Safety doesn’t pay the bills
We all know this rule of thumb. Take your age and that’s how much you should invest with bonds. I’m 40, so I should have 40% of my portfolio in bonds. Are you kidding me? That rule of thumb may [...]
The downside to low interest rates
Governments around the world have been keeping interest rates at record low levels for about four years now. In the wake of the great banking crisis of 2008, closely followed by the worst global recession in 80 years, central bankers [...]
How much is enough?
HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH? The discussion we have most often with our clients involves how much they need to save in order to guarantee a comfortable life style in retirement. Entire books have been (and will continue to be) written [...]
Stick with stocks for the long run
On June 4, 1992, my 40th birthday, I resigned from my job in the venture capital industry and launched Baskin Financial. With no clients and no track record, it was a pretty scary thing to do. Now, twenty years later, [...]
When safe does not equal safety
Canadian government bonds are overvalued and no longer provide any margin of safety. The formula to value a bond is as follows. You add the real yield to expected inflation to get the real adjusted fair value. If the bond [...]
Thoughts on Inflation
Those of our clients who attended our seminar last month know that it is our belief that 2011 will prove to be a transition year for the markets – a transition between the ongoing recovery from the recession of 2008, [...]
Inflation Protection 101
It may be hard to hear it over the sound of the printing presses, but it’s coming and you must be ready to protect yourself. From gold to oil to copper and even cheese, commodity prices are going higher as [...]
