Blog | Crawford • Ashwood Financial

Happy New Year to everyone, let’s hope it’s a good one. I start off this post with an excerpt from an article written by Jason Gibbs BAcc., CPA, CA, CFA, Vice President & Portfolio Manager, 1832 Asset Management L.P. “This is the time of the year when investors feel the need to make short-term forecasts. Save your energy because most of these predictions will turn out to be wrong. The key lesson from 2016 is to never try to time the markets and stop listening to those who profess they can. As Peter Lynch has said: ‘Far more money has…

Wishing all of our clients a very Merry Christmas. We hope you enjoy the holidays with family & friends and get some well deserved rest. We look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Continuing our Life Events series, today we delve into some planning thoughts when you leave a job. Although we would all like to think that we can choose when to change our job or when we retire, the reality is that sometimes the choice is made by our employers. When you lose your job, there are many important decisions that have to be made in a short time. Severance/Retiring Allowance There are minimum severances and retiring allowances that employers must pay, set by the provincial government. These are based on your years of service. However, there are conditions where additional…

The perception that our jobs, as financial advisors, is just about money and investments is far from the truth. Our clients lean on us for help with constantly changing life events; such as death, disability, marriage and divorce, leaving a job, buying a house, and new parenthood. We encourage them to do so. It is far simpler to prevent mistakes rather than trying to fix things after bad decisions are implemented. In the next several blog posts, we will discuss some of these topics, and how we can help when a major life event happens in your life. In this…

I should probably have called this article The Trump/Clinton Non-Effect. There is plenty of discussion about what the repercussions would be on business and the markets if either of these candidates become President. I have been talking to various money managers and market analysts to get their take on what to expect. I thought you might be interested in some of their insights. First of all, I have to disclose that I prefer to place my own and my client’s money with portfolio managers who tend to have concentrated portfolios of companies that they know extremely well. Whether we own…

We are sharing this short video with you to answer some common questions about the current state of the world’s economies and markets. Myles Zyblock is the Chief Investment Strategist at Dynamic Funds. Myles has some interesting insights on the future of the Eurozone, Brexit, the U.S economy and more.

Don’t fool with the taxman when transferring your cottage By Tim Cestnick Last week I took my son, Win, to Dairy Queen on his eighth birthday. He was half-way through his ice cream when he said: “Dad, people who have a plastic leg have to be careful not to eat too much ice cream – it can hurt them.” Now, I’m no expert on prosthetic limbs. But I had to believe there was a flaw in Win’s thinking. “What makes you think that?” I asked. “Well,” he continued, “I read it in a book at school.” “So, what happens if…

We all know that governments throughout the developed world are taking more and more of our earnings in the form of taxes of various sorts. In Canada we do live a good quality of life, and the taxes we pay help to make our country one of the best to live in. However, we don’t need to give them more than is necessary. There are not a lot of ways to save taxes, but we do still have a few to draw on. Here is a brief summary of some strategies that are available. RRSPs – this is an obvious…

Given recent market volatility, it is worth my comments to our clients to outline what is going on and why. As usual when uncertainty rears its head in the stock & some bond markets, investors hit the exits. The question is why now and when will things calm down so that markets can go back up. Canadian market uncertainty, of course, revolves around the price of oil and other commodities. We have a glut of oil reserves. The Saudi’s continue to pump out at high rates, technology is allowing better access to North American oil, and lower consumption due to…

People change employment for any number of reasons; some are voluntary whilst others are forced. There are a lot of critical decisions that have to be made at times like these. When considering what to do with an employer sponsored pension plan, or Group RRSP there are a number of things you need to determine. Defined Benefit Pension Plan Find out how well funded it is. If it is a large viable company and has a small shortfall it may be fine to leave it in their hands. It is important to have a sense of how well managed the…

The Value of Advice

Happy Holidays

Leaving a Job

Death of a Loved One

The Trump/Clinton Effect

Market Outlook

Cottage Ownership & Taxes

Tax Savings & Sheltering

Bumpy Markets

Leaving Your Current Job or Retiring?