Which Credit Cards Are Best For Earning Rewards?
One of the most frequent questions readers ask is which credit cards are best for earning rewards. Unfortunately, the most common answer is “it depends”. Do you prefer travel rewards or cash back? How much do you spend every month, and in which categories do you spend the most (i.e. groceries, gas, travel)? As for…
Read MoreDo You Need A Real Estate Agent to Sell Your Home?
Any real estate agent will tell you the service he or she provides is worth every penny. But in a hot real estate market like Toronto, do you really need one? According to the latest figures from the Toronto Real Estate Board, the average home sells in just 20 days, so you can see why some home…
Read MoreWhy Downsizing Might Not Save Your Retirement
A big decision as we get older is whether to downsize the family home. Typically people downsize when they no longer need the larger space, or are not willing to deal with the financial and physical maintenance required of a bigger home. Financial experts suggest that the large tax-exempt equity on the sale of their…
Read MoreA Simple Way To Boost Your Retirement Savings
One of the core tenets of financial planning is to pay yourself first. Automating your savings is a painless way to save for retirement and, in all likelihood, you’ll barely notice that you’re living on less. Most experts suggest putting away 10 percent of your income for retirement, but that number might seem out of…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Cash Is King Edition
Fans of credit card rewards have seen a bunch of changes in the travel rewards space over the last 12 months, but not much has happened on the cash back side. That’s unfortunate because, in the battle for space in your wallet, banks and credit card issuers lost sight over what was really important to customers – how…
Read MoreHow To Negotiate Your Mortgage Renewal Like A Pro
When I was nineteen, the brakes on my car seized, damaging the calipers and whatever was left on the rear pads. I got a quote from a local mechanic chain with both “budget” and “brake” in their name, so I thought they must have the best price on brakes. At the time I knew nothing about…
Read MoreWhy Investors Should Embrace Simple Solutions
I stumbled on a thread from Reddit’s Canadian personal finance community where a young investor sought feedback on his investment portfolio. He held a low cost and diversified portfolio consisting of seven ETFs inside his tax free savings account. The allocation was broken down like this: Canadian equity (ZCN) – 25% U.S. equity (VUN) –…
Read MoreA New Look At The RRSP vs. Mortgage Debate
Most debates over whether to pay down the mortgage or contribute to an RRSP boil down to one thing. If the interest rate on your mortgage is less than the expected return of the investments in your RRSP, then go with the RRSP. When rates are higher, then paying down the mortgage makes more sense.…
Read MoreShould You Sell The Family Home?
Another disadvantage when considering downsizing your home is that even a smaller house will not cost that much less than the one I have now.
Read MoreNet Worth Update: 2014 Midyear Review
This year has been heavy on spending with not much focus on saving. The spending is purposeful, though, as we borrowed $35,000 on a line of credit to develop our basement, which will increase the value of our home. The interest rate on the line of credit is 3.5 percent, so using it to pay…
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