Minuk's Musings and the Good Ol' Days

"Back in my day, children didn't need no meds! You just gave 'em a slug of whiskey and sent 'em off to school."

 

 

The world sure has changed and you don’t need to be as old as Grandpa Simpson to miss the “good ol’ days”.

 

One way to guess someone’s age is to gauge how angry they are when looking at the price of everyday goods.

 

Back in my day, you could pull up to McDonald's with nothing but a loonie and get yourself a decent chicken burger.

 

And now?

 

 

Upset about prices increasing? Just wait 5/10/20/30 years and you’ll be furious.

 

For my clients who are approaching or are in retirement, inflation is our biggest enemy. It steals away your buying power, lowers your real investment returns, and can cause serious financial stress if not considered when planning.

 

And what is the best investment solution to combat inflation? Is it gold? Is it bitcoin? Is it fairy dust? Maybe.

 

But, let’s use some common sense.

 

If prices are rising, then companies are charging more for their products and services. We want to be owners of those companies by buying stocks in them or by buying ETFs and funds that include them.

 

Of course this is overly simplistic and one must consider that inflation increases the costs to companies too.

 

But it is far better a solution than the mental gymnastics you’d need to do to buy the complicated products that are being sold as the “perfect inflation hedge”.

 

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. Focusing your efforts on buying high quality businesses, allowing those businesses the time to compound their returns and ignoring the manias and panics that inevitable come with being an investor in the stock market, can simply solve many of your financial woes.

 

 

Hope you have a fantastic long weekend.

 

Rich

Investment Advisor