Welcome back to Views from the Crowsnest. Twenty-five months have passed since I last wrote in this format, and it feels like a lifetime ago. Life is what happens while we’re making plans, as they say.

Rather than attempt to re-live, re-frame or re-litigate the last two years of our upside-down world at a granular level, I’ll be as succinct as I can muster; I’ll revert to being annoyingly practical and direct – for which I’m rather infamous. Hopefully muscle memory will kick in without significant injury.

Welcome to the January 2021 edition of Views from the Crowsnest. My intention is to make this newsletter the shortest ever.

While 2020 will be remembered by most folks as the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, I believe that far more consequential things unfolded. The pandemic was the headline, but the real story was and continues to be 1) the accentuation of clear differences of worldview, and 2) an acceleration of the creep of global socialism.

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“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.”
~ Mark Twain

Eleven years ago today the most hated and under-invested Bull Market in history began. The low in 2009 came in the wake of what became known to this generation of investors simply as “The Financial Crisis.” Continue reading →

November 11^th brings us back every year in Remembrance. It is consistently the most emotionally-challenging day of the year for me, perhaps the only time I’ve historically allowed myself to express my deepest gratitude for Canada and for the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces. Honoring their sacrifice is a part of my earliest memories.

At the beginning of every one of his conferences, Martin Armstrong emphasizes this principle: “Everything is connected.” And by interpolation, everyone is connected. Continue reading →

Welcome to the September 2019 edition of Views from the Crowsnest.

Wow, Calgary’s 9-day summer has just flown by. We’ve been very busy these last few months; not the usual holiday lull. IWM’s new advisor, Sandor Kiss and I have had many meetings with new Client Families who reached out to us to serve their wealth management needs. Our exceptionally competent new Business Manager Soraya Rahemtulla is working her client service and administrative magic. And our Portfolio Managers have been doing a phenomenal job minimizing the effects of Equity Market volatility on our Clients’ portfolios. We’re grateful for all of this, except the summer that wasn’t. Oh well. Continue reading →

Welcome to the Spring 2019 edition of Views from the Crowsnest…and welcome to crazy times!

Before I jump into commentary, I wanted to remind everyone that next week in Calgary, I’m presenting two complimentary personal finance workshops called  “Will You Be the Bug or the Windshield? Your Survival Guide for Canada’s Economic Turmoil.” Topics include:

• Creating a personalized wealth management plan
• Taking advantage of rising interest rates
• Improving returns and reducing risk with private assets
• And more…

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Welcome to the January 2019 edition of Views from the Crowsnest.

Long-term financial prosperity pre-supposes survival of short-term crises. Survivors are guided by brutally-honest practicality versus high-minded theories and prognostications. People who obsess over appearing impressive rarely are (e.g. cable news), whereas those who focus on being effective usually succeed. Therefore, I will concentrate on practical solutions to a couple key challenges that we see from up here in the Crowsnest. Do what works – and nothing else. Continue reading →

“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,”

Welcome to this special edition of Views from the Crowsnest on November 21, 2018. The quote above is the first two lines of Rudyard Kipling’s classic poem, “If.” It fits today, in ways both obvious and subtle. In these moments, our higher-order executive functions become more important than ever. Continue reading →