- Listen to it on Apple Podcasts.
- Listen to it on Spotify.
- Listen to it on YouTube Music or YouTube
- Listen to it on Audible and Amazon Music
As the markets hit all-time highs again, one of the things that has become top of mind for me personally is how to make sure that our investments are actually secure.
If you’re a long-term passive, total market index investor like me, then you’ve definitely seen your portfolio grow quite substantially over the years. With this, one begins to wonder: What can be done to ensure the security of those investments?
In this case, I’m not talking about the volatility of the investments themselves, but rather how to ensure that our investment and other financial accounts do not get hacked, that someone doesn’t destroy our credit score, and that we don’t become victims of identity theft, among the many other security threats that exist.
This is especially prevalent in this age of AI, where it is easier than ever for someone to replicate our voice, or have AI crawl the internet to pull personal information about us that can be used to access our sensitive accounts, steal our money, or make critical changes that can cripple our net worth.
Especially since it’s tax season right now, where we have to be extra diligent due to things like CRA scams, I thought it would be a good idea to do a deep dive on the bases we need to cover from a security standpoint when it comes to our finances.
With that, I wanted to bring on an expert who literally works in the security industry day in and day out, to take us through the bases we need to have covered, as well as provide us with some practical solutions, including free and paid tools that we can use to ensure we are not being negligent on the security side of our finances.
My guest today is Leigh Tynan. She’s been the Director of Online Security at TELUS here in Canada for the past six years. My goal was to have her come on almost like a personal security consultant for you and me, to teach us what bases we need to cover when it comes to our online security here in Canada, and also how and when we should actually use the different security tools out there.
I figured in this world of online security, it’s one of those cases where we don’t know what we don’t know. So, it would be valuable to have someone in Canada from the actual security industry come on to give us a checklist of sorts, along with an explanation, so that we can ensure there isn’t some component we forgot about, or didn’t even know about, that ends up being the avenue through which our private information is leaked or our sensitive financial accounts are compromised.
Alright, let’s get into the interview.
Links from the episode:
TELUS Online Security (what I’ve been using)
A Big Thanks to Our Sponsors:
TELUS Online Security
I’ve been using TELUS Online Security to keep my family’s and my devices secure across our entire home, and when we are away travelling with the kids. My favourite part about the service is that it’s a comprehensive, all-in-one suite of tools that have everything that I need to maximize our security, all within a single app.
Instead of having to deal with multiple companies and services to cover all my bases when it comes to security, I instead now have everything that I need in one place. This makes things easier to manage, is more cost effective, and the app is very intuitive and easy to use, so it’s really nice not to have to learn a separate app for every component of our online security (i.e. anti-virus, VPN, dark web monitoring, malware and ransomware scanning, and many more).
A big thanks to TELUS for putting all this together in an affordable and easy-to-use package. It’s really nice to have that piece-of-mind knowing that the family and I have all our bases covered when it comes to our online and device security.
Check them out over at TELUS Online Security. Plans start at just $12/month.
BMO Asset Allocation ETFs: One of the Lowest Cost Options in Canada:
Do you keep hearing about these “All-in-one ETFs” lately? Well, I have some exciting news:
BMO ETFs just cut the fees on their flagship all-in-one ETFs to 0.15% making them one of the lowest cost options in Canada. That’s right – more value, same smart diversification, all in a single ETF.
Whether you’re just starting out, or simplifying your portfolio, BMOs all in one ETFs make it easy to invest with confidence.
Just Zed it and forget it by considering ETFs like ZEQT, BMO’s All Equity ETF or ZGRO, BMO’s Growth ETF.
“Views from the Desk” Podcast
On this podcast, we often cover best practices that can not only help you now, but will also be relevant throughout your investment lifetime. But what if you also want an update on what is happening with your investments, the markets, and the economy right now?
To help me stay up-to-date on these topics, a great Canadian podcast that I listen to weekly is called “Views from the Desk” (Apple, Spotify, Direct).
They provide timely information for us Canadians on what is happening to our investments right now, as well as other key factors affecting us like changes to our interest rates, our inflation, and regulatory changes that we should know about.
The podcast is hosted by BMO ETFs. I’m a huge fan of theirs, I own a lot of BMO ETFs myself, and it’s a great free resource for both new and existing ETF investors.
I hope you check them out. All episodes are available for free in your favourite podcast player. Just search for “Views from the Desk” or click one of the links below:
ETF Market Insights and BMO ETFs
Catch the latest episodes on YouTube Here.
There are so many opinions on how to invest your money today, but it can be hard to find credible voices to rely on in the world of finance and investing.
One resource I turn to every week is the ETF Market Insights YouTube channel, led by today’s episode sponsor, BMO ETFs.
Market Insights brings in industry experts and their weekly episodes cover the hottest themes like inflation, infrastructure, healthcare, and more. Tuning in helps me stay up-to-date on what’s happening so I can be a smarter investor. You can also submit your own ETF questions, to be answered on the show.
Do yourself a favour and subscribe on YouTube to ETF Market Insights, or visit ETFMarketInsights.com so you can be notified when future episodes go live.
BMO Asset Allocation ETFs:
Asset allocation explains over 90 per cent of the variation in a portfolio’s quarterly returns, so it’s no wonder Canadian investors are turning to these ETFs!
Today’s sponsor, BMO ETFs, offers these innovative all-in-one solutions with the BMO All-Equity ETF (ZEQT), BMO Growth ETF (ZGRO), BMO Balanced ETF (ZBAL), BMO Conservative ETF (ZCON), and more. BMO developed these to help provide investors with ETFs that offer broad diversification and are also low-cost and simple to use.
These ETFs invest in a number of underlying index based ETFs and are rebalanced automatically back to your set asset allocation or mix of stocks and bonds. They offer a hands free approach to investing that is built on disciplined weights to provide exposure to different geographies and sectors all in one solution.
BMO actually offers eight asset allocation ETFs. Learn more at BMOETFs.com.
Questions Covered:
-
- Leigh, one of the things that has really become top of mind for me when it comes to my investment portfolio is how to keep it as safe as possible. Most of the show’s listeners are index investors like myself and we’ve all seen some really nice growth in our investment portfolio over the years. And so, with myself, I’ve noticed this shift where it’s no longer just about growing our net worth through our investment portfolio, but also very much about how to protect it against theft, hackers, fraud, etc.
Let’s pretend you were hired by myself and listeners of the show to be our online security consultant. Can you guide us on what you would have us do step-by-step, to ensure that our brokerage accounts are extremely secure, and have the lowest chance of having someone access our investments and potentially stealing something, or changing something without our permission? - I suspect that tax season here in Canada is one of the peak times that fraud occurs, and that scammers are especially looking for unsuspecting victims at this time. I figure people are rushing to file their taxes, they are using the CRA website, and so being contacted by someone impersonating a CRA employee doesn’t seem so “out of place” during tax season and so many of us have our defenses lowered when it comes to fraudulent calls and emails from anything involving our taxes.
Based on your experience have you found this to be the case and should we be extra diligent during tax season? - Follow-up: What are some of the most common and most damaging ways that you have found Canadians fall victim to these tax related scams? and what are the best practices that we should be doing to protect ourselves?
- The security technology has definitely evolved over the years. Decades ago it seemed mostly about setting a good password. These days we have access to many different types of security whether it’s PINs, biometrics, authenticator apps, push notifications, passkeys, etc. I realize there are a lot of them now but can you take us through the ones that are most important for us to know about and are you able to tell us which ones we should prioritize?
- Are there any new threats that have arisen with the development and continuous improvement in AI that we may not be familiar with and should be on the lookout for? (ex. AI being used to generate our voice)
- Let’s talk more about some of the security tools that we should know about:
- VPN: Most of us have probably heard of VPN at one point or another or have seen an ad for it somewhere, but how important is it specifically for us Canadians and in what situations should we use it?
- Using a password manager: What makes a good vs bad password manager? How can we know if the one we are currently using is sufficient?
- Using an authenticator on our phones: Let’s discuss SIM swap scams and how to protect ourselves using an authenticator app.
- What is the best practice now when it comes to antivirus, malware, ransomware, and hacking protection in general?
What is the difference between these 4 components, and doesn’t Windows, Android and Apple already come with built-in security? - Monitoring of financial and social media accounts: What does this entail and can you go into more detail on monitoring social media accounts as that might be new to some people.
- Monitoring the dark web: What is it? What does this entail?
- Identity vault: How is it useful and what is the best way to use it?
- Norton Private Browser: I noticed you have this included as part of the TELUS Security Service. When would we use this instead of our regular browser or should we always be using it? Also, do we even need it if we are using a VPN?
- Thanks so much for coming on. Can you tell us more about where we can learn more about TELUS Online Security and what you offer. I also noticed that you have some great free resources online to help educate Canadians on what we can do to protect ourselves, and what we can do to teach our children and aging parents as well so perhaps you can touch on that too?
- VPN: Most of us have probably heard of VPN at one point or another or have seen an ad for it somewhere, but how important is it specifically for us Canadians and in what situations should we use it?
- Leigh, one of the things that has really become top of mind for me when it comes to my investment portfolio is how to keep it as safe as possible. Most of the show’s listeners are index investors like myself and we’ve all seen some really nice growth in our investment portfolio over the years. And so, with myself, I’ve noticed this shift where it’s no longer just about growing our net worth through our investment portfolio, but also very much about how to protect it against theft, hackers, fraud, etc.
Disclaimer:
This podcast and video is for information purposes. The information contained herein is not, and should not be construed as, investment, tax or legal advice to any party. Particular investments and/or trading strategies should be evaluated relative to the individual’s investment objectives and professional advice should be obtained with respect to any circumstance. Commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with investments in exchange traded funds. Please read the ETF Facts or simplified prospectus of the BMO ETFs before investing. Exchange traded funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. For a summary of the risks of an investment in the BMO ETFs, please see the specific risks set out in the BMO ETF’s simplified prospectus. BMO ETFs trade like stocks, fluctuate in market value and may trade at a discount to their net asset value, which may increase the risk of loss. Distributions are not guaranteed and are subject to change and/or elimination. BMO ETFs are managed by BMO Asset Management Inc., which is an investment fund manager and a portfolio manager, and a separate legal entity from Bank of Montreal. BMO Global Asset Management is a brand name under which BMO Asset Management Inc. and BMO Investments Inc. operate. “BMO” is a registered trademark of Bank of Montreal, used under licence..
Leave A Response