Count on Yourself: Take Charge of Your Money - Softcover

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Alison Griffiths is an award winning financial journalist, bestselling author and experienced broadcaster. She brings to her work a formidable array of skills, including investigative research, financial expertise, and accomplished writing. She has hosted two acclaimed television shows, Maxed Out for W Network and Dollars and Sense for Viva.

     Alison writes the popular Me and My Money column in the Toronto Star, Alison on Money in the Metro newspapers, and blogs regularly for getsmarteraboutmoney.ca. Alison is also the financial expert for BMO Smartsteps for Parents website, bmo.com/smartparents.

     Alison has received awards from Actra, The Canadian Centre for Investigative Journalism, the Business Writing Awards, the Geminis, the National Magazine Writing Awards, the Canadian Library Association, and the Robert Wagner Screen Writing Awards. With her husband David Cruise, Griffiths has also co-written ten other books, including a novel, Vancouver, that earned them a starred review in the U.S.-based Publishers Weekly.

     Alison Griffiths is hugely insightful, frank, yet empathetic. If you’re going to take any financial advice, you will take it from her...

     Alison and David Cruise live on a small farm with a cat, two dogs, and three horses. They have two daughters and a grandson.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Also by Alison Griffiths and David Cruise

Wild Horse Annie

Vancouver

The Portfolio Doctor

On South Mountain

The Great Adventure

Net Worth

Lords of the Line

Fleecing the Lamb

Count On

Yourself

Take Charge of Your Money

Alison Griffiths

A Touchstone Book

Published by Simon & Schuster

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Touchstone

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Copyright ã 2012 by Alison Griffiths

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone -Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

This Touchstone export edition January 2012

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Designed by Akasha Archer

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 978-1-4391-8931-3

ISBN 978-1-4391-8935-1 (ebook)

For David

This is book number 11 from team Cruise/Griffiths

and the only one without your name,

but your skills, voice, and incredible editing are everywhere

Acknowledgements

I am hugely indebted to hundreds of academics and industry experts who have provided information, research, and opinions not only for this book but throughout my years as a financial journalist and author. I couldn’t begin to thank them all, but I hope those of you I have called upon over the last twenty years know that I feel tremendous gratitude.

However, one must be singled out and that is Eric Kirzner. I first started working with Eric, who is a renowned economist and academic, way back in the late 1990s. Eric’s ideas are the foundation of the investing section of this book.

I also want to mention Barbara Stewart of Cumberland Private Wealth Management in Toronto. Her insight and information have made me a better financial writer as she has helped me connect the dots between emotion and money. She even got me going to yoga. I am also lucky to have had much input from Dan Hallett, Michael Hill, Michael Chow, and Janet Freedman, particularly in the early days.

I am grateful to my colleagues who cover personal finance and investing for magazines, newspapers, and the cyberworld. I’ve never asked a question or requested an old article or even asked for advice and been turned down. Those of us who work in this increasingly competitive world know how hard it is to carve your niche, stay in the forefront of the changing financial world, and maintain a public profile at the same time.

In no particular order—Rob Carrick, Jonathan Chevreau, Pat Foran, Patrick McKeough, Ellen Roseman, David Olive, MadhaviAcharya-Tom Yew, Ken Kivenko, Caroline Cakebread, Gordon Pape, Evelyn Jacks, Larry MacDonald, Bryan Borzykowski, Dan Bortolotti, Norm Rothery, Rudy Luuko, Krystal Yee, and Kelley Keehn, to name just a few; plus the many bloggers I have come to know in recent years who are all playing an important educational and journalistic role in the increasingly complex financial world.

My daughters, Claudia and Quinn, and son-in-law Jeff have been incredibly supportive and never complain when I use them as examples in my columns. I’m a lucky mom and grandmother.

My dear old dad has always been very interested in investing, and his experiences made me pay much more attention to how the industry treats seniors. Also, my sister Fiona is always so willing to lend an ear, attend seminars, and discuss content and case studies.

The production crew of Maxed Out, and most especially my amazing producer Anne Francis, taught me a lot about money in the television sphere during the years I hosted the show. It’s tough to turn debt into drama but they did it.

And speaking of debt, Laurie Campbell, executive director of Credit Canada, a charity and national leader in debt and credit counseling, and her amazing staff have been an education to me of a different sort. Serving as a director has refined and expanded my financial knowledge.

I’ve had great readers over the years. Your questions and sometimes criticisms have forced me to stay on top of research and never take a statistic for granted.

Though I am somewhat tough on certain aspects of the financial services industry, the major banks, brokerages, and other firms that exist in the field are always eager to illuminate writers such as myself. Many are now doing excellent work to educate and increase Canadians’ financial literacy. Other firms such as Morningstar and Dalbar have unstintingly provided research and data for me.

Kevin Hanson, president of Simon & Schuster Canada, has been my champion for many years, and Alison Clarke has been an insightful sounding board for Count On Yourself. I’m sorry the writing has ended, if only for the loss of those wonderful lunches and conversations. Janice Weaver was a wonderful editor and masterful in a subject area new to her.

I am lucky to have actor Barry Flatman in my corner. He is the personification of enthusiasm and great ideas. Just a few words with him always brightens my day. Similarly, Martin Harbury has taught me that sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do in life and make the best of it. He is a fine producer and so much more. Also Jeanne Beker has provided such encouragement. I feel strong standing in her shadow.

And finally, my old friend and former agent David Colbert helped me through a very tough professional period while writing this book and saved me a big chunk of money in the process.

But in the end, it is one man who makes it all possible—David Cruise—my lifelong partner in every sense of the word. Thank you. Now please pour the wine.

Contents

Acknowledgments..................................................................... vii

Introduction................................................................................. xiii

Part 1 // Money: The Final Taboo................................ 1

    1... Me and Money.......................................................................... 3

    2... Friends, Sex, Money, and Wealth................................... 11

    3... The F-Words.......................................................................... 19

Part 2 // Get Organized...................................................... 33

    4... The KISS Principle............................................................... 35

    5... Cleaning Your Financial Closet....................................... 46

    6... Your Investment Inventory............................................ 61

Part 3 // Make a Plan........................................................... 73

    7... Who Are You?........................................................................ 75

    8... Pick Your Box........................................................................ 92

    9... Spread Your Eggs.............................................................. 110

10... How Many Investment Eggs in Which Baskets?.. 122

11... Fry Those Fees................................................................... 135

Part 4 // Take Action........................................................ 145

12... Meet the Easy Chair.......................................................... 147

13... Going...