Jerome Bitun

Every month I get a phone call from our clients saying that their credit card has been subjected to fraud. I never used to get these calls but it seems that the number of cases have really gone up in the last six months. It is a big pain in the neck to clear up your account and go through the motions of cancelling your credit card, getting a new one and making sure you don't pay for the items that was purchased on your credit card. The bigger problem is identity theft when someone actually seems to have taken over your life. Here are eight things you can do to protect yourself from credit card and identity theft. 1. Keep your information private. Memorize your SIN number and don't keep it in your wallet. If your wallet is stolen, so is your SIN number. Keep it in a secure place like a safe at home or a locked drawer. Don't keep it lying around where a thief might break in and steal it. Don't give out your SIN number to anyone. The banks, insurance companies and other fi...

The federal government surprised everyone on Halloween when they announced that income trusts who have been publicly traded before November 1, 2006 will become taxable in 2011, with the exception of certain real estate income trusts. What will happen is income trust will be taxed the same as Canadian corporations. Trust that haven't started trading in the stock market yet will be taxed using the new rules starting 2007. This announcement created a huge drop in the S&P/TSX Composite index, down 294.2 points or 2.4 percent to 12,050.39. The TSX Income Trust sector fell more than 12 percent which saw the sector lose about $20 Billion in market value overnight. What lead to the decision to tax income trust can be read on this article from the Globe and Mail.

Last week, my son wanted to buy the Star Wars Transformer he's been eyeing for the last month. My wife finally relented and they went to Toys 'R Us. My wife called me up and told my son to talk to me to see if I'll allow him to buy it. I told him that he can buy it as long as he pays for it. Being 4 years old, he doesn't really understand the concept of money and exchange yet. But I thought this might be a perfect way to teach him the value of money. So my wife paid for it and I told him that I will take the money he spent for the toy from his piggy bank. So last night, I sat him down and we counted out the money he spent. At first I took out the the Dollar coins and quarters, but when I counted out $22 worth, it barely reduced the content of his piggy bank. Since he's only beginning to learn how to add, it's a little difficult to get him to understand if I took the actual amount. So I decided to count out the pennies and nickels instead, now we're talking!...

Here's an interesting article on CNNmoney.com on how the rich and powerful teach their children about money and not to grow up with the entitlement mentality. A couple of examples like part of their allowance is expected to be given to charity and to savings. Another where they are given a budget for shopping and a limit is set, if that limit is used up, tough luck. To read more, visit this site .

Pirate Capital LLC, an activist hedge fund manager said Thursday that its investment staff will be cut in half and its fund will be closed to new investors. Another hedge fund manager, Amaranth Advisors LLC loss a whopping US$6 Billion betting on the wrong side of the market. Add to this several other hedge funds which has either closed down or stopped accepting new investors due to poor returns. The bull market in commodities created a slew of hedge funds banking on investors wanting to get into the game. A lot of Income Trust and REITs were also established to capitalize on the real estate boom as well as the oil boom. Most of these funds have a track record of less than 5 years. Yet investors are willing to invest in these funds just because they are the darling of the fund rating companies or they achieved spectacular returns in their first few years, some making over 105% in one year. It seems to me that people never learn. Don't they remember the recent crash of the stock mar...

Welcome to my new blog. This site will be a rich source of information regarding insurance and finance for Canadian families. Feel free to leave comments and questions regarding insurance, investments and other financial matters.