Canada is a great country. I love being Canadian. But doesn’t it sometimes feel like we are being shortchanged compared to our American cousins to the south?
Americans enjoy so many more choices than Canadians. In Canada I’m lucky to find five different kinds of Oreo cookies down grocery store aisles, while in the U.S. you can easily find 20+ different types in most stores. And it’s not just cookies.
Investing is another area Canadians come up short. I have waiting years for Personal Capital to come north of the border and thus far it hasn’t happened. Don’t get me wrong, Canadians have some decent investment tools, but it pales in comparison to what our neighbours to the south enjoy.
That’s why I was super excited when I heard that Global Predictions was launching in Canada. It adds another tool to the toolbox of Canadians looking to invest, a toolbox that until now was sorely lacking.
What is Global Predictions?
Global Predictions may be the new kid on the block in Canada, but it’s built up quite a reputation in the U.S. It has been success by assisting self-directed investors (more on that shortly).
Global Predictions is a Silicon Valley-based company with over $700M assets on its investment management platform. To help hit the ground running for its Canadian launch, it has partnered with major Canadian financial institutions Questrade and Passiv. It also offers integration and support for accounts from Wealthsimple and RBC Direct Invest.
The great thing about Global Predictions is that you don’t need a minimum portfolio size of something crazy like $500k to invest. It’s targeted towards toward everyday Canadian. As a self-directed investor, you can get all your net worth, including TFSAs, RRSPs, real estate, and crypto, and get automated investment recommendations, all from one convenient place.
Personal Dashboard
If you’re into real estate like me, you’ll be happy learn that with Global Predictions’ personalized dashboard, you can include real estate as part of your net worth, something that a lot of similar offerings are sorely lacking in. This is a nice bonus, as real estate is the single largest financial asset for most Canadian families. But that’s not the only reason.
To do proper financial planning, you need to include real estate. That way you can take all the investments that you own, including real estate, into account, and ensure that they align with your risk tolerance, just like you would do with your mortgage.
Saving on Investment Fees
Are you investment fee adverse? I don’t blame you. High investment fees can really take a bite out of your portfolio long-term. You could lose half your investment returns to the typical mutual fund investment fees of 2% or greater. There has to be a better way and I’m happy to say that there is.
If you don’t like high investments fees and don’t want to work with a wealth manager or investment advisor, you’ll be happy to hear that Global Predictions is a totally free platform to use. You can use it to analyze your investment portfolio at no charge. Whether you’re an investment newbie or a pro, Global Predictions has something for everyone.
For those just starting out, you can gain a much better understanding of matching ETFs with your appetite for risk.
Better Diversification
Being mortgage-free is wonderful. But if I could do it all over again, I would have taken a more balanced approach.
If you have cash flow to spare outside your mortgage, instead of using all of it to pay down your mortgage sooner, you might consider using it to invest. By investing your extra cash flow, you can benefit from better diversification. Sure, home prices have been going up consistently the last two decades, but there’s no guarantee that will happen for the next two decades.
By investing outside of your home, you can better protect yourself the next time the real estate market takes a downturn.
Ready to Get Started?
What are you waiting for? Global Predictions are totally free for Canadians. Sign up today and take advantage of all the cool free tools to become a more savvy investor.
Sean Cooper is the bestselling author of the book, Burn Your Mortgage: The Simple, Powerful Path to Financial Freedom for Canadians, available now on Amazon and at Chapters, Indigo and major bookstores, and as an Audiobook on Amazon, Audible and iTunes.