Financial Facelift Column
The Globe and Mail newspaper runs a regular column that examines the financial situation of an average Joe or Jane and asks a financial planner for advice. The stories allow us to indulge in a bit of financial voyeurism and hopefully, learn a few things that can be applied in our own lives.
Last weekend’s edition featured a young Calgary couple, Mike and Suzy. Mike earns about $100,000 per year as an engineer in an oil company. For 32 year olds, they have done extremely well, having a net worth close to $600,000. However, the couple seem to be betting it all on continued strength in one sector: energy. Mike’s job, a significant portion of their retirement accounts and all of their taxable investments are in energy companies. Incredibly, 25% of their net worth is invested in Mike’s company stock. The financial advisor correctly points out “Betting four lives on the price of oil is a gamble that I would not take.” I hope they took that advice seriously.
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