I have just completed another Ebook - with audio: The Smart Way To Buy A Car - The UnCanadian Way.

To download your copy immediately (with the audio embedded audio link): Just “right click” on the link below and “save as” to your computer “desktop”…

http://HowToBeSetForlife.com/Reports/TheSmartWayToBuyACar-TheUnCanadianWay.pdf

To download the audio only of this report: Just “right click” on the link below and “save as” to your computer “desktop”…

http://HowToBeSetForlife.com/Reports/TheSmartWayToBuyACar.mp3

All I ask in exchange for this valuable free information is that you “comment” on this blog below…

Let us know what you think!

It’s time to take “inventory” with “What’s Your “Burn Rate”?

Though we haven’t heard this phrase in the media since the late ’90s it is as meaningful now as it was then then…

Check out what I mean by going here to: http://burnrate.ca

(November 13, 2008) It is an age-old question among men: What do women want? When it comes to defining financial success, the answer is “to be debt free,” according to the 2008 TD Waterhouse Female Investor Poll.

The survey found 37% of women defined financial success as living without debt, making it the single most popular goal.

Having enough money for retirement garnered only 17% of the vote, lagging short-term goals like being able to buy anything they wanted (23%).

“The fact that most women concentrate on short-term planning, budgeting and goal-setting is not surprising — it may be an even more natural response in times of economic turmoil,” says Patricia Lovett-Reid, senior vice-president, TD Waterhouse.

“While getting your spending under control is important, it’s not enough. Without a long-term investment plan, we cannot achieve a comfortable, worry-free retirement.”

The most popular step toward financial success was to stick to a budget (55%), while only 25% said they had sought professional investment advice.

With debt management ranking so highly in defining success, it should come as no surprise that paying off credit cards was the most common measure taken (55%) by respondents who feel successful. Only one in five of those who feel unsuccessful did likewise.

Half of those who feel successful contribute to an RRSP, compared to 21% of those who feel unsuccessful.

“Contrary to what some women might believe, getting more engaged in the world of investing provides a sense of empowerment and accomplishment,” says Lovett-Reid. “Burying our heads in the sand does not.”

When it comes to having a financial plan, it appears westerners are ahead of the rest of the country.

Thirty-one percent of respondents from British Columbia and the Prairies said they had a plan, compared to 23% in Ontario, 19% in Quebec, and 18% in Atlantic Canada.

Read the Full Story here at:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2008/13/c8059.html

On a personal note: What women (and men) may not understand is that
all debt is not the same…

There’s “bad” debt - the non tax deductible kind such as charge cards and home mortgages.

There’s “good” debt - the tax deductible kind such as borrowing to invest!

Bad debt bleeds you - good debt feeds you…

Bad debt supports a gratification - good debt supports an asset…

Understanding the difference and transferring from “bad” to “good” is what creates real and lasting wealth!

In fact, now is an excellent time to begin this strategy - if you have not already…

In fact, I have just added audios to my eBook: “How To Create Wealth - The UnCanadian way”

Now, you can either read about it - or listen to it - it’s your call!

Download your copy by “right clicking” the link below and “saving as” to your computer “desktop”…

http://howtobesetforlife.com/Reports/TheUnCanadianWayToWealth.pdf

Let me know back on my blog post here what you think…

Have you seen all the other books and reports that I have authored?

If not just click this link… http://www.howtobesetforlife.com/resources/

Remember, let us know what you think by “commenting” below!

Earlier this past week, well known, Canadian radio personality Charles Adler broadcast his thoughts about our nation and the economy over the air waves in his on air editorial…

It was so impactfull for me that I wanted to share it with you…

When you have finished reading leave your comments!

Canada, Sweet Land of Hope, Hard Work and Prosperity
by Charles Adler
October 27/08
Posted at:
http://www.cjob.com/StationShared/BlogAdler.aspx

The Loonie has been going south.

Unfortunately, confidence in our dollar and our country has been going in the same direction.

I don’t know whether I can make you feel more confident.

But I hope you will allow me to try. I am not asking you for your money.

I am asking you for what’s most precious…Your time.

The reason our dollar is wounded is not complicated.

World markets are suffering indigestion and many mutual fund managers have decided that the best Pepto-Bismol of all is the U.S. Treasury Bill. It yields almost no interest.

However, it is as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar and it is where much of the nervous capital is being parked right now. The purchase of these bills drives up the value of the U.S. greenback and drives
virtually all others down. The English Pound is getting pounded, The Chinese Yuan is getting stomped on and in Canada, Oh Canada we stand on guard for our loonie is flying at a low altitude for the moment.

However, once the markets start to right themselves, the same managers who purchased the t-bills will realize the financial stomach is no longer in a state of peptic dysfunction and they will sell those Greenbacks in a New York minute. It will give the loonie a lift and we will go back up above 80 cents and likely, back up to ninety before much too long.

However in the meantime, we have vultures with a lot of media access who want to use the temporary plight of the loonie to pluck our national confidence. While the vultures prey on weakness and want to mark down Canada, we have a right to Mark Twain them. “Reports of my demise are exaggerated,” said the man who created characters that animated the imaginations of millions for generations.

Exaggeration is something he understood could be a weapon for good and for the opposite. These days exaggeration is being employed to make us want to surrender the future by telling us that we are going to be plunged into a depression as bad or worse than our grandparents or our great grandparents experienced at the end of the 19th century and in the third decade of the 20th. Exaggeration these days is where the vultures live. We don’t have to make their address, our
address.

Canadians have many reasons to be confident about their financial system and the long term prospect for our economy and our currency.

While the U.S. feels the need to strengthen small banks by feeding them like hamburgers to the big ones, we have no such issue here.

We have almost nothing but big banks. And, you know which ones they are. It’s where your money is. Unlike many of the American and European banks, ours have not been operated by card sharks and so they are not casinos.

We also have some old fashioned rules that have been working rather well to keep our real estate prices relatively stable.

Rules like requiring prospective home owners to put real money down before being able to purchase a home. Because we don’t have a U.S. style tax system that discourages us from building up equity in that home, many of us actually own our own homes.

The American system allows you to deduct the interest on the mortgage you pay each month. So you don’t have much incentive to build up equity. You just pay and keep paying the juice on a very large amount of money because you can deduct the juice when you pay your taxes. That encourages people to buy more house than they need and not build up equity and therefore savings in their houses. When times are very good, this can work to promote a lot of real estate growth and for years that’s what happened.

But when you create a bubble through having too many houses, with not much equity in them by the person responsible for paying the mortgage and then you have bankers selling the risk on these mortgages to others and not keeping track of who owes what to whom, you get chaos.

If only the prices for houses had kept on going up by ten to twenty to thirty percent per year forever this housing crisis wouldn’t have happened.

But just like you cannot repeal the law of gravity, you cannot repeal the law of supply and demand and when you create so called exotic instruments like derivatives and credit default swaps you have what one of the richest men on earth Warren Buffett calls “Weapons of Mass Economic Destruction,” which is what we have had.

The Americans talk about home ownership. But it’s clear as a bell that when you have no equity in a home because all you’ve been doing every month is paying the juice on the mortgage, if the value of the home drops like a rock, you have no incentive to keep paying the juice, and since you put almost no money down to buy the home, you have no reason to stay in it. Pick up the keys banker. I am
so out of here. That’s the American scenario right now.

Does it sound anything like our own?

It does not and it will not. We play by different rules and they protect the most important asset in our lives, our HOMES.

Just as the banks in the U.S. have been turned into gambling parlors, many ordinary Americans who did have some equity in their homes have taken out home equity loans. They received money from the banks based on the equity had. Many used the money to buy stuff they didn’t really need and stocks they no longer want. And yes, they do have to keep paying the juice on the money borrowed to buy stocks that are going down instead of up.

Many Americans have bet the ranch, the farm, the bungalow and the dog house on the stock market. Any wonder why so many are angry enough to roll the dice on a presidential candidate with as much leadership experience as your twelve-year-old? Any wonder why they are willing to paste and punish any candidate for any office that is contaminated with the word Republican beside their name? Any wonder why they are about to vote themselves a White House, a House of Representatives and a
Senate where the Democratic Party will have unbridled power? Any wonder why they are ready to throw out their general desire for divided government, creating checks and balances to presidential
or congressional power?

In this country, in a recent election, Canadians had the option to punish every Conservative for the current decline of the World Economy. But we chose not to do that. We made the right choice.

Folks it’s difficult to see the sun when you feel that you are buried in the deep pit of despair, and when you have many folks with media platforms engaging in predatory behavior. Preying on your fears and insecurities and in some cases preying on the sheer blind ignorance of the massive wealth that this country literally has inside its soil.

Because of the abundance in the ground and the knowledge we have in our heads, we have a country that will continue to walk tall among the nations of the earth.

Maybe we need to be reminded once in a while about our millions of acres of timber and grains and the vast pools of oil and gas, potash and uranium and all the other minerals that the world needs to feed and heat itself. It’s true that minerals do not create a steely spine, which is what many of us need to develop right now. The question is asked everywhere in Canada. Will commodities come back? Does a bear eliminate in the woods? It’s true that The Stock Market Bear wants to eliminate everywhere
and over everything. But that too will pass.

The doom and gloom spinners that have your attention right now can corrode confidence.

They can lease fear. But they cannot own and can never conquer TIME.

Time always marches forward.

Tomorrow can never be yesterday.

Renewal of days and weeks and seasons give us hope. The doom and gloom crowd always wants you to believe that the distant future is even worse than the recent past. They will always find numbers to justify the equation. But their arithmetic adds up to failure of spirit if you permit it. If you allow them to beat you with their numbers, you are surrendering to the worst kind of defeat there is. A defeat with no sense of purpose, no positive outcome and worst of all, no honor.

Time marches forward. That’s why it’s called Progress.

The history of human achievement is based on Progress.

The forces of darkness have always been committed to the opposite.

They want you to stop believing in the future and ultimately in yourself.

Although I have mentioned the incredible resources this country is awash in, the most important and ultimately the best resource we have is our people, many of whom have been through tough times in this country and elsewhere.

I grew up with many of these folks (Charles Adler is Hungarian), survivors who in the end could not extinguish their memories of Communism and Fascism, the twin towers of darkness that crushed so many members of their families. I grew up with people who weren’t just frightened by stock market numbers and unemployment numbers.

They were terrified and terrorized and traumatized by having people they knew shot, imprisoned, tortured, and executed. The mauling of the markets pale in comparison with the massacre of millions of people who just happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time in history.

We are living history right now and we will be talking about these times for a long time.

But we have a choice.

We can make hope and progress our friends or we can do as we are being urged to do, to throw up our hands and declare to our friends and families that the sun has set on our hopes and dreams, and will never rise again.

I’m asking you as just one ordinary Canadian with extraordinary access to you and your mind.

Don’t let them win.

Don’t cave to the cave dwellers.

Don’t cave to the forces of darkness.

Don’t give them everything they want. Your confidence, your hopes, your dreams don’t belong to them. They are yours as long as you choose to hold on to them.

There is a name for the person who only believes in defeat. Don’t make it yours.

This is the greatest country on earth and you are alive to share it with me and more than 33 million others.

You may not feel it every day. And you may not feel it right now. But I have to tell you that based on where I came from and where I have been and what I have seen and who and what I have known, I can tell you that every day I wake up in Canada, I feel that I am the luckiest person on earth. Forget about lottery tickets, my Canadian Passport is my winning ticket.

For so many in this country, we see it as the Passport to the Promised Land. You may not see it that way at this precise moment in time.

But some day when this storm blows over, don’t forget where you were on Monday October 27th, when you had a choice to make between Confidence and Despair.

Confidence always feels like the toughest choice during a violent storm.

But it’s the only ticket worth punching.

I have never been a more confident Canadian than I am right now.

Thanks for listening to my head and my heart.

Oh Canada, we stand on Guard for Thee, Sweet Land of Hope, Hard work and Prosperity.

(End editorial)

Well, what do you think?!

Leave your comments below - we would love to hear what YOU have to say…

When the markets turn as volatile and confusing as they have over the past year, even the most patient investors may come to question the wisdom of the investment plan that they’ve been following.

As an advisor with over 22 years of experience, I’ve seen a lot of difficult markets come and go.
However, I can certainly empathize with those people who find the current environment troublesome and disturbing.

I would be pleased to help you out and to that end, here’s what I’d like to suggest…

A cup of coffee, and a second opinion.

By appointment, you’re welcome to come in and sit with us for a while. We’ll ask you to outline your financial goals – what your investment portfolio is intended to do for you. Then we’ll review the portfolio for and with you.

If we think your investments continue to be well-suited to your long-term goals – in spite of the current market turmoil – we’ll gladly tell you so, and send you on your way. If, on the other hand, we think some of your investments no longer fit with your goals, we’ll explain why, in plain English. And, if you like, we’ll recommend some alternatives.

Either way, the coffee is on us.

22 years ago, I learned a definition of the phrase “bear market” which has served me extremely well ever since. A bear market is a period of time during which common stocks are returned to their rightful owners.

When stocks of great companies are “re priced” at lower valuations does this mean that all of a sudden the management of these companies suddenly became stupid over night? Or that they suddenly stopped making the best product or service that they are noted for?

Of course not!

They are still showing up for work and continuing to manage their business to make profits and increase shareholder values…

While it is true that the economic and financial market news at the moment is difficult to digest and, on the surface, even more difficult to act on. But when you step away, it isn’t that different — or that much more difficult — than at any other time in the past several decades.

Now, without a game plan, one has nothing to act on and will simply invest by reacting to the latest scandals and market swings.

In the short run the stock market is a voting machine, and in the long run it’s a weighing machine.

As a voting machine, it responds to people’s emotions. There’s no literacy test for voting. You vote according to how much money you have, not according to how smart you are. So the stock market does some very silly things in the short run.

However, over the long run, it behaves quite rationally.

There is opportunity in every adversity…

And, you know, five years from now, 10 years from now, we’ll look back on this period and we’ll see that you could have made some extraordinary buys.

I do know that the American economy, over a period of time, will do very well, and people who own a piece of it will do well.

Actuarial projections show that the average couple will live 30 years past their retirement.

The risk here is not losing their money, but rather outliving their money, as inflation erodes purchasing power by an estimated 3% per year. At that rate, it will take $2.40 at the end of the 30 years, just to buy what cost $1 today.

There is only one asset class that can historically be shown to provide the returns needed to offset this erosion of purchasing power. It might make one uncomfortable, but one needs a healthy dose of stocks in their portfolio to reduce the real risk of outliving their money.

If you think in retirement, bonds are safe and stocks are risky, it’s the other way around.

How can you fail to achieve all your long-term financial goals in an asset class that’s been compounding at 10 to 12% since Lindbergh flew the Atlantic?

So, now, what are you going to do about it?

Start by turning off CNN and begin reading the comics section of the newspaper instead.

Focus on your life and achieving your goals

It’s up to you!

You have my permission to begin now!

Still better!

Click me below for YOUR 2nd opinion appointment!

For any sports game to have a successful outcome there must be both a strong offense (to score) - and a strong defense (to protect)…

To be successful and to win in the “game of life” is no different!

However, in my experience, I have found that most Canadians are usually more interested in their investments - the offensive side - albeit the “sexier” side of the “duo”…

Little attention is spent on the defensive side - insurance. Sadly, often to their detriment…

Many Canadians are generally not aware of limitations in the health insurance coverage provided by their employers and government health plans. So when they are faced with a catastrophe such as a disability, an illness or premature death in the family many are forced to take funds out of their investment portfolios and RRSPs to help them cope…

Life insurance, critical illness insurance and disability insurance are designed to provide the necessary foundation (defense) to protect one’s family AND investments….

Investment plans are the “offense” in ones financial life – insurance in all it’s forms is the “defense”.

Below are excellent calculators designed to assist you in reviewing how well your “defense” programs are:

Life Insurance: http://www.manulife.ca/canada/ulcalcs.nsf/Ircalc?readform

Critical Illness Insurance: http://www1.manulife.com/canada/ulcalcs.nsf/cic?openform

Disability Insurance: http://www.manulife.ca/Canada/ilc2.nsf/Public/LB_disabilityins_calc

Or just go to my Website for all the links… http://www.howtobesetforlife.com/library/

Let us all know what you think here…

This past week I again got another referral who was looking for financial advice…

It was a referral from another existing and happy client – for which I am always pleased and grateful.

(Both for the happy client and also for their trust and confidence in putting my name out there.)

As you know, I use “data gathering” worksheets to be completed before an appointment…it really hasn’t changed much over the years except now it’s “electronic” vs. “paper”.

You can get a copy for yourself here:
http://howtobesetforlife.com/Reports/SetForLifeStarterKit.xls

The point is that on tab 3 – Your Financial Objectives, this family had listed their objectives as:

Short term goals:
Take a vacation if possible
Paint inside and outside of house
Do home renos

In the next 3 years:
Buy a new van
Buy a new TV

Long term:
Be able to afford to send the kids to University
Have the house paid off
Retire early – if possible and have significant savings to
sustain out standard of living…

The reason to save/invest more money:
To live comfortably and have more cash flow!

I dare say that these financial goals are similar for everyone and are in fact “universal”.

We all want to create safe and secure, rich and rewarding lives for ourselves and our family!

These are the fundamental reasons that we all buy homes, save and invest…

To provide security now and to build for the future!

Right?

However, the distractions to these noble goals come by listening to the financial media depicting what “the markets” are doing. Because of this many individuals fall prey to the headlines and “sound bites” and over come with emotion change their “game plan”…often to their financial detriment.

See The Market Cycle Of Emotions - Chart
http://HowToBeSetForLife.com/images/MarketCycleOfEmotions.jpg

The engines of wealth creation (real estate, stock and bond markets) do not always purr along like a well tuned sports car.

Unfortunately, there are times when they sometimes behave quite erratically – to the point that you may feel that you are strapped into a 1970’s Gremlin – running on 3 cylinders, with black smoke spewing out of the back. Remember those cars?

Now, please don’t get me wrong: I’m not trying to talk the market up, any more than I’d try to talk a forest fire down. It will burn until it’s finished burning.

If it bothers you, stop watching it!

If it bothers you, stop listening to it!

Do what really matters!

Concentrate on your financial goals – they haven’t changed have they?

Well, if that’s the case don’t “second guess” your saving and investing strategy – stay the course…

It’s not like you need the money today – right?

To realize (and pay for) your medium and longer term goals you probably still have 5, 10, 20 and often 30 years or more ahead of you!

Right?

Remember, you will be spending the rest of your life in the future – your future!

What will it look like? Everything you wanted it to be and more?

Or not.

It’s your choice!

What you do about it now will have serious and long lasting implications as to how your future and your future lifestyle will look like.

Remember, we only get once chance at living our life – this is not a “dress rehearsal”!

So, let’s get back to the matters at hand…what really matters…

More fully engage with your family, friends and co workers…get out and enjoy a fine restaurant meal, watch the kids play a game of baseball, appreciate a superb sunset…

Reconnect with your life!

Find joy in it and in living it!

And remember to laugh along the way.

Let others do the worrying – it’s not a productive thing to do.

I was a few months shy of age 50 when the markets topped out last October, and now I’m 6 months older .

But my goals are exactly the same:

I still need to secure a retirement income which will rise at a pace that is greater than the cost of living for at least 30 years - maybe closer to 40, if you look closely at my wife…

I still have to be ready to backstop my aging parents - even if I’m convinced they’ll never need it…in the funding of my “adopted kids” educations. And I’m still determined to leave legacies to my favorite charities such that they won’t soon forget that I was here on planet earth.

And again, in this time of uncertainty, I can be absolutely sure of one thing - exactly as I was in 1987 and 2002: whenever and however this thing burns out - I’ll be investing at prices neither you, nor I, nor anyone else will ever see again.

Remember, markets don’t lose us money – it’s our reaction to the markets that lose us money - or make us money - it just depends what we do!

This conversation is missing YOUR voice…
Take a few moments and let us know what you think!

It’s déjà vu - all over again…

I had only been in the business for 1 year when “Black Monday” hit the markets…

I thought that the world was coming to an end…as did some of my clients at the time!

I had had no experience with market downturns before and so continued (fortunately) to counsel my clients to “hang in there”…

As you may recall, on Monday, October 19, 1987—now known as Black Monday—the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 Composite Index (TSE 300) dropped 407.20 points that day to close at 3,191.38—losing 11.3% of its value.

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 508 points to close at 1739 - losing 22.6% on Black Monday alone.

Now, fast forward 21 years…

I have been through all this stuff before – and I am older (unfortunately) but wiser (fortunately)…

Still, on Monday, September, 15, 2008 – the Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index (TSX) dropped 515 points that day to close at 12,254.32 losing 4% of its value.

On the same day in the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 504 points closing at 10,918 losing 4% of its value.

The TSX’s drop on September 15, 2008 was 100 points less than that of October, 1987 yet the index only gave up 4% vs. 1987’s 11%.

For the Dow, it had almost exactly the same point drop as October, 1987 – however, the index only lost 4% rather than 22%! In other words, it lost 5 times less than the magnitude of the loss in 1987.

So do you see what these numbers are telling us?

That both the TSX and the Dow stock market indexes have increased so much in value over the past 21 years – that a 400-500 one day point does not slice off as much shareholder value as it once did…

Did you know that?

Here is what is really interesting…

Over the past 21 years, the TSX composite index has grown in value from 3,191 to 12,254. A gain of 9,063 points or 284%!

And

Over the past 21 years, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index has grown in value from 1,739 to 10,918. A gain of 9,179 points or 528%!

Also, during this time frame – among other things, the markets have had to digest and deal with the news of:

1990: Iraq Invades Kuwait
1994: The Mexican Peso Crisis
1997: Asian Currency Crisis
1998: Russian Debt Default
2001: September, 11 – Attack on New York’s World Trade Centre

Each of these was a huge event at the time.

Yet, we’ve seen markets recover from each of them, sometimes more quickly than many anticipated. Of course, there’s nothing to say that what we’ve seen in the past will always repeat itself in the future. But, generally speaking, that is what happens.

What’s the worst scenario?

Three or four months until a market bounce back isn’t unusual after some major setback.

In fact, it took only two years for the Dow to recover completely; by September of 1989, the market had regained all of the value it had lost in the ‘87 “crash”.

So, in spite of all the events that have shaped our world and affected our stock markets in the past 21 years – the amount of time that I have been in the financial services industry:

$1,000 invested in the TSX over the past 21 years would be worth: $10,336 for a profit of $9,336.

And

$1,000 invested in the Dow over the past 21 years would be worth: $14,727 for a profit of $13,727.

When the market tumbles, the pain of the resulting losses compounds investors’ overreaction: the injured just want to stop the bleeding. The problem, of course, is that pulling your money out on such a willy-nilly basis leaves you vulnerable to a different sort of pain — the bellyache you’ll feel when stock prices bounce back.

If only we had the foresight to sell before every market downdraft and then get back in just as the good times roll again. But that’s tough to do.

Missing just a few good days of performance can significantly reduce your overall returns…the longer you hold an investment, the less volatile it actually becomes…

For instance, someone who missed the 30 best days on the S&P/TSX from August 2002 to March 2008 would have been left with only slightly more than they began with ($10,489, compared with $10,000 originally invested, for example). Staying invested over the entire period would have resulted in more than twice that amount, $22,950.

Wouldn’t you be better off missing the equivalent down days?

Of course!

Which ones did you have in mind?

Given that both big up and down days represent less than 1% of the days considered in the average market, the odds against successful market timing are staggering. Its right up there with winning the lottery!

Sure, things look bad and only the cheeriest of optimists think that North America isn’t in recession. But these economic setbacks don’t last forever.

In nine of the past 10 recessionary periods, stocks bottomed about halfway through the actual economic downturns.

The only exception was in October 2002, when shares hit their lows nearly one year after the 2001 recession officially ended - and it’s fair to assume that the September 11 terrorist attacks made a very big difference in that instance.

What was the average duration of these 10 recessions? 10.4 months.

That doesn’t seem that long to wait…and don’t forget that you are not invested in the broad indexes!

Your portfolio will have various and different elements or asset classes working for you.

These each will be going through their own individual cycles.

This gives your portfolio a much calmer ride…yes, less returns than the broad stock market indexes in great years – but, preserving the value of the portfolio in lousy years…

For a more in depth analysis of the markets in historical context, read what I wrote recently here at:

http://www.howtobesetforlife.com/articles/the-andex-chart-what-it-means-to-you-and-me/

Remember, markets don’t lose us money – it’s our reaction to the markets that lose us money!

So – don’t worry – be happy!

Enjoy life!

It’s a great one!

This conversation is missing YOUR voice…Take a few moments and let us know what you think!

I just wanted to let you know that I just recorded
and unloaded the audio for:

“The Top 10 Canadian Home Ownership Myths - Exposed!”

You can listen to it here on the blog at:

http://howtobesetforlife.com/audios/

Or the “direct link” is here - just click too play…

http://howtobesetforlife.com/Audios/Top10MortgageMyths.mp3

Make sure to turn up your speakers because the recording came out on the
quiet side…

However, I trust that the recording will be of value to you…

Once you listen to it let me know what you think -

Take a few moments and let us know what you think here!

Legendary known and loved, investor and philanthropist, Sir John Templeton, passed away this morning, Tuesday, 8 July, 2008 in a Bahamian hospital from pneumonia at the age of 95.

Sir John Templeton is known (among other things) as being the one who introduced global equity investing to Canadians with his Templeton Growth Fund.

It was one of the first mutual funds to offer North Americans the ability to invest in foreign companies.

The fund was created in 1954 and, on average, has returned about 14.5% a year. An investment of $10,000 on day one of the fund would be worth nearly $5.8 million today, assuming the investor
had reinvested all distributions.

Though one of Sir John’s philosophies was “invest worldwide”, his success did not come only from investing in growing parts of the world - it was HOW he invested there.

One of his most famous quotes - and one that applies equally well to today’s stock markets is: “The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell.”

In other words, Sir John sought out undervalued companies and sold his stake in them when their value shot up. “Focus on value because most investors focus on outlooks and trends,” he has said.

Another facet of Sir John’s investment approach was to ride out the market’s short-term movements to attain long-term gains. He always believed that holding a security over a five-year period meant that he did not need to listen to the day-to-day noise in the market place…

Sir John wouldn’t have flinched in today’s stock market environment!

Instead, he would have said that “just because a stock’s price has dropped, it doesn’t mean its value has evaporated.”

On a personal note, I had the honor and pleasure of meeting Sir John Templeton at his global offices in the Bahamas over 14 years ago.

At the time he was over 80 years old. (We were both much younger looking then!)

Every time I look at this picture of Sir John I am reminded of the 10 minutes that I was fortunate enough to spend with him.

I remember asking, “Sir John, in your opinion, what is the ONE thing a successful investor needs”.

He immediately replied: “Confidence, young man – you need confidence”!

Then I asked him to summarize his investing philosophy. And he smiled warmly at me and began by saying:

“These are great times”. “We’re going to miss these prices in a couple of years”. I believe that the more chances investors get to buy shares of quality companies when they go “go on sale” - as they do from time to time - the better off they will be in the long term”.

He continued:

“Imagine that you have a partner in business – let’s call him Mr. Market.

Now, Mr. Market has some wonderful qualities…

He always has money to buy your shares, and he is always willing to sell his shares to you at some price.

Unfortunately however, Mr. Market is not emotionally balanced.

Some days he comes in bouncing off the walls, and offering to buy your shares at an extremely high price, while other days he comes in weeping, ready to sell you his shares at a very low price.

The one thing to remember is that Mr. Market is very emotional, and so DO NOT to make the mistake of getting irrationally exuberant or utterly depressed along with him!

Sell him shares when he offers you much for them, and buy shares from him when he is selling his shares cheaply.”

“Furthermore,” Sir John continued,

“In the short to intermediate term, the market is unknowable. In the long term – it is inevitable.”

“Picture if you will, the market as a child riding up an escalator while playing with a yo-yo. If you watch the yo-yo, you’ll see nothing but volatility.

The “secret” to successful long-term investing is to focus on the escalator, not the yo-yo.

I don’t know which direction the next 20% move in the market will take.

But, I am absolutely confident and certain about which direction the next 100% more in the market will be”…

And with that – my time with Sir John Templeton was up!

Now, remember that 1994 was also the year of the Mexican Peso “crisis”! Remember that?

Now, check out the link below…
http://www.andexcharts.com/c_ewall.htm

This is the chart that you will see in every financial institution in North America…

It’s called the Andex chart and it represents what Sir John was telling me…

http://www.andexcharts.com/c_ewall.htm

The TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange) is indicated by the “red line”.

See how it intersects in 1994 at about the “4,000″ marker…today it is at 13,800…

Does this represent “value added” - of course it does!

What about the American, “S&P 500″?

Well, as you can see, in 1994 (represented by dark blue) it was closing in near the “5,000″ marker…
today it is at 11,300…

Does this represent “value added” - of course it does!

Also, if you remember, in 1994 we had a 60 cent dollar in Canada. Sir John predicted to me that it would be stronger by the end of the year…and it was!

Now, look where it is all these years later!

Many days it is stronger than the US dollar!

So, why am I sharing this with you today?

Well, because Sir John Templeton’s words were as true then – as they are now!

It is all about confidence!

Never lose sight of your goals and dreams – and never, NEVER lose your confidence and give up.

The world had lost a great man today!

The fact should not be lost on you that he spent his whole life helping people attain their financial goals…

He spent his whole life creating the investment vehicles and investment philosophy that guided him and thousands of investors successfully to a better and richer financial world for themselves and for their families!

So, let’s all promise to embrace his investment philosophy…

Because after all, he would have wanted you to become wealthy!

So long Sir John!

You will be missed…

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