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The fundamentals of money
Financial planning is built for the 5% who work in finance. This library is for the other 95%: how money is created and flows around the world, why central banks and interest rates drive everything, what the big funds actually do, and how to use the accounts you already have. Read it all in about an hour — every technical word links to the glossary.
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What money actually is — and how it moves around the world
Money is not gold, and mostly it is not even paper. It is trust, kept as numbers in a ledger — and understanding who writes in that ledger explains almost everything else in finance.
Read →7 min readThe big drivers
Central banks: the thermostat of the economy
Eight times a year, a small committee in Ottawa — and another in Washington — sets the price of money itself. Here is what they actually do, and how one number reaches your mortgage, your job, and your portfolio.
Read →8 min readThe big drivers
Why interest rates move everything
Warren Buffett called interest rates 'gravity' for asset prices. When rates change, every stock, bond, house, and currency on Earth is silently repriced. Here's the mechanism.
Read →7 min readThe big drivers
Bonds: the biggest market you never hear about
The bond market is roughly twice the size of the stock market, and it — not stocks — sets the price of your mortgage and grades every government on Earth. Here's how it works.
Read →7 min readThe big drivers
Jobs, inflation, GDP: reading the economy's vital signs
A handful of monthly numbers move markets more than any earnings report: the jobs report, CPI, and GDP. Learn what each one measures and you can read the financial news fluently.
Read →6 min readYour accounts 🇨🇦
TFSA, RRSP, FHSA: Canada's tax shelters, explained properly
Ottawa offers you three boxes where investments grow without the taxman's hand in them. Used in the right order, they're worth hundreds of thousands over a lifetime. Here's how each works and which to fill first.
Read →8 min readYour accounts 🇺🇸
401(k) and Roth IRA: the American retirement toolkit
America's retirement system runs through the workplace 401(k) and the personal IRA — with 'traditional' and 'Roth' flavours of each. If you earn or plan in the US, here's the map.
Read →6 min readThe big players
Pensions and pension funds: the quiet giants
A pension is a promise of income for life — and the funds built to keep those promises are among the largest investors on Earth. Canada's are famous for it.
Read →6 min readThe big players
Whales of the market: fund managers, hedge funds, and sovereign wealth
Prices move because enormous pools of money move. Meet the four whales — index giants, active managers, hedge funds, and sovereign wealth funds — and what each one is actually trying to do.
Read →7 min readThe big drivers
Gold, oil, and the stuff money is measured against
Before money was numbers in a ledger, it was metal in a hand. Gold and oil still sit underneath the financial system — one as the world's oldest store of value, the other as the price of making anything move.
Read →6 min readStart here
How the market machine actually works
A stock exchange is just a very fast auction. Understanding who's bidding, what a price really is, and why it moves — nothing more than supply and demand for tomorrow's profits — demystifies the whole casino.
Read →7 min readEducational content, not financial advice.