Posts by Robb Engen
Weekend Reading: How Much Should We Save Edition
Financial writer Jean Chatzky caused an uproar this week when she tweeted some advice on age-based savings benchmarks that, to some, seemed unattainable. By the time you’re 30, aim to have 1x your annual income set aside for retirement. At 40, 3x; at 50, 6x; at 60, 8x; and by retirement, 10x. — Jean Chatzky…
Read MoreDouble Dip the Savings with RBC and Petro-Canada
This post is sponsored by RBC and Petro-Canada. All expressed opinions and experiences are my own words. In the classic Seinfeld episode, The Implant, George Costanza gets into an argument at a funeral reception with his girlfriend’s brother, Timmy, when accused of double dipping a chip. “Did you just double-dip that chip?” “Excuse me?” “You…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: The Undoing Project Edition
Long-time readers know I’m fascinated with behavioural psychology and how we make decisions, particularly about money. Of course, the most influential research in this field came from Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. Kahneman won a Nobel Prize in 2002 for his and Tversky’s work on judgement and decision-making (Tversky died in 1996), and his book,…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Tougher Mortgage Rules Edition
Earlier this week, the Office of Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) – Canada’s banking watchdog – introduced tougher mortgage rules to take effect January 1, 2018. This new ‘stress test’ applies to homebuyers with down payments greater than 20 percent and requires the mortgage applicant to qualify for the higher of the Bank of Canada 5-year…
Read MoreCoping With Stock Market Losses
Imagine you’re at the stage where you finally have a decent amount of money to invest. After a painstaking amount of research you carefully construct a portfolio of low-cost ETFs with broad exposure to global markets, plus a healthy dose of bonds to smooth out the ride. You determine your rebalancing threshold and then set-up…
Read MoreHow Often Should You Service Your Vehicle?
How often should you service your vehicle? This table shows the difference between the owner’s manual recommendations and the guidelines offered by Mr. Lube:
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Nobel Prize Edition
One of the most influential books I’ve ever read was Nudge by behavioural economist Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. The book is all about subtlety or gently steering people into making better choices to improve their health, wealth, and happiness. Policymakers around the world caught on to his groundbreaking research, which have been widely applied…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Thanksgiving Edition
Our inbox is overflowing with questions about investing, so while we answer those individually we’re also fairly positive these are burning questions for many of our readers. Look for more investing posts in the coming weeks covering topics such as rebalancing, tax-efficiency, safe withdrawal rates, asset allocation, and much more. For now, enjoy this latest…
Read MoreWhat’s Not To Love About ETFs?
The availability of exchange-traded funds is one of the best things to happen to investors in the last twenty years. What’s not to love about ETFs? Investors can get broad diversification on the cheap with just two or three funds. This simplicity is what tipped the scales for me nearly three years ago when I…
Read MoreWhy Don’t You Have Bonds In Your Portfolio?
Confession time: I’ve never held bonds in my portfolio. I didn’t own bonds when my portfolio was filled with Canadian dividend stocks, and there’s no bonds in it today. Instead I’ve opted for a two-ETF all-equity portfolio. I don’t have anything against bonds, in fact if you were to ask me to build you a…
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