Around the Blogosphere

I’ve been toying with a savings concept that I’m tentatively calling the TFSA snowball. It’s a play on Dave Ramsay’s “debt snowball” method (his one positive contribution to society) where borrowers pay off their smallest loan balance first, then roll those freed-up payments into the next smallest balance. Rinse and repeat until debt free. Related:…

I swear half my job is to convince my frugal clients to spend a bit more money. I’m not talking about making a complete 180 degree turn to become a different person. But if you’ve always stayed at a Best Western, then an upgrade to the Ritz every once in a while won’t kill you.…

Canadians are nuts for home ownership, but with real estate prices soaring to unaffordable levels in many areas of the country it has become increasingly difficult to buy a home. Still, the prevailing narrative around renting vs. buying is that renting is throwing away money and buying is a surefire path to building wealth. That…

Retirement is often put on a pedestal – the pinnacle of achievement after a decades-long career. But the transition from full-time work to full-time leisure can be challenging, both financially and psychologically, if you’re not prepared to meet them. I’ve witnessed these challenges firsthand working with hundreds of retirees over the years. Here are four…

A commonly held view in the do-it-yourself investing community is that to maximize returns one simply needs to cut ties with their expensive advisor and manage their own portfolio. On the surface, this makes sense. Costs matter, so if you can slash your investment fees from 2% down to 0.5% or lower your returns will…

Hopefully by now my financial planning clients and blog readers have been conditioned to ignore short term drops in the market – even big ones like we experienced this past week. The reason why stocks have such attractive long-term returns is because they ARE risky to own in the short-term. That’s a feature, not a…

A new report issued last week by condo research firm Urbanation Inc. shed light on a problem that has plagued real estate investors for years – the vast majority of rental property owners are bleeding cash flow. According to the report (G&M subs), which looked specifically at new condo investors in Toronto, more than 80%…

Global stocks continue soaring to new all-time highs, with US large cap growth stocks (aka Big Tech) leading the way. Even the TSX is getting in on the action, finally surpassing its March 2022 high earlier this year. Big returns are all around us, and it’s only natural for investors to feel a bit of…

Robo-advisors have been around for a decade and, while its promise to disrupt the traditional financial services model has so far fallen flat, the concept of an automatically rebalanced, low-cost portfolio of index funds is still incredibly sound. The investing landscape continues to evolve and when Vanguard introduced its suite of asset allocation ETFs in…

When I first create a financial plan for a client I tell them that this is my initial interpretation of their current situation and future goals mapped out over time. It’s a projection or road map based on their current trajectory. I’m looking for clues, patterns, red flags, and opportunities. The numbers are telling a…