Archive for January 2014
Weekend Reading: A Two-Book Giveaway Edition
Last week I reviewed two personal finance books: Stop Over-Thinking Your Money! by Preet Banerjee, and The Moolala Guide To Rockin’ Your RRSP by Bruce Sellery. The authors were kind enough to each provide a copy of their book to give away to a lucky Boomer & Echo reader. We had over 80 entries to…
Read MoreFraudulent Schemes That Target The Elderly
Fraud is the number one crime against older Canadians – hitting as many as one in five seniors – according to bankrate.com. People over the age of 65 are especially vulnerable to fraudulent schemes for a number of reasons: They often live alone and are home most of the day to answer the phone and…
Read MoreStop Over Thinking Your Money, and Start Rockin’ Your RRSP
Two prominent Canadian personal finance experts have released new books this year that focus on how to simplify and improve your finances. Preet Banerjee’s Stop Over-Thinking Your Money, and Bruce Sellery’s The Moolala Guide To Rockin’ Your RRSP, offer smart and straightforward advice on how to manage your money, with each author breaking down their…
Read MoreRetirement Polls And RRSP Season
When I worked in banking, January and February were known as the dreaded “RRSP Season”. It was the approximate equivalent of the retail “Christmas season” with long extended hours, lines of desperate people wanting a quick RRSP purchase, and the inevitable sales quotas. Related: How an RRSP loan turned my $12,000 contribution into $20,000 With…
Read MoreMy Advice To Switch Out Of Mutual Funds Draws Ire Of Industry Group
In a recent Toronto Star column, I wrote that mutual fund fees in Canada are some of the highest in the world and because of these fees the vast majority of actively-managed funds lag behind the market. I said that switching to low-cost index mutual funds or ETFs will cut your investment fees to the…
Read MoreWhat’s All This Retirement Planning For, Anyway?
Imagine a world of total certainty – you know when you’ll die, how many times your car will crap out on you, what the markets will do, and if your third kid will need braces. In that world. figuring out exactly how much money you’ll need to save so that you can stop working entirely…
Read MoreHow Are Your Investments Performing?
Choosing the right investments for your goals is just the beginning. You need to monitor their performance to see how you are progressing towards those goals. Many times investors look at their statements and check out the investment return. If the total has increased by say, 7 percent, from the last statement, they’re happy. On…
Read More2013 Portfolio Rate Of Return
Last year, with the help of Justin Bender from PWL Capital, I went back and calculated the rate of return from my portfolio of dividend stocks since I started buying shares in 2009. Why? Because it’s important to calculate and compare your portfolio returns to an appropriate benchmark so you can figure out whether active…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Because Weddings Edition
We launched a new business this week – a fee-only planning service – and the response so far has been fantastic. Thank you for all of your positive comments and emails, we really appreciate the support. If you’re interested in working with us, please check out our fee-only advice page where you can read more…
Read MoreHow To Get A Good Return On Your New Year’s Resolutions
Your New Year’s Resolution Resolve to renew all your old resolves, And add a few that are new. Resolve to keep them as long as you can. What more can a poor man do? – Early 20th century postcard The last day of the year is often a time for looking back to the past…
Read More