InvestRight 2017 Year-in-Review

This past year has been a busy one for InvestRight. We hope you’ve enjoyed our content and learned a lot about a range of investing topics.

We wanted to take this time to look back at what we’ve done this year. Below is a list of campaigns, videos, and our most popular articles for 2017.

Take a Look at Investment Fees

In January 2017, we continued our Take a Look at Investment Fees campaign, which began in October 2016. With this campaign, BCSC InvestRight is spreading awareness about looking at the fees that come with investing your money.

Awareness can be improved using the Take a Look Quiz and the Investment Fee Calculator, which were released at the beginning of the campaign.

A Fee Guide and a video were also prepared to help further understanding about the investment fees you pay and the impact they have on your investment returns over time.

Here is one of the video advertisements that has been running since October 2016.

The campaign will continue into 2018 – stay tuned for our new advertisements.

Fraud Prevention Month

During March 2017, BCSC InvestRight released Fraudster Crooner’s A Fraud Warning Song to help promote fraud awareness for Fraud Prevention Month.

We also released two binary options articles: one on BBB Top 10 Scams and one on Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) urging investors to become aware of binary options.

In addition to the Warning Song, the BCSC InvestRight released two binary option videos, one with BCSC Enforcement director, Doug Muir, speaking about binary options and a Q&A with Muir.

Back to School Series

For the return to school, BCSC InvestRight released a three-part series to help teach investors about the importance of financial goals, investment planning, and the fees you pay.

With this series we spoke about questions to consider while saving, finding and truly knowing your registered investment advisor,  understanding if you’re on the right track with your finances, and teaching you how to get started with investment planning. We also explored the fees and charges associated with your investments.

Take a Look at Your Investment Fees Mini-Campaign

The BCSC conducted a three-part longitudinal study to measure how well BC investors understand the fees they pay and how the new charges and compensation reports will affect their knowledge and behaviours. Investors started getting their charges and compensation reports from their investment advisors as part of securities regulations called the Client Relationship Model, Phase 2 (CRM2).

With the information gathered, BCSC InvestRight ran a mini-campaign using specific data from the findings. BCSC InvestRight released a blog post regarding the study’s finding confirming investors’ need to learn more about fees.

In addition to the post, BCSC InvestRight released a video providing investors with more information about the fees they pay to their investment advisors and their firm.

The study also found improved investor knowledge following new CRM2 reports as outlined in our blog post.

Find more information on the three-part longitudinal studies here.

Real Estate Campaign

In November, we focused on real estate investing. Our goal was to spread awareness regarding what exactly real estate investing is and the risks involved. We used the acronym REAL to explain four things to consider before making a real estate investment decision: read, evaluate, ask, and look. We then released four How Do You Know What’s REAL articles, which explore how to look for advice, how and when to ask for clarification, how to evaluate the risks, and how to read and understand the disclosure.

Exploring Initial Coin Offerings (ICO)

ICOs and cryptocurrencies have been receiving a lot of attention lately. We released a blog post to make sure investors understand what ICOs are and the fraud that sometimes come along with these types of investments.

BCSC InvestRight also released a video providing investors with more information.

InvestRight Website Updates

In order to make people’s trips to the InvestRight website as seamless and informative as possible, we implemented hover definitions throughout the site. The definitions allow for a further understanding of the information an individual is reading without having to leave the page.

We also updated our Fee Calculator and improved the glossary, implementing a search bar where users can type in the exact word they want to know the definition of. We introduced a new video page, and added new Report a Concern buttons and in-site banners to our sidebars.

Featured InvestRight Blog Posts 

Throughout the year, we shared a lot of information with you via our Investor News Blog. Here are the five most popular articles:

• Mutual Funds: Understanding Common Fees and Terms
• BCSC Study Confirms Investors Need to Learn More About Fees
• BCSC Study Finds Improved Investor Knowledge Following New CRM2 Reports
• Online Investment Scams: How to Avoid a Scam on the Internet
• Ponzi Scheme: Investment Scam

We also put out a monthly Enforcement Roundup; feel free to take a look and keep up-to-date with some of the BCSC’s Enforcement division’s activities.

Report a Concern

If you have any concerns about a person or company offering an investment opportunity, please contact BCSC Contact Centre at 604-899-6854 or 1-800-373-6393 or through e-mail at [email protected]. You can also file a complaint or submit a tip anonymously using the BCSC’s online complaint form.

InvestRight.org is the BC Securities Commission’s investor education website. Subscribe to receive email updates from BCSC InvestRight.