Eschew. Gesundheit!

June 10, 2025 |Mark Ryan
How to help your daughter find a decent husband: I had a local shop create a t-shirt for one of our daughters around the time she left home – it said: “Eschew Obfuscation.” And no, that’s not about an old lady sneezing. But if, like me, your edumacashion...
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Video: Are powers of attorney part of your estate plan? The Wealthy Barber wants to know

Video: Are powers of attorney part of your estate plan? The Wealthy Barber wants to know

June 09, 2025 |RBC Wealth Management

Who will care for you if you can’t? David Chilton explains why it’s important to have powers of attorney, especially at his age.

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Quick note

May 30, 2025 |Mark Ryan
Here’s this week’s RBC Wealth Management's latest investment newsletter. Is the rebound for real? Equity markets have bounced back smartly since April’s tariff-related selloff. Technical analysis suggests markets could climb higher into early-to-mid-Q3...
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Blackbirds' Bacon Number

May 27, 2025 |Mark Ryan
Deer-hunting, uphill in the snow. I wonder how many hours have gone into writing and re-writing financial analysis, and political prognostication since January 2025’s launch of the months-long endzone dance one analyst casually referred to as “Season...
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Video: Is there an estate tax or death tax in Canada? The Wealthy Barber explains

Video: Is there an estate tax or death tax in Canada? The Wealthy Barber explains

May 05, 2025 |RBC Wealth Management

David Chilton talks about inheritance tax in Canada and filing a final tax return.

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I 'splain you

April 25, 2025 |Mark Ryan
Question: Is a debit good or bad? In an early version of SNL, Gilda Radner, in character as Emily Litella, rants in mock editorial rage on the prohibition against TV violins. “Why don’t parents want their children to see violins on TV?” Her Weekend Update...
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Pantsed

April 14, 2025 |Mark Ryan
I’ve learned that it’s difficult driving a race car with clown shoes on your feet. Costco Pants and Tariffs: The idea that tariffs are inherently good might be the Costco pants of international trade theory -- everything feels comfortably, nice and snug...
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Big Yellow Taxi

April 07, 2025 |Mark Ryan
Good afternoon. A bit of a longer rant today. This one is in my wheelhouse, and really irks me. My goal is to convert the skeptic on international free trade. How’d I do? ________________________________________ “An idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly...
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Bees, knees and American Cheese

March 17, 2025 |Mark Ryan
If tariff news was a banana it would be a nice firm, sweet yellow specimen at 9:00 am, but by around 10:30 that morning it will have morphed into a brown-spotted leathery lump. Bees knees, Bananas and Battlestar Galactica: A study in the March 2023 Science...
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Another one

March 12, 2025 |Mark Ryan
Hi again. With apologies for the intrusion, here’s another fresh report on the unfolding (and ever-changing) Tariff situation, in case you just can’t get enough! This one draws on the 2018 experience for potential echoing hints, and features Joseph Wu...
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