Posts by Robb Engen
Cool It. The Feds Aren’t Killing The Housing Market
Allow me to riff on the housing market and how recent changes to mortgage rules will affect Canadian homebuyers. To recap, the feds stepped in and introduced a mortgage rate stress test for fixed term mortgages of five years or more. The stress test, which already existed for variable and 1-4 year fixed terms, stated…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Justwealth Edition
Here at Boomer & Echo we’re big fans of the robo-advisor model that gives investors the chance to build a low cost, diversified portfolio of ETFs and not worry about the hassle of buying, selling, and rebalancing on their own. Just set up regular contributions to your account and the robo-advisor allocates your dollars into a portfolio of ETFs…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Vancouver Edition
My wife and I celebrated our 10th anniversary with a trip to Vancouver last week. We found round-trip flights from Calgary for less than $300 and then decided to splurge by staying at a boutique hotel downtown. The location was perfect, as we could walk everywhere from Stanley Park to Granville Island. We took a free shuttle…
Read MoreA Big List Of Behavioural Biases
There’s a fascinating link between psychology and money that tries to explain how we think and behave when it comes to saving, spending, and investing. It was Meir Statman’s book, What Investors Really Want, that first opened my eyes to behavioural biases and how to make smarter financial decisions. Later, it was Carl Richards’ The Behavior Gap that showed the…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: New Mortgage Rules Edition
The big news out of Ottawa this week saw the federal government taking steps to cool the housing market by introducing a financial stress test to all insured mortgages and closing a tax loophole for foreign real estate buyers. Starting October 17th all home buyers must qualify at the bank’s posted rate, or the Bank…
Read MoreBuilding Your Confidence As A DIY Investor
Whether you’re a novice investor or experienced trader, most of us can stand to gain more knowledge about the stock market and different investing strategies. Investor education is exactly what Scotia iTRADE had in mind when it launched a series of free direct investing courses online. Through the Scotia iTRADE U education platform, investors can…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Ending Canada Savings Bonds Edition
Canada Savings Bonds are still a thing? The legacy savings program that was built to fund the Second World War is now in its 70th year of sales and costs the federal government $60 million per year to run. But savings bonds that once paid double-digit interest rates now yield a paltry 0.5 percent in today’s low rate environment.…
Read MoreAdvice To Millennials: Starting Your Investing Journey
I was born in 1979 – a year that places me at the tail-end of Generation X but still makes me cool enough to give advice to Millennials about investing. My mom worked in a bank and encouraged me at an early age to save and invest. I started investing in mutual funds at 18…
Read MoreDo What You Love (On The Side)
I’m a big believer in having multiple streams of income. A side-hustle can help you reach your financial goals faster and fuel your entrepreneurial spirit. Do what you love, on the side, and you can strike the perfect balance between entrepreneurship and a steady paycheque. When I left my job in the busy hospitality industry…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Air Miles Class Action Edition
It was only a matter of time. Air Miles has faced plenty of criticism in recent months, not just for instituting an expiry policy, but mishandling communication to its collectors about the new policy, automatically defaulting existing reward miles into their ‘Dream Miles’ category, not allowing members to transfer miles between their Dream and Cash Miles accounts, hiding…
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