When Doing What You Love Doesn’t Pay The Bills
We’re taught to follow our passions, but what happens when doing what you love doesn’t pay the bills? A post-secondary degree is almost essential to get a decent job in Canada, but there’s a significant earnings gap for graduates depending on their chosen field of study. Related: What If You’re Not University Material? A CIBC…
Read MoreAn Easy Way To Estimate Your CPP Benefits
Raise your hand if you’ve spent any time thinking about what kind of money you’re likely to get from the government when you retire. Now raise your hand if you don’t really know how much money that will be, or how to figure it out. …twenty-seven…twenty-eight…twenty-nine…almost everyone, then. How To Estimate Your CPP Benefits A…
Read MoreWhy The Saskatchewan Pension Plan Is Worth A Look
If the company you work for doesn’t offer a pension plan or group RRSP, or you are self-employed, and you’re not interested in spending a lot of time reading and researching about investing, consider the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. Related: Lifetime Pension vs. Commuted Value You don’t have to reside in Saskatchewan to join this pension…
Read MoreOur Home Insurance Bill Is Up 30 Percent!
Thousands of homes were damaged when the Bow and Elbow rivers flooded in Alberta this summer. Provincial government estimates show well over $5 billion will be needed to rebuild infrastructure. Bad weather and catastrophic events have been the norm in recent years, and now it’s starting to show up in our home insurance bills. Insurance…
Read MoreWhat’s Next For ING Direct: My Interview With Peter Aceto
It’s been nearly a year since Scotiabank officially acquired ING Direct, snapping up the online bank for $3.1 billion back in November. Scotia promised to keep its hands off ING’s operations, opting to keep the bank as a separate, standalone entity. For the most part, Scotia’s been true to its word. Earlier this year, ING…
Read MoreDoes Your Spending Need Tending?
To shop is human – to splurge (at least once in a while) is divine. But if your buying habits cause problems with your family, job, and finances you may be an impulse buyer in trouble. Related: What’s Your Purchasing Behaviour Style? Do you: Use shopping to cheer yourself up or make you feel better…
Read MoreWhy Travel Insurance Is Essential For A Worry-Free Vacation
As snowbirds plan their annual trip down south, one question is whether or not to get travel insurance. The answer is they probably should. Insurance is necessary to protect ourselves from big medical bills when we travel out of the country. So whether it’s a 24-hour cross border shopping trip, or a two-month trip to…
Read MoreAir Travel And The Importance Of Knowing Your Rights
Anyone who’s experienced a flight delay or cancellation knows the pain these events can bring. All one’s carefully laid plans can be blown away with a simple one hour delay. You can miss your connection, your bags might not make it to the destination, and whoever is waiting for you at the other side will…
Read MoreMid-Week Reading: Book Giveaway Edition
A mid-week round-up; what the heck is going on here? I’d meant to publish our weekend reading last Friday, but when I found out it was Robert Britton’s last day of work before he retired, I just had to publish his retirement story that day. But that meant we missed revealing the winners of our…
Read More7 Ways To Get Your Kids Involved In Back To School Shopping
Sadly, the end of August means that summer days are dwindling. For families it also means that, if the kids aren’t already back to school, they soon will be. That means shelling out lots of dollars on everything from new sneaks to binders to backpacks. According to the National Retail Federation, the average U.S. family…
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