Real estate in Costa Rica anyone?

With a colourful diagram plush with wonderful white squares, they stood ripe for the picking. Hmmm....I've always wanted a plot of land in Costa Rica. The "OwnCostaRica" booth was one of 56 companies exhibiting and promoting themselves to the Toronto public. These companies could be divided into two groups: i ) brokerages, who wanted you to invest your money through them, or ii) companies that wanted you to invest your money with them.

Initially, shocked to be in a room filled with day-trading tutorials and high-risk investment opportunities, was this the place to be to battle the anticipated turbulent markets ahead?

The Financial Forum comes to Toronto

Get Ready...Get Set...Go!

As the annual Financial Forum comes to Toronto, we are witnessing a great deal of uncertainly in the global markets. In the wake of rate cuts, both, by the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve coupled with Bush's $145 billion stimulus package, a lot remains to be seen if the storm can be weathered.

With booths representing some of the most prestigious firms of the industry, the Financial Forum is a trade show of sorts for Canadians looking to gain insight into financial services, specifically the retail investment industry. It is mostly attended by the passionate do-it-yourselfer. The event also is visited by guests who use or are looking for a financial advisor (approximately 32% estimated by the Financial Forum). As a guest, you'll be drawn by the number of people willing to give you advice on what you should be doing. You'll find that this will coincide with doing business with their respective firm. Listen and take notes. Research. Make a qualified decision, if one is warranted.

I, myself, will be all eyes and ears this year monitoring and mingling with the crowd getting their thoughts as to what they make of the state of the economy. The people, not the firms, represent the pulse of our economic livelihood, and the Financial Forum will house the largest crowd of Canadians, who although professionals in their own fields, remain some of the most sophisticated and knowledgable investors in Toronto.

For complimentary tickets, please visit:
https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ereg/index.php?eventid=1390&reference=&PHPSESSID=1d11c175018a9e4c93a6a04a3f7f30bd

Event starts this Thursday and continues until Saturday (9:30 am to 6 pm).

'Z'

To hear or not to hear....Have you heard from your financial advisor?

With the credit crisis looming large on people's mind, economists and pundits, alike, are on the verge of screaming recession, if they haven't done so already. While a recession hasn't been officially declared yet, it's long time to wonder how prepared you are for the riskiness ahead....Has your financial advisor called to give you insight to the current state of the financial markets? Assuming you feel you should have heard from your advisor by now, there are several possible reasons you have not.

Of course, not that your financial advisor's attention right now is mandatory. You might be a hands-off investor and not wishing to hear from him or her at this moment. But, for a good many, insight and feedback during these turbulent times is a reason they hired an investment advisor in the first place. The education they can pick off by listening to clear and eloquent explanations will only help them in the future.

If your fiinancial advisor hasn't been quick to touch base, there can be several reasons for this. One, as mentioned, is the fact that the client specifically doesn't want to be bothered. The market goes up. The market goes down. This is pretty much the extent of the picture they want to get. They have enough stress in their daily lives to have to worry about how their portfolio is evolving.

Another reason for not hearing from your financial advisor is that you just are not a top client. It is taught frequently in training programs that a broker should pay 80% of his attention with the top 20% of his book (known to many as the 80-20 rule). Assuming this rule, it appears 80% of retail clients aren't prioritized...that is, if they are successful and doing their job right. Are you the top 20% of your broker's book? Are you a valued client?

A final obvious reason for not hearing from your broker is just a lack of proactiveness. A good many advisors spend a significant amount of time recruiting new clients to their practice. The more clients they have, the more money they make. While being a proactive advisor, will establish goodwill in your relationship, there isn't necessarily a clear cut return on his time. Whereas with recruiting new clients, it will mean added commissions to his practice. Seeing how important recruiting new clients is important to one broker over another.

What a financial advisor should do is try to ascertain how much attention you need as the client. Whether you want to meet quarterly, biannually or annually should be determined well in advance and will bring a greater deal of transparency into the relationship.

Lesson: A section called "Frequency of Contact" should be included in your Investment Policy Statement or Financial Plan. It will do a great deal for your relationship with him or her. The section should answer the following questions:

a) How often are the face-to-face reviews of your portfolio?

b) Will you have phone appointments ever so often? Or will you have to solicit them whenever you may have an inquiry?

c) When you call to make an inquiry, how long do you have to wait until you call is returned? Will your call be returned by your advisor for all your inquiries? What circumstances will your call be delegated to the support staff?

So the year begins....