Weekend Reading: Canadian Financial Summit Edition

The good folks at Young & Thrifty have put together an awesome initiative called the Canadian Financial Summit. It’s a unique online conference taking place September 14-16 with more than 25 Canadian personal finance experts sharing their insights, tips, and secret money hacks.

The conference is completely free to view during that time, or you can purchase a Premium All Access Pass that will allow you stream the entire conference at your convenience.

I’m joining speakers such as Rob Carrick, Preet Banerjee, Ellen Roseman, Andrew Hallam, Evelyn Jacks, and more.

[see the full speaker list to look for your favourites]

You can catch me speaking about my 4-minute investment portfolio, in addition to great sessions on:

• Saving more on everyday items
• Better, smarter, easier ways to invest
• Protecting yourself from corporate chicanery
• Retiring earlier
• Levelling the playing field when it comes to discussing financial matters
• Negotiating the best deals for yourself
• Avoiding crippling fees and terrible advice
• Understanding the housing market and what’s actually important to know
• Getting your credit cards to PAY YOU
• Earning hundreds more every week with brilliant side hustles
• Travel on the cheap to exotic locales

Just head on over to the Canadian Financial Summit, sign up for free, and be automatically entered to win one of the free Premium All Access Passes they will giving away when the event goes LIVE on September 13th.

This Week’s Recap:

On Monday I listed five retirement planning options to help you reach your retirement goals.

On Wednesday Marie gave us 25 real life money saving tips (some good suggestions from readers, too, in the comments section).

And on Friday we reached into the Boomer & Echo mailbag and answered a question about repaying the Home Buyers’ Plan loan.

Weekend Reading:

It’s back-to-school soon for many post-secondary students and Rob Carrick shares some excellent advice to those meandering through their studies: choosing the wrong program could cost you $20,000 per year. He hedges this advice, however, with an important caveat:

“We seem to regard a post-secondary education as a conveyor belt; you jump on after high school and don’t get off until you graduate. Today’s grads will likely be working until their late 60s and early 70s. In that light, there’s no reason to stress about taking an extra year or two in your 20s to finish a post-secondary degree.”

I take that to mean it’s okay to take a year or two off after high-school to travel or work full-time. Find out who you are and what truly interests you before entering post-secondary for the next four or five years.

Speaking of making regrettable choices, here’s an interesting read on something called hyperbolic discounting – a cognitive bias where people choose smaller, immediate rewards rather than larger, later rewards.

Mavis Wanczyk, a hospital worker from Chicopee, Massachusetts, won the $758.7 million Powerball prize this week. She chose to take a lump sum payment of $480 million, or $336 million after taxes. Not surprisingly, Wanczyk quit her job on Thursday after learning she won the prize.

Back to our bad behaviour: A Business Insider team tried to buy people’s Powerball tickets for much more than they paid. 11 out of 14 people refused to give up their tickets when offered more than twice what they paid.

In Preet Banerjee’s latest Money School video he discusses the relationship between asset allocation and risk & return:

Are investment fees tax deductible? Jason Heath explains when they are (and when they are not).

Jonathan Chevreau explains survivor benefits for those receiving CPP, OAS, GIS, and more.

Kate Smalley takes a trip down memory lane to share how she benefitted from the privilege of financial literacy.

The Luxe Strategist shares nine things she does that have radically simplified her life.

Rob Carrick shares some great online tools that can help improve your portfolio returns. (Investors should try their hand at The Wealth Game).

Most financial services professionals are only obligated to offer their clients an investment that is suitable – a broad term that may fit your risk profile but may not be in your best interests. PWL Capital’s Ben Felix explains how a suitability standard affects the advice you receive:

Finally, Million Dollar Journey blogger Frugal Trader offers some strategies for business owners to reduce the potential changes to private corporation taxes.

Have a great weekend, everyone!