What follows is an approximate timeline -- gleaned from a variety of news reports -- of main events in the rise and fall of a suspected Ponzi scheme known as the Institute for Financial Learning (IFFL) . What is perhaps amazing is how many run-ins the key players, Brost and ...

Statistics Canada has released the latest figures on trusteed pension funds and things are starting to look brighter. Total assets at the end of the second quarter of 2009 had risen by 4.5% to $826,524,000,000 compared to the end of the first quarter of 2009. While this is still a ...

So, to follow up on a previous post, Gary Sorenson’s and Milowe Brost’s day in court Dec. 14 in connection with the alleged Ponzi scheme known as the Institute for Financial Learning was a non-event. Sorenson didn’t show up because he had his bail conditions amended to allow him to ...

The Canadian housing market is in a bubble according to Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg’s report released today under the title Special Report -- Is the Canadian Housing Market in a Bubble? It confirms the concerns I raised in an October post entitled: Housing Bubble Part Deux? And then some. Here ...

The perpetrators of what might be “Canada’s largest Ponzi scheme” are scheduled to appear today in a Calgary courtroom on fraud and theft charges. It will be interesting to see what unfolds as the court case progresses. I intend to post on events as they develop.

I'm officially declaring that selling causes is now an industry. Conferences, newsletters, specialists, advertising agencies, books, and blogs are dedicated to advancing, and profiting from, cause marketing. Brands are routinely being associate with causes, celebrities are spokespeople for charities, and fundraising has become entrenched in schools, businesses, and communities.

Here is Part IX of the Quotable Guide to Passive Investing. Part I is here. To see Parts II to VIII, click on links at the bottom of each page.

Yet another financial fraud has been uncovered. This week it was disclosed that the RCMP are looking for 16 Montreal-area people who swindled many persons out of their retirement savings through a ruse involving fake RRSP transfers.

I would like to recommend a book to anyone serious about personal finances. It costs $60.00 but is worth the price tag, in my opinion. It’s no fluffy treatise full of cute cartoon pictures. It’s over 600 pages long and packed with important information you are not likely to find ...

Last week was a busy one for bank failures in the U.S. The FDIC shuttered six, bringing the total for the year to 130 (more than the previous 16 years in total). “Nice to see the credit crunch is over,” economist David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff notes facetiously in his ...