Archive for August 2017
Banks Dropping The Ball On Children’s Banking Options
Children start saving money at an early age. Eventually they will need an alternative to their piggy bank to stash their cash. One of the best ways to teach children basic money skills is to have them open a bank account. Once upon a time, youngsters would leave the bank branch proudly clutching a passbook…
Read MoreRedeem Aeroplan Miles For Flight Rewards: 7 Experts Share Their Secrets
I’ve earned a ton of Aeroplan miles over the last 24 months from credit card sign-up bonuses and Air Canada flights. With my balance now hovering around 165,000 miles, I’m starting to ponder how to extract the most value from the loyalty program. From years of research I know it’s best to redeem Aeroplan miles…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Canadian Financial Summit Edition
The good folks at Young & Thrifty have put together an awesome initiative called the Canadian Financial Summit. It’s a unique online conference taking place September 14-16 with more than 25 Canadian personal finance experts sharing their insights, tips, and secret money hacks. The conference is completely free to view during that time, or you…
Read MoreFrom The Boomer & Echo Mailbag: Repaying The Home Buyers’ Plan Loan
Q. Last year (2016) my husband and I bought our first home. For part of the down payment we withdrew from our RRSPs under the Home Buyers’ Plan – $25,000 from mine and $10,000 from his. We’ve had a lot of expenses this year and money is a bit tight. What happens if we don’t…
Read More25 Money Savings Tips
Running a household can be expensive. Big savings on things like mortgage rates and large purchases are worth more dollar wise, but you can also save by cutting back on smaller stuff. A lot of what we do are just habits. With just a little thought you can easily minimize costs. Here are some real…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Simplii Financial Edition
President’s Choice Financial will end its 20-year banking agreement with CIBC beginning November 1st. CIBC, which managed the personal banking services for Loblaws under the PC Financial name, will now take direct control of the roughly $2 million PC Financial bank accounts under the new name – Simplii Financial. PC Financial is keeping its credit…
Read MoreThe Problem With Core And Explore
A core and explore investing approach can give you a taste of both passive and active strategies. The idea being that you put 90 percent of your portfolio into a low-cost, broadly diversified set of index funds or ETFs, and then put the remaining 10 percent of your portfolio into investments that have potential to…
Read MoreYou Haven’t Saved For Retirement? Why It’s Not Too Late To Make A Plan
In financial publications, you regularly read about couples that are wondering if they are able to retire as planned. These people all seem to have above average incomes, company pension plans, have been saving since they were five years old and have amassed a respectable portfolio. The consensus is always, “Yes, you will definitely be…
Read MoreDo You Always Get What You Pay For?
“This $6 bottle of wine tastes awful.” “What did you expect – you get what you pay for.” It’s true, in most circumstances, that the quality of products and services increases as the price increases. You get what you pay for. When you cheap out on something, be it a bottle of wine, pair of…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: 7 Years Of Blogging Edition
We started this personal finance blog seven years ago – on August 10, 2010 to be precise. Blog years are like dog years, and seven years is an incredible amount of time to be blogging. We’re still going strong, and that’s in no small part thanks to you, our readers, for continuing to follow along…
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