Financial Myths That Will Ruin Your Retirement Dreams

Overview:

(Previously known as: Busting Personal Financial Myths)

There is a lot of confusion when it comes to retirement planning. How much will a family need to retire comfortably? Are RRSPs the best answer? Can the stock market be trusted? The standard answers from the “experts” include: start an RRSP early and maximize your contributions, use the stock market and mutual funds for the best returns, and put faith in a financial adviser. But what if those answers are wrong? The problem is that much of the common advice is from people with a conflict of interest. Many are simply trying to sell financial products that make them money… at your expense. This course is designed to cut through the sales pitches and get to the simple truths.

Course Content:

In this course you will gain knowledge about the five main retirement myths:

• If I had $1,000,000 I could retire. Why much less than a million might be sufficient.
• RRSPs are the holy grail of retirement. Explore an alternate strategy that is guaranteed, has no-risk, and eliminates fees.
• Don’t worry about your investments: You’ll be fine in the long run. Why you may not be making the 8 to 10% a year they often talk about. What your adviser doesn’t want you to know, and how to calculate your own investment personal rate of return.
• Income taxes are the enemy. How tax schemes and shelters sabotage your personal finances and why they should be avoided at all costs.
• Buy permanent life insurance to secure your financial future. Who really needs it, who doesn’t, the perils of whole and universal life and how to get term life cheap.

Other Subjects:

Behavioural Economics - Why we seem to be wired to be bad at finances and what to do about it

This course includes the following free spreadsheets:

• Net Worth Calculator
• Retirement Savings vs Pay Down Debt Calculator
• Personal Rate of Return Calculator (to see how well your investments have been doing)
• Retirement Optimizer (to calculate how much you’ll need to retire)

Learning Objectives:

Upon completing this course, you should be able to:

• The 5 main myths the financial industry uses to make themselves rich
• Calculate how much you'll need to retire using a FREE spreadsheet
• Calculate the money-weighted rate of return for any portfolio for any period of time
• Discover the advantages of paying off debt over investing in retirement savings
• Find out about the effect of the stock market crash on short- and long-term returns
• Identify why so many people are addicted to tax shelters
• Uncover the dirty details of permanent life insurance and why term is better
• Get all the latest figures for CPP and OAS

Who Will Benefit: 

Individuals wishing to take charge of their personal finances and avoid all the traps.