Archive for December 2017
Net Worth Update: 2017 Year-End Review
The end of the year is a great time to review your finances and update your net worth. I’m a personal finance nerd, which means I update our net worth every month or so, and I publish a net worth update here twice a year. At the midway point this year our net worth had…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Merry Christmas Edition
Merry Christmas, everyone! Welcome to the last edition of weekend reading for 2017. We’re taking Christmas week off and I’ll be back next weekend to update my net worth for the year. As always, thank you for following our journey towards financial freedom. We feel incredibly honoured that each of you choose to spend a…
Read MoreHow To Be Energy Efficient This Winter
According to Environment Canada, our coldest months are generally December, January and February, in various orders. Likely one of the biggest home expenses is heating your home in the winter. Now is the time of year to be thinking about your heating and energy costs. An energy efficient furnace will lower your costs, and adding…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: What’s Keeping Us Awake At Night Edition
A thoughtful, well-written essay by Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz highlights this edition of weekend reading. The Governor spoke before the Canadian Club in Toronto and shared that while the Canadian economy is on pace to be the strongest among the Group of Seven economies this year there are still three (or four) things…
Read MoreHow Will The New CPP Changes Affect You?
The Federal and Provincial finance ministers met again earlier this week to pursue their ongoing discussions on how to improve the Canada Pension Plan. The majority of the provinces agreed to make the following changes to CPP: New CPP Changes Explained 1. “Drop-out” becomes “drop-in” Currently, CPP recipients can drop years of lower earnings from…
Read MoreComparing Your Investment Returns With Benchmark Indexes
Many investors base the success of their portfolio solely on their annual rate of return, but you should also compare your return to a specific benchmark index. What is an index? An index is a statistical tool designed to measure performance over time. Financial service companies create benchmark indexes then license them to investment…
Read MoreThe Illusion Of Wealth
Would you prefer a lump sum of $300,000, or its equivalent monthly income stream of $1,000 for life? If $300,000 seems larger and more appealing to you than the monthly amount then you might exhibit a phenomenon known as the illusion of wealth. A 2014 study looked at the illusion of wealth and how it…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Your Trusted Advisor Edition
The financial services industry is in dire need of change. It’s such a me-too industry brainwashed to believe that all you need is a regular meeting with your trusted advisor and your financial literacy problems will be solved. Look no further than the 100+ comments to Rob Carrick’s question on LinkedIn, wanting to hear fresh…
Read MoreRobo Advisors: How Simple Beats “Sophisticated”
If I had a toonie (inflation-adjusted idiom) for every time a newly-converted passive investing devotee asked me, “I’m all set with my ETFs, but is now the right time to get into the market?” or “Yeah, I’m all about easy indexing now, but I read an article that says I can supercharge my returns by…
Read MoreBuilding Your Wealth: Investing in Stocks Part II – Evaluating Potential Stocks
One of the biggest challenges investors can face is coming up with possible stocks to invest in. A slogan I have heard is the five-stock principle: for every five stocks you analyze properly and purchase, three will do about what you predict, one will do far worse, and one will do far better. I don’t…
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