It Doesn’t Pay to Procrastinate
Many people struggle with retirement planning and often wait for life events to take action. Despite clear steps like recording expenses and saving, few Canadians follow through. A recent survey revealed that couples frequently disagree about their retirement plans.
Maximize Your RRSP Return Through Asset Location
Do you know the real rate of return on your investments? Generally, Canadians measure the success of their investments based only on the rate of return. While it provides a good snapshot of whether an investment is doing well or not, it is not the only criterion for a true picture of success. A good […]
The Retirement Dilemma: Part 1
In the mid – 1960s conventional wisdom (or motherhood) for retirement planning said that you should take all of your investments and put them into government bonds or fixed income type products. The thinking was that you could not afford to take any ‘risk’ in your retirement years. Thus it was believed that guaranteed investing […]
A Conversation About Your Financial Future
Meeting a new financial advisor for the first time can feel a bit daunting. What should you say? How much should you share? And perhaps most importantly, what should you expect from the meeting? There are generally two ways to approach your relationship with a new advisor. Approach One: Hand over all your financial details […]
Bad Excuses for Putting Off Investing
Recent college or university graduates with their first career job have an understandable itch to spend money after years of living on Kraft Dinner. Yet this is the ideal time in life to start developing the correct habits that will lead to a comfortable future lifestyle. But we often hear reasons why now is not […]
Market Highs vs. Your Goals
As Canadian and US stock market indexes hit new highs this year, many investors began expressing anxiety about a possible ‘correction’. Financial media personalities have also been speculating about the timing of correction from these recent market highs – following a strong run over the past year. Let’s put this into perspective. Would these same […]
The Safe Investing Dilemma
As John nears retirement, he is becoming concerned about covering his future living costs with income from only interest-bearing investments. Along with many other investors globally who have poured trillions of dollars into government bonds over the past decade, John wants to feel safe and have his money guaranteed. But the price of safety in […]
Diversification is Key
As with many retirement savers, it took two major stock market events (Global Financial Crisis, Global Pandemic) to convince Adam and Sonya that trying to ‘time the market’ or pick specific sectors was a costly exercise in futility. But, with the value of their RRSPs nearly halved in the 2009 Financial Crisis, they also recognized […]
Asset Building Strategies
In the last article Sue had a capital shortfall of $400,000 in order to support her desired retirement lifestyle. This amount will vary for each individual and will be larger or smaller depending upon your income, age and ability to save money as a percentage of your earned income. Broadly speaking there are only two […]
A Fresh Look at RRSPs vs. TFSAs
The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) contribution limit increased to $7,000 (from $6,500) for 2024. This new limit means that a taxpayer who has never contributed to a TFSA and has been eligible for one since its inception will have a cumulative contribution room of $95,000. TFSAs are now a serious portfolio and investment planning […]