Financial Planning Simplified

Our kids' activities wrapped up this weekend and now we're inching ever so closer to summer vacation. Soon we'll be heading out to Vancouver Island for 10 days of rejuvenation and exploration along the Pacific coast at the end (or the start) of the breathtaking West Coast Trail. The trip will be a first for…

In what should have been a historic day for Canadian investors, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) instead disappointed with watered down reforms that skirt around the edges of true investor reform. What investor advocates wanted was a ban on embedded commissions charged from mutual fund sales, and for the industry to adopt a best interest…

I must have seen the movie Catch Me If You Can a dozen times over the years. I loved that Frank Abagnale went to work for the FBI after foiling them for so long passing bad cheques while posing as a pilot, doctor, and lawyer. Recently I came across a Google Talk with Mr. Abagnale,…

Some investors eventually leave their commission-based advisors and opt to set-up a simple portfolio of index funds or ETFs on their own. There are plenty of compelling reasons to do so; the reduction in fees alone can save investors thousands of dollars a year, and academic research shows that the lower your costs, the greater your share of…

I've written before how vehicle loans can be big source of financial misery for many families. It's a problem that continues to get worse. According to a Bank of Canada report, one-third of consumers who trade in their old car for a new one owe more than their old car is worth. It's a frightening…

**This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of EQ Bank. However, as always, all opinions are my own. A guaranteed investment certificate (GIC) is unlikely to spark an exciting dinner party conversation but when stock markets are reeling, like they were earlier this year, investors often seek safe havens to wait out…