Weekend Reading: All Time Highs Edition
Last year was one of the worst ever for a 60/40 balanced portfolio. Stocks and bonds were both down double digits and investors were understandably nervous about an impending recession. I can’t tell you how many conversations I had with clients who wanted to abandon their perfectly sensible portfolios in favour of GICs paying 4-5%.…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Updated Financial Goals Edition
The future is always uncertain, but at this time last year my crystal ball was as murky as ever. We were in the middle of building a new house and still needed to sell our existing home. Stocks and bonds were down double digits, and interest rates were still on the rise. Investors were piling…
Read MoreRetirement Assumptions: Will They Make An Ass Out Of You Or Me?
Financial planners need to use assumptions about the future to paint a realistic picture for their clients. Since we don’t have a crystal ball, most rely on the projection and assumption guidelines put forward annually by FP Canada. These assumptions include estimates about inflation, investment returns, life expectancy, wage growth, borrowing costs, etc. Note that…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: 2024 TFSA Limit, OAS Clawback, and More
The federal government uses the inflation data for the 12-month period between October 1 to September 30 to determine a number of figures for the following calendar year. September’s inflation rate was announced earlier this month, so we now have the entire data set needed to calculate the indexing rate for 2024, which gives us…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: More RESP Clean Up Edition
A few months ago I wrote about some changes I plan to make to our kids’ RESP portfolio. We’ve used TD’s e-Series funds for this account, but will switch to an ETF portfolio using Justin Bender’s excellent RESP strategy. Along with this portfolio reboot, I’ll also change how we fund the account (annually versus monthly).…
Read MoreWhen Life Insurance Is Sold, Not Bought
They say life insurance is a product that’s sold, not bought. This decades-old maxim was shamefully brought to light when the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) looked into troubling sales practices in the life insurance industry. Troubling, indeed. FSRA examined life insurance agents at three firms – World Financial Group, Greatway Financial Inc.,…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Canadian Financial Summit Edition
The Canadian Financial Summit is back for its seventh year and I’m really excited about this year’s line-up of speakers. This year’s conference takes place from October 18th to 21st. You can grab your free ticket here. A reminder for those of you new to the Summit – it’s a virtual (and free!) personal finance…
Read MoreI’m Single. Can I Afford To Buy A Home?
Canada is in a full blown housing crisis. While much of the housing conversation centres around sky high prices in Toronto and Vancouver, affordability issues stretch across the entire country. The average home price in Canada was $650,140 as of August 2023. This is especially problematic for single Canadians. Canada’s single population has increased steadily…
Read MoreHow To Trick Your Lizard Brain Into Saving More Money
Humans aren’t wired to make rational decisions. Our lizard brain, responsible for satisfying all of our primitive survival needs – including safety, hunger and feeling as good as possible at all times – sabotages our behaviour every day. And it can sabotage our bottom line, too. Lizard brain makes us do the same things –…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: How Much Will You Spend In Retirement Edition
Investors often look to rules of thumb or mental shortcuts to help guide their decision making. Unfortunately, there aren’t many good rules of thumb that can help determine how much you will spend in retirement. The 4% safe withdrawal rule, while a decent starting point, is not particularly useful. For one, investors don’t just have…
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