Around the Blogosphere

One of the best investments you can make when looking to get a handle on your finances is a subscription to MoneySense magazine. For just $25 per year you’ll get eight issues loaded with useful tips and practical advice from some of Canada’s leading financial experts and authors. The MoneySense team is hosting a Retire Rich event on the…

Back in January I sold my portfolio of dividend stocks and bought two exchange traded funds – Vanguard’s Canada All Cap Index (VCN) and its All-World ex Canada Index (VXC). The move has drawn some interest from readers and media alike, I think in part because I had abandoned a market-beating strategy to “settle” for market returns (minus a…

Thomas J. Stanley, who co-authored The Millionaire Next Door, arguably one of the most influential personal finance books ever written, died in a car accident last week at the age of 71. Stanley’s work centered around the idea that financially successful people similar traits, namely living below their means and valuing financial independence over high status.…

Alberta Premier Jim Prentice got into some hot water this week regarding comments he made during a CBC radio interview about the province’s potential $7-billion revenue shortfall in the upcoming budget year. Prentice said that Albertans have enjoyed the best public services in the country but haven’t built a revenue model to sustain them. “In…

We’ve been beating this drum for years now but a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives suggests that high mutual fund fees could cause Canadians to delay their retirement by as much as 11 years or else leave them with 40 per cent less money for their retirement. The study compares the management fees charged…

I’ve spent the past two weeks studying hard for part three of the four-course CFP certification program. Learning the program online through the Canadian Institute of Financial Planning is fine, I don’t mind learning online, but I’m frustrated by some of the outdated material. This course is about strategic investment planning and includes gems like technical analysis, financial…

Plunging oil prices of the past few months has weakened the Alberta economy – so much so that it briefly considered adding a provincial sales tax before deciding on an across-the-board 5 percent spending cut. Is the rest of Canada taking pleasure in Alberta’s misfortune? This CBC article suggests just that while exploring the West vs. East,…

RRSP season is in full swing and this Tuesday February 10th from 12pm – 1pm EST I’ll be participating in Tangerine’s RSP Twitter chat to talk about all things retirement. What’s the best retirement advice you’ve ever received? What’s at the top of your wish list once you retire? Is your retirement reality different than…

The Super Bowl is the most-watched program on television each year and this year’s match-up between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will be no exception – as 113 million viewers are expected to tune-in to the big event. I don’t have a horse in this race. My team, the dysfunctional Cleveland Browns, faded…

Meet Eric and Ilsa, the Vancouver couple who broke the internet last week when their Financial Facelift feature in the Globe and Mail went off the rails. It started with sketchy details – Eric, a physician, made $200,000 working one day a week at a clinic, plus another $100,000 teaching one day a week at a…