Archive for November 2017
From The Boomer & Echo Mailbag: Should I Sell My Bond Fund?
Q. The Bank of Canada has raised its interest rate a couple of times so far and there may be more hikes in the near future. I own a bond mutual fund in my RRSP and I had been told I should dump it before interest rates go up, but I’ve held on so far.…
Read MoreYour Year-End Financial Planning Checklist
December often zooms by when you’re busy buying gifts, baking cookies, attending parties, and shovelling snow. It may be tempting to just enjoy the holiday season, but the last month of the year is also a good time to think about year-end financial planning. Luckily, you have plenty of time between now and the end…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: The Black Friday Edition
Ahh, Black Friday. The day for personal finance experts to get up on their soap-boxes and preach about the evils of consumerism and spending. It’s also the time for news media to reach out to said experts and get their ‘tips and tricks’ to combat the evil forces of The Black Friday, as if we’ll…
Read More3 Ways For Investors To Get International Diversification
Many Canadian investors suffer from home country bias by holding all, or a large portion of, their investments in Canadian stocks. This makes little sense for those looking to build a diversified portfolio. Canada makes up just 3 percent of the world’s market capitalization and its markets tilt heavily towards financials (banks & insurance) and…
Read MoreHow To Leverage Technology Into Good Financial Habits
Being able to manage money well is a necessary life skill, and the keystone for good financial planning. If you don’t have a handle on your cash flow, where your money is spent and how much to save, it will be harder to not only pay your bills on time each month, but to realize…
Read MoreDollars and Sense: Book Review and Giveaway
Most personal finance literature focuses on the numbers. How much you need to save, where to find the best deals, which investments earn the highest return, why you should pay off your high interest debt first. But there’s a growing body of work exploring our financial behaviour and why certain decisions about money are made…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Exploding Sunroof Update Edition
Long-time readers might recall last summer when the panoramic sunroof in our 2013 Hyundai Sante Fe spontaneously shattered while my wife and I were driving on the highway towards Lethbridge. I filed a complaint with Transport Canada, and after searching online and finding multiple instances of exploding sunroofs, wondered why a recall hadn’t been ordered.…
Read MoreRRSP Strategies: Beyond The Basics
RRSPs are a valuable tool for many taxpayers, which is why they are the backbone of many retirement plans. Getting the most out of your RRSP often involves thinking several years ahead, rather than just when the contribution deadline is looming. Here are five RRSP strategies to get you thinking beyond the basics: Claiming RRSP…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: CPP Reality Check Edition
Repeat after me: The Canada Pension Plan will be there for me when I retire. In fact, CPP is sustainable over the next 75 years according to the most recent report issued by Canada’s Chief Actuary. This projection assumes a modest 3.9 percent annual real rate of return over that time. The plan is operated…
Read MoreBuilding Your Wealth: Investing In Stocks
Most investors can get all the investment diversification they need with certain mutual funds and ETFs. But investing in stocks can be of greater interest to some investors who seek the thrill of attempting to beat the market. When you purchase stock, you own a piece of a company, which makes you a shareholder with…
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