assets posts

We hear this term all the time when referring to our investments and it's the foundation of any portfolio; asset allocation.

Simply put, we hope to purchase assets that will increase in value and, depending on our situation, how we allocate the percentage of those investments can make or break our retirement and help or hinder our sleep at night.

I'm sure you've heard the expression of not keeping all your eggs in one basket when referring to diversification. The problem is, with many investors that have investment accounts at several institutions or too many mutual funds, they often have a bunch of baskets with the same eggs doing the same things. Or, as Warren Buffet once said, 'put all of your eggs in one basket and watch that basket very, very, closely'. Most people would prefer not to do the latter when it comes to their investments.

With a divorce rate of 37 per cent in Canada and over 50 per cent in the United States, there is a good chance that either you or someone you know will have to deal with divorce.

"I wanted to write this book to not only help people going through divorce, but to remind them of what they want to be at the end of the process," says divorce mediation expert/author Diana Mercer.

Mercer, whose previous book, Your Divorce Advisor, focused on the nuts and bolts of what happens in a divorce proceedings, realized she wanted to write something that helped people move past the range of emotions and focus on the next phase of life. Making Divorce Work: 8 Essential Keys to Resolving Conflict and Rebuilding Your Life (A Perigree Book, Published by Penguin Group and available Dec 7 in North America ) by Diana Mercer and Katie Jane Wennechuk focuses on how to end a marriage with mediation and avoid the unhealthy process that is often overshadowed by anger and combatant lawyers.

The book uses personal stories by couples and workbook exercises to show someone the skills needed to handle the divorce, eight mediation techniques, how to deal with anger, grief and hurt feelings and how to deal with custody issues, assets and ending the relationship. " No one needs to go through "homewreckonomics" which is what many couples go through, which means their assets are reduced to nothing during the divorce process," says Mercer.