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Five year GICs are paying over 4% and come with a guarantee. So why not just move your fixed income there and call it a day? In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Greg tackle a question they've been hearing more often as bond returns have dipped in recent months. They walk through why bond prices move the way they do, what 2022 taught investors, and why Greg says a GIC can be compared to a bond issued by a bank. They also dig into the risks that never show up on your statement, and Greg's example of what can happen when a great rate comes up for renewal. Colin's take? The better question isn't which option pays the most today. It's what job this money is supposed to do.

What do a World Series champion and a strong financial plan have in common? According to Colin, neither one happens by accident. In this solo episode, Colin steps up to the plate with baseball as his guide, exploring why every great roster and every great portfolio starts with the same question: what are you actually trying to build? He breaks down why the best hitters in the game still fail most of the time, why a perfectly struck ball can still be an out, and what the odds really look like when you try to time the market. The math might surprise you. Because in Colin’s view, the real championship isn’t beating an index. It’s building the life you want your money to create.

What does a professional money manager really mean when they say they've gone defensive? Sometimes it means moving from 2% cash to 4%. Headlines everywhere say the stock market is expensive, and Colin and Greg acknowledge some of those warnings may well be true. But they ask a tougher question: if the market is pricey, what are you actually supposed to do about it? They dig into valuation measures like the CAPE ratio, revisit what happened to investors who called the tech bubble too early, and explain why Greg sees selling stocks as a two decision problem. Getting out is hard. Getting back in may be harder. Plus, a detour into why canned sardines are suddenly vanishing from store shelves. Colin's takeaway? Don't make a 30 year investment decision based on a six month market prediction.

What would you do if a repair company told you it would take ten days to fix your internet? Colin knows exactly what he did, and that company never got him back. In this episode, Colin and Greg take a detour from markets to talk about the moment every relationship eventually faces: when something goes wrong. Why do small mistakes turn into big trust problems? And why does silence so often do more damage than the original error? They unpack a simple three step approach to recovery, why a stack of gift certificates never fixed a late lunch, and the four ingredients that separate a real apology from an empty one. Because mistakes are inevitable. What builds trust is how you handle them.

Ronald Reagan once stood beside a Canadian prime minister and said protectionism is out and trade expansion is in. Today, tariffs between Canada and the US are as high as 50 percent, and the two countries are further apart than they have been in decades. In this episode, Colin and Greg break down what a tariff actually is, who really pays for it, and why the answer is more complicated than politicians suggest. They walk through a simple product example, then scale it up to the auto industry, energy, and the broader Canada US relationship. The most interesting turn comes when they bring Reagan's own words into the conversation. His argument about trade as an alliance rather than a war stands in sharp contrast to how tariffs are being talked about today. Colin and Greg close with a practical question every investor is asking right now, and their answer might surprise you.

Oil is flirting with $100 a barrel again, and Colin and Greg ask the obvious question: does that mean Calgary is heading back into a hiring boom? Not exactly. Greg walks through how capital discipline, automation, and shareholder demands have reshaped the energy sector, and why higher prices tend to reward company balance sheets before they reward payrolls. From there the conversation gets personal. Colin builds out a full household balance sheet for a Calgary energy employee, and the correlations he uncovers between a job, a bonus, and a portfolio might surprise you. They close with a line worth remembering: you can have a great career in oil and gas without an oil and gas retirement plan. What that actually looks like in practice is where things get interesting.

Colin and Greg dive straight into WTI climbing back above ninety dollars a barrel. For anyone working in Calgary's energy sector, they ask a question most people never consider: how much of your financial life, salary, bonus, employer stock, even your house, is already tied to one industry. They also revisit an old story about a client who refused to diversify because a dividend was covering his mortgage. It didn't end well. A good reminder that knowing a company well and owning too much of it are two very different things.

Would losing your job tomorrow be financially catastrophic, or just painful? Colin digs into that question in episode two of his Energy Professionals Financial Playbook series. He breaks down why severance is a bridge, not a windfall, and why fear tends to be the most expensive part of any downturn. The families who come out ahead usually prepared quietly during the good years, not during the panic. Let me know if this works, and once you've picked your clip and social post, I'll get the compliance document put together.

Would losing your job tomorrow be financially catastrophic, or just painful? Colin digs into that question in episode two of his Energy Professionals Financial Playbook series. He breaks down why severance is a bridge, not a windfall, and why fear tends to be the most expensive part of any downturn. The families who come out ahead usually prepared quietly during the good years, not during the panic.

What if you had to pay someone to take your oil off your hands? It actually happened, and Colin opens this episode with that story, along with the eerie Tuesday layoffs that became a running fear across Calgary's oil patch. This kicks off a new series, the Energy Professionals Financial Playbook, looking at why so many people unknowingly tie their salary, investments, home value, and employer stock to the same cyclical industry. Colin also breaks down the real difference between rich and wealthy, and shares one simple question he asks clients that almost never gets answered with a number.

What happens when three siblings from different marriages all believe they're getting the family farm? Trish Tate has seen it firsthand, and it rarely ends simply. On this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin sits down with Trish, a fourth generation farmer and Canvas Wealth's newest advisor, fresh off a week at Ag in Motion in Saskatoon. They talk drones, giant seed carts, and how technology is quietly reshaping farm operations. Then the conversation turns to a number that surprised even Colin, the percentage of Canadian farms with a legally written succession plan, and why so many families put that conversation off until it is too late. They close on how compounding and tax free savings accounts fit into the plan, because the land can only carry so much.

What's the best investment move you can make this summer? According to Colin, it's nothing. Or almost nothing. In this solo episode, Colin trades market talk for a summer reading list: seven books he believes can make you a better investor, and most of them aren't really about investing at all. From why doing well with money has more to do with behaviour than intelligence, to the concept of memory dividends and why some experiences come with expiration dates, Colin makes the case that the best investors are lifelong learners. He wraps with a simple summer challenge: read one book that makes you think differently. Because in Colin's words, successful investing isn't about predicting the future. It's about becoming the kind of person who's prepared for it.

What if the biggest financial planning mistake has nothing to do with your investments? This week on The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin sits down with Lori Curtiss, a fee based financial planner with a master's in financial psychology, to dig into the money story playing in your head and how it quietly shapes every decision you make, from the grocery aisle to your retirement plan. Colin and Lori get into the debt traps that are easier to fall into than ever (wait until you hear the rolled over car loan numbers), the real answer to "should I pay down my mortgage or invest," and why the questions you're too embarrassed to ask are far more common than you think. Because knowing you're going to be okay starts with being willing to look.

What does a $175,000 chuckwagon tarp have to do with your portfolio? More than you'd think. Fresh off Stampede season, Colin and Jacob take on one of Calgary's flashiest marketing traditions and ask the question nobody at the rodeo is asking: where does that money actually come from? Colin runs the math on what a six figure sponsorship might really require in revenue to support it, and the number will surprise you. From there, the conversation gets bigger. Why do some of the wealthiest people drive modest cars? What can Costco's concrete floors teach us about building real value? And why does Colin believe every dollar in a business, just like every dollar in a portfolio, has a job to do? It's a fun one with a serious point: looking successful and being successful are not the same thing, and knowing the difference might be the most valuable skill in investing.

Get rich quick and get skinny quick have a lot in common. Neither one works. This week on The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Greg welcome Phil McInnis, Chief Investment Strategist at Avantis Investors, who compares building wealth to building fitness. In his view, it's not the shortcuts that matter, it's the boring basics done consistently over decades. From goal setting to factor investing to why your brain isn't wired for market swings, Phil shares what he thinks investors with 10, 20, or 30 years ahead of them should focus on.