Free Lunch

Five year GICs are paying over 4% and come with a guarantee. So why not just move your fixed income there and call it a day?

In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Greg tackle a question they've been hearing more often as bond returns have dipped in recent months. They walk through why bond prices move the way they do, what 2022 taught investors, and why Greg says a GIC can be compared to a bond issued by a bank.

They also dig into the risks that never show up on your statement, and Greg's example of what can happen when a great rate comes up for renewal.

Colin's take? The better question isn't which option pays the most today. It's what job this money is supposed to do.

What do a World Series champion and a strong financial plan have in common? According to Colin, neither one happens by accident.

In this solo episode, Colin steps up to the plate with baseball as his guide, exploring why every great roster and every great portfolio starts with the same question: what are you actually trying to build?

He breaks down why the best hitters in the game still fail most of the time, why a perfectly struck ball can still be an out, and what the odds really look like when you try to time the market. The math might surprise you.

Because in Colin’s view, the real championship isn’t beating an index. It’s building the life you want your money to create.

What does a professional money manager really mean when they say they've gone defensive? Sometimes it means moving from 2% cash to 4%.

Headlines everywhere say the stock market is expensive, and Colin and Greg acknowledge some of those warnings may well be true. But they ask a tougher question: if the market is pricey, what are you actually supposed to do about it?

They dig into valuation measures like the CAPE ratio, revisit what happened to investors who called the tech bubble too early, and explain why Greg sees selling stocks as a two decision problem. Getting out is hard. Getting back in may be harder.

Plus, a detour into why canned sardines are suddenly vanishing from store shelves.

Colin's takeaway? Don't make a 30 year investment decision based on a six month market prediction.

What would you do if a repair company told you it would take ten days to fix your internet? Colin knows exactly what he did, and that company never got him back.

In this episode, Colin and Greg take a detour from markets to talk about the moment every relationship eventually faces: when something goes wrong. Why do small mistakes turn into big trust problems? And why does silence so often do more damage than the original error?

They unpack a simple three step approach to recovery, why a stack of gift certificates never fixed a late lunch, and the four ingredients that separate a real apology from an empty one.

Because mistakes are inevitable. What builds trust is how you handle them.

Ronald Reagan once stood beside a Canadian prime minister and said protectionism is out and trade expansion is in. Today, tariffs between Canada and the US are as high as 50 percent, and the two countries are further apart than they have been in decades.

In this episode, Colin and Greg break down what a tariff actually is, who really pays for it, and why the answer is more complicated than politicians suggest. They walk through a simple product example, then scale it up to the auto industry, energy, and the broader Canada US relationship.

The most interesting turn comes when they bring Reagan's own words into the conversation. His argument about trade as an alliance rather than a war stands in sharp contrast to how tariffs are being talked about today.

Colin and Greg close with a practical question every investor is asking right now, and their answer might surprise you.

Oil is flirting with $100 a barrel again, and Colin and Greg ask the obvious question: does that mean Calgary is heading back into a hiring boom?

Not exactly. Greg walks through how capital discipline, automation, and shareholder demands have reshaped the energy sector, and why higher prices tend to reward company balance sheets before they reward payrolls.

From there the conversation gets personal. Colin builds out a full household balance sheet for a Calgary energy employee, and the correlations he uncovers between a job, a bonus, and a portfolio might surprise you.

They close with a line worth remembering: you can have a great career in oil and gas without an oil and gas retirement plan. What that actually looks like in practice is where things get interesting.

Colin and Greg dive straight into WTI climbing back above ninety dollars a barrel. For anyone working in Calgary's energy sector, they ask a question most people never consider: how much of your financial life, salary, bonus, employer stock, even your house, is already tied to one industry.

They also revisit an old story about a client who refused to diversify because a dividend was covering his mortgage. It didn't end well.

A good reminder that knowing a company well and owning too much of it are two very different things.

Would losing your job tomorrow be financially catastrophic, or just painful? Colin digs into that question in episode two of his Energy Professionals Financial Playbook series.

He breaks down why severance is a bridge, not a windfall, and why fear tends to be the most expensive part of any downturn.

The families who come out ahead usually prepared quietly during the good years, not during the panic.

Let me know if this works, and once you've picked your clip and social post, I'll get the compliance document put together.

Would losing your job tomorrow be financially catastrophic, or just painful? Colin digs into that question in episode two of his Energy Professionals Financial Playbook series.

He breaks down why severance is a bridge, not a windfall, and why fear tends to be the most expensive part of any downturn.

The families who come out ahead usually prepared quietly during the good years, not during the panic.

What if you had to pay someone to take your oil off your hands? It actually happened, and Colin opens this episode with that story, along with the eerie Tuesday layoffs that became a running fear across Calgary's oil patch.

This kicks off a new series, the Energy Professionals Financial Playbook, looking at why so many people unknowingly tie their salary, investments, home value, and employer stock to the same cyclical industry.

Colin also breaks down the real difference between rich and wealthy, and shares one simple question he asks clients that almost never gets answered with a number.