Posts by Robb Engen

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…

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…

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…

I work with a lot of clients who have done everything right. They saved diligently throughout their careers, paid off their mortgage, maxed out their registered accounts, and arrived at retirement with more money than they ever expected to have. And yet they’re worried. Not about whether they can afford to retire – they clearly…

I read a Globe and Mail piece by RBC senior portfolio manager Nancy Woods this week, one of those “investing basics” explainers aimed at people just getting started. The hook was a herd-of-cows analogy: your money is the herd, dividends are the milk, price appreciation is the baby cows (the herd growing over time). The…