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Oct
24
Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned at School
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2011/10/order-millionaire-teacher-book/
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2011/10/millionaire-teacher-book-video-testimonials/
Jan
24
What Cancer and Investing Have In Common
© AssetBuilder
Two years ago I lay on a sofa, as a new age “hands on” healer stood over me.
I was dying, she moaned, as if getting the word from some divine source in the couch. And my only salvation? To visit her as often as possible, for $175 a session.
She knew that I had bone cancer. I had told her when we first met. A friend of mine had hooked us up and I wanted to be polite, so I went.
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2012/01/what-cancer-and-investing-have-in-common/
Jan
21
Singapore American School Teachers Making Some Nice Profits
On September 11, 2006 I spoke to a group of teachers at Singapore American School about investing.
I created a hypothetical account with $200,000, and I promised to track that account and report on its results.
With no money added, that $200,000 account would be worth $250,549.25 by Friday, January 20, 2012 – gaining $50,549.25.
I echoed, back in 2006, what uncontested academic research suggests:
If we diversify our investments with low cost index funds, we stand a far greater chance of success, compared to a commonly practiced alternative among international schoolteachers:
That alternative, unfortunately, is the act of falling for salesmanship (and high costs) of travelling financial salespeople who make the rounds at international schools, stockpiling clients and new accounts, in exchange for enormous commissions.
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2012/01/singapore-american-school-teachers-making-some-nice-profits/
Jan
19
How Canada’s Banks Let Canadian Investors Down: Part 5 of 7
Internet-based rumours are suggesting that the top brass at the Bank of Montreal recently held an important meeting.
How were they going to deal with Andrew Hallam, the pesky author of Millionaire Teacher?
It was only a matter of time, they figured, before Hallam embarrassed their bank by revealing how much money the Bank of Montreal was making off the backs of honest, hard-working Canadians.
Hallam was in Canada during November and December, promoting his book.
But after exposing Toronto Dominion Bank, CIBC, and the Royal Bank of Canada, friends suggested that he enter a witness protection program—especially after his CBC radio interview.
Undaunted, Hallam fled to Singapore where he trains under Jason Bourne. And he files reports, such as the one you’re about to read below:
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2012/01/how-canadas-banks-let-canadian-investors-down-part-5-of-7/
Jan
15
Millionaire Teacher Risks His Life For The Truth
Shiral Tobin, of CBC radio, recently interviewed me about investments and money.
I was thrilled to explain (on national radio) about the excessive fees handed out to unsuspecting Canadian investors. The Big 5 banks hold the bulk of Canadian mutual fund business. They reap the rewards, while investors pay the hidden piper.
Close friends suggest, only half jokingly, that I should watch my back.
I suppose the risk depends on my book’s success. If Millionaire Teacher keeps selling well, and if I’m suddenly found face down on a muddy trail, then at least there’s hope for Michael Moore. He could make another movie.
If somebody makes an action film instead, I want it known that Daniel Craig has to play me.
And Michael Moore, if you’re reading this, nobody has to die first.
Check out my CBC Radio interview.
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2012/01/millionaire-teacher-risks-his-life-for-the-truth/
Jan
12
The Great Brain And The European Debt Crisis
© AssetBuilder
When I was a kid, Tom Fitzgerald’s The Great Brain, was one of my favourite book series.
The main character was a boy genius growing up in Utah during the late 1800s. He could solve nearly any problem.
He once strategized how to find two boys lost in a cave network; another time, he taught a young, victimized Greek immigrant how to whip the schoolyard bully; and he wasn’t above using his powers of observation and psychology to occasionally seek profits.
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2012/01/the-great-brain-and-the-european-debt-crisis/
Jan
12
CNBC Reviews Millionaire Teacher
CNBC’s Bullish on Books asks selected authors to review their own books.
It’s a thrill to be asked. But I didn’t want to bore anyone over there with a dull synopsis…
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2012/01/cnbc-reviews-millionaire-teacher/
Jan
07
How to save $4000 (or more!) this year
Benjamin Franklin famously quipped that a penny saved is a penny earned.
But he was only half right. We pay taxes on our earnings, so $1 saved is more like $1.33 earned (assuming a 25 percent tax bracket).
As I mention in my book, Millionaire Teacher, one of the best ways to save money is to collect receipts for everything you buy. At the end of the day, write down your itemized costs in a spending diary (electronic or otherwise).
After doing this for a couple of months, most people are amazed at how much money they’re spending.
And because they write it down, they start feeling accountable; they start cutting back by differentiating between their wants, their needs and their wastes.
They start getting answers to the following questions:
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2012/01/how-to-save-4000-or-more-this-year/
Jan
05
Investment Club Continues to Beat the S&P 500
I don’t own any individual stocks in my investment portfolio.
Frankly, I believe that a rebalanced portfolio of indexes, over my lifetime, will beat the aggregate returns of a stock portfolio that I might bust my butt to compile. Investing has never been “fun” for me. I’m pretty dispassionate about it, and I’ve been that way for a long time now.
If I live another 45 years (I’d be 86 years old) then I’d have money in the markets for a very long time. As an individual stock picker, I might beat an indexed portfolio for a few years, perhaps even for a decade or so, if I’m lucky. But the odds of maintaining an index-beating advantage are lean.
That said, I do run an investment club that has had a lucky run for more than a decade. Our returns have made those of most professional investors look silly, in comparison. In 2008, I published a MoneySense magazine article outlining our success, and we’ve continued to do well.
From October 1999 to December 31, 2011 the 3M investment club has averaged a compounding average return of 7.5 percent per year.
In 2011, the investment club made 2.1 percent, including dividends.
On a dollar weighted basis, the S&P 500 index returned 0.5 percent.
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2012/01/investment-club-continues-to-beat-the-sp-500/
Jan
03
Millionaire Teacher: North America’s Best Selling Investment Book?
While watching yesterday’s Time Square New Year celebration, a Facebook survey revealed the top 10 New Year’s resolutions.
Number 2 was no surprise—losing weight.
But the number 1 resolution surprised me: saving more money.
My publisher at John Wiley & Sons claims that January is a big month for personal finance books, as many people start their “New Year, New Me” personal campaigns to strengthen their finances. With the recent economic crisis and the recession, it does appear (if the Facebook survey is an indication) that people are hungrier than ever to get their financial ducks in line.
As I’m writing this, the only Personal Finance book in the top 10 for both Amazon USA and Amazon Canada is the book written by little ol me: Millionaire Teacher.
My biggest risk, when writing Millionaire Teacher, seems to be paying off. I went international.
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2012/01/millionaire-teacher-north-americas-best-selling-investment-book/
Dec
28
Gifting Our Children the Breaks They Need
- © AssetBuilder
My brother was a professional soccer player.
Today, he’s grooming his fifteen year old to earn a soccer scholarship.
That’s the first goal, and my brother is doing just about everything he can to give his son’s career a push in the right direction.
If he helps him enough, his son might be as good as his father, or better. “With me in his corner,” says my brother, “Niklus could end up playing professionally.”
But the competition is tougher than it used to be…
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2011/12/gifting-our-children-the-breaks-they-need/
Dec
27
What International School Teachers Should Consider
When I give financial seminars to international school teachers, I tend to shock them with this:
“As international school teachers, you aren’t as wealthy as your counterparts in England, Canada, the U.S., Australia or New Zealand.”
At first, they stare at me with the crazy look you’d reserve for someone who just ate a handful of cockroaches.
Their salaries are often higher than those of their teaching counterparts back home, they think. And their taxes might even be lower. So how can they, as international school teachers, be poorer than the teachers in their home countries?
Consider this:
Upon retirement, the average public school teacher usually has the following:
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2011/12/what-international-school-teachers-should-consider/
Dec
26
How Canada’s Banks Let Canadian Investor’s Down: Part 4 of 7
We’re going to poke a bit of fun at Royal Bank of Canada.
There’s a great 1709 quote by Alexander Pope, from his Essay on Criticism, which goes as follows:
A little learning is a dangerous thing;
drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
and drinking largely sobers us again.
The Pierian spring is a source of knowledge. Pope suggests that if we drink a small amount from the Pierian spring, we’ll become sophomoric—potentially leading us to trouble.
RBC was hoping to take advantage of shallow draughts when they offered their own brand of low cost index funds. The only trouble for keen, would-be index investors was that the funds weren’t “low cost” at all.
They were some of the most expensive index funds on the market.
Permanent link to this article: http://andrewhallam.com/2011/12/how-canadas-banks-let-canadian-investors-down-part-4-of-7/
Welcome to My Blog!
I'm Andrew Hallam. Many people aren't comfortable talking about money. It's not usually a conversational dinner-time topic, and its principles are rarely taught in schools. My goal is to have a "conversation" about it here, on this blog. If you read something you find intriguing, please comment or ask your questions!
I am also the author of the book, Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned at School
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Recent Comments
January 24, 2012 (5:46) "We’ve just been scammed by Friends Provident, so what now?" Hi Andrew, I have some options mentioned under my "Expat Investing" icon at the top of my home...
January 24, 2012 (5:39) How Canada's Banks Let Canadian Investors Down: Part 1 of 7 Thanks Wendell! That makes my day!
January 24, 2012 (5:37) How British Expatriates Can Invest Using Index Funds in Singapore Hi Frank, Here's a scenario. The Canadian dollar recently surged tremendously over the past f...
January 24, 2012 (5:25) Dissecting Zurich International Life Hello Neil, Thank you for your comment. I hope that you're a Zurich International rep. Interes...
January 24, 2012 (2:34) Dissecting Zurich International Life Your research is flawed in some areas. The Isle of Man is NOT a Channel Islands based tax have...
January 23, 2012 (8:58) How British Expatriates Can Invest Using Index Funds in Singapore Hi Andrew Thanks for all your sensible, well argued advice on this site. As a clueless (50-yea...
January 23, 2012 (6:36) How Canada’s Banks Let Canadian Investors Down: Part 5 of 7 We surely have jungles here Centavos. If we didn't, I wouldn't be here. I think roughly 40% of ...
January 23, 2012 (3:38) How Canada's Banks Let Canadian Investors Down: Part 1 of 7 Why do you need a comment? My son Dan thinks your great.
January 23, 2012 (7:24) How Canada’s Banks Let Canadian Investors Down: Part 5 of 7 Great article, Andrew. One more stake in the many hearts of actively (and expensively) managed f...
January 22, 2012 (11:18) Singaporeans Investing Cheaply with Exchange Traded Index Funds Hi Andrew! I find your book one of the easiest to understand for a newbie investor. I’m 20 ...