Free Lunch

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.

The World Cup isn't just great TV, it's one of the best crash courses in investing you'll ever get. In this solo episode, Colin breaks down what championship soccer teams can teach us about building a championship portfolio: why the best team doesn't always win on any given day, why bonds are the unsung goalkeeper of your portfolio, and why chasing last year's hottest stock is a lot like betting on last year's Golden Boot winner. Plus, why "home field advantage" might be quietly costing Canadian investors returns. Whether you're watching every match or don't know a striker from a midfielder, this episode will change how you think about risk, discipline, and playing the long game.

Great companies do not always make great investmentsWith AI stocks grabbing headlines lately, Colin and Greg ask the question a lot of investors skip: what are you actually paying for that future growth?In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, they talk through market concentration, the Magnificent Seven, and why a diversified portfolio usually beats chasing the next big theme, whether that's AI today or dot coms back in 2000.

What if "higher for longer" just means normal?That's the question Colin and Jacob dig into on this week's episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, and it's one worth sitting with.For most of the last decade, ultra-low interest rates felt like the baseline. But historically? They were the anomaly. Colin and Jacob talk through what the new Fed chair's first meeting signals, why the bond market matters more than most people think, and what today's rate environment actually means for retirees, homeowners, and long-term investors.

Colin and Greg had one of their most honest conversations yet on The Free Lunch Podcast this week, talking through IPO mania, the current wave of AI and space company offerings, and why the strategies that sound disciplined on paper often fall apart in practice.Their take? If you want to put a small slice of your portfolio into something speculative because you find it interesting, that's very different from betting your future on it.

The single biggest lesson from 30 years in the industry? Markets reward ownership, not prediction.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Greg sits down with Jacob for a mentorship-style conversation about what actually works in investing and what consistently fails. They dig into why so many investors hurt themselves trying to outsmart the market, and why staying invested and diversified tends to beat almost every clever strategy people try.Greg puts it simply: the real challenge in investing isn't intellectual. It's behavioural.

Estate planning isn't just for the ultra-wealthy. It's for anyone who owns a home, has kids, or simply wants to make a hard time a little easier for the people they love.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Blair break down what estate planning actually looks like for everyday Canadian families, including the tax surprises most people don't see coming, why your beneficiary designations might be quietly working against you, and what Blair calls "the most important document you'll ever have."As Blair puts it, estate planning is really an act of care. It's not about paperwork. It's about the people.

What is likely to work in investing? According to Colin, it's the advice nobody gets excited about.Stay diversified. Rebalance consistently. Cut your tax bill. Understand your own behavioural blind spots. None of it is glamorous, but the data generally backs it up.Colin and Greg get into all of it on this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, including why "which stock should I buy" may be the wrong question.

Some private credit funds have recently faced redemption pressure, bringing renewed attention to liquidity risk in the asset class.Colin and Greg walk through what private credit is, why it grew rapidly after the 2008 financial crisis, and how the "illiquidity premium” works in practice on The Free Lunch Podcast.If you've been hearing a lot about private credit lately and weren't totally sure what to make of it, this one is for you.

Colin and Greg brought in one of the sharpest minds in fixed income to answer that question. Tony Crescenzi from PIMCO discusses the bond market like a supermarket with 150 trillion dollars worth of aisles, and explains why knowing which shelf to shop from could matter as much as anything else in your portfolio.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, they get into inflation thresholds, starting yields, global diversification and why active management tends to win in bonds in ways it often doesn't in stocks.

That 12% yield might sound incredible. Until you find out what it is based on.Structured notes are often marketed as the best of both worlds — income, protection, and upside. But Colin and Greg argue you can’t have it all, and that the tradeoffs matter.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, they break down what structured notes are, how the payout is generated, and why keeping things simple may be a better fit for some investors.

Greg makes the case on The Free Lunch Podcast that the investors who struggle most aren't the ones lacking knowledge. They're the ones who can't ask themselves: "What if I'm wrong?"Colin and Greg unpack why decorum and diplomacy, the same things missing from today's geopolitical headlines, are actually core investing skills. Staying composed when markets test your patience isn't weakness, it’s a meaningful advantage over time.

Does watching financial news actually make you a better investor?Colin and Greg dig into that question on this week's episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, breaking down how financial media is designed to create urgency, not returns, and what that can do to investor behaviour over time.If you've ever felt the urge to do something with your portfolio after watching the news, this one's worth a listen.

Investing well is supposed to be boring.Most people think great investing means staying on top of the markets, catching the right stocks, and making smart moves. Colin and Greg would say that's exactly the problem.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, they use DIY home renovation as a surprisingly perfect analogy for what goes wrong when people manage their own money. The mistakes aren't usually the ones you see coming.

The "RRIF meltdown" strategy is everywhere online right now, but the advice rarely accounts for your actual situation.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Blair break down what a meltdown strategy actually is, when it might make sense, and why doing it just because someone told you to can quietly cost you more in tax than you ever saved. The math matters more than the marketing.

In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Blair walk through a real conversation many investors are having right now: “Should we get out before it gets worse?”The instinct is understandable. But the plan often becomes selling when markets are down, waiting, and then buying back in when things feel better.That’s not strategy, it's emotion, and it’s one of the fastest ways to derail long-term returns.

In reality, fear shows up in every market cycle.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Greg talk about why even seasoned investors feel unsettled during downturns, and why that doesn’t mean you should act on it.Because volatility isn’t new. It’s expected. And the investors who succeed aren’t the ones who avoid fear, they’re the ones who don’t let it drive their decisions.

With St. Patrick’s Day behind us, it’s a good time to separate myth from reality.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Greg explore why chasing the next big winner, timing the market, or relying on “being early” rarely works and why those ideas persist anyway.They break down the difference between luck and skill, the cost of missing just a handful of market days, and why the real “pot of gold” is built through patience and compounding over time.

Each year, the World Happiness Report ranks nations based on factors like social support, health, freedom, trust, and economic security.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Greg dig into the patterns behind the rankings, why Nordic countries dominate the list, where Canada and the U.S. fall, and what the research reveals about the connection between policy, prosperity, and well-being.A thoughtful conversation about what truly drives happiness in modern societies.

In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, we explore how even high-earning households can feel “house poor” and why lifestyle inflation, low savings rates, and heavy debt can quietly erode financial flexibility.

In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Blair walk through a case study of “Linda,” a 55-year-old investor with a $780,000 balanced portfolio.When markets fell 18%, she panicked and sold half her equities, only to miss the 22% rebound that followed.It’s a powerful reminder that the hardest part of investing isn’t picking the right fund. It’s sticking to the financial plan when headlines, social media, and fear tell you to do the opposite.Markets recover but emotional decisions can be permanent.

In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Blair continue their financial planning series by examining the Canadian macro environment, from housing and household debt to interest rates and inflation.Using a real-life style case study, they explore how someone can have strong net worth on paper while still feeling monthly cash flow pressure.It’s a reminder that financial planning isn’t just about assets. It’s about context, options, and clarity.

In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin is joined by Blair, Director of Financial Planning at Canvas Wealth, to kick off a new series focused on the role planning plays in long-term financial success.They explore how financial planning turns money into a life tool, replaces guesswork with clarity, and helps people navigate major life transitions with confidence, not just better returns.A conversation about outcomes, behaviour, and building freedom over time.

From wars and sanctions to trade disruptions and surprise political events, global markets react quickly to uncertainty.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Greg and Colin walk through decades of data on geopolitical shocks, what typically drives market drawdowns, how long recoveries tend to take, and why most sell-offs fade faster than headlines suggest.They also explore what these events mean specifically for Canadian investors, including impacts on oil, the dollar, and global portfolios.

Every January, investment firms release their top picks and bold projections for the year ahead.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Greg and Colin look back at the stock lists published in early 2025 and ask the question most people forget to ask: how did they actually perform?By comparing forecasts to real-world outcomes, they unpack why confidence doesn’t equal accuracy, why benchmarks matter more than opinions, and what investors can learn from hindsight.

In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Greg and Jacob reflect on how the reality of wealth advising differs from what’s taught early on.Technical knowledge matters, but it isn’t what ultimately sets wealth advisors apart. Listening, understanding, and guiding people through uncertainty are what define the work.Throughout the episode, they explore the lessons that only experience teaches, and what it really takes to build a career that lasts.

If there’s one lesson that kept showing up over nearly 300 episodes, it’s this:being reasonable beats being brilliant.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin reflects on five themes that have shaped the show over the years, starting with why behaviour matters more than intelligence, forecasts, or clever strategies.It’s a reminder that long-term success rarely comes from bold moves. It comes from consistent, disciplined decisions made over time.

When markets move, our instincts kick in fast. ⏱️In this episode, Colin and Greg share a real example of a new investor reacting to a small short-term loss, and use it to explain why checking your portfolio too often can do more harm than good.They break down volatility, time horizons, and why investing isn’t meant to feel like watching a savings account.

We’ve become far more comfortable with debt than we used to be.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Rob Carrick, one of Canada’s most trusted personal finance journalists and longtime columnist at The Globe and Mail joins Greg and Colin to talk about how consumer culture has reshaped our relationship with money.They discuss frictionless spending, social media pressure, and why debt often builds quietly, without a clear moment where things go wrong.

We procrastinate on taxes for the same reason we avoid the dentist. We know it’s important, it just feels uncomfortable.In this episode of The Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Blair talk about tax optimization, early planning, and why contributing sooner to your TFSA or RRSP can be one of the most underrated financial habits.It’s step four in their “12 Steps to Greatness in 2026” list, and they cover all 12 to help you start the year with clarity.

Is there really a free lunch when it comes to investing?According to Greg and Colin, there is one: diversification.It’s not exciting. It doesn’t make headlines. But it’s one of the few strategies that has improved outcomes while helping reduce risk over time.In this episode, they explain why diversification works, why investors resist it, and why it matters right now.

Where would modern thinking about markets be without the people who pushed it forward?This week on the Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Greg reflect on the thinkers and researchers who reshaped the way we understand economic behaviour. From evidence-based approaches to frameworks that bring discipline and clarity to decision-making, the way we view the world today exists because a few pioneers were willing to challenge old assumptions.

We buy everything else on sale, but with stocks we do the opposite?In this episode, Colin and Greg talk with Mark Eibel about the strange way human behaviour shows up around money. The market rises more than 70% of the time, yet fear in the 30% often pushes people out at exactly the wrong moment.It is one of the few areas of life where people get more interested as prices rise and more nervous as prices fall, even though history shows that downturns are usually shorter than they feel.

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Most clients don’t actually want a stock tip. They want reassurance, they want clarity.They want to know, “will I be okay?”This week, Colin and Greg explore the emotional side of money with financial therapist Ashley Quamme as they unpack the real drivers behind our financial behaviour.The beliefs we inherit, the patterns we repeat, and the questions we are truly asking when we think we are asking about markets.🎧 A powerful conversation for anyone curious about why they think, feel, and behave the way they do with money.

🏡 Have a kid who’ll buy their first home one day?The First Home Savings Account (FHSA), part RRSP, part TFSA, all opportunity.In this week's episode of the Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Greg explain how the FHSA works, the benefits and the deadline you can't afford to miss.They explain why making a small contribution before year-end could mean more room and more opportunity down the road.

In 2008, one client went all in on silver.Convinced inflation would soar, governments would lose control, and precious metals were the only safe bet, he put everything into silver. And technically, he was right. It hit $50 an ounce… 17 years later.On this week’s Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Greg revisit that story to explore what it teaches about timing, behaviour, and the bigger truth: time in the market beats timing the market every time.

If the Canada Pension Plan were a mutual fund, would you still buy it? 🤔Greg and Colin dig into the real costs behind Canada’s national pension, how it stacks up against low-fee investing, and what it teaches us about simplicity, transparency, and discipline in your own portfolio.It sounds cheap at 0.26%, but that’s just the tip of a $7 billion iceberg once you factor in performance fees, transaction costs, and operating expenses.

What are smart investors doing right now?According to Greg and Colin on this week of the Free Lunch Podcast they are: staying diversified, staying disciplined, and staying calm.They unpack how to think about:💰 Bonds & cash in your portfolio.🏠 Mortgage renewals & rate holds.🧾 End-of-year tax moves.😴 Retirement “sleep-at-night” planning.

Jonathan’s style was to blend practical financial advice with human behaviour and life lessons.This week, Colin and Greg reflect on the life and legacy of Jonathan Clements, the longtime Wall Street Journal columnist whose insights helped redefine how we think about money, happiness, and simplicity.Jonathan’s approach really aligns with what we try to do here, cutting through the noise, finding clarity in uncertainty, and reminding people that even if the market’s at an all-time high… so is milk production. 🥛

AI was everywhere at Future Proof Festival.From Google searches to client service, every conversation circled back to how artificial intelligence is reshaping the industry.On this week’s episode of the Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Greg reflect on Colin’s time at Future Proof, and why, despite AI’s power, nothing can replace human trust and behavioural coaching.🎧 A must-listen for anyone curious about what AI means for the future of advice.

🎓💰 Sending kids off to college or university? The sticker shock is real. Tuition, books, housing, can quickly add up to $20,000+ per year.In this week’s episode, Colin and Greg break down the real costs of post-secondary education and explore smart ways to fund it, including:✅ Student loans, grants & bursaries✅ RESPs (and how to make the most of government grants)✅ What happens if your child doesn’t go to school✅ Why TFSAs can be a hidden funding tool

True or False:❓ Diversification increases expected stock returns.❓ Owning Canadian banks, pipelines, and utilities is enough diversification.❓ Most active fund managers outperform their benchmarks over time.If you hesitated on any of these, this week’s episode is for you. Colin and Greg break down why diversification is really about protecting against risk, how home bias trips Canadians up, and why global exposure makes all the difference.

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Tariffs go up. Inflation lingers. Politics heat up.And the cost of everyday life feels it.On this episode of the Free Lunch Podcast, Colin and Greg explore how U.S. policy shifts ripple through interest rates, inflation, and portfolios around the world. They discuss... 🌎💼 ✔️ The hidden inflation driver no one talks about.✔️ Why Fed decisions matter beyond the U.S.✔️ How to position portfolios when volatility returns. 🎧 A must-listen for anyone trying to make sense of today’s economic headlines.