Around the Blogosphere

We spent 10 days on vacation in the Okanagan Valley. The trip was fantastic – our kids loved everything, from visits to Kangaroo Creek Farm and Atlantis Waterslides, to the lazy days on the beach and in the pool, and my wife and I enjoyed several wine tours and one awesome child-free day (thanks to my…

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates again this week – putting its key overnight rate at 0.50 percent – amid talk of weak economic growth and fear of a recession. While not great news for the Canadian economy and our falling loonie, the move is welcome for those like me who have variable rate…

My wife and I enjoy spending our summer vacation in the beautiful B.C. interior. This year we’re venturing a little further than usual, travelling to Kelowna and staying 10 nights in the Okanagan. It’ll be great to see my parents for the first time since they moved to Kelowna from Calgary last summer. We were worried how our…

My wife loves to bake and earlier this year she decided to make her own sourdough starter to keep up with all the bread we eat. After a couple of weeks of trial and error – following a starter-along sourdough series online – she was able to harvest a usable starter for bread-making. It’s great to have a fresh…

When I started working as a hotel sales manager we used MiKE phones on the old Telus push-to-talk network. I didn’t own a smart-phone until 2007, when our hotel group decided to arm its sales staff and senior management with the new Blackberry Curve. Email on-the-go was a game changer for sales staff, who were no longer tied to their…

For a while I resisted the idea of turning our backyard into a playground for our kids (ages 6 and 3). Virtually all of our neighbours either have a swing-set, trampoline, or elaborate playhouse in their backyard. I didn’t want to spend the money, and I justified it with these not-so-rational reasons: I never had a swing-set…

Back in 2012, the Canadian Securities Administration (CSA) published a discussion paper and request for comment regarding the mutual fund industry fee structure in Canada. Areas of concern included: Lack of understanding and control over fees Potential conflicts of interest Lack of alignment between adviser compensation and services Limited options for do-it-yourself investors Outcomes from…

This message is brought to you by BMO Wealth Management Starting over can be difficult. You’ve spent most of your adult life building relationships, a career, a place to call home and maybe a family. If you are widowed or divorced and suddenly find yourself starting over again, it can be intimidating looking at your…

This message is brought to you by BMO Wealth Management Your parents took care of you – they put a roof over your head, fed and clothed you, and taught you the things that made you the person you are today. It’s difficult to imagine that one day the people who have always been there,…

This message is brought to you by BMO Wealth Management Are your kids moving back home because of high debt, a tough job market or maybe they’re just not ready to break out on their own? It’s a situation many parents face. The ‘boomerang generation’, so called for returning home after only a brief time…