Kevin Press, 43
Occupation: Assistant vice-president at Sun Life Financial
Portfolio: Holds several mutual funds in his personal account and group plan, including Cambridge Global Equity Corporate Class, Harbour Growth & Income, McLean Budden American Equity, MFS International Equity, TD Asset Management Canadian Bond Index Fund and BlackRock Active Canadian Equity.
The investor:
"In the mid-1990s, I was lucky enough to land a media job covering Canada's institutional investment industry for Benefits and Pensions Monitor," says Kevin Press. "It was a great experience because it immersed me in an important part of the business.
"It provided me access to some of the best money management professionals in the world, and I took full advantage. They taught me the fundamentals: how to think about risk, diversification and all the rest."
Mr. Press now blogs on personal finances at click here.
The investment approach:
What is his investing strategy? "Incredibly boring, I'm afraid," he replies. "My portfolio is constructed pretty much the way you'd expect someone in their early 40s to go. I have less exposure to equities than I did in my 30s, but stocks still represent the majority of my holdings - more than 60 per cent."
He's a big believer in global diversification, so his adviser recommended the Cambridge Global Equity Corporate Class fund. "I like the international equity exposure it gets me, and I trust its management.
"I don't buy individual stocks these days. In this environment, I'm happy to pay for professional active management. The bulk of my retirement savings are in my group plans because the fees are so much lower."
Best move:
His best move was taking the Canadian Securities Course. "The work I was doing at the time as a journalist taught me a lot, but I still felt the need to go through more formal training. It's the only investment I'll ever recommend."
Worst move:
"I bought Nortel on the way down."
Advice:
"I'm really impressed by the quality of information provided by personal-finance bloggers right now," he observes. "Canadian Capitalist, Million Dollar Journey, Infectious Greed, News N Economics, Wise Bread, Where Does All My Money Go and Squawkfox - the list is almost endless."
"They're worth your time. We're experiencing a historic transition in the global economy right now. Writers like these help me understand what's happening, and what I can do about it."