About the Authors

Warren MacKenzie has been offering financial and investment advice for more than 20 years. During this period he has worked with all types of investors - from those just starting out, to the average investor saving for retirement, to the extremely wealthy.

His professional qualifications include Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees, and his first career posting was as a teacher in Halifax, Nova Scotia. While his teaching career was brief, it was good preparation for educating clients and Warren believes one of the most important things good financial planners do is educate their clients.

Warren qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1976 and worked in public practice for about 12 years. In addition to the usual audit assignments he also worked for several years with an income tax specialist and later became a licensed trustee in bankruptcy. As a bankruptcy trustee he saw what happens when individuals spend more than they earn, when their business fails, when they become mired in debt, or when they try to get ahead financially without a sensible plan.

In 1987 he began working as a financial advisor, first with Investors Group and then as a senior VP with two different major securities firms. During this period he qualified as a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and later completed the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) program. This program, sponsored by the Wharton School of Business, was crucial in providing a better understanding of how to monitor, measure, and control investment risk. In 2004 he completed the Certified Hedge Fund Specialists Course (CHSF).

Warren has given hundreds of seminars to groups including the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, the RCMP, the Etobicoke CA Association, North York Retired Teachers Association, the Toronto Real Estate Board, and for the Ontario Government.

In March 2005 Warren retired from the ‘selling side’ and began a new business called Second Opinion Investment Risk Consultants Inc. In this business he does not sell investments of any kind. Instead, he offers independent and unbiased second opinions on investment portfolios, strictly on a fee for service basis.

He is the author of The Unbiased Advisor and the co-author of the CARP Financial Planning Workbook and the MacKenzie Byron Guide to Mutual Funds.

He is the father of three grown children and lives with his wife in Toronto

 

 

Ken is an investment professional with over 25 years of experience in the investment industry. His experience spans the investment world of the private client investor as well as the world of the institutional investor representing pension funds, asset management companies, mutual funds, and investment counselors.

Ken worked as a Portfolio Manager with the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, Quantitative Analyst/Strategist with Scotia Capital and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and as investment advisor for ScotiaMcleod and BMO Nesbitt Burns.

He currently works with Warren Mackenzie at Second Opinion Investor Services.

Ken is originally from Winnipeg where he graduated with a BCS and an MBA from the University of Manitoba. Ken has completed the CFA (Certified Financial Analyst) level 1 and 2 and the CIM (Canadian Investment Manager Program). Ken recently moved back to Toronto from Retirementville (Kelowna) B.C.