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The MONEY® Network
Posted: October 25th, 2011 under MONEY®, MONEY® Video.
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November is Financial Literacy Month
MONEY.CA ~ FPSC Hit the Streets and Talked to Canadians about Money
Canadian Financial Literacy
- TORONTO, Oct. 17, 2011 /CNW/ – October 17-23 is Canada’s third annual
Financial Planning Week and as part of its campaign to get more Canadians engaged in their financial wellbeing, Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC® hit the streets to hear what Canadians are saying about money.
The resulting video is just a slice of the many comments heard from Canadians of varying ages. And because it’s never too early to start talking to your kids about money, FPSC also spoke with some very young people about their views too.
“Every day is financial planning day at Financial Planning Standards Council and for the 18,000+ Certified Financial Planner® professionals in Canada. But, while many Canadians may have great intentions, they fall into the procrastination trap,” says Tamara Smith, V.P. Marketing & Consumer Affairs, FPSC. “We are putting a call out to every Canadian: this Financial Planning Week, it’s time to take action — even if in small steps — to do more towards your financial wellbeing.”
10 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO CELEBRATE FINANCIAL PLANNING WEEK: THINK, TALK, ACT ON IT!
Even small steps can build momentum and make a difference.
THINK!
1. Reflect on your life goals (Own a home? Travel the world? Or simply get by?). Think in terms of shorter and longer-term goals. As well, consider your needs and wants. Financial planning supports your life and it involves much more than just planning for tomorrow. It’s about the continuum of your life, which includes today!
TALK!
2. Talk to your life partner. Money often comes last on the list of relationship conversations but it should be a priority and is an essential part of family life planning. Plan now to prevent money from becoming a stressor on your relationship!
3. Talk to your kids. It’s never too early to teach your kids the value of money and the importance of good financial habits.
4. Talk to a financial planning professional who can help you make sense of it all. CFP® professionals are uniquely trained to help you translate your life goals into meaningful financial strategies and in seeing how all these strategies are connected. Before engaging anyone, learn what to look for and what to ask a prospective planner. See 10 Questions to Ask for starters.
ACT!
5. Learn something new. You can start by going to a Financial Planning Week event.
6. Track your spending so you know where that darn money is going. You’d be surprised of how much you can squeeze out in savings when you are accountable for every dollar spent.
7. Create a monthly budget.
8. Pay yourself first and start a savings and/or investment program. Even small amounts add up if you save regularly.
9. Pay off debt — especially credit card debt that can result in high interest fees for late payments. Keep your credit rating healthy and don’t forget to pay those bills on time!
10. Get help creating a financial plan that looks at the whole picture. CFP professionals say it’s never too early to start, nor do you have to be wealthy to have a plan. Planning is for everyone!
11. BONUS TIP: Brainstorm a few of your own ideas of what you can do to celebrate Financial Planning Week and make them meaningful for you. Remember – it’s about your life.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- FPSC executives are available for media interviews; also, CFP professionals from various regions across Canada are available to discuss financial planning topics.
- Looking for statistics on Canadians’ emotional and financial wellbeing? Read the highlights on FPSC’s Value of Financial Planning Study.
About Financial Planning Week
Now in its third year, Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC) and the Institut québécois de planification financière (IQPF) have jointly declared October 17-23, 2011 as Canada’s Financial Planning Week. During the Week, each organization will be spearheading industry events and public outreach activities in their respective markets. Financial Planning Week is part of an ongoing effort by both organizations to make financial planning more a part of Canadians’ lives. Stay up-to-date at www.financialplanningweek.ca / Twitter @FPWeek, and join us on the LinkedIn and Facebook page for Financial Planning Week.
About Financial Planning Standards Council
Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC) is a not-for-profit organization which develops, promotes and enforces professional standards in financial planning through Certified Financial Planner® certification, and raises Canadians’ awareness of the importance of financial planning. FPSC’s vision is to see Canadians improve their lives by engaging in financial planning. Currently, there are more than 18,000 CFP professionals in Canada and more than 133,000 CFP certificants in 23 countries worldwide. See www.fpsc.ca for more information.
CFP®, Certified Financial Planner® and CFP (with flame logo)® are trademarks owned outside the U.S. by Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd. Financial Planning Standards Council is the marks licensing authority for the CFP Marks in Canada, through agreement with FPSB.
©2011 Financial Planning Standards Council. All rights reserved.
For further information:
TO ARRANGE MEDIA INTERVIEWS OR FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT
Heather Mills
FPSC
416.593.8587 x 235 or hmills@fpsc.ca
Eileen Chadnick
Chadnick Communications (for FPSC)
416.631.7437 or eileen@chadnick.com
The MONEY® Network
Posted: October 18th, 2011 under MONEY®.
Tags: 1 percent, canadian financial literacy, canadian money, cost of inflation, finance, financial literacy, financial literacy canada, financial literacy month, financial literacy week, making money, money, money company, money for canadians, money for nothing, money in canada, money information, money money, money news, money video, personal finance
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A Desperate Meeting
By Guy Conger ~
One weekend, in a last-ditch attempt to avoid disaster, top finance officials — representing 117 countries and six billion souls — come together and meet. The officials engage in intense — sometimes frantic — debate. They explore every possible solution known to modern man, plus some that are still not known. But they’re stumped. They come up with no new ideas. That’s when the highest finance official of the world’s second-largest economy speaks.
He can barely mask his frustration — and fear — as he calls for massive, unprecedented steps to stem a domino-like series of defaults.
He cites words such as “cascading default, bank runs, and catastrophic risk.” And he bluntly tells the group that time is running out!
But when the meeting adjourns, nothing has been done; no decisions have been made. Instead, the finance officials fly home to the far corners of the globe. They go home to their families. And secretly, they pray the financial collapse does not destroy modern society as we know it.
Unbelievable? Then Consider This …
This was not a fictional scenario. It actually happened EXACTLY as I just described — THIS past weekend!
The economy on the brink of financial meltdown is the European Union. With a GDP nearly $2 trillion larger than the GDP of the United States, it is clearly the biggest economy in the world.
The giant European banks buried in bad loans include France’s Crédit Agricole and Société Générale. With $3.6 trillion in assets between them, they are the largest in the world.
And the high finance official who issued the doomsday warning is none other than U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Speaking before the delegates to the IMF/World Bank meeting in Washington, D.C., this past Saturday, his warnings were shocking. So they merit repeating:
→ Cascading default
→ Bank runs
→ Catastrophic risk
→ Running out of time!
Why was he so blunt? What does he fear that average citizens are just beginning to comprehend?
Is it the recent panic in the global markets — investors dumping sovereign bonds, banks recoiling from interbank lending, global money markets freezing up?
Is it the utter fragility of the U.S. economy, still struggling to recover from its own debt nightmare?
Or is it the chronic vulnerability of America’s largest banks, still loaded with bad mortgages, still taking massive risks with derivatives, and still directly vulnerable to Europe’s debt disaster?
The answer: All of the above! But of greatest concern is …
The Fragility of America’s Largest Banks
Many investors seemed shocked when Moody’s downgraded Bank of America’s long-term debt from A2 to Baa1 last week.
But even with the downgrade, we believe Moody’s is being overly generous to Bank of America. The bank has …
• $421.7 billion tied up in mortgages — more than any other bank on the planet!
• $52.5 trillion in high-risk derivatives — more than 36 times larger than its total assets and nearly 341 times bigger than its risk-based capital!
• Massive exposure to the possibility that some of its trading partners in the U.S., Europe, or elsewhere might default — to the tune of 182% of its capital, according to the Comptroller of the Currency.
And it’s not alone! Other major U.S. banks are in a similar predicament.
Candidates for Disaster
It’s because of these kinds of dangers that, one month ago, I warned Bank of America was a candidate for bankruptcy.
And it’s also because of these dangers that I’m publishing here — for the first time — our latest list of the nation’s weakest large banks, based the latest second-quarter data recently released by the FDIC.
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Bank of America merits a Weiss Rating of D (weak). But it’s clearly not the only one. Also getting a D grade are two other giants — JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
Nor is this weakness restricted to the nation’s largest banks. Major regional institutions — SunTrust Bank, Regions Bank, Compass Bank, Huntington National Bank, and others — are also vulnerable.
All told, 2,553 U.S. banks and thrifts now get a Weiss Rating of D+ (weak) or lower, implying widespread vulnerability to the consequences of sovereign debt defaults in Europe and to a double-dip recession in the U.S.
How Could This Impact You?
In too many ways!
First, if you own bank stocks, you’re bound to lose a lot of money. Their shares are already plunging, and the experience of 2008-2009 tells us they could fall a lot more.
Second, banks and other financial institutions are the heartbeat of the entire economy. If they go down, so does business.
Third, if you have money in a weak bank, it could be in jeopardy. Yes, the U.S. government may come to the rescue. But because of scarce government resources and new, stricter bailout laws, this time around, any bailouts are bound to be more painful — to the bank, its shareholders, AND its creditors.
My recommendation:
1. Get your money to safety. If you must use a bank, do most of your business with those meriting a Weiss Rating of B+ or higher.
2. Never allow your deposits to exceed the FDIC protection limit.
3. For added safety and liquidity, seriously consider moving a big chunk of your cash from bank deposits and checking accounts to
• 3-month Treasury bills (which you can buy through your broker or directly from the Treasury) or …
• A money market fund that invests exclusively in short-term Treasuries.
Yes, I know Treasury bills don’t yield hardly anything. And I recognize that Uncle Sam’s finances are also shaky — a factor that could impact medium- and long-term Treasuries. But the Treasuries I’m recommending mature in only 13 weeks. And I believe the chance of the U.S. government defaulting on its debt within the next 13 weeks is nil.
4. The more bank stocks plunge, the more money you can make. And if a bank fails, the profit potential is enormous. But that’s just one way to use this great crisis as a great wealth builder
The MONEY® Network
Posted: September 28th, 2011 under General, MONEY®.
Tags: American Dollar, gconger
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YOU and YOUR MONEY® – a personal finance blog brought to you by MONEY®
- You and Your Money
Welcome to YOU and YOUR MONEY®. This blog is dedicated to YOUR personal finance matters.
MONEY® Canada Limited has assembled some of Canada’s best and most respected financial writers to keep you up-to-date on a wide variety of personal finance topics.
MONEY® Canada Limited is rapidly becoming one of Canada’s largest financial media publishers, including Money.ca and The MONEY Network, Mutualfund.ca and the Mutual Fund Network, as well as MONEY® Magazine and a plethora of other web and print publications.
We look forward to enhancing your personal finance knowledge and building your financial literacy.
For more information, please see money.ca or call 1-800-789-1011.
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Posted: September 26th, 2011 under Advertising, Asset Allocation, Banks, Bargains, Book Reviews, Business News, Career, Children, Communications, Cost of Living, Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Debt, Estate Planning, Exchange-Traded Funds, Finance, Financial Planning, General, Governement, Guaranteed Investment Certificates, Insurance, Investments, Magazines, MONEY®, MONEY® Video, Mortgages, Mutual Funds, Newsletter, Oil & Gas, Pension, Personal Finance, Real Estate, Renovations, Saving, Software, Taxes, TFSA, Travel, Trust.
Tags: banks, business news, ca-money.com, canada, canadian, canadian financial bloggers, canadian financial literacy, canadian money, canadian money blog, canadian money ca, canadian-money.com, finance, financial, financial advertising, financial bloggers, financial content, financial informations, financial literacy canada, financial news, financial planning, information, insurance, investments, me and my money, money blog, money canada, money canada ca, money financial services., money for nothing, money in canada, money information, money matters, money news, money taxes, money video, money-ca.com, money-canada.com, money.ca, mortgages, mutual funds, mutualfund.ca, news, personal finance, renovations, saving, savings, tax, taxes, tfsa, travel, trust, trust services, YOU and YOUR MONEY®
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“Value for Money” with KIA – Looks and Loyalty Locked-in
KIA Optima
Cars with the most brand-loyal buyers
Forbes – Jim Gorzelany | Forbes
Keeping existing customers is a hallmark to success in any business, and it’s especially important in the automotive industry, where the average product costs well over $30,000 and the typical ownership cycle is five or more years.
While automakers in the luxury segment are often thought of as enjoying among the most loyal customers in the business, the top names in this regard are all mainstream makes, according to a just-released report based on second-quarter 2011 sales compiled by Experian Automotive in Schaumburg, Ill.
Data shows that Kia currently boasts the most loyal owner body, with nearly 48 per cent of buyers returning to the brand this year. Ford is second highest with 46.5 per cent repeat business. Chevrolet, Hyundai, Toyota and Honda all registered around 40 per cent brand loyalty, with Subaru bringing back buyers at the rate of around 36 per cent.
Among luxury automakers, the highest-ranking brands were Mercedes-Benz with 34.8 per cent repeat buyers, BMW at 31.7 per cent, Porsche at 23 per cent and Jaguar at 16 per cent.
Kia’s parent company Hyundai Motor Group posted a corporate loyalty rate of 49.6 per cent, according to Experian’s data, just edging out Ford Motor Co. at 48.1 per cent and General Motors at 47.6 per cent.
“According to our latest market report, Hyundai Motor Group has been making strides in customer loyalty for several years,” says Jeffrey Anderson, director of consulting and analytics for Experian Automotive. “In North America, both Kia and Hyundai have made improvements in vehicle styling and quality among both brands. This has clearly helped them gain and maintain a strong and loyal customer base.”
Three Kia models ranked among the top 10 vehicles having the most brand loyalty in Experian’s report, including the list-leading Kia Forte compact sedan at 68 per cent, along with the Soul compact wagon and the two-door compact Forte Koup.
Seven out of 10 of the models in Experian’s list were comprised of mainstream domestic-brand models, topped by the Chevrolet Cruze in second place with 64 per cent brand loyalty. The remainder were Ford models, including the subcompact Fiesta, the midsize Fusion sedan, the seven-passenger Flex crossover SUV, the Taurus full-size sedan and the compact Focus.
Experian’s study also concluded that among automotive segments, full-size truck owners were the most likely to purchase another big pickup, registering 58.6 repeat business during the second quarter of 2011. Owners of hybrid cars trade in for other hybrids at the rate of 43 per cent, as do those buying premium crossover SUVs. The least brand-loyal were found to sports car owners, with just 21 per cent buying another equally racy model, and those driving mid-range SUVs – a segment that been steadily losing traction to car-based crossovers in recent years – at 21 per cent.
The MONEY® Network
Posted: October 25th, 2011 under Advertising, MONEY®, Oil & Gas, Saving.
Tags: a money car, auto, automobiles, beautiful car, best car for the money, best value, canadian cars, canadian money, cars, kia, me and my money, money, money canada, money car, money for nothing, money in canada, money.ca, moneycar, optima, saving money, the money car, you and your money
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The MONEY® Network
Posted: October 19th, 2011 under MONEY®.
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