Financial Planning Simplified
I’m Robb — the guy behind Boomer & Echo. I’ve been a personal finance blogger since 2010 and an advice-only financial planner since 2015. I help regular Canadians with regular problems make smarter decisions about their money — without selling them a thing.
My philosophy is simple: Money shouldn’t be complicated.
You don’t need 17 bank accounts, 12 ETFs, or a side hustle to retire comfortably. You just need a good plan, grounded in what really matters to you.
By reading this website you're joining more than 250,000 people who stop by here every month to get tips on how to save money, invest well, and retire comfortably. And, if you choose to subscribe and receive new posts by email, you'll join a growing list of more than 12,000 email subscribers who are the first to get these tips sent straight to their inbox.
New Articles from Robb
Weekend Reading: Where Are My Customers' Yachts Edition
Robb Engen | March 16, 2024 |
Author Fred Schwed gave us his cynical take-down of Wall Street back in 1940 with the hilariously written, Where Are the Customers' Yachts?. The book amazingly still holds up today in a world where investment advisors get rich while their customers, well, not so much. “The title refers to a story about a visitor to…
Weekend Reading: Bitcoin, CPP, and Dividends Edition
Robb Engen | March 2, 2024 |
The price of bitcoin is surging again and recently surpassed all-time highs. That has brought all of the ‘crypto bros' out of hibernation to gloat about bitcoin taking over the financial system (or whatever they think happens next). Shares of NVIDIA Corp are also soaring to new heights. The semi-conductor company recently surpassed $2 trillion…
Weekend Reading: Replenishing Travel Points Edition
Robb Engen | February 10, 2024 |
We spent a few years building up a massive bank of travel points before our first trip to the U.K. in 2019. Indeed, we put nearly 1 million travel points to work booking flights and hotels for a 32-day trip to Scotland and Ireland. Then we went back to work replenishing travel points for our…
DIY Canadian Retirement Planning With Kyle Prevost
Kyle Prevost | January 31, 2024 |
“Will I be OK in Retirement?” “How much do I save this year if I don’t want to have to eat pet food when I’m 83?” “What do most Canadians spend each month after they retire? I don’t even know where to start with this stuff!” In response to questions like this, most mutual fund…
Weekend Reading: When To RRIF Edition
Robb Engen | January 27, 2024 |
One chief concern for retirees and the soon-to-be retired is when to convert their RRSP to a RRIF. A common misperception is that this conversion has to take place in the year you turn 71. While it's true that your RRSP must be closed by December 31st of the year you turn 71 and the…
Advanced Term Life Insurance
Glenn Cooke | January 17, 2024 |
Readers of Boomer and Echo are likely familiar with term life insurance (see B&E’s previous article on insurance). In years past, simply going to a life insurance shopping website and comparing premiums was sufficient – and that article talks about doing exactly that. But things have changed. Companies are tinkering with their term life insurance…
