Weekend Reading: Your Retirement Withdrawals Edition
One of the biggest shifts in retirement is learning how to spend your own money without second guessing every decision. After years of building your portfolio, it can feel strange to start drawing it down. That is usually when people start watching the markets too closely and stressing about every dip. The whole point of…
Read MoreThe Annuity Puzzle: Why Canadians Avoid One of Retirement’s Most Misunderstood Tools
Annuities have a strange reputation in Canada. Ask economists, actuaries, or retirement researchers and they’ll tell you that converting a portion of your savings into guaranteed lifetime income is one of the smartest and most efficient ways to reduce retirement risk. Finance professor Moshe Milevsky has been writing about this for two decades. And Fred…
Read MoreThe Myth of the “Too-Large RRSP”
Every few months, social media decides the RRSP is a terrible idea. The latest version? “Don’t grow your RRSP too much or you’ll get crushed by taxes in retirement.” The reality is less dramatic. A large RRSP isn’t a tax trap – it’s a planning opportunity, if you know when and how to draw it…
Read MoreBefore You Fire Your Parents’ Financial Advisor, Do This First
Want to learn how to manage your finances in retirement? Go through a financial planning engagement with your parents. I’ve had several prospective clients reach out lately, not about their own situation, but because they’re worried about their parents’ finances. Sometimes it’s a son or daughter who’s been reading about high investment fees and wants…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Magnificent Concentration Edition
A reader wrote this week asking a timely question: many of us are in that stage of our financial lives where sequence-of-returns risk looms large, and it feels like our portfolios are increasingly at the mercy of a handful of tech giants. The question was whether it’s possible to reduce or eliminate exposure to the…
Read MoreThe Wealthy Barber Returns (Again): A Canadian Classic Reborn for 2025
In April, in Sarnia, the story begins the same way it did back in 1989. But instead of Dave (and wife Sue), his sister Cathy, and his friend Tom sitting in Roy Miller’s barbershop, we meet Matt (and wife Maddie), his sister Jess, and his buddy Kyle. Roy’s still cutting hair, still wise as ever…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Points, Planes, and Permission to Spend Edition
I’ve long been a fan of rewards credit cards and the points-and-miles game. In 2019, we redeemed nearly a million points for a 32-day trip to Scotland and Ireland – Aeroplan flights for four, and five-night stays at the Sheraton Edinburgh and the Westin Dublin, all “free” thanks to Marriott Bonvoy. Then came the 2022…
Read MoreHow To Crush Your RRSP Contributions Next Year
*Updated for October 2025* If you’re a high-income earner staring at a mountain of unused RRSP room, you’re not alone. Many Canadians with strong salaries struggle to come up with enough cash flow to max out their RRSP deduction limit each year. And while we can debate whether middle- and low-income earners are better off…
Read MoreTurn Up the Dial: How to Actually Enjoy Spending in Retirement
I spend a lot of time telling people to automate their savings, keep costs low, invest in index funds, and stay the course. But do you know what might be even harder than saving? Spending. I see this all the time with retirees. The math says they can safely spend $120,000 a year, yet their…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: The Perfect Financial Plan Does Not Exi…
You’ve probably seen the meme: “The perfect financial plan does not exi—” But if one did exist, it would probably look something like this. During your working years, make a solemn vow never to carry a cent of credit card debt. That one rule alone will put you ahead of most Canadians. Then follow these…
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