Posts by Robb Engen
Weekend Reading: $343 Billion Deficit Edition
When the global pandemic became a reality for Canadians in mid-March, the federal government introduced a host of measures to respond to the crisis, including the Canada emergency response benefit (CERB) and Canada emergency wage subsidy (CEWS). The result was a massive spending increase as more than 8 million unique CERB applications were filed and…
Read MoreSticking To Your Financial Goals During The Pandemic
My wife and I had big plans for 2020. I had recently quit my day job to pursue my financial planning and freelance writing career full-time. We were going to travel the world, with trips booked to Maui, Italy, the U.K., and Victoria. We also had financial goals – specifically to max out our RRSPs,…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: New Rewards Credit Card Edition
Long time readers know that I’m passionate about earning and redeeming credit card rewards. It makes good sense to earn cash back or travel rewards on your everyday spending. Some of us may have even become slightly obsessive about maximizing the rewards on their spending – applying for multiple cards every year to take advantage…
Read MoreNet Worth Update: 2020 Mid-Year Review
It’s time for my biannual net worth update where I share all of the numbers on my quest to reach millionaire status by the end of this year. It’s not going to be easy, as the global pandemic has impacted everyone’s finances to some degree. I want to start by acknowledging how incredibly fortunate we…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Master Class In Retirement Planning Edition
Fred Vettese is a leading expert in retirement planning and his books, which include The Essential Retirement Guide and Retirement Income for Life, are must reads for retired or soon-to-be retired Canadians. The newly updated second edition of Retirement Income for Life will be released on October 20, 2020. The Rational Reminder podcast had Mr.…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Cheap Mortgage Rates Edition
It’s no secret that mortgage rates have been incredibly low for an incredibly long time. Even when we think rates couldn’t possibly go lower, a lender tests the waters with another record-low promotion. This time it’s HSBC with an unprecedented 5-year fixed mortgage rate of 1.99%. But as mortgage broker Dave Larock points out, there’s…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: What’s Next For Travel Edition
It’s hard to believe that just three months ago we were preparing to travel to Italy. It was one of several trips we had planned for 2020, including a return to the U.K. in July and a trip to Victoria to close out the summer. Then COVID-19 hit and our plans quickly changed. Italy was…
Read MoreHow (And When) To Rebalance Your Portfolio
Setting up the initial asset allocation for your investment portfolio is fairly straightforward. The challenge is knowing how and when to rebalance your portfolio. Stock and bond prices move up and down, and you periodically add new money – all of which can throw off your initial targets. Let’s say you’re an index investor like…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Tighter Mortgage Rules Edition
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) made headlines last week when its housing market outlook predicted that national housing prices would fall 9-18% over the coming months due to the coronavirus crisis. This week, Canada’s largest default insurer took significant steps to change its underwriting policies for insured mortgages. The following changes, which take effect…
Read MoreTackling Changes To Your Retirement Income Plan
Spending money is easy. Saving and investing is supposed to be the difficult part. But there’s a reason why Nobel laureate William Sharpe called “decumulation”, or spending down your retirement savings, the nastiest, hardest problem in finance. Indeed, retirement planning would be easy if we knew the following information in advance: Future market returns and…
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