Occupy What? – Protecting your portfolio through self-directed investing education
How is your portfolio evolving? If you are not making your own decisions or at least understand what is going on, are the investment choices being made with your money in your best interest or in the interest of the organization holding your account? Last Friday, the Winnipeg Free Press ran an article called “Former Advisor on Crusade”. One man (and former investment advisor) Larry Elford, is on a mission to educate the Canadian public how they are “being misled — and overbilled — by the financial services industry, which pushes commissioned salesmen in front of clients but insists on calling them “advisers.” Source: Winnipeg Free Press
Over the past number of weeks you have probably heard about the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. In a nutshell, the movement is a protest against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the corrupting influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government and democracy and more specifically a protest against the 1% that control the vast majority of wealth in North America and around the world. What you may not know is that this movement is the brainchild of a Canadian activist group called Adbusters. On Saturday, October 15th, the Occupy Canada movement, part of Global Day of Action, saw peaceful demonstrations held in 20 Canadian cities.
Whether you believe and support this particular movement is totally up to you however the basis for their stand (and perhaps yours as well) is the shameful obliteration of trust that the financial and political sector has created within their own ranks leaving the typical middle-class working professional wondering just where they and their money stand.
Focusing on the investing side of things, there are no shortage of challenges in Canada when it comes to money either. Coupled with Larry Elford’s crusade, W5 ran a feature show in 2008 called “Going for Broke”, a detailed look at how some investors are losing their hard-earned savings due to questionable and improper practices within the financial services industry. Some experts estimate it is costing Canadians in excess of $20 billion a year.
And since things seem to come in threes, GlobeInvestor posted a video this morning with Rob Carrick called “Tales of Investor Abuse”.
Why the focus on these challenges? Because more often than not, Canadians have no idea what their money is doing. Yes we save for the future. Yes we contribute to our RSPs and TFSAs and other investment accounts that “should” grow over time. Yes we perhaps even think about what we might need to save up to in order to meet our retirement needs. But how many of us pay particular attention to what is happening with our money and if our specific interests are being served above anyone else’s. As the article, the W5 story and video and GlobeInvestor video highlight, if we don’t understand what is going on with our savings, who is accountable for making sure we have what we need down the road?
This entry was posted on Monday, October 17th, 2011 at 5:50 pm and is filed under Investment Training, RSPs, Self Directed Investing, Traditional Investing, Wealth Management . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 18th, 2011 at 1:26 am
I have some empathy for this movement as the extreme weathy are becoming richer and we average are losing. On Sept.30 2000, my porflio read (hidden for privacy). Even after I requested to cash in all investments the investment advisor maintained a ‘stay invested’ philosophy. Today the portfolio is less then half because of that mind set.
January 27th, 2012 at 3:54 am
http://youtu.be/aNh5laKO22o
Crime pays
“Losing billions to “respected” fraudsters, while they get an “assist” from government, and a free pass from the police…….”
How we lose billions to “respected” financial fraudsters, how they get help from your government to fleece you, and police give them a free pass at the highest levels. A system mechanic view. A Canadian insider view.
By now it is well known that our financial servants have become financial predators, in too many cases. What is not as well known is how your government servants are also in the game. The game is to sell out or remove protections for the public, so that corporations can earn greater profits Sometimes by doing illegal things. (imagine if this were done in oil, fracking, forestry, and finance, etc., etc?) Here is how this sellout is done to your investments in Canada, to skim about one billion dollars a week for just this one industry. Your investments at risk by people hired and paid to protect you……….30 minutes. Enjoy, and contact the speaker if you have an interest in legal challenges to servants who prey upon the public.
Cheers to your financial health, Larry.
April 16th, 2012 at 2:59 am
How to take one billion dollars of public money and “convert” it into private (banker) hands. It happens every day to your tax dollars, your investment dollars, your retirement. All your money is a free target when this aspect of government/banker corruption is allowed in your province. And it IS allowed.
3 minute video with documents and examples
See the special laws for the rich, that allow them to take money from the rest.
http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-calgary/larry-elford