Jerome Bitun

Speaking at the Casey Research Gold and Resource Summit, Eric Sprott told investors that there is no more silver left to go around, "There's $22 billion of silver available in the world, of which the ETFs already own half, and between you guys and us we probably own the other half... Which means there's nothing left."

I'm sure you're heard of the recent earthquake that hit Japan yesterday. Here are some useful links on how to prepare for an emergency. Please check these websites: http://choicez.biz/FraserValleyEmergencyResources.htm http://www.pep.bc.ca/hazard_preparedness/earthquake_preparedness.html http://www.getprepared.gc.ca/index-eng.aspx http://vancouver.ca/emerg/ http://www.cooperators.ca/static/pdf/en/Prepare-for-the-unexpected.pdf 　 How to survive a major Earthquake: http://www.victoria.ca/cityhall/pdfs/departments_vepnei_ind_prepare.pdf http://www.taekwondo.bc.ca/Emergency%20Preparedness.pdf Check this PDF file: http://www.getprepared.gc.ca/_fl/guide/national-eng.pdf

Retirement This year, 2011, marks the year the first of the baby boomers turn 65. Baby boomers are those who were born between 1946 to 1964. So in this edition of the newsletter, I thought it would be good to talk about retirement since we’ve just finished the RRSP season. When you retire, you qualify for some government pension or benefits like CPP, OAS and GIS. So what are they and how do they work? Here’s a summary. CPP – Canada Pension Plan A CPP retirement pension is a monthly benefit paid to people who have contributed to the Canada Pension Plan. The pension is designed to replace about 25% of a person's earnings from employment, up to a maximum amount. For 2010, the maximum amount it was $934.17. Not very much is it? But there’s good news! CPP has increased their maximum benefit. For 2011, the maximum CPP benefit you can get is $960.00. Woohoo! And if you qualify, you can get Old Age Security (OAS) benefit as well, up to $524.23 and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) of $661...

Here's a video interview with Eric Sprott of Sprott Asset Management regarding his views on gold and silver.

It's RRSP Season Again! Yep, it's that time of the year again. Make sure you have your T4 ready and have calculated your maximum contribution. The deadline to contribute to your RRSP is March 1, 2011. Investment Landscape People have been asking me what's the best place to invest right now? Are we out of the recession yet? Is the U.S. back on track? Here's my own view and my views are not necessarily the same as what you hear or read in the media or from portfolio managers. Let me answer the first one as that is the easiest one to answer. The best place to invest is worldwide, always. You cannot have a portfolio concentrated into one country like Canada. Canada only represents a small percentage of the world market. Adding just 20% foreign equities into your portfolio would expose you a lot of potential growth from China, Europe, India, etc. But how much to invest in foreign equities will depend on what stage you are in your life. If you are nearing retirement or you ar...

What is this? It's called a QR Code. A QR Code is a barcode that can contain text, a URL or other data. These images are becoming popular for sharing data with mobile users. Point your cellphone camera on this code and if you have the apps to read this QR code. It will reveal the information.