Family Stewardship & Philanthropy

The case for housing the homeless can be stated in moral and economic terms. As a provider of investment services, we thought we should stay in our lane and educate ourselves on the economic arguments.

If you’ve been tracking my “No Dumb Questions” for a while, you may have noticed one of our recurring themes has been to debunk the usual “get rich quick” schemes by building on a larger question: How can you and your family build and maintain financial well-being?  

Have you been thinking about helping your adult kids buy a home? Today’s housing and postsecondary education costs can make it a tough go for your offspring. Plus, you’ve been their parent for so long. Taking care of them is a hard habit to break, even once they’re plenty old enough to take care of themselves.  

I’m often critical of Canada’s financial regulators, but I applaud a recent effort by the country’s securities commissions to highlight the very real and growing problem of financial abuse of the elderly.

At PWL, we’ve noticed a big increase in interest in responsible investing among our clients and those who are considering becoming our clients. One of the key questions we are asked by these people is: Will I have to give up returns to invest according to my values?

The Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (the RAMQ) has created a centralized directory, where you can draft just such a document, called an Advanced Medical Directive, and make it available to doctors and caregivers in our healthcare system.

You could be forgiven for thinking family trusts are only for the very rich. In fact, trusts can be an invaluable financial, estate and tax planning tool for many people.

Life insurance is a painful topic. No one likes to ponder their own death and how their family will live without them. That said, if you have a spouse and kids, you need to protect them from the possibility that you might not always be there.

The insurance industry makes it very easy for us to separate ourselves from our money. If you’re not careful, you can easily find yourself with far more of the wrong type of insurance than you need. If it’s any consolation though, you will have made your insurance broker really happy.

Mortgage debt is a normal thing to have in Canada. Based on 2016 census data, 61.7% of Canadian families own a principal residence, and 57.3% of those families had a mortgage.