Posts by Robb Engen
Why It’s Hard To Avoid Buying “Stuff”
We’re taught to value experiences over material things but unless you plan to never leave the house you’re going to need a whole lot of willpower to avoid buying stuff today. Have you been out window shopping lately? There are some seriously amazing products and innovations on the market – things that weren’t even around…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Speed Reading Edition
Whenever a new personal finance book comes out I’ll typically email the author or publisher and try to get a couple of free copies to review and then give away on this blog. So many books have come out lately that I have piles of books lying around the house that I need to read…
Read MoreUsing A Synthetic DRIP To Simplify My Portfolio
I plan to put my RRSP on auto-pilot over the next few years as I start to run out of unused contribution room. One of the first steps to simplify my portfolio was to set up a synthetic DRIP or dividend reinvestment plan. This process allows you to reinvest your dividends commission free instead of…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Rob Carrick Hangout Edition
We’ve had some awesome guests lately on the Because Money hangout. If you’re not familiar with the format, we host a video podcast on Google+ Hangouts on Air every Wednesday night at 7:30pm MST (9:30pm EST). Last week we had Rob Carrick on the show to talk about Generation Y. We accepted the fact that…
Read MoreBank Slogans And Taglines, Translated
One of the more memorable – or laughable – bank slogans was Scotiabank’s “you’re richer than you think”. The poorly timed ad campaign ran through the financial crisis of 2008-09, including commercials at Cineplex theatres across the country. The response was not kind – moviegoers heckled, swore, and tossed drinks as the tagline appeared on…
Read MoreFinding The Hidden Gold In Your Tax Return
While most people use a tax program to complete their tax return, the program is only limited to the information you enter and you may not be fully maximizing your tax refund. As an accountant, I come across plenty of small credits that are often overlooked by people because they aren’t aware they apply or…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Earn Save Grow Edition
I started a new blog a few weeks ago (as if I didn’t have enough on my plate). Earn Save Grow is still very much a personal finance site, but it will focus less on frugality and more on topics like how to increase your income, and how to save wisely in the areas that…
Read MoreOur $35,000 Basement Renovation: Why We Paid Someone Else To Do It
One of the regrets we had with our first home is that in the eight-and-a-half years we lived there we never got around to finishing the basement. We vowed not to make the same mistake when we built our new home nearly three years ago. So after we had the basement framed last summer we…
Read MoreTangerine: Update On The Bank Formerly Known As ING Direct
When we last checked in with ING Direct CEO Peter Aceto he said the company had until May 2014 to shed the ING name and rebrand itself. The online bank was purchased by Scotiabank in November 2012 and recently announced its new name – Tangerine – which is ready to officially launch on April 8th,…
Read MoreWhy Age-Based Savings Benchmarks Are Dumb, But We Look Anyway
Whether it’s healthy or not, we all make comparisons in many aspects of our lives – where we live, what we do for a living, what kind of car we drive, even how we raise our kids. But society doesn’t talk openly about money and so we look to the experts to set benchmarks and…
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