Posts by Robb Engen
Weekend Reading: Financial Anxiety Edition
I work with a lot of young families who are trying to juggle the enormous pressures of paying off debt, saving for a house down payment, possible income disruption from taking a parental leave, moving, or changing careers, plus dealing with temporary but costly expenses like childcare, paying off a vehicle, or renovating a home.…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Best Of Bad Mortgage Options Edition
We’ve finally moved into our new home and received the proceeds from the sale of our previous home. To recap, last year we entered into a purchase agreement to build a new house. We arranged our financing so that we didn’t have to sell the home we were living in to qualify for a new…
Read More5 Investing Rules To Follow (In Good Times and Bad)
I wish I had a playbook to follow when I first started investing. If I did, maybe I could’ve avoided some of the investing mistakes I made along the way. That journey had me investing in high fee mutual funds, narrowly concentrating on a handful of Canadian dividend paying stocks, and straying from blue-chip stocks…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Markets Are Okay Edition
Ever since inflation began its persistent climb two years ago investors have been nervous about the market and how it would react to rising interest rates and, presumably, falling corporate earnings. Indeed, we’ve been talking about an imminent recession for the past two years and many investors want to know how to position (or re-position)…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Downside of Dividends Edition
No, I’m not talking about investing in dividend paying stocks. Been there, done that, not going back. I’m referring to paying myself non-eligible dividends from my corporation instead of paying myself a salary. A quick explanation: My wife and I incorporated our online business back in 2012, while I was still working a 9-to-5 job…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Retiring With Purpose Edition
Much has been written about the financial side of retirement – do you have enough saved, how much can you spend, will your money last a lifetime? But retirement is part financial and part psychological. More than just a number in your bank account, retirement is also how you feel about moving on to the…
Read MoreBuild If/Then Statements Into Your Financial Plan
Anyone familiar with Microsoft Excel knows how useful “if/then” statements can be to make comparisons under certain conditions. An IF statement can either be true or false. An if/then statement can be extremely useful in financial planning. Here are three examples of how to build “if/then” statements into your financial plan. When your income is…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Tax Change Speculation Edition
The federal budget plan is set to be delivered on March 28th, and that means it’s time for pundits to speculate about potential tax changes. We already know that the First Home Savings Account (FHSA) will be introduced and available at financial institutions some time this year. This account combines the best traits of the…
Read MoreVanguard’s Asset Allocation ETFs – Five Years Later
It has been five years since Vanguard introduced the first asset allocation or “all-in-one” ETFs in Canada. Simply put, these one-ticket solutions have been an absolute game-changer for do-it-yourself investors. I’m on record to say that if investing has been solved with low-cost index funds, then investing complexity has been solved by using a single…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Investors Fighting The Last Battle Edition
I’ve been looking for a phrase that captures the odd behaviour that investors exhibit when they change strategies based on current market conditions. Ben Carlson at A Wealth of Common Sense neatly summed up this behaviour as investors always fighting the last battle. It’s perfect: “Not every investor does this but there is a tendency…
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