Where's your $344,000 paycheque?

[Captain Awesome]

Of course what he forgets is that many middle class Canadians don't view their homes as true assets. You need somewhere for your family to live. It does you no good if your house goes up in value from $400,000 to $500,000 if it will cost you that (or more) to replace it with another suitable place for your family to live - and most Canadians are well aware that real estate gains can be "easy come, easy go" - especially if they look south. There are a number of financial folks who agree with that position, one example: http://www.richdad.com/Resources/Rich-Dad-Financial-Education-Blog/april-2013/rich-dad-scam-6-your-house-is-an-asset.aspx

And he also forgets that many Canadians are not all that comfortable with having roughly half of their financial assets in the stock markets - which can be more volatile than they are comfortable with. .

Everybody wants their net worths to increase yet many are not comfortable with risk?

Weell, there is a contradiction and half.

[hobbyguy]

CA - my point goes to to the unease that some folks feel about the stability of their net worth.

E.G. the trailing P/E for the TSX is 19.8. The forward P/E is 16.1. Neither of those indicates a market that has a lot of room to go up (although markets are often not rational). Historically, when trailing P/E ratios get over 17, the TSX doesn't hold its level and falls back toward 17. Folks have seen the stock market "fall off a cliff" three times in recent history, and the TSX is getting close to record levels.

E.G. various figures from pretty credible sources indicate that the Canadian real estate market is overvalued by as much as 20%.

Both could easily correct 20%. Or not.

Folks are told by financial advisers that as they get closer to retirement, they should increase the proportion of their investments that are in less risky investments - but there is nowhere to go. Bond fund yields, unless you go toward the riskiest end of high yield bonds (junk?) are abysmal. GIC returns are abysmal - and mostly negative to inflation. Yet the proportion of RRSPs etc. that exposed to equities is rising, not falling, with an aging population.

In the background, folks are aware that governments and central banks have intervened, and are intervening in these markets in a big way and to extraordinary levels. What happens if interest rates go up? What happens if the governments and central banks don't raise interest rates? What happens if the FED and others "taper" too fast?

All too complicated for me. But such questions don't breed confidence.