Over my financial career I have made many mistakes investing, however there are a few of my best investments. I have revised this list and now I have five (5) best investments.
My first investment (but not my best) is buying into the Federal Public Service Pension Plan. Thanks to blind luck, I was able to do this, and while it is my biggest investment (yes, even more than my house), it is not the investment that I am most proud. As I outlined in a previous post, thanks to some excellent timing (read luck) on my part I was able to transfer my Nortel Pension into the Federal Public Service Pension plan. That will (hopefully) allow me to actually retire.
My 3 best investments (of which I am equally proud) are:
- A Bachelor of Arts Degree from Wilfrid Laurier University
- A Bachelor of Kinesiology Degree from Acadia University
- An Honours Bachelor of Science Degree from Trent University (and hopefully a teaching diploma from Queens University)
As you can tell from the list these are the three degrees that, thanks to some help from my RESPs ,that I helped my daughters’ receive. My youngest daughter has just graduated from Trent University, and as I mentioned in the post I did for me eldest daughter’s degree So That is What $50,000 looks like, it was another excellent investment. Whether my son goes to post-secondary education, we shall see (we are hopeful). So far aside from being able to retire, I feel I have gone 3 for 3 on these investments. I think this makes these investments, my best.
Must I Help?
This is not to say, that if you have decided not to help your children with their post-secondary education you are a bad parent. Far from it, many folks just cannot afford to help their kids. I have made some awful investments in my time, luckily I have made a few good ones as well.