Blog
Beyond the Lost Decade
As we said goodbye to 2009, there was a lot to celebrate — we closed out a year of spectacular gains on world stock markets. But while 2009 was a great year, it also marked the end of one of the worst decades for stock performance in history. As of December 31, 2009, the S&P500…
On The Cutting Edge – Webinars
Webinar – A web-based seminar that we conduct – live – giving you the opportunity to hear directly from members of our team as well as creating a forum for education on a variety of financial topics. In another “first”, we launched our new Webinar series in the last calendar quarter. Now you already know that…
2009 — The Year It Paid Off to Stay In
Congratulations! You rode out the 2008 market correction without changing course – and now it’s paid off (and what a payoff). Although we experienced an extremely tough year in global markets in 2008, those who stayed invested – and invested more – benefited from one of the biggest stock market rallies since 1979. Close to home,…
Lesser-Known Signs You Need to Change Your Plan
We all know about the big life events that might trigger a change in your financial plan – a new job, an inheritance, retirement, marriage or divorce, sale of a business, the birth of a child. But there are a host of other, less earth-shattering circumstances that might signal a financial change to come. It…
Highlights of the 2010 Federal Budget
The 2010 Federal Budget was delivered as Canada and other nations are slowly working their way out of the recent global recession. While Canada experienced less of a decline than other countries, the Canadian economy still has some work to do before it will fully get back on its feet. As expected, this is very…
Friends don’t let friends quietly suffer financial misfortune
CLIENT SUCCESS STORY #1 Client Profile: Laurence Sunderland (not his real name) Occupation: Business Owner – Residential and commercial alarm systems Prior to meeting with IRONSHIELD Financial Planning™, Laurence’s confidence in his advisor was diminishing. He felt that his advisor was presenting mostly “smoke and mirrors” as there seemed to be a “lot of activity…
Canadian Charities – Good Giving…
Canadian charities had a rough year according to Statistics Canada. Donations were down 5.3% as recession-wary Canadians cut back on support for their favourite causes. There is still a window of time left to help a charity that means something to you. If you do decide to give, make sure you take a smart approach…
Not Your Dad’s Pension Plan
Pensions have changed a lot since the early days when employees could rely on a generous defined benefit (DB) plan to take them through their retirement years. DB plans, which guarantee a set payout on retirement, are being replaced by defined contribution (DC) plans or Group RRSPs. With these plans, there is no guaranteed benefit…