Posts by Robb Engen
Weekend Reading: Christmas Handout Edition
Christmas is a time for giving, but how far does your generosity have to reach before it starts to impact your budget? MoneySense reached out to an etiquette expert to ask how much to tip everyone from your hairdresser and manicurist to your personal trainer and housekeeper. Enough is enough, according to Garry Marr, personal finance columnist at…
Read MoreWhat Are Your Financial Goals For Next Year?
Now that you’ve been through your year-end financial checklist, it’s time to look ahead to next year and set some financial goals. For some, a new year is a good opportunity to establish better habits, such as paying off credit card debt or creating (and sticking to) a budget, while for others a new year simply…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Oil Slump Edition
No, I’m not talking about the Edmonton Oilers’ 11-game skid. Oil prices have collapsed some 40 percent since the summer and oil and gas stocks have taken a beating. Canadian Oil Sands – the same stock that prompted a reader to ask about leveraged investing – slashed its quarterly dividend from 35 cents to 20…
Read MoreA Two-Fund Solution
While I continue to battle my behavioural biases when it comes to investing, I’ve at least given some thought as to how I’d make the move to indexing from my current portfolio of dividend stocks. The answer is a two-fund solution. To make things as simple (and cheap) as possible I’d start by liquidating all…
Read MoreAre Investors Willing To Pay Up-Front For Advice?
One of the strongest arguments made by investment industry groups against banning embedded commissions – or the trailer fees paid to advisors when you purchase mutual funds – is that investors don’t want to pay up-front for financial advice. Advocis, which represents financial advisors across Canada, and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association, believe things are…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Findependence Edition
Jonathan Chevreau has launched an ambitious project with the unveiling of FindependenceHub.com, a portal dedicated to all things related to financial independence. In addition to articles from Chevreau himself, you’ll also find blogs from prominent guest authors, podcasts and video content, and discussion forums for every age and stage of findependence. Definitely worth checking out.…
Read MoreOur Shocking Basement Renovation Bill
For the past year we’ve been slowly finishing the basement in our now three-year-old home. At first we decided to take the pay-as-you-go approach and so we hired a contractor to frame the basement last July. But six months later our project hadn’t progressed at all – it was difficult to line someone up to just do one stage at a…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Commission Bias Edition
I’ve written before about the changing tide of the investment industry and how banning embedded commissions is the inevitable next step. Advocis, an organization that represents more than 11,000 advisors across Canada, is pulling out all the stops to prevent this change from happening. The latest push came from a conference in which Advocis railed…
Read MoreLeveraged Investing: A Guide For Those Who Can’t Help Themselves
Last week we reached out to a panel of experts to weigh in on a controversial topic: borrowing to invest. Leveraged investing isn’t for the faint of heart. That’s why most of our experts suggested avoiding leverage and instead focus on building wealth the old-fashioned way – by saving over time. So if leveraged investing is…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Family Tax Cut Edition
Big news out of Ottawa this week as the Harper regime unveiled its long-awaited (and controversial) plan for family income-splitting. The Conservatives announced that couples with children under 18 will be allowed to transfer up to $50,000 in income from the higher earner to the lower earner in the form of a non-refundable federal tax…
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