Welcome Canadian Investors!

I am excited about the Canadian Edition of my book, The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read. I am also very grateful for the enthusiastic reception the book is receiving from the investing public in Canada.

Let me repeat some of what I set forth in the Introduction to the Canadian Edition, because it is an excellent summary of the core message of this book: The similarities between the securities industry in the U.S. and Canada are striking:

Actively managed mutual funds in both countries are aggressively marketed.
Active managers in Canada have the same dismal record as their American counterparts at beating an unmanaged index of stocks, while charging higher fees for this underperformance.
Hedge funds and other “alternative” investments are poorly understood in both countries, leading investors to assume risks that they neither understand nor can afford to take.
Investors in both countries are under the mistaken belief that investing is extremely complex and difficult, requiring the services of brokers and advisors to provide the necessary guidance.
The brokers and advisors to whom investors turn for advice in both countries are conflicted and often poorly trained in basic principles of finance. As a consequence, they often do more harm than good.

The reality is that investing is quite simple and easy. The vast majority of investors do not need any advice or guidance from so-called “investment professionals.” Instead, in less than 90 minutes a year, most investors can select one of four basic portfolios set forth in my book and, based on historical returns, are likely to beat the returns achieved by 95% or more of professional money managers over the long term.

Let me state it very bluntly: The road to financial perdition begins with the call to your broker or financial advisor who tells you he or she can “beat the markets.” Canadians would be far better off if they took control of their own finances and never dealt with any broker or advisor.

I hope that my book enlightens investors in Canada to this reality. If it does, I will have attained my core objective in writing this edition, and those investors will become Smart Investors, to the benefit of themselves and their families.