Financial Planning Simplified
I’m Robb — the guy behind Boomer & Echo. I’ve been a personal finance blogger since 2010 and an advice-only financial planner since 2015. I help regular Canadians solve regular problems and make smarter decisions about their money — without selling them a thing.
My philosophy is simple: Money shouldn’t be complicated.
You don’t need 17 bank accounts, 12 ETFs, or a side hustle to retire comfortably. You just need a good plan, grounded in what really matters to you.
By reading this website you're joining more than 250,000 people who stop by here every month to get tips on how to save money, invest well, and retire comfortably. And, if you choose to subscribe and receive new posts by email, you'll join a growing list of more than 12,000 email subscribers who are the first to get these tips sent straight to their inbox.
New Articles from Robb
When the RRSP Meltdown Doesn’t Melt
Robb Engen | August 29, 2026 |
Claire retired at the end of 2022, age 60, with $600,000 in her RRSP. She sat down with me to build her decumulation plan and we landed on a strategy that sounds counterintuitive to most retirees: spend down the RRSP aggressively between 61 and 69, while intentionally delaying CPP and OAS to 70. The logic…
Weekend Reading: Why We Don’t Sell Edition
Robb Engen | August 14, 2026 |
I’ve been pretty much incognito for the past month after taking one of the longest breaks of my adult life. No laptop, no Zoom calls, no blogging, and no financial plans (sorry!). One of the nice side effects of unplugging is the lack of daily news, specifically around investing and the stock market – which…
Weekend Reading: 2026 Mid-Year Market Update
Robb Engen | July 5, 2026 |
It seems like every year around this time I get a strange sense of déjà vu. This past March, markets fell sharply after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran and the conflict escalated, and Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation, choking off a huge share of the world’s oil and…
Weekend Reading: Total Cost Reporting Edition
Robb Engen | June 20, 2026 |
They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. Well, that light is about to shine a whole lot brighter on investment fees. Starting in early 2027, Canadian investors will see the total cost of owning their investments in a way they never have before. For years, the fees you pay to own mutual funds, ETFs, and…
Why 54% Is All You Need to Be a Great Investor (or Tennis Champion)
Robb Engen | June 11, 2026 |
A client emailed me recently after a rough week in the markets. She’s a new DIY investor, still getting used to watching her portfolio in real time for the first time after years of never even logging into her old managed accounts. “I’ve been checking the app almost daily – maybe not a good thing,”…
Weekend Reading: I Have Concepts Of A Plan Edition
Robb Engen | June 6, 2026 |
During my recent interview with Dave Chilton on The Wealthy Barber podcast, we got into a question I hear often: when’s the right time to start working with a financial planner on retirement? Our answer wasn’t 65, it was roughly 10 years before you plan to retire. Of course, you can also be too far…
