Around the Blogosphere

One of the biggest worries for retirees is the fear of outliving their savings. This fear leads many to spend less than they are able to, both during their working years and throughout retirement. It can also lead to “one-more-year” syndrome, where individuals kick the retirement can down the road a little bit longer while…

The Canadian Financial Summit is back once again this fall with a terrific line-up of 35+ personal finance experts, including yours truly, to tackle the burning financial questions facing us today. You’ll hear from PWL Capital’s Ben Felix, Millionaire Teacher Andrew Hallam, The Globe and Mail’s Rob Carrick, consumer advocate Ellen Roseman, along with long-time…

Money is still a taboo topic in many cultures. Well, that’s not exactly true. We love to complain about money – about the price of gas, the cost of groceries, the rise and fall of lumber prices, our empty bank account, our credit card debt. But we rarely talk about the value of money and…

Many retirees want to know how much they can spend in retirement without running out of money. The caveat is that most also want to remain in their home as long as possible. With the pandemic shining a light on poor conditions and service at long-term care facilities, it’s likely we’ll see even more seniors…

The Globe & Mail’s Rob Carrick posed a question to his LinkedIn followers a few months ago asking about the cost of a financial plan. He quoted a reader who said: “We recently received a quote of $4,000 for retirement and investment planning. This is a one time fee for service engagement. Seems high –…

For many Canadians, owning a home is a sign of personal and financial success – a rite of passage signalling that you’ve made it on your own (maybe with some help from mom & dad). Just over two-thirds of Canadian households own their home, which puts us ahead of countries like the United States, Australia,…

One of the more interesting economic fallouts from the global pandemic is the impact it’s had on used car prices. Rental car agencies sold a good portion of their fleets when global travel shut down last spring. A semi-conductor shortage has slashed the production of new vehicles. Now that travel is slowly returning, rental car…

Do-it-yourself investors face a number of behavioural hurdles when it comes to building an investment portfolio. We look to past performance to guide our future investing decisions – ignoring evidence that yesterday’s winners often become tomorrow’s losers.  We disregard decades of research that shows how low cost investing through passive index funds beats active stock…

Most travel rewards credit card issuers hit pause on their generous welcome bonus offers when the pandemic shut down global travel last March. What good are perks like airport lounge passes and priority boarding when nobody is traveling? American Express consistently offers some of the most generous benefits, including luxury travel perks with its iconic…

Canada’s housing market continues to defy logic as prices have shot-up more than 40% on average across the country. Last spring, then CMHC boss Evan Siddall predicted that home prices would fall between 9-18% due to the economic impact of the pandemic. So, what happened? One reason is that high income earners working from home…