Marty Kobayashi
6 Garamond Court M3C 1Z5 Toronto, ON, Canada

Team HollisWealth will be out at the Momiji Bowlathon this weekend. Will we see you there?

A little chuckle for you as we approach the end of tax season. Don’t forget the filing deadline is April 30th!

It's tax season, which means it's also tax/CRA fraud season. Though many of our clients and the younger generation may be fairly savvy and are aware of the various scams, keep in mind that some of the more vulnerable members of our society like our parents and the older generation might not know any of this. They tend to be very trusting and honest, which is what makes them so vulnerable. Please consider warning your elderly parents, neighbours, and friends about the more po...pular scams like the fake calls from the CRA claiming they are going to arrest you if you don't pay your overdue amount, or the more recent letters going around claiming you are owed a refund and you just need to verify your banking/credit card information. Or even the ones unrelated to their taxes, a common one we're seeing a lot of these days is the fake email from a "friend" who is on vacation overseas and needs someone to go buy them a gift card and send them the PIN. We personally know a few people who have fallen victim to that scam. Be vigilant! Not just for yourself, but help educate those around you as well. We have resources here at the office if you want any brochures or literature about common scams. We would hate to see anyone close to us affected by fraud.

Marty spent the day at the Fidelity Face to Face Conference listening to famed Portfolio Managers Will Danoff and Joel Tillinghast. Great insights.

Here's a new one - scammers are going after loyalty points now too. Kristin had someone use/steal her Scene points and Air Miles without permission, cards still safely tucked away in her wallet. This means someone gained unauthorized access to her information somehow. Identity theft and credit card scams are still a very real problem, especially in the digital age we live in, but for many of us our loyalty points are as good as cash too. Always a good reminder to protect your information and change your passwords often. Yes, it's annoying to have to remember new passwords but it's more work to have to report fraud after the fact!

Did you know that 1 in 8 Canadian women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime? Today we wore denim for the CURE Foundation/Fondation CURE's #denimday to raise funds and awareness for cancer research.

Team Kobayashi was proud to support the #JerseysforHumboldt movement today. #HumboldtStrong

Do you have aging parents? Caring for a loved one at home? This is a great opportunity to learn more about a wide range of topics relating to the well-being of the elderly. Hosted by Momiji Health Care Society and Japanese Social Services. Free to attend, pre-registration required. Sign up now!

Thankful for our very intuitive staff today who caught a potential scammer in their tracks. Received a phone call through the main office line from "Bell Aliant" asking to speak to the person in charge of our "office communications". They had Marty's name and claimed to be able to offer us a discount on our bill if we could just verify some details like the credit card on file. We are lucky that Kimiye thinks quick on her feet and told them we will not release that informat...ion and she asked the lady for her name and wrote down the phone number. Of course the person on the other end hung up immediately. March is Fraud Prevention Month, but it is important to be vigilant every single day. Scammers are getting smarter; they are able to spoof the call display, they use legitimate logos and spoofed email addresses. If something looks or sounds suspicious, it is better to be safe than sorry.

We are happy to announce that our transition to HollisWealth, which is a division of Scotia Capital Inc., is now underway. While this transition may seem sudden or unexpected to some of you, it has been part of my long-term business plan to move to the securities side. Rest assured, our branch location on the second floor of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre will remain the same, as well as the signage in our office. We will retain not only our existing staff and our phone numbers but our email addresses will also remain the same. Should you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact the office at any time. - Marty