Around the Blogosphere

We started this personal finance blog seven years ago – on August 10, 2010 to be precise. Blog years are like dog years, and seven years is an incredible amount of time to be blogging. We’re still going strong, and that’s in no small part thanks to you, our readers, for continuing to follow along…

Longevity risk, or the risk of outliving your money, is the biggest threat facing the majority of retirees. As gold-plated company pensions slowly disappear, millions of Canadians must carefully manage their retirement nest-eggs (on their own, or with the help of an advisor) to make sure they have enough to meet their needs as they…

It’s vacation time for the next two weeks and while I’ll certainly enjoy the sunshine, and these record setting temperatures, we don’t have any plans to leave southwest Alberta. Yes, that means a staycation, which is perfectly fine with me. So, instead of venturing into B.C. for two weeks, this year we’ll make a few…

This week Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau took aim at a tax strategy used by small businesses and private corporations called income sprinkling. Under current rules, anyone who owns shares in a private corporation can receive dividends without having to actual contribute to the business. Small business owners use dividend sprinkling to pay their lower…

As was widely predicted, the Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate by 0.25 percent last week, sparking interest rate drama across the nation about what this ‘means for you’, along with cries from mortgage professionals to ‘lock-in your rates’. I suppose it’s newsworthy considering the BoC hadn’t raised rates in seven years, but…

The Bank of Canada is widely expected to raise its key interest rate for the first time in nearly seven years when it meets next week (July 12th). Strong economic growth and job numbers have paved the way for the central bank to finally signal a rate increase, even if it’s just a moderate 25…

Happy Canada Day! We hope you all get a chance to enjoy the Canada 150 celebrations happening across the country. We’re driving southwest to Waterton Lakes National Park to hike The Bear’s Hump and take in the beautiful scenery at this UNESCO World Heritage Site. We’ll also check out Red Rock Canyon and hopefully spot…

The Canada Project, a survey launched by Maclean’s to mark Canada’s 150th birthday, explores what Canadians love about their country, and what they’d like to see improve. There’s some fascinating information coming out of the survey: how we feel about travel and transportation, about our patriotic drinking habits, and why we hate Nickelback. Several other…

We’re almost halfway through 2017 already and it’s a good time to reflect on my financial goals for the year and check in on my progress. To summarize, I wanted to max-out all of my unused RRSP contribution room, start catching up on TFSA contributions, pay off our home equity line of credit, max-out the…

Not a week goes by without hearing how Canadians are struggling with household debt. We’re taking on too much mortgage debt, using our homes as ATMs via home equity lines of credit, we’re financing brand new vehicles, and we’re not paying off our credit card balances in full each month. A new report from the Financial Consumer…