his first TED Talk “The 3 A’s of Awesome” (2010) ranked as one of the ten most inspiring of all time and his second “How will you maximize your tiny, short life?” (2016) the world’s first ever TED Listen, composed entirely of questions. As a leadership keynote speaker Neil has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people around the world including Fortune 100 companies, Ivy League schools, and Royal Families in the Middle East.

The most requested guest on Mostly Money is back to share what he's been seeing in real estate around Canada. Ben provides a quick survey from coast to coast on local real estate markets, looks beneath the headlines on the overall economy, and does a great pirate impersonation. You can follow Ben on twitter at @BenRabidoux and you can learn more about his company North Cove Advisors at http://www.northcove.net

John De Goey is back to talk about his new book, "STANDUP to the financial services industry: A practical guide for Canadians". He is a portfolio manager and Certified Financial Planner professional with Wellington-Altus Private Wealth in Toronto. You can learn more about John and his book at https://standup.today/

Sol Amos is the founder of AdvisorSavvy.com, a new service for financial consumers and advisors that is designed to help people find better advisors. He joined me to talk about his experience in the industry which led him to start AdvisorSavvy and provides his thoughts on what consumers should look for. (Disclosure: Sol and I have had business dealings in the past when he was working at CIBC.)

I had a good friend of mine join me on the podcast in this episode. Jamie Mason Cohen is a certified grapho-therapist and leadership strategist whose TEDx talk on how to spot a leader through their handwriting has been viewed more than 1.6 million times.He previously worked at Saturday Night Live and now is an accomplished keynote speaker and workshop facilitator on leadership. In the show he explains the basics of handwriting analysis and even analyses my chicken scratch as an example. 

I speak with David Bach about his latest book, The Latte Factor. There are some people who might think that The Latte Factor is about giving up coffee, but it is not. The book is an engaging parable about the financial awakening of a young woman in New York City who learns the timeless rules about money, and priceless rules about living the life she wants and could have if she's willing to take some risk. Not only in her portfolio, but in her life choices as well. It's an enjoyable read and this book is sure to spur many people onto the path of saving more money. You can purchase a copy of the book here: https://amzn.to/2LstHdV (Affiliate link)

In this episode, I spoke to Dr. Liane Davey about how conflict should be embraced, not avoided, as long as you do it the right way. There are myriad avenues in work and life where this can be applied, but we speak directly about productive conflict with your financial advisor (and vice versa: with your clients if you are are a financial advisor). Liane Davey is a New York Times Bestselling author, keynote speaker, consultant, and regular contributor to Harvard Business Review for her expertise on increasing productivity, enhancing engagement, developing leaders, and as one client put it, “dealing with the damn drama!”"Conflict is unpleasant, but the more you try to avoid it, the worse it becomes. Eventually, unresolved conflict stalls productivity, erodes trust, and causes stress." - Liane Davey

As a follow up to the episode of The Agenda with Steve Paikin talking about the upside-down world of financial planning for low-income Canadians, I had John Stapleton on the podcast to discuss it in more detail. John has been a tireless advocate for getting the word out on this complex issue and was the person who first brought it to my attention many years ago. 

The team from Passiv joined me to explain their DIY helper service for investors. They have two levels of service: 1. A free service that tells you what trades you need to execute on your own, or 2. A premium service for $5/month that will allocate new cash and rebalance your portfolio according to parameters you set. This model could eat a lot of robo-advisors' lunch. You can learn more at http://www.getpassiv.com/

The methods of payment we use can influence how much we spend and how we ultimately feel about our purchases. One of the world's leading experts in this area, Profession Avni Shah, joins me to discuss some of her research in this area. Not only do we discuss day to day implications for people, but we also chat about how the "pain of payment" is related to the financial services, and how embedded compensation, fee-based compensation, and fee-for-service compensation models affect how people feel about the advice provided.  

Melissa Leong is a personal finance writer, keynote speaker, on-air personality and bestselling author. She appears on CTV’s The Social as its resident money expert and was a staff reporter at the Financial Post. She joins me on the podcast to talk about her brand new book, Happy Go Money: Spend Smart, Save Right and Enjoy LifeBuy the book here: https://amzn.to/2LHJW3u (This is an Amazon affiliate link)

John Robertson is on a mission to help Canadians learn how to invest. He has a popular book and online course that lays out the step-by-step process of how to actually get started with a variety of investing service providers like robo-advisors, discount brokerages, and more. You can check out his site here: http://www.valueofsimple.ca/

Albert Luk is the CEO of Haxa Blockchain Inc. and he joined me in Toronto to explain the basics of Bitcoin (vs bitcoin - yes, there's a difference) and blockchain technology. This episode's single dram was a 21 year Glenfarclas. 

This is turning into the Ben Rabidoux podcast. And I'm okay with that. Ben shares his thoughts on housing in Canada so far in 2018 and talks about his $175,000 legal bill incurred battling a real estate industry participant who didn't like the questions he was asking.

World renown body language expert Mark Bowden gives us a crash course on body language. Why is it so powerful? And how can we use it to increase the effectiveness of communication? We also go through quite a bit of whisky.

Melissa Agnes is the author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World. She is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection and is an advisor to some of today's leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. We discussed a number of real-world examples of brands handling crises, including how Equifax handled the breach of millions of customers' data.

I had a great chat with Cait Flanders about her recently released book, "The Year of Less". The book chronicles 12 months in which she spent almost no money other than on essentials. The book has been garnering international press, including making the front page of the New York Times' website. It is definitely not your average personal finance book - it's quite a bit more than that.

The most requested guest on the podcast, Ben Rabidoux, is back to chat about the latest goings on in Canadian real estate and credit. Enjoy!

Scott Terrio is an Estate Manager and President of DebtSavvy.ca Consulting and he joined me to explain the ins and outs of bankruptcies and consumer proposals in Canada. He shares some horror stories, we discuss some of the differences between LITs (licensed insolvency trustees) and credit counsellors, and he explains people's options when their debt loads are starting to become unmanageable.

John De Goey, a portfolio manager with Industrial Alliance Securities, is back to talk about the latest edition of his book, The Professional Financial Advisor IV. Topics include: what to look for in a financial advisor, what questions to ask them, should commissions be embedded, and more.

Luke Kawa joins the show to explain some economic buzzwords, concepts, and theories such as the difference between fiscal policy and monetary policy. He also grades the Governor of the Bank of Canada, and provides his two cents on housing in Canada. Luke is a reporter at Bloomberg, based in New York. You can follow him on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/ljkawa. If you would like to contribute to the charity mentioned at the end of the podcast, you can find it here: https://www.silvercreekpreschool.ca/donate/ Silver Creek has been serving children with physical and developmental challenges since 1975 when local parents petitioned the provincial government for funding and support in starting a program to serve the pre-academic and therapeutic needs of their children.

Is securities regulation about to take a step backwards in Canada? A new model for cooperative capital markets regulation that has been proposed might spell the end (or at the very least, the delay) of any Best Interest Standard for financial advisors in Canada, the end or delay of a push to ban embedded commissions, and more. Professor Anita Anand, one of Canada's most respected authorities on securities law, explains the lay of the land when it comes to securities regulation in Canada and explains the main points from her recently published white paper examining the impact of the proposed Cooperative Capital Markets Regulator on investor protection. To cut to the chase: it looks like it could be a step backwards. Here's what you can do if you want to help drive investor protection FORWARD in Canada, not BACKWARD: 1. Consider supporting organizations that fight for investor protection (like FAIR Canada). Disclosure: Preet Banerjee is, current to May 18th, 2017, a member of the board of directors of FAIR Canada: https://faircanada.ca/support-us/ 2. Add your email to the free subscriber list for Professor Anand's blog to learn more about Canadian Business Law issues that impact you: https://businesslawblogsite.com/

Dan Hallett from HighView Financial Group is back to share some thoughts on world of robo-advisors, what to look for when seeking a financial advisor, and to help breakdown the two new reports many investors will start to receive this year as a result of what's known as CRM2 Phase III. And yes, we'll explain what CRM2 means. We also discuss the idea of "regulatory arbitrage" and how that concept might be used to the advantage of some salespeople (to the disadvantage of financial consumers).

Stephen Jarislowsky shares wisdom gleaned from more than 70 years of investing. He is a true investment legend, and still holds some stocks he originally purchased in the late 1940s when we has completing his MBA at Harvard. He launched Jarislowsky Fraser, Ltd. in 1955 and has grown it to more than $40 billion in assets under management, and is personally worth more than a billion dollars. He's led an unbelievable life with unbelievable stories, including being a counter-intelligence agent for the US Army in Japan after the second World War, and having been bestowed 11 honourary doctorates. And that's just scratching the surface. We spoke at his offices in Montreal.

Sandra Foster has updated what is now the SIXTH edition of her plain-language guide to estate planning for Canadians of all ages, levels of wealth, and stages of health. From digital assets, living common-law, what to do if someone has asked you to be an executor, and more, Sandra gives us the low down.

Dev Basu, CEO of Powered By Search, joins me to drink whisky, explain his meteoric rise to being one of the world's foremost experts on digital marketing, and offers his insights on the financial services industry and how they have (and should) approach consumers like him.

Salman Ahmed is a portfolio manager with Steadyhand. He's previously worked as an analyst with Mercer, and later as Associate Director of Active Research at Morningstar Canada. We talk about what Morningstar Ratings are, stewardship of investment funds, and also get into some personal details such as his year and a half trekking expedition around the world and his love of hamburgers.

Mark Goodfield has over 25 years of experience providing accounting, income tax, and wealth management advice. He has experience working with rental real estate, investment companies, professional and consulting practices, amongst many other industries. Mark is the author of “The Blunt Bean Counter,” a blog about income tax, business, the psychology of money and investing topics. The blog won a Plutus award in 2014 for being one of the best blogs in Canada and the United States. Mark is also the author of the book: Let’s Get Blunt About Your Financial Affairs.

Ben Rabidoux is back to share his insights into what has been happening in the Canadian real estate markets. Ben is one of Canada's leading housing and credit analysts.

Randy Cass is the CEO of Nest Wealth, a robo-advisor in Canada that charges for its services through a flat monthly fee instead of the more traditional percentage-of-assets-managed model. We chat at his offices in Toronto.

Alec Chalvardjian is the owner of Bar Freddo, a true Italian fare restaurant he launched after a career in advertising sales. We talk about how the traditional media ad sales world has evolved over the last 20 years, and how planning for a rainy day allowed Alec to be in a position to start his own business after getting downsized out of his corporate job. We spend a a lot of time exploring his passion for true artisanal gelato and pizza, so foodies will especially enjoy this episode!

Navid Boostani is the CEO and co-founder of ModernAdvisor.ca, a Canadian robo-advisor which offers socially responsible investment portfolios in addition to plain vanilla indexed portfolios. We dig into ModernAdvisor's service offering, and whether or not socially responsible investment strategies give up returns in their quest for social responsibility compared to traditional couch potato portfolios.

Karl Martin is the founder of Nymi, Inc., a company who wants to disrupt the field of "user authentication". In other words, how do you prove "you are you" to a machine? By using a simple password? Do you use the same one for everything? What if you could replace the need for passwords altogether and increase security? That's the goal of the Nymi Band. There are countless applications, including financial transactions at POS terminals as well as for online shopping. Not so good for action movie plot devices, though.

Andrew Graham is the CEO of Borrowell, an online lending marketplace for Canadians. We discuss where the idea for Borrowell came from and what kind of financial consumer makes up their target market. Borrowell is aiming to take a chunk out of the high interest rate credit card market in Canada by offering term loans for unsecured debt at lower rates. We also delve into where Borrowell gets the money to fund these loans, what kind of rates they offer, the average loan amount taken out by their users, and more.

How do brands compete for your time when we PVR shows and fast forward through commercials, or ditch our TV subscriptions and use Netflix instead? What about ad-blockers on our browsers? Also: avocados and knitting fetishes. My guest this week is one of the top marketing minds you'll find anywhere. Ron Tite is the CEO of The Tite Group, a content marketing agency and he was gracious enough to share some really interesting insights into what he calls "The Expression Economy". Extra notes: This episode contains mild profanity. The comedian we misnamed is actually "Sebastian Maniscalco" and the specific bit we reference can be found here: https://youtu.be/0Swzvm-gXHg