Reframing the CPP Enhancement: A 122% Increase In Benefits
Whenever I write about the timing of Canada Pension Plan benefits, the response is enormous. It’s one of the most popular and polarizing retirement planning topics out there. The usual way this conversation gets framed is around age 65. That’s considered the “normal” starting point, so you’ll often hear people say, “If you wait until…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Stop Paying 2% For Mediocre Returns Edition
I’m going to let you in on an investing secret that has eluded millions of Canadians for years. A secret that will save you literally thousands of dollars a year in fees and deliver stronger investment performance. A secret that does not require you to transform into a superstar stock picker or professional asset allocator.…
Read MoreA Young Adult’s Smart Guide to Money
(What I wish I’d known at 18, 24, and 30 – from parents and grandparents who’ve been there, and a financial planner who can translate those experiences into actionable advice for today.) If you’re in your late teens or twenties, you don’t need an “investment guy”, a six-figure income, or a meme stock or hot…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Dividends, Rents, and the Illusion of “Income”
The dividends-versus-total-return debate has (mercifully) cooled. Most investors now accept there’s nothing magical about dividends – it’s just cash carved out of total return. The real “magic” is reinvesting, i.e., putting the slice back into the cake so it keeps baking. And yes, ex-dividend, a stock’s price typically drops by roughly the dividend amount –…
Read MoreThe Credit Card Combo You’ve Been Sleeping On
We just got back from Scotland – a trip that involved epic hiking in the Highlands, duck-feeding along Loch Ness, and a quick stop in Glasgow so our daughter could “manifest” her future university choice. We covered nearly 500 miles in a rental car, used our umbrellas exactly once, and, thanks to some smart credit…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Conscious Spending Edition
Like a lot of money nerds, I’ve always loved a detailed budget. There’s comfort in seeing where every dollar goes, especially when life throws its usual mix of irregular income and surprise expenses. Still, I was curious: what would happen if I ditched the details and looked at our finances the way author Ramit Sethi…
Read MoreHow I Invest My Own Money
*Updated for Aug 1, 2025* Regular blog readers know that I’m a big proponent of passive investing with low cost, globally diversified index funds and ETFs. Why? Low fees are the best predictor of future returns. Global diversification reduces the risk within your portfolio. Index funds and ETFs allow investors to hold thousands of securities…
Read MoreLet’s Not Turn Our Kids Into Mini Warren Buffetts (Just Yet)
Lately I’ve been noticing a familiar pattern among parents: they want to get their kids investing early. Like, really early. The dream is to harness the power of compound interest so little Kale or Kyla can coast into early retirement before they’re even out of high school. Look, I get it. Starting early is great.…
Read MoreWhy We Stopped Saving So Much and Started Living
One lesson I’ve learned from my retired clients is that it’s human nature to feel anxious about spending money – especially when the paycheque stops and you’re drawing down your own savings and investments. After decades of watching account balances go up, it’s deeply uncomfortable to watch them go the other way. It just doesn’t…
Read MoreShould You Take a Flyer on a Penny Stock?
Every now and then, I get a note from a reader whose spouse or friend has gotten excited about a stock tip. Usually, it comes with a backstory: someone they know bought a few thousand shares of a penny stock and now claims to be sitting on a massive gain. Naturally, the question that follows…
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