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Buy More CPP
As we are being encouraged by politicians and influencers to turn inwards and buy more goods & services that are Canadian, I have a modest proposal to make. My suggestion also has an additional benefit that will ‘hit’ a few other important ‘birds’ with the same ‘stone.’ Namely, I would like to recommend that Canadians…
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The First Biblical Annuity
A century ago, the American businessman G.S. Clason published: The Richest Man in Babylon, arguably the most successful (and imitated) personal finance book ever written. That classic is a collection of common-sense pamphlets, most notably: Seven Cures for a Lean Purse, and revolves around fictitious Babylonian tablets discovered by a non-existent professor of archeology, telling…
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Does the Insurance Company Really Need to Know about your Genetic Test Results, especially if it’s Bad?
I have always been fascinated by novel “medical tests” that can forecast things about my distant and future health prospects that are currently hidden from the naked eye, many years before any visible symptoms emerge. I personally have taken a fair share of these assessments especially as I continue to age (chronologically) thru the human…
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Longevity: Credits Beat Insurance
I’m stumbling into a growing cloud of confusion, one that’s creeping into the dialogue around life annuities and insurance products with guaranteed lifetime income. This fog is pervasive and thick within the neighborhood of rationales and reasons offered to retirees as to why they might want to include annuities in their aging portfolios. Generally speaking…
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Australian Retirement vs. Decumulation
Australians retire with millions of dollars. It’s not that Australia is necessarily wealthier than any other country, although they certainly rank high on a per capita basis. Rather, they happen to reach retirement age with millions of dollars in their retirement savings accounts. The source of (and credit for) their wealth is the Australian government…
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History of Annuity Haters
A few years ago, while I was rummaging around the National Archives in London (UK), doing research for a book I was writing on tontine schemes, I came across a rather remarkable (although unrelated) document written over two centuries ago. It was a pamphlet consisting of approximately 25 pages, the first of which is shown…
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Covid-19, Longevity Risk & the Economics of Annuitization
Although the dire medical situation and mounting economic toll of covid-19 is of immediate and first-order importance, the virus has also prompted many to ponder their own mortality. Whether it’s doctors in emergency rooms who quickly redrafted codicils or nursing home attendants pondering their own DNR instructions, the randomness or mortality is being imprinted on…
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Insurance Lessons from the Spanish Flu
Slightly over a century ago, in January 1918, doctors at a military camp in Haskell County, Kansas, USA, were puzzled by cases of local soldiers with severe flu symptoms. In the most extreme cases the signs of severe illness included hemorrhaging (i.e. massive bleeding) from the nose, ears and stomach. A painful and rapid death…
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My Lunch with Professor Menahem Yaari
Menahem Yaari is an Emeritus professor of Economics at Hebrew University and past President of the Israeli Academy of Sciences. He retired from active teaching over a decade ago, but continues to lecture widely and address scholarly conferences around the world. Amongst his many accomplishments and honors, he is a recipient of the Israel Prize…
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What Does Retirement Really Cost?
If there is one question that has captured the wallets and imaginations of baby-boomers contemplating retirement, it must be: Do I have enough … or will I live longer than my money? Although I have spent a large part of my professional career pondering a myriad of financial matters, I must say that this particular…