IG PRIVATE WEALTH MANAGEMENT |
Some Canadians are fortunate enough to get great workplace benefits. These often include health and dental coverage, a company pension and company share ownership options. Another common benefit is company life insurance (known in the industry as group life insurance).
IG PRIVATE WEALTH MANAGEMENT |
Many investors struggle to keep their emotions in check when making investment decisions. After all, we’re human beings; our instincts often dictate our behaviour, even in the face of hard facts and rationality. These four strategies can help you to avoid making impulsive decisions and keep your financial plan on track.
It’s rather easy to sum up 2024. “It exceeded expectations” is the most obvious way to put it. Even the most optimistic projections were well shy of the eye-catching gains investors experienced across equity and fixed income markets in 2024. Positive market surprises shouldn’t come as too much of a shock though, as the markets have a way of making forecasting the year ahead a futile and frustrating exercise. The markets don’t operate on a timeline dictated by forecasts, which is why we prefer to focus on the trends with any forecast, rather than try and hit the bullseye.
It’s rather easy to sum up 2024. “It exceeded expectations” is the most obvious way to put it. Even the most optimistic projections were well shy of the eye-catching gains investors experienced across equity and fixed income markets in 2024. Positive market surprises shouldn’t come as too much of a shock though, as the markets have a way of making forecasting the year ahead a futile and frustrating exercise. The markets don’t operate on a timeline dictated by forecasts, which is why we prefer to focus on the trends with any forecast, rather than try and hit the bullseye.
IG Wealth Management |
Those Canadians (45%) who say that they have a retirement plan feel less stressed about their future because retirement feels more attainable. However, many of those are unaware of what a real retirement plan looks like. Regularly saving in a company pension plan, an RRSP or a TFSA is not a retirement plan.
IG PRIVATE WEALTH MANAGEMENT |
Many of us understand the value of the Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP): almost six million Canadians make RRSP contributions every year.1 Most of us also know about the tax benefits of RRSP contributions and that it’s an extremely versatile and effective retirement planning tool.
As we wave goodbye to 2023, we can also expect to bid adieu to some of the key events of the year that made it especially challenging for the markets. The central bank interest rate rises, which brought about a mini banking collapse early in the year, appear to have come to an end, while inflation is moving toward target levels.