Oct. 5: BEST OF THE BLOGOSPHERE

October 5, 2026

Has `analysis paralysis’ got you sitting on the fence with investing?

Most of us understand the idea of getting our money working for us via investing. But, writes Jessica Wong for Money Canada, “analysis paralysis” may have some of us sitting on the fence rather than getting going.

She says noted financial author Dave Ramsey has a solution for the over-analyzers among us – “shut up and invest.”

Answering a recent question from a listener on what fund is best to invest in, Ramsey made the point that “fewer than half of individual mutual funds in the growth sector outperform the market over time.” This, notes Wong, is “a point that Canadian data has confirmed repeatedly.” Wong adds that “over a 10-year horizon, 98.8 per cent of active Canadian equity funds failed to beat their benchmark.”

But that shouldn’t prevent people from investing, the article continues.

Ramsey, she writes, was arguing that any investing was better than not investing. “It was about the cost of doing nothing while time drags on,” she explains.

“You got a lot of people that have an opinion out there that have no stinking money,” Ramsey states in the article. “100 per cent of the people who invest end up with more money than those who don’t every time.”

It shouldn’t be a debate about which sort of investment does better than others, the article continues. Taken a different way, continues Wong, Ramsey is saying that “a small difference in returns between funds is irrelevant if you never actually invest.”

“Ramsey pointed to research from Ramsey Solutions’ National Study of Millionaires, a survey of more than 10,000 U.S. millionaires, to make his case. The findings were striking: eight out of 10 millionaires built their wealth through their workplace retirement plan. Most were not financial geniuses. Most were not high earners. And many picked a fund to invest in simply because a colleague suggested it. While these findings are not peer-reviewed, they paint an interesting picture of how everyday citizens reach a seven-figure net worth without being financial tycoons,” the article notes.

“A lot of millionaires are just regular people who picked out their mutual fund based on what the guy in the cubicle next to them was doing,” Ramsey states in the article. “The key, he stressed, is that they were investing — not just talking about it,” Wong writes.

Wong then cites recent research from the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan that found “that 49 per cent of Canadians have not set aside any money for retirement in the past year, and 39 per cent have never saved for retirement at all.”

Edward Jones research, she continues, found that only 41 per cent of Canucks plan to make a registered retirement savings plan contribution this year – but of that total 70 per cent have “negative feelings” about contributing, and 40 per cent report being confused.

So, she points out, many of us aren’t saving, those who are report being nervous about how to go about it, and as well, this time according to BMO’s Annual Retirement Survey, “74 per cent of Canadians worry they will not have enough money in retirement because of rising prices. Of those who said inflation was eroding their financial security, 31 per cent admitted to actively contributing less to their retirement savings as a result.”

“The gap between worrying about retirement and actually investing for it is what Ramsey is calling out,” concludes Wong.

If there’s a takeaway from this interesting piece, is that “just do it” is a motto that works not only for athletic wear but retirement saving.

If you’re saving on your own for retirement, and aren’t sure how to proceed, let the experts at the Saskatchewan Pension Plan lend a helping hand. You decide how much you want to contribute – any amount up to your available RRSP room – and we’ll take it from there.

Your savings will be invested in our low-cost, professionally managed pooled funds that feature diversification among the major asset classes. When, at the end of work, you want to turn those savings into income, your choices include the security of a lifetime monthly annuity payment or the flexibility of SPP’s Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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Money Canada

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