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..standing up today

  • Ep.39 Dave Wahl

    Dave Wahl is a financial services industry veteran with Franklin Templeton Canada. He spearheads the Canadian application of their respected ‘Anatomy of a Recession’ program, which uses a dashboard approach of a dozen indices to offer a thoughtful perspective and practical views on the likelihood and severity of a possible recession.

  • Ep.38 Bullshift (The Book) One Year Anniversary!

    Bullshift (the book) is one year old this week! As part of the celebration, John looks back on the year that has passed and has some announcements about how Bullshift, the podcast, will be evolving.

  • Ep.37 Diana Bishop

    Diana Bishop had a long career as a journalist in the Canadian political landscape. She has some observations on how spin and narrative make their way into how we consume information. She’s also the granddaughter of Canadian war hero Billy Bishop. There’s a story there, too.

  • Ep.36 Cheryl Hurst

    Dr. Cheryl Hurst is an expert in organization behaviour with an emphasis on career paths and decision-making. As it turns out, human resources decision-making and financial management decision-making are closely related. Why does everyone think home ownership is such a big deal?

  • Ep.35 Fred Vettese

    Fred Vettese is the former chief actuary at Morneau Shepell, a leading pension consulting firm. He’s written hundreds of articles in the national media and written four books on retirement planning. We discuss his recent bestseller Retirement Income For Life.

  • Ep.34 Michael Konopaski

    Michael Konopaski is a founder of Designed Securities, Canada’s first dual-licenced dealer firm. He has considerable insight regarding where the business of advice is headed, what clients want from their advisors, and what advisors want from their dealers.

  • Ep.33 Geoff Lang

    Geoff Lang is a VP with Equiton Capital. He offers some simple, homespun observations about the value of advice and the utility of alternative asset classes in a diversified portfolio.

  • Ep.32 Robert Stel

    Robert Stel is a consultant with Environics Canada. He has expertise in the financial services industry and has considerable insight into how advisors interact with their clients.

  • Ep.31 Joe Nelesen

    Joe Nelesen is part of the team at S&P Dow Jones Indices producing their flagship SPIVA research. SPIVA stands for Standard and Poor’s Index Versus Active and the ongoing results of their worldwide research paint a compelling picture of why indexing offers a compelling value proposition for investors.

  • Ep.30 Wardah Malik

    Wardah Malik is the CEO of BEworks in Toronto. Her company works to help companies and governments apply behavioural economics concepts to reach better outcomes for everyone. She’s fascinating.

  • Ep.29 Harold Geller

    Harold Geller is a veteran in Canadian securities law. He’s spent his career helping people get restitution where advisors make errors or provide unsuitable recommendations. There’s a lot to be learned about making sure everyone is on the same page – and being able to prove it in court.

  • Ep.28 Vikram Rajagopalan

    This week, we speak with Vikram Rajagopalan, who is a Managing Director at Trez Capital. We explore how regulators look at alternative investments and give consideration to how investors might use alternatives to combat the dangers of Bullshift.

  • Ep.27 Jonathon Chevreau

    Jonathan Chevreau is a mainstay in personal finance. He’s been a columnist for a national newspaper, has written two books and runs a successful website dedicated to assisting people on their investing journey. He joins the Bullshift podcast to discuss how the industry has evolved and his own personal journey in financial decision-making.

  • Ep.26 Dilip Soman

    Dilip Soman is one of the pre-eminent behavioural economists in Canada. He joins the podcast this week to discuss applied Behavioural Economics. Do you know the difference between a nudge and sludge?

  • Ep.25 Amos Nadler

    Amos Nadler is the founder and chief scientist of the Prof of Wall Street, the world’s first quantitative fintech firm. He has thoughts on how people trade and believes the onus is on advisors to learn about behavioural biases.

  • Ep.24 Michelle Hilscher

    Michelle Hilscher is a Vice President at BE Works in Toronto. She has a PhD in cognitive psychology from the University of Toronto and works as a behavioural scientist that solves real-world challenges. Many of her clients work in the financial services industry, so she knows all about Bullshift.

  • Ep.23 Dennis Moseley-Williams

    Dennis Moseley-Williams is an internationally renowned consultant and keynote speaker who helps companies transition to the experience economy. He joins John to discuss the pros and cons of optimism regarding the client experience as they work with advisors.

  • Ep.22 Daniel Straus

    John Lawford is the Executive Director of PIAC, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre is a national not-for-profit corporation that protects consumer interests in regulated industries like finance. He joins John to discuss consumer protection against Bullshift.

  • Ep.21 Daniel Straus

    Daniel Straus is the head of ETF research at National Bank. He has a fascinating background because he’s a person with a science and engineering background who works in finance. Here, he compares and contrasts the two disciplines. Have you ever heard of “physics envy”?

  • Ep.20 Derek Deadman

    Derek Deadman is this week’s guest. He’s the Chair of FP Canada’s committee that provides annual financial planning assumptions guidelines. Those guidelines are crucial in helping planners make suitable recommendations. We explore both how they are being used and how they can be manipulated to provide clarity for people doing planning work.

  • Ep.19 Rob Carrick

    Rob Carrick is a mainstay in Canadian personal finance. As a columnist for the Globe and Mail, he enjoys a national following and is widely respected. We share a few stories about how personal finance has evolved over the past generation.

  • Ep.18 Tim Nash

    Tim Nash is a leading expert on ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing. He joins John to discuss how people can align their portfolios with their values and advocates for a shift away from a growth-at-all-costs approach to economic development.

  • Ep.17 David Macdonald

    David MacDonald is a senior executive at Environics Canada, a public opinion research firm that has expertise in social values and trends. He shares his insights about how we think abut finance in general, and about our views regarding optimism, in particular.

  • Ep.16 Tim Herron

    Tim Herron is a recognized expert on corporate governance. His thoughts on best practices, transparency and serving client interests are directly transferrable to the financial advice business.

  • Ep.15 Lawrence Lynch

    Lawrence Lynch has a critical role in finance – he’s a professor of financial planning and as such, is responsible for teaching and mentoring the next generation of advisors. Tune in to learn how the next generation sees things. Hint: there are material differences to how many advisors work currently.

  • Ep.14 Larry Berman

    Our guest this week is Larry Berman of Q Wealth Partners and the BNN program “Berman’s Call”. Larry has a wealth of hands-on experience in the behavioural finance field and offers some concrete examples of how behavioural quirks can influence our decisions.

  • Ep.13 Ellen Roseman

    This week, John sits down with Ellen Roseman, a lifelong consumer advocate who has had stints as a personal finance columnist for the Toronto Star, FAIR Board member and co-host of the Canadian MoneySaver podcast.

  • Ep.12 Kevin Prins

    Kevin Prins is a Senior Executive at BMO ETFs. He joins John this week to talk about how ETFs can be used by STANDUP Advisors to obtain more precise and cost-effective portfolio solutions for investors.

  • Ep.11 Pat Dunwoody

    Pat Dunwoody is the Executive Director of the Canadian Exchange Traded Fund Association (CETFA). Listen in to learn about the exponential growth of ETFs in Canada.

  • Ep.10 Laura Tamblyn-Watts

    As CEO of CanAge, Laura Tamblyn-Watts is a leading voice for Canadian seniors. Her insights into the challenges seniors face make for some intriguing food for thought.

  • Ep.9 Kelly Keehn

    Kelley Keehn is a mainstay for personal finance education and awareness in Canada. She’s a regular guest on Global TV’s Morning Show, BNN and the Marilyn Dennis Show. She joins me this week to discuss her mission of helping people become more financially literate.

  • Ep.8 Ted Cadsby

    Ted Cadsby is the author of four major books about decision-making and a sought-after thought leader and Board member. His interesting views on how people make decisions are worth considering.

  • Ep.7 Som Seif

    My guest this week is Som Seif, CEO of Purpose Investments. Som and I discussed some of the history behind the rise of ETFs in Canada and discussed the hidden risks associated with unexpected longevity.

  • Ep.6 Rodrigo Gordillo

    Our guest this week is Rodrigo Gordillo, who is the Managing Partner at Resolve Asset Management. He’s an out of the box thinker who has a unique perspective on risk, asset allocation, and portfolio construction dogma.

  • Ep.5 Tim Huver

    Tim Huver is a senior Canadian executive at Vanguard, is one of the world’s leading asset management firms. Hear Tim’s takes on product costs, client expectations, the framing of value propositions, and more.

  • Ep.4 Michelle Shriver

    Michelle Schriver is this week’s guest. She’s a senior journalist with Newcom Media, the people who publish both Investment Executive & Advisor’s Edge – two premier publications in the wealth management space. As a result of her unique position as a person who writes expressly for financial professionals, Michelle’s perspective on the industry is delightful. She values the tole of advisors, but is simultaneously mindful of their limitations. For once, the interviewer gets to be the interviewee.

  • Ep.3 David lewis

    David Lewis is a renowned behavioural economics expert and industry consultant. John asks him about common financial industry biases and how our attitudes sometimes get the best of us. Did you know people feel the pain of loss twice as acutely as the joy of a gain? Have you ever heard of Ignaz Semmelweis?

  • Ep. 2 - Rev. Michael Coren

    Michael Coren, is a prominent Christian writer, media personality and thought leader. In the holiday-themed episode, John and Michael delve into questions of proper professionalism, ethical disclosure and some of the bigger challenges the world faces as we come to terms with making do with less.

  • Ep. 1 - Prasad Ramani

    In the pilot episode of Bullshift, John speaks with Prasad Ramani, CEO of Syntoniq, a software company that helps people probe their financial biases and behaviours. They touch on how being biased is a bi-product of being human and how people are often better able to see biases in others than in themselves.
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