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  1. Courses
  2. /Finance
  3. /Personal Finance

The Simplest Personal Finance Strategy Ever

Based on the book Cash Cows, Pigs and Jackpots

Created byDavid Trahairworkspace_premiumBest Instructor
IntermediateUpdated Jan 21, 2025

What You'll Learn

  • check_circleAppreciate how focussing on ensuring future cash flow is a better strategy than a balance sheet/net worth approach.
  • check_circleCalculate whether buying a house is the best option for anyone currently renting
  • check_circleBe aware of the relationship between money and happiness and how to increase your happiness level
  • check_circleUnderstand the extreme risks of buying a high-rise condominium as well as the tax implications
  • check_circleBecome familiar with how inflation and the CPI index work and how declining prices may be the big problem

About This Course

The previously accepted method of building wealth doesn’t work anymore. The truth when it comes to personal finances is simple: People’s quest to secure a comfortable retirement often ends up making them poor and others rich.

The old way to get wealthy was to acquire assets like real estate, stocks, and mutual funds, often using debt, and then sit back and let time grow your net worth.

But that strategy is deeply flawed and is sending many people to the poor house. That’s because it ignores the one basic principle that overrides any wealth-building strategy that anyone who is truly rich knows: What we should really be focused on is not getting rich, but plain old cash flow.

This course is designed to show you the dangers that exist with a net worth focus. That’s because the typical net worth statement is a very misleading measure of wealth that often leads to major problems. We’ll delve into a much better strategy – The Cash Cow Strategy – that focuses on the cash flow implications of everything you acquire from now on rather than where they go on a net worth statement. The strategy is so simple you could explain it to your kids and friends who aren’t good with money.

You will see a demonstration of a free spreadsheet that is included with the course, the “House Rent versus Buy Analyzer”.

Course Content

9 activities • 59 videos • duration: 2h 57m

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Intro-Part12 videos • 3 min
  • videocamIntroduction
    Duration 2:41
  • videocamLearning outcomes
    Duration 0:22
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The Cash Cow Strategy-Part110 videos • 49 min
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Who wants to be a millionaire?-Part16 videos • 12 min
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Chasing happiness-Part18 videos • 18 min
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The dream of home ownership-Part112 videos • 57 min
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The condo conundrum-Part112 videos • 23 min
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Inflation: Myth or monster?-Part17 videos • 10 min
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The Cash Cow retirement strategy-Part11 videos • 1 min
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Conclusion-Part11 videos • 0 min

Your Instructor

David Trahair

Acclaimed Author and On-demand Course Developer

menu_book39 courses
star13,044 reviews

David Trahair, CPA, CA, is an author and eLearning developer who creates on-demand video courses for CPAs across Canada. His courses cover topics including personal finance, ethics, AI, and Microsoft Excel. David is also the author of six personal finance books, three of which are national bestsellers. Through his firm, he helps CPAs build practical skills through engaging, self-paced learning.

Credit Information

Is this course eligible for my CPD requirements as a Canadian CPA?

Provincial regulators of CPAs in Canada do not require that independent providers of CPD be approved to offer courses. Instead, individual CPAs are responsible for assessing whether a CPD activity meets their requirements, and may take activities from any source provided those requirements are met.

Every course offered on LearnFormula is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, and advances learning objectives that are relevant to the responsibilities or professional competencies of Canadian CPAs. All activities on LearnFormula are quantifiable in terms of hours, and are also verifiable, in that users receive documented evidence of their attendance via a certificate of completion after finishing a course (and this certificate is stored by LearnFormula indefinitely). Nearly 100,000 Canadian CPAs successfully satisfy their CPD requirements via LearnFormula on an annual basis.

What Students Are Saying

4.4 out of 5
Student's Choice
404 reviews
  • BC
    Brian C.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Great match for me. Simple and easy to understand.

  • KS
    Kevin S.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Some good tips and relevant information from living within your means while working to preparing for retirement.

  • DG
    Demetri G.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Exceptional presenter and very relevant material!

  • GD
    Gordon D.
    starstarstarstarstar

    Very interesting course and speaker. Relevant to my personal situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

We are a registered provider with 300+ associations and regulatory bodies worldwide. We operate across 27 global markets including Canada, the US, Australia, and the UK. Every course page clearly displays its specific accreditations. Upon completion, you receive a professional certificate that can be validated online. Our certificates include all necessary accreditation details, credit hours, and completion dates, and are formatted specifically to meet the submission requirements of most global regulatory bodies.

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