My Career as a Financial Planner

Now that's a wave!

It is embarrassing to write about how incredibly ignorant I was when I started my savings in the mid 80's.

When I was working as a weaver, most of my income arrived in December. So one January I had $15,000 that I decided to put into an RRSP, half for the previous year and half for the current year.

About 18 months later I ran into a cash flow crisis. I knew that my RRSP could be cashed and the money would be included in my income - which was fine as my income was very low. But when I asked for MY money the banker told me I could not have it - it was a GIC. I said "But it's my money, it's an RRSP and I'd like to cash it out." The conversation lasted a while after which I understood that an RRSP is just like a bag into which you put your investments. I had no idea what a GIC was until then!

That was the start of my investment career. Now we have a good selection of "blue chip" stocks personally and in our holding company which I manage - using an investment broker for some and on line brokerage for most. I am comfortable managing my own portfolio with the help of a weekly investment publication.

Looking up in a hot air balloon