Cardinal Update – Feb 2019
VOLATILITY – Stock market volatility moves in both directions. As investors, we are elated to see upside volatility as our portfolio increases in value. Unfortunately volatility was far more on the downside last year. If you have been watching stock movements as of late, you would have noticed that sentiment can turn on a dime. Investors trying to understand and predict the short term direction of the market have been whipsawed. Uncertain or bad news has been met with down markets and even sometimes good news has, at times, rattled the markets over the past few months.
Click here to read more: Cardinal Update – February 2019
DM Monthly Report – Feb 2019
DID THE MARKET JUST SHAKE OUT A FEW ‘WEAK HANDS’? It’s said the market declines cause capital to shift from weak to strong hands – – in other words, those least confident in their long term investment plans are most likely to abandon them when things get difficult, while those with resolve tend to view disruptions as opportunities to rebalance portfolios and deploy idle cash. When stocks punctuated their Q4 slide with a sharp plunge on Christmas Eve, one can assume the more than a few turkey dinners were served with a side of portfolio angst.
Click here to read more: DM-Monthly-Report-Feb-19
TFSAs aren’t just for short-term savers anymore
It’s been a decade since the TFSA was born. It’s grown up quite a bit over that time.
By Bryan Borzykowski for MoneySense.ca
It was hard to know it at the time, but February 26, 2008 has become one of the most significant dates in Canadian investing history. That afternoon, Jim Flaherty, then Minister of Finance, unveiled the Conservative party’s budget and, for the first time, mentioned the Tax-Free Savings Account. On January 2, 2009, the first TFSA was opened and $5,000—the maximum contribution limit that year—was deposited by some savvy investor.
When Flaherty introduced the TFSA, he listed a variety of ways someone might use the account. An RRSP, he said, was meant for retirement savings. A TFSA, where after-tax dollars can grow tax-free, was “for everything else in your life,” like buying a first car, saving for a first home and setting aside money for a “special project” or a personal indulgence. With contribution room only increasing by $5,000 per year for the first few years, using it to save for something made a lot of sense.
Read the rest of the article at www.moneysense.ca
“If anything should happen to me….”
Don and Kate were nervously anticipating Don’s upcoming life saving surgery. Don was also concerned that, should he not survive, Kate might not know everything that needed to be done upon his death. The night before his surgery he made this list for Kate of the things she should do if he didn’t make it through the operation:
My Dearest Kate
Although I expect to make it through this surgery it has got me thinking that anything could happen to any of us at anytime and we are rarely prepared.
So, if anything should happen……………. Read more 
