Around the Blogosphere

Scotia’s Momentum Visa Infinite card is the cash back rewards king in Canada and right now for a limited time when you sign up for the card you’ll get a free $100 gift card upon approval. This is the go-to rewards card for all of my grocery and gas spending (4% cash back), as well as for…

For a while now I’ve dithered over when to sell my portfolio of dividend stocks and implement my two-fund ETF solution.  The tanking stock market didn’t help – particularly with oil and gas stocks plummeting and a few of my holdings underwater.  Behaviourally, I wanted badly to wait until oil prices recovered so I didn’t…

I’ve been on holidays since December 12th and the break has been fantastic, giving me a chance to relax with family and recharge my batteries.  Unfortunately, the holiday has come to an end and it’s back to work on Monday.  I hope you all enjoyed some time off at Christmas and New Year’s as well. We’ve tinkered…

With 2014 quickly winding down I wanted to publish one more edition of weekend reading before we break for Christmas.  We hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas holiday, and we’ll be back to our regular schedule the week of December 29th. Value of Simple Many investors recognize that Canada has the highest investing fees…

Christmas is a time for giving, but how far does your generosity have to reach before it starts to impact your budget?  MoneySense reached out to an etiquette expert to ask how much to tip everyone from your hairdresser and manicurist to your personal trainer and housekeeper. Enough is enough, according to Garry Marr, personal finance columnist at…

No, I’m not talking about the Edmonton Oilers’ 11-game skid.  Oil prices have collapsed some 40 percent since the summer and oil and gas stocks have taken a beating.  Canadian Oil Sands – the same stock that prompted a reader to ask about leveraged investing – slashed its quarterly dividend from 35 cents to 20…

Jonathan Chevreau has launched an ambitious project with the unveiling of FindependenceHub.com, a portal dedicated to all things related to financial independence.  In addition to articles from Chevreau himself, you’ll also find blogs from prominent guest authors, podcasts and video content, and discussion forums for every age and stage of findependence.  Definitely worth checking out.…

I’ve written before about the changing tide of the investment industry and how banning embedded commissions is the inevitable next step.  Advocis, an organization that represents more than 11,000 advisors across Canada, is pulling out all the stops to prevent this change from happening. The latest push came from a conference in which Advocis railed…

Big news out of Ottawa this week as the Harper regime unveiled its long-awaited (and controversial) plan for family income-splitting. The Conservatives announced that couples with children under 18 will be allowed to transfer up to $50,000 in income from the higher earner to the lower earner in the form of a non-refundable federal tax…

It’s been a rough ride for the stock market this month – the TSX is down more than seven percent in the last 30 days – leading to speculation that we’re headed for another big correction or crash. It’s been all uphill for investors over the last five years, so any blip on the radar…