Blog | Crawford • Ashwood Financial

Given the focus on the environment during our recent election, and the ongoing global attention to climate change, I thought this would be a good time to address how the investment community is responding. You may be surprised. Pension and investment managers have always screened for risks before purchasing any company’s stock or bond issues. These risks were typically financial in nature; like how much debt the company has, where they stack up against their competitors, the quality of the company management, and whether there is future growth for their product or service, and ultimately more profit. Increasingly we are…

We wanted to share this short video from one of our favourite investment companies, EdgePoint. The video shares one person’s experience of being invested over the past 10 years, through the ups and down, and why it pays to think “long-term” when investing your hard-earned money. Many of our clients have had a similar road to the character in the video, and we continue to buy these funds for our clients and our own personal portfolios, as we believe in a long-term investment strategy. The take-away is to be patient; and know that both good and bad years don’t last…

Well, here we go again. After nearly a decade of rising markets, with only a few bumps along the way, it seems we are back to more normal market fluctuations. It probably feels worse for many people because we have become used to more positive days, weeks and months. One of the guarantees in investing is that volatile markets will persist. Our job as investors is to ensure we do not act irrationally. Volatility is actually a friend to us as investors. For example, if you were to see that your favourite food at the grocery store was on sale…

This is becoming one of the more common questions asked by our clients in recent years. A person or couple’s home, if owned, is often one of their largest assets, so people look for ways to limit the probate due on these assets. But you have to be very careful about putting an adult child as a joint owner because there can be some serious consequences. 1. A principal residence is one of the few assets that gets preferential income tax treatment, so losing this potential benefit is something you want to avoid. In most cases, the child will not…

Canadians are generally a very giving lot – 84% of Canadians made a charitable donation in 2010; the last year Statistics Canada kept records. Between time spent volunteering in a wide range of organizations and money donated to worthy causes, philanthropy in its various guises seems to be in our DNA. Our reasons for giving are as diverse as we are as a people, but according to Imagine Canada, we give out of compassion for others, for a cause we believe in, to make a contribution to our community, or for something that touches us personally. Whatever the reason, we…

2018 was one of very few time periods in investing when investors experienced a one/two hit. You likely received a year-end investment statement reflecting that you experienced some negative returns in your investments over the past year. If you have a non-registered investment account, you may also get a tax slip with a large capital gain showing, which means you may owe more taxes. So why, if your investments lost money over the year, are you having to claim and pay tax on capital gains? First, let me explain how capital gains and losses within a mutual fund work. The…

As a follow up to our last Market Update blog, we wanted to share a short & fun questionnaire from EdgePoint Wealth, testing your potential response to the next market crisis. How will you fare? Click the image below to take you to the full survey on page 2:

We recently attended our national investment conference and met with various investment & market strategists, and some of your Portfolio Managers. There was much talk around the recent market sell-off that we have seen over the past couple of weeks, so we thought this a good time to share a summary of what has been happening, and the feelings moving forward. The recent sell-offs are thought to be linked to the Federal Reserve (Fed) hiking interest rates, which in-turn negatively affected the bond market. This causes uncertainty and emotions have been running high in day-to-day stock traders who think there…

I recently had a meeting with a Tax & Estate specialist who spoke about Digital Assets, and the importance of covering these assets through your Will (and Powers of Attorney). Even 5-10 years ago, these assets were not of much value, and certainly were never thought to be included in your estate plan. So, What are Digital Assets? Digital Assets are essentially your financial footprint in the online world. Do you collect grocery points, airline rewards, credit card rewards, gas station points? It might seem silly, but there have been studies that have found by the year 2020 (not so…

We are moving into a period of uncertainty with mounting tensions over trade wars, and continued surprises via Tweets from the U.S. President. I thought this a good time to share what the effects may be on your investments. 2017 was the year of calm, with little volatility in the markets; surprising – given the almost constant flow of tweets and government chaos south of the border. In fact, business enjoyed lower taxes and improved earnings in the U.S. throughout the year. This was reflected in their stock market. Lesson: the noise and silliness from Trump has largely been ignored…

Are Your Investments Helping or Hurting the Planet?

An Investor’s Journey : A Video

The Rewards of Volatile Times

Should I put my kids on title of my principal residence?

Generosity Helps Everyone

Capital Gains on Investments

Investor Affirmations

Market Update

Digital Assets

Trade Wars and the Tweet Effect