Easter Weekend Reading
Long weekends for most people are a time to rest and relax with loved ones, maybe get away for a couple of nights to a hotel or out to the cottage. I enjoy R&R as much as the next guy, but for me nothing beats a long weekend to work on my side hustle and make some extra money. This Easter weekend is no different, as I’ll carve off a chunk of time to write a few blog posts, draft a freelance article for review, and get caught up on some financial planning for my clients.
We’ll still get in some fun – our kids are off next week for spring break and I’m taking a few vacation days so we can head out to Canmore / Banff for four nights to enjoy the beautiful Rocky Mountains.
In the meantime, enjoy this Easter edition of weekend reading.
This Week’s Recap:
One of the more popular posts I’ve written in a while is about which accounts to tap first in retirement.
Marie offered some suggestions on how to overhaul the financial industry.
I shared my top three cash back and travel rewards credit card picks for 2017.
Over on Rewards Cards Canada I shared the news of some enhancements to the SimplyCash Preferred Card by American Express.
Weekend Reading:
A great article that I shared on our Facebook page, Jonathan Chevreau shows how you can earn $50,000 in tax-free dividends in some provinces.
Money coach Tom Feigs explains how to take money from an RSP in retirement.
Jason Heath says try not to let capital gains tax prevent you from selling an investment.
Canadian Couch Potato Dan Bortolotti offers some bond basics: Why do bond prices fall when rates rise?
The Blunt Bean Counter Mark Goodfield gets blunt about lifestyle inflation and offers some tips for boomers, millennials, and everyone in-between.
In the war between boomers and millennials we have forgotten about the work-hard, play-hard Generation X.
An interesting article about the surprisingly struggling Tangerine Bank (profit was down 36 percent from 2015) and how it hopes adding credit lines will help it become an ‘everyday’ bank.
On the flip side, U.S. index fund giant Vanguard is growing faster than everybody else combined:
“In the last three calendar years, investors sank $823 billion into Vanguard funds, the company says. The scale of that inflow becomes clear when it is compared with the rest of the mutual fund industry — more than 4,000 firms in total. All of them combined took in just a net $97 billion during that period, Morningstar data shows. Vanguard, in other words, scooped up about 8.5 times as much money as all of its competitors.”
The low-fee movement is not for everyone, at least not for Yale, whose endowment totals $25 billion. Fund manager David Swensen stands behind its use of active managers to find outperformance through alternative investments such as private equity and leveraged buyouts.
A Wealth of Common Sense blogger Ben Carlson says the best sales tactic in finance is to make investing more complicated than it should be so that the advisor becomes indispensable.
A reminder by Financial Uproar why not to invest with Investors Group.
Finally, Rick Mercer tackles the ‘trust’ issues between Canada’s major banks and their customers:
Happy Easter weekend, everyone!
