The best introduction to personal finance I have ever read — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00Wealthy Barber is a classic Canadian
- 0:02personal finance book first published in
- 0:041989 that has sold over 2 million copies
- 0:06in Canada. The author Dave Chilton has
- 0:08come out with a fully updated 2025
- 0:10edition of the book full of top-notch
- 0:12personal finance advice on investing,
- 0:14spending, estate planning, and
- 0:16insurance. I have read the book twice
- 0:18now, and in this video I'm going to go
- 0:20through the points that I think everyone
- 0:22needs to know. I'm not affiliated with
- 0:23Dave or his company. I may be a little
- 0:25biased because this channel is mentioned
- 0:27in the book and my testimonial is on the
- 0:29back cover. I know that was a bit of a
- 0:30humble brag, but come on, it's it's
- 0:32pretty cool. I meant what I wrote there
- 0:33on the back of the book. This is the
- 0:35best and most approachable introduction
- 0:36to personal finance that I have ever
- 0:38read. I think this book is a great read
- 0:40for anyone and an excellent gift for
- 0:42someone you want to share good financial
- 0:44planning principles with. Or, you know,
- 0:46you could just send them this video. No,
- 0:47but also buy the book. Sorry, Dave. I'm
- 0:49Ben Felix, chief investment officer at
- 0:51PWL Capital, and I'm going to tell you
- 0:52why The Wealthy Barber is a book worth
- 0:54reading.
- 0:59The Wealthy Barber is written as a story
- 1:01with character development, unique
- 1:03personalities, and lots of dry humor. It
- 1:05starts with a Canadian couple, Matt and
- 1:07Maddie, who decide they want to learn
- 1:08about personal finance. They ask Matt's
- 1:10parents for help and they get referred
- 1:12by them to their local barber, Roy, who
- 1:14we find out is himself financially
- 1:16successful despite not having an
- 1:18abnormally high income or having
- 1:20received a big inheritance. He is the
- 1:22wealthy barber. Roy is also an excellent
- 1:24personal finance teacher, having helped
- 1:26many people over the years, including
- 1:27Matt's parents. The book follows Matt
- 1:30and Mattiey's visits with Roy as they
- 1:31learn about personal finance. They're
- 1:34joined by Matt's overspending but
- 1:36successful entrepreneur sister, Jess,
- 1:38his best friend Kyle Sorav, a newcomer
- 1:40to Canada who lives in Royy's apartment
- 1:42building, and some of Royy's regular
- 1:44customers who hang out in the barber
- 1:45shop, and they all contribute to the
- 1:47discussions. This writing style,
- 1:49conversational with lots of back and
- 1:50forth on questions that readers likely
- 1:52have, makes the information approachable
- 1:54for anyone. All right, as much as I do
- 1:55like the writing, I'm not just here to
- 1:57praise the book. I want to give you its
- 1:59main lessons. Again, I'm sorry, Dave. I
- 2:01do hope people still read the book. The
- 2:03first lesson imparted by Roy is you can
- 2:05do this. There's absolutely nothing
- 2:07we're going to cover that you're not
- 2:08capable of fully understanding and
- 2:10implementing successfully. You can start
- 2:12managing your own money very well quite
- 2:14soon. For many people, that is a huge
- 2:16lesson. Finance and numbers more
- 2:18generally can be intimidating, but
- 2:20becoming good at managing your finances
- 2:22is not a mathematical endeavor. As Roy
- 2:25says in that first conversation, none of
- 2:26the important financial planning
- 2:28concepts are complex. This is such an
- 2:30important point. Roy is absolutely
- 2:32correct that smart investing and
- 2:34financial planning are easy to
- 2:35understand. They're not always easy to
- 2:37execute due to human psychology, but
- 2:40they should be easy to understand. If
- 2:41you can't understand an investment
- 2:43product or financial planning strategy,
- 2:44there's a good chance you should avoid
- 2:46it altogether. In their next
- 2:47conversation, Roy introduces his golden
- 2:49rule. Save and invest at least 10% of
- 2:52your net income for the future. This
- 2:54rule is powerful due to the nature of
- 2:56compounding. Saving and investing
- 2:58consistently over time eventually
- 2:59results in the returns from your
- 3:00investments far exceeding your ability
- 3:02to save. Compounding is both powerful
- 3:04and poorly understood. Humans are just
- 3:06not wired to process exponential growth,
- 3:09which is exactly what compounding
- 3:10results in. Roy then explains that to be
- 3:12truly useful, the first rule needs to be
- 3:14paired with the second rule. And
- 3:16according to Roy, the three most
- 3:18important words in personal finance, pay
- 3:20yourself first. Roy explains that saving
- 3:23is hard. Putting money away for your
- 3:24future self who feels like a bit of a
- 3:26stranger is competing with spending on
- 3:28your present self who's dealing with
- 3:29immediate needs, a rising cost of
- 3:31living, the addiction-like psychology of
- 3:33spending money, and our innate desire to
- 3:35keep up with the people around us. Not
- 3:37to mention all the businesses doing
- 3:38everything they can to influence you to
- 3:40spend your money on their products and
- 3:41services. Paying yourself first, putting
- 3:44a portion of your money into long-term
- 3:45investments or savings for some other
- 3:47short or medium-term goal before you
- 3:49have a chance to spend it takes away
- 3:51that temptation. Roy explains that while
- 3:53taking 10% or more of your income away
- 3:55seems difficult to do, once you start,
- 3:58you realize that a lot of your spending
- 3:59was on things you didn't really need. As
- 4:01Roy concludes the lesson, Sorov chimes
- 4:03in to summarize, save first, spend the
- 4:06rest good, spend first, save the rest
- 4:08bad. Now, I do feel compelled to say
- 4:10that many economists would disagree with
- 4:12this advice. It could make sense to save
- 4:14less early on in life and more later
- 4:16when your income is higher. And
- 4:18similarly, it could make sense to save
- 4:19more or less in a given year depending
- 4:21on your income and spending needs. That
- 4:24implies spending first and saving the
- 4:26rest. But as a general rule, to get
- 4:28people engaged with long-term thinking,
- 4:29saving, and investing, pay yourself
- 4:31first at a rate of around 10% of your
- 4:33net income is a solid foundation. It's
- 4:35certainly better than not saving at all.
- 4:37And as you adjust to having a little
- 4:39less cash in your budget, it builds the
- 4:40reflex to carefully consider the
- 4:42difference between spending needs and
- 4:44wants, which most people probably don't
- 4:46do enough of. I'll come back to that
- 4:47later with some useful wisdom from Roy.
- 4:50The next session with Roy covers
- 4:51investing. First, Roy prompts the group
- 4:53to consider why investing is important.
- 4:56They collectively offer several correct
- 4:57reasons, including to fight off
- 4:59inflation, funding your future financial
- 5:01goals, and harnessing the power of
- 5:03compounding. Roy offers up a nice
- 5:05catchphrase to explain what he thinks
- 5:07successful investing looks like. Be an
- 5:09owner, not a loner. He's drawing the
- 5:11distinction here between stocks and
- 5:13bonds. A stock is a piece of ownership
- 5:14in a business, while a bond is a loan to
- 5:17a company or government. In general,
- 5:19stocks are riskier and have higher
- 5:21expected returns than bonds. Roy
- 5:23explains that stocks must have higher
- 5:25expected returns than bonds because they
- 5:27are riskier to own. With stocks, you're
- 5:29participating in the potential upside
- 5:30and potential downside of the financial
- 5:32performance of real businesses. Some
- 5:35businesses do really well while many do
- 5:37poorly in the long run. Bonds are much
- 5:39safer because you get roughly the same
- 5:40return whether the company's financial
- 5:42performance is good or bad. And if it's
- 5:44really bad, leading the company to shut
- 5:46down, bond holders often stand to
- 5:48recover some value while stockholders do
- 5:50not. Government bonds are even safer.
- 5:52Roy explains that in the long run,
- 5:54stocks are a bet on human ingenuity.
- 5:56Being an owner, a stockholder, lets you
- 5:58participate in the ongoing human
- 6:00innovation that our whole economic
- 6:01system is based on. It is hard to
- 6:03disagree with Roy here, and I have done
- 6:05videos on the merits of 100% equity
- 6:07portfolios, but it's also true that the
- 6:08volatility of 100% equity portfolios is
- 6:11too much for some people to handle.
- 6:12Asset allocation decisions should be
- 6:14made based on your ability, willingness,
- 6:16and need to take on the volatility of
- 6:18stocks to earn higher expected returns.
- 6:20The group is listening intently to Roy
- 6:22here, but they voiced their concern that
- 6:24they don't know anything about stocks or
- 6:26the stock market. Kyle, Matt's best
- 6:28friend, even explains that some of his
- 6:30friends lost a bunch of money picking
- 6:32stocks during the COVID boom, like
- 6:33Pelaton is one example that he gives,
- 6:35which came crashing back down to earth.
- 6:37Roy explains that you need no knowledge
- 6:39to invest successfully in the stock
- 6:41market. He even goes as far as saying
- 6:42that for 99% of people, more financial
- 6:45knowledge makes them worse, not better
- 6:47at investing. I would qualify this a
- 6:48little bit. Certain knowledge, like the
- 6:50idea that most people can't beat the
- 6:51market and that index funds are sensible
- 6:53investments for most people, is
- 6:54extremely useful knowledge. Knowing how
- 6:56to follow the performance of individual
- 6:58stocks or the direction of interest
- 6:59rates is probably not useful, and I
- 7:02agree with Roy here, likely to do more
- 7:03harm than good. People often tend to
- 7:05sabotage their own returns by
- 7:07overtrading, timing the market, and
- 7:08investing in stocks that grab their
- 7:10attention, all of which lead to lower
- 7:12returns, and those problems are
- 7:13exacerbated when people who think they
- 7:15have some knowledge follow the market
- 7:17closely. Roy goes on to explain that
- 7:19successful investing requires minimal
- 7:21investment knowledge because simply
- 7:22buying all of the stocks or a close
- 7:24approximation of it is the most
- 7:26consistently successful investment
- 7:27strategy in history. It beats the vast
- 7:29majority of professional investors and
- 7:31the vast majority of individual stocks.
- 7:33It's next to impossible to consistently
- 7:35separate winning and losing stocks
- 7:36before the fact. But doing so is not
- 7:38necessary because all of the stocks
- 7:40together, including both the winners and
- 7:42the losers, have historically had more
- 7:43than enough return to propel most people
- 7:46successfully toward their long-term
- 7:47goals. This approach works because while
- 7:49lots of companies are losers in the long
- 7:51run, the winners tend to win big. The
- 7:53most you can lose in a stock is 100% of
- 7:55your investment, but when you own a big
- 7:57winner, you can gain far more than that.
- 7:59We can't identify those winners and
- 8:01losers before the fact, but owning all
- 8:03of the stocks in the market means that
- 8:04you will always hold the big winners.
- 8:06This effect, which is called skewess, is
- 8:08what makes owning the market so
- 8:10difficult to beat. This is also part of
- 8:12the explanation for why professional
- 8:13money managers consistently fail to
- 8:15deliver market beating returns. The
- 8:17other reason is their high fees. Here in
- 8:19Canada, we still have a huge portion of
- 8:21our investment assets in high fee funds
- 8:23that aim to beat the market. While as
- 8:25expected, very few are actually
- 8:27successful. Roy admits that he too at
- 8:29one time had invested in actively
- 8:31managed mutual funds, but he eventually
- 8:33saw the light after underperforming
- 8:34consistently. Between the skewess in
- 8:36stock returns and the high fees charged
- 8:38by the managers hoping to beat the
- 8:39market, trying to beat the market is a
- 8:41losing game. This again leads to the
- 8:43simple conclusion requiring little
- 8:44knowledge to simply buy the market. The
- 8:47good news is that there are lowcost
- 8:49investment vehicles called index funds
- 8:51that do aim to buy all of the stocks in
- 8:53a broad market index. A broad market
- 8:55index is a grouping of stocks that has
- 8:56been assembled to represent an entire
- 8:58stock market. In Canada, we even have
- 9:00asset allocation ETFs which give you a
- 9:03globally diversified portfolio of index
- 9:05funds. Roy suggests that those asset
- 9:07allocation ETFs are a good option for
- 9:09many people and I agree with them. The
- 9:12group also raises the point that while
- 9:13being an owner not a loner may have made
- 9:15sense in the past, the future is
- 9:17perilous. We have global warming, Russia
- 9:19and Ukraine, and divisive politics, all
- 9:21making the outlook for the global
- 9:23economy look weak at best, making being
- 9:25an owner, being an investor in the stock
- 9:27market less compelling now than it may
- 9:29have been in the past. Roy does
- 9:31something here that I love. He brings up
- 9:33history. Roy reads a headline that he
- 9:35keeps laminated on his counter, and I'm
- 9:37going to repeat it here. It is a gloomy
- 9:39moment in history. Not in the lifetime
- 9:41of any man who reads this paper has
- 9:43there been such grave and deep
- 9:44apprehension. The United States is beset
- 9:47with racial, industrial, and commercial
- 9:48chaos. Drifting we know not where, and
- 9:51Russia hangs like a storm cloud on the
- 9:53horizon. Of our troubles, no man can see
- 9:55an end. The group assumes this is from a
- 9:58current paper, but Roy explains that
- 10:00it's from Harper's magazine in 1847. I I
- 10:03learned this lesson early on in my
- 10:04career. When you look around at the
- 10:06state of the world, it always, always,
- 10:07always feels like some un unprecedented
- 10:10disaster is unfolding before our eyes,
- 10:12making it feel like a particularly bad
- 10:14time to invest in the market right now.
- 10:16The reality is that it always feels that
- 10:18way. Wars, threats of war, discouraging
- 10:20economic data, natural disasters, and a
- 10:22ton of uncertainty about the future are
- 10:24persistent realities. That doesn't go
- 10:26away. And yes, that makes investing
- 10:28risky. But the very nature of that risk
- 10:30is why we expect to earn positive
- 10:32returns in the long run. If there were
- 10:34no risk, we would expect to earn the
- 10:36kind of returns that you get from a
- 10:37guaranteed investment certificate, which
- 10:38are much lower. With index funds and
- 10:41expected returns out of the way, Roy
- 10:43goes on to explain Canadian account
- 10:44types, including the RRSP and TFSA. RSPS
- 10:48and TFSAs are like containers that
- 10:50investments can be held in. The RRSP is
- 10:52a pre-tax savings account, meaning that
- 10:54contributions are made with pre-tax
- 10:55dollars. This is implemented in practice
- 10:58with a dollar for-doll tax deduction
- 11:00when you contribute to your RRSP,
- 11:02reducing your taxable income by the same
- 11:04amount. When you eventually withdraw
- 11:06from your RRSP, the withdrawal is fully
- 11:07taxable as income. The TFSA is an after
- 11:10tax savings account, meaning that
- 11:12contributions are made with dollars you
- 11:13have already paid income tax on, and
- 11:15accordingly, there is no tax on
- 11:17withdrawals. That's all pretty
- 11:18straightforward, but Roy offers the crew
- 11:20an illustration comparing the two
- 11:21account types that I think everyone
- 11:23needs to understand. Say you have a 30%
- 11:25tax rate and contributed $5,000 to an
- 11:27RRSP. 3,500 of those dollars are your
- 11:30after tax dollars and 1,500 are deferred
- 11:33income tax dollars. The RRSP allows you
- 11:36to invest those future tax dollars. It
- 11:38allows you to defer income tax. Invest
- 11:41that at 8% for 30 years and you have
- 11:43just over $50,000. Then withdraw it at
- 11:46the same 30% tax rate and you have just
- 11:48over $35,000.
- 11:50Now let's look at the TFSA. Only after
- 11:53tax dollars can go into the TFSA.
- 11:55Following the $5,000 pre-tax RRSP
- 11:57contribution, the TFSA will get a $3,500
- 12:00after tax contribution since the TFSA
- 12:02does not offer tax deferral. Invest that
- 12:05for 30 years at 8% and you have just
- 12:07over $35,000, exactly the same as the
- 12:10after tax outcome for the RRSP. This
- 12:13shows something important and often
- 12:14misunderstood. When your income tax rate
- 12:17is held constant, your after tax dollars
- 12:19in both the RRSP and TFSA grow tax-free.
- 12:24Many people see the eventual tax bill on
- 12:26RRSP withdrawals and think it was a bad
- 12:28deal. But the RRSP and TFSA give you an
- 12:30identical after tax outcome if your tax
- 12:32rate stays constant. It gets even better
- 12:35because it's common for people to have a
- 12:37higher tax rate while they're working
- 12:38and contributing to the RRSP and a lower
- 12:41tax rate in retirement. In that
- 12:43scenario, the RRSP offers an advantage
- 12:45over the TFSA. It is true, as Kyle
- 12:47points out in the book, that pulling
- 12:48dollars out of your RRSP at a higher tax
- 12:51rate effectively results in a penalty
- 12:53for having used the RRSP rather than the
- 12:54TFSA. Now, the problem, as Roy explains,
- 12:57is that we do not know with certainty
- 12:59what our future tax rate will be. This
- 13:02does introduce some uncertainty about
- 13:03the optimal account choice today, but
- 13:06it's still possible to make sensible
- 13:07decisions using the RRSP in years where
- 13:09your income is high relative to what you
- 13:11expect it to be in the future and using
- 13:13the TFSA when it's low, or if possible,
- 13:15just max out both. Next, Roy moves on to
- 13:18home ownership. He first explains that
- 13:20it's critically important to consider
- 13:21the total cost of ownership when buying
- 13:23a home. Not just the mortgage payment,
- 13:25but the property taxes and inevitable
- 13:26ongoing maintenance costs. Not to
- 13:28mention the potential for the mortgage
- 13:30payment to increase if interest rates
- 13:31increase, an issue faced by many
- 13:33Canadians in recent history. Given the
- 13:35currently high property prices in
- 13:36Canada, Roy describes some of the levers
- 13:39that people can pull to make buying a
- 13:40house more of a possibility. The first
- 13:42one is to buy a cheaper home. That may
- 13:44be obvious, but it's worth saying. It's
- 13:46not necessary to buy a house that fits
- 13:47the maximum amount the bank will lend
- 13:49you, and smaller homes cost less and are
- 13:51easier to maintain. There are terms to
- 13:53describe spending so much on a house
- 13:55that you can't enjoy the rest of your
- 13:56life, including house poor and
- 13:59cashration, which are both
- 14:01self-escriptive as states most people
- 14:02would want to avoid. The next levers
- 14:04includes some good rationale for not
- 14:06stressing too much about having a 20%
- 14:08down payment, using the FHSA, the first
- 14:11home savings account, and the RRSP home
- 14:13buyers plan to increase the amount you
- 14:15have available due to the income tax
- 14:16deductions gained from using those
- 14:18tools. taking out a mortgage with a
- 14:1930-year amortization rather than the
- 14:21more common 25-year amortization to
- 14:23lower the payments on the loan. Finding
- 14:25a partner before buying a home, living
- 14:27with your parents to save up for a down
- 14:28payment, paying off any outstanding
- 14:30consumer debts to make you look better
- 14:32to the bank when they assess your
- 14:33ability to borrow, and earning more
- 14:35income. I'm not going to go into detail
- 14:37on all the points here, but each one of
- 14:39those does have an in-depth discussion
- 14:41and a thoughtful discussion in the book.
- 14:43Royy's final point on housing, and where
- 14:44this channel gets a shout out, is that
- 14:46renting is not throwing your money away.
- 14:48a renter who saves the cash flow cost
- 14:50difference between renting and owning
- 14:51and invests in the stock market can be
- 14:53reasonably expected to match the wealth
- 14:54of a homeowner. The group then shares
- 14:56some stories about friends who have had
- 14:58large unexpected housing expenses and
- 15:00they collectively start to see Royy's
- 15:02point. Owning a home comes with a
- 15:04constant flow of unexpected costs. So
- 15:06constant that they should not in fact be
- 15:08unexpected at all. The basement leaks,
- 15:10the air conditioner stops working. A
- 15:11tree has to be removed. I just had to do
- 15:13that at my house. The chimneys
- 15:15crumbling. If renters are diligent about
- 15:16saving and investing the cost difference
- 15:18between their rent and the owner's
- 15:20mortgage, property taxes, and all the
- 15:21unexpected expected costs of owning,
- 15:24they can be expected to at least match
- 15:26the wealth of the owner. I have shown
- 15:27this in past videos using both
- 15:29reasonable assumptions for the future
- 15:30and actual historical data for Canadian
- 15:32cities. Roy does emphasize a point that
- 15:35I agree with. Most people who rent will
- 15:36not save and invest diligently. They
- 15:38will undersave and invest in shitcoins,
- 15:40penny stocks, and expensive financial
- 15:42products. Those are my words, not Royy's
- 15:45that underperform the market.
- 15:46Additionally, lots of people, including
- 15:48some of Royy's students in the book,
- 15:49have an emotional desire to own. But Roy
- 15:51suggests here that Canadian society has
- 15:53conditioned us to believe that home
- 15:55ownership is a desirable objective and
- 15:57that it's worth reflecting on whether it
- 15:58is really a desirable objective for you.
- 16:01There are additionally lots of
- 16:02psychological benefits to renting, like
- 16:05fewer responsibilities, more predictable
- 16:06costs, and general lifestyle simplicity.
- 16:09There are valid points on both sides,
- 16:10but Roy's point is that renting is a
- 16:13viable option for housing from a
- 16:14financial perspective. It is not
- 16:16throwing money away, and it may be the
- 16:18best path for some people to follow.
- 16:20Music to my ears. Royy's next lesson on
- 16:23spending is incredibly important. People
- 16:25spend money for the wrong reasons,
- 16:26reasons not aligned with their values
- 16:28and goals. Roy explains that a lot of
- 16:30spending is the result of faulty brain
- 16:32wiring. People often spend money to
- 16:34impress the people around them, even if
- 16:36not consciously. And in addition to
- 16:38that, we are not good at delaying
- 16:39gratification. The point Roy wants to
- 16:41hammer home is that most people would
- 16:43cut back on some of their spending if
- 16:44they were more aware of where their
- 16:46money goes. And even small changes in
- 16:48spending can be a big boost to your
- 16:50savings rate. Royy's first tip here is a
- 16:52tedious one to create an exhaustive
- 16:54multi-month spending summary. The group
- 16:55agrees that this sounds like a miserable
- 16:57task, but Roy says that over his many
- 16:59years of experience teaching people
- 17:00about personal finance, these spending
- 17:02summaries have proven vital for many
- 17:04people to get on top of their personal
- 17:05finances. Arguably even more importantly
- 17:07and interestingly, Roy says that he is
- 17:10100% sure that doing a spending summary
- 17:12has positively impacted people's
- 17:14happiness levels. The reason is that it
- 17:16makes people realize where they are
- 17:17spending on things that don't bring them
- 17:19value and it helps them to make sure
- 17:21they are getting value from the things
- 17:22they are spending on. As Roy describes
- 17:24it, you want to maximize the joy units
- 17:26you're getting for each dollar of
- 17:28spending. If you can find spending that
- 17:29is giving you some joy units like
- 17:31lunches out, but when added up over the
- 17:33course of a year, those dollars could
- 17:34have afforded something with a higher
- 17:36joy unit impact, you might realize it
- 17:39makes sense to reallocate your spending.
- 17:41Small numbers make a big difference. For
- 17:42example, saving only $11 per day for a
- 17:45year results in over $4,000 of savings.
- 17:48More if you account for any return, even
- 17:50a small one earned on those dollars. Roy
- 17:52brings up a famous quote from Ben
- 17:54Franklin to drive the point home. Beware
- 17:56of little expenses. A small leak will
- 17:58sink a great ship. The next lesson is on
- 18:00wills, life insurance, and
- 18:02responsibility. Nobody likes thinking
- 18:03about dying, but as Roy explains, if you
- 18:05don't think about it, your estate will
- 18:07be distributed based on your province's
- 18:09intestasy laws, the laws that determine
- 18:11what happens when someone dies without a
- 18:12will. The problem is that those laws are
- 18:14often at odds with what you would have
- 18:16wanted to happen if you had taken the
- 18:18time to plan for it. It's important to
- 18:20consider what exactly you want your
- 18:22estate to achieve and have a will
- 18:23drafted accordingly. Roy suggests going
- 18:25to a professional, but acknowledges that
- 18:27some of the online will platforms can
- 18:28also work if you have a simple
- 18:30situation. Personally, I would go to a
- 18:31professional, especially if you have any
- 18:33complexity in either your assets or your
- 18:35estate objectives. Roy emphasizes the
- 18:37importance of choosing an executive. The
- 18:39executive is the person responsible for
- 18:41carrying out the will's instructions,
- 18:42but it is not a small job and should not
- 18:44be taken lightly. Royy's last point on
- 18:46wills is that they should be reviewed at
- 18:48least once a year. And he also mentions
- 18:50that when you get your will done, you
- 18:51also need to draft power of attorney
- 18:53documents. Powers of attorney give legal
- 18:55power to someone you have chosen to make
- 18:57decisions on your behalf in the event
- 18:58that you become incapacitated. There are
- 19:00two main types. Power of attorney for
- 19:02property, which lets someone manage your
- 19:03money and other assets, and power of
- 19:05attorney for personal care, which lets
- 19:07someone make health and lifestyle
- 19:08decisions on your behalf. It is worth
- 19:10noting that these have different titles
- 19:12across the different provinces in
- 19:13Canada. Similar to an executive,
- 19:15choosing the right person or people is
- 19:17important. Finally, Roy moves on to life
- 19:19insurance. He explains that while life
- 19:20insurance is extremely valuable in the
- 19:22right circumstances, it is always a
- 19:24cost. You want to make sure that you
- 19:26have an insurance need before you buy
- 19:28life insurance. Life insurance provides
- 19:30financial protection for your dependence
- 19:32in the event of a premature death. An
- 19:34insurance need means that other people
- 19:35that you care about would be unable to
- 19:37maintain their lifestyle in the event of
- 19:39your untimely death. The most common
- 19:41example would be your spouse and
- 19:42children, particularly in cases where
- 19:44you are the primary income source for
- 19:45the household. This insurance need tends
- 19:47to decrease over time as your assets
- 19:49increase. Roy does walk through how to
- 19:51quantify your insurance needs in the
- 19:52book, but I'll let you read that in the
- 19:54book. The final point that Roy makes on
- 19:55insurance is one that everyone needs to
- 19:57hear. Most people will only ever need
- 19:59renewable and convertible term life
- 20:01insurance. Term life insurance pays out
- 20:03the face amount of the policy if the
- 20:05insured dies. It has a level premium for
- 20:07a fixed term like 10 or 20 years, and
- 20:10the insurance expires or renews at a
- 20:12higher premium at the end of the term.
- 20:14The alternative is cash value life
- 20:16insurance, which combines term insurance
- 20:18and a savings component, where a portion
- 20:20of the premiums you pay go toward
- 20:22building up a cash value inside the
- 20:24policy. That's why it's often referred
- 20:26to as cash value life insurance. The
- 20:28savings component means that you're
- 20:30paying higher premiums overall, often a
- 20:32lot higher, for the same amount of
- 20:33coverage. You do also get the savings
- 20:36component, but Roy explains that buying
- 20:38term life insurance and investing the
- 20:40difference is typically going to be a
- 20:41better option for most people most of
- 20:43the time. I tend to agree with Roy here.
- 20:45To finish off in the insurance topic,
- 20:47Roy discusses disability insurance. For
- 20:49young people with little financial
- 20:50assets, their biggest asset is their
- 20:52ability to earn income in the future.
- 20:53Life insurance protects that future
- 20:55income in the event of an untimely
- 20:56death. But death is not the only way
- 20:58that your ability to earn income can be
- 21:00disrupted. In fact, disability is much
- 21:02more common. When someone becomes
- 21:03disabled, they may lose the ability to
- 21:05earn income and even become a liability
- 21:07to their family. Matt mentions in the
- 21:09book that he's covered through a group
- 21:10plan at work, but Roy correctly cautions
- 21:12that many group plans are insufficient.
- 21:14One big point to look out for is whether
- 21:16the policy covers you in the event that
- 21:18you can't fulfill the duties of your own
- 21:20occupation or of any occupation. Own
- 21:23occupation disability coverage is the
- 21:24gold standard. And you also want partial
- 21:26disability coverage, cost of living
- 21:28adjustments, and for the policy to be
- 21:30guaranteed renewable. Typically, that
- 21:32means getting additional disability
- 21:34coverage, even if you do have a group
- 21:36plan. This is not an area that you want
- 21:38to skimp on. Okay, I left lots of good
- 21:39stuff out since this was already a long
- 21:41video, but I hope the summary was
- 21:43useful. This is a great book. If someone
- 21:44asked me for an accessible book to read
- 21:46as an introduction to personal finance
- 21:48in Canada, this would be at the top of
- 21:50the list, even for me. While most of the
- 21:52facts in the book were not new, the way
- 21:54that they were communicated gave me a
- 21:55lot to think about. I'll put a link to
- 21:57the book in the video description. It's
- 21:58not an affiliate link. I gain nothing
- 22:00from you buying it. Thanks for watching.
- 22:01I'm Ben Felix, chief investment officer
- 22:03at PWL Capital.
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