Marty Kobayashi

10/24/2025

Channeling our team spirit today in support of the Toronto Blue Jays. GO JAYS GO!

05/22/2025

With another impending Canada Post strike on the horizon, now is a great time to remind you that iA Private Wealth offers e-Delivery of statements, tax slips, and trade confirmations. This also prevents prying eyes from getting into any wayward mail, as the site uses 2-factor authentication for extra security and peace of mind. In addition to this, the Client Portal features a secured messaging system to be able to send us confidential documents (and vice versa) with full encryption so we don't have to worry about email security.

Self-registration is straight-forward and quick. Even if not for the strike, there is going to come a day when they start charging clients for paper statements like the banks so get ahead of the curve. They developed a mobile app too, so all your account information can be quite literally at your fingertips.

02/03/2025

There is a lot of uncertainty swirling in the world right now, as all eyes are on the trade war between the US and Canada. What does this mean for the markets? Truth be told, we don't really know while the situation continues to evolve. What we do know is that it's important to maintain some perspective and don't let your emotions make your decisions for you.

One of the most important take-aways that we learned from the initial market crash in March 2020 is that it does nobody any good to panic. This too, shall pass.

As always, please reach out to us if you have questions or concerns.

01/28/2025

The BC Securities Commission's latest fraud prevention campaign has brought us this tongue-in-cheek 2 minute music video titled "We're not all F***ed", making light of the increasingly complex and advanced scams we're seeing making the rounds these days. The video shows the various (often hilarious) ways AI can be used to fool honest people whether it is by spoofing someone's voice, or creating (un)realistic fake images.

The takeaway from this campaign? Do your research. Use your critical thinking skills. Never click on a link unless you know who it's from and what it's for. And remember that your Investment Advisor, bank, the CRA, or Canada Post will NEVER send you a text asking you for financial information, to reset a password, or to ask for money. When in doubt, feel free to reach out to our office and we'd be happy to help you decipher whether something is legitimate or not. You are your first line of defense, stay alert!

Language warning for the video:

AI gets better every second. AI investment scams get better the second after that. But we're not all screwed. The BC Securities Commission can help you learn...

08/31/2023

Exciting news for the JCCC - this also means our mailing address will be changing. No impact to clients other than an update to your address book if you're going to be mailing anything in to us. More details to follow re: timing as the change filters through the proper channels to update Canada Post databases, Google Maps, etc.

What do you think of the new name?

09/29/2022

Yesterday Marty donned his work gloves and volunteered to help plant some beautiful new Sakura trees around the JCCC. They worked hard all morning and finished just in the nick of time before the skies opened up and poured rain the rest of the afternoon. Special thanks to Nakamori Japanese Restaurant for the delicious bento lunch.

🌸Yesterday, Shiseido Canada staff, the Toronto Japanese Garden Club, and JCCC's Board Members planted 35 cherry blossom trees around the JCCC's ground. We are very grateful for their hard work and excited for these new additions to our cultural centre.

Photo credit: Jiro Fukushima

11/12/2021

As a practice that has been around since Coby started in the business back in the late 70s, we have a lot of long-time clients who are aging, so we talk about matters relating to seniors because we see so much of it.
Our friends over at Japanese Social Services have an article in their newsletter this month about some of the issues they're seeing in their line of work, and it only reinforces what we're seeing too.

If you have aging family members or even friends or neighbours who might not have support, it is so important to make sure they have the proper plans in place for things like Power of Attorney for Property and Health, and a Will. We cannot give legal advice but we can help refer you to someone to help with these things if you don't have a lawyer. Please reach out to us if you have any questions about Estate Planning.

Takanori Kuge (JSS Counsellor)

09/07/2021

Some great insights from our friends over at KATA Accounting on the importance of knowing what your duties are of being a company director. Thanks for sharing!

What are the duties of a company director? Are there liabilities as a company director? Why are continuing directors important? We have another set of striking questions we get from our clients.

What do we say?

Being a company director comes with a number of important responsibilities. There are clear director's duties set out in every company as well as best practice guidelines to follow. Some of these include acting in good faith and in the best interests of the company. A company director ensures that the company is solvent which means it can pay its debts as they fall due and has more assets than liabilities. In the event, a director does not act within the statutory standard or breaches his or her duties can be held liable to the corporation and for the damages those actions caused.

A corporation's business affairs are managed by the direction of its board of directors. Since shareholders elect their successors, continuing directors must meet certain reasonable qualifications to serve as the company's director. Continuing directors are responsible for carrying out the board's policies and making day-to-day decisions.

(Credit Quantum Business Law - www.qbl.ca)

www.kataaccounting.com