I am still at home in New Brunswick. My mom always worry about me because of my frugal living style. I always been the way I am right now, meaning counting every penny to the cent without being scared of cutting unnecessary expenses or anything else. Without being scared at all.
So just to make her feel better about me, I told her I had 82k in assets and I try to talk a bit about my investment. She was surprised by the sum of money I have under my name. She asked me: how were you able to do that? I explain I was investing in stocks etc. She took it well. Not that I taught she was going to tell me to sell or anything like it, but I came from a family who doesn't know about the stock market. Not knowing is ok, but I was scared she was going to make pressure for me to sell everything I own. She didn't. She worried about fraud, but I explain basically that I am the boss, no one have a word to say with what I do with my money. No one control it except myself.
I was listening tonight to the Mount Real Montreal financial fraud scandal. There was that interview of Bruno Pelletier who lost 250k in the Mount Real financial fraud. In total, 1 600 investors had lost big deal of money in Mount Real.
My secret for financial success is the same I had been following since 2005. It's all about managing the money yourself and pushing to get the money invest in financial products that I wanted. Before getting a broker account, I had to deal with Quebeckers who believe are great financial advisers and got it. Each time, I had to fight to get the mutual funds I wanted. With Quebeckers, I was always getting comments of the kind that I don't know what I am doing, I shouldn't invest in this or that, etc... I had wrote several post with title "horror stories". You might want to search "horror stories" in the search engine of my blog located in the right inside of this blog. Dealing with Quebeckers and French people when it come to my financial life has always been a hassle. Quebeckers are not competent enough to be successful in finance. It's not because I am temporary living in Quebec that I am going to let some little incompetents deal with my money.
While living in Quebec, it's difficult to get things done my way, but I am going to share a couple of my tips to help you escape the misery if, like me, you are a Canadian living for now in Quebec province:
Financial tip 1: Always deal over the customer service through the phone. When calling (bank or any other institutions), always select the English line. by selecting the English line, you increase your chances to get someone from a call center in Toronto or someplace else, someone who will be willing to do business with you correctly.
Financial tip 2: It's part of the financial tip number 1, but as number 2, I will say, while living in Quebec province, try to avoid face-to-face appointment with a representative, whenever it's for a RRSP contribution, loan request or anything else. I had lost time with Quebeckers in many occasions. At the end, I always had to resolve everything over the phone, through customer service.
Financial tip 3: Know what you are looking for. Never accept no as an answer coming from a Quebecker. Don't let them pushing you down. You know what you want and it's ok for you to get what you want. If a Quebecker disagree with you, you have the right: to disagree with them and leave a deal unclosed if you don't agree with a decision concerning your finance. Remember: you're the boss and you can get what you want.
Financial tip 4: You are finally getting something, a credit card, credit line or the investment you had been waiting for very long? you will have paper work to fill. READ VERY CLOSELY EVERYTHING. I don't care if it take you 15 minutes or more. READ and make sure that what you have agree appear in the documentation. You don't understand a part of the document you're about to sign? ASK questions, make things clear and get what you want. ONLY what you want.
Financial tip 5: When it come to your personal finance, only deal with banks.
Financial tip 6: Open a broker account. This will open new financial opportunities, leaving you as self-started. Go with TD Waterhouse. Easy use and offer a 24 hour customer phone service.
This is all what it come to mind for now, but I may get into other ideas. You may say to yourself: that girl is a complete freak who hate Quebeckers. You may be partly right on that. BUT, I had gone through a lot of things in Quebec. In numerous occasions, I was pushed down, I had been fired from a teller position at BMO Bank of Montreal, I had been refused stuff I wanted. I know how Quebec province is and I can tell you, the financial services here are really ugly. The Autorité des marchés financiers doesn't do the job. As a Canadian, I want to get the best of everything and the only way to get that is to try to stay away from Quebeckers. Quebeckers don't have the brain it take to be able to provide good financial services because they don't believe in Canada as a country.
Another financial tip 7: don't invest in the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec or in the Fonds de solidarité FTQ. On the long run, if you respect the diversification rule, you'll do better than any managers of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Michel Sabia thing that the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is doing a great job because of the 13% earn in 2010. 13% for 2010, but that's not enough to erase the mistake of the past. Henri-Paul Rousseau was a bad manager of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec but he was hired as Vice-President of Power Corporation of Canada. Power Corporation is an asset management company located in Montreal. Quebec financial system is full of personalities of this type, just willing to acquire a situation to be able to make money and use the money of the middle class for corrupted activities. Don't ever put your faith in Quebec financial system.
In other words: take the place you deserve and leave Quebec financial system behind. I had been investing since 2005 in Quebec province. I had gone a long way since that time and well, I think I know a little bit of what I am talking now.
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