Posts by Robb Engen
Weekend Reading: Mortgage Rate Limbo Edition
I mentioned we are building a new house, which we hope will be finished by spring 2023. It was a stressful time to sign a purchase agreement with a builder. We wanted to arrange our financing so that the new house purchase was not contingent on us selling our existing home (been there, done that,…
Read MoreShould You Postpone Retirement?
Many years ago, my boss (Jerry) was all set to retire at age 58 when the federal government decided to impose a tax on the distributions of income trusts and royalty trusts. He was heavily invested in the energy sector – in oil royalty trusts with a history of generous payouts thanks to years of…
Read MoreThe Retirement Risk Zone
I often recommend deferring CPP until age 70 to secure more lifetime income in retirement. It’s also possible to defer OAS to age 70 for a smaller, but still meaningful, increase in guaranteed income. While the goal is to design a more secure retirement, there can be a psychological hurdle for retirees to overcome. That…
Read MoreShould I Move My Investments When They’re Down?
Recent stock and bond market turmoil has many investors thinking about making changes to their portfolios. Indeed, mutual fund investors may be wondering whether it’s the right time to switch from their expensive financial advisor to a low-cost portfolio of index funds using a robo advisor or online brokerage. DIY investors may be pondering changes…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: The Power Of Anti-Goals Edition
The self-improvement market is estimated to be worth more than $10 billion in the U.S. and $40 billion globally. Indeed, there’s no shortage of books, blogs, and online courses designed to boost your productivity and life satisfaction. Hey, if morning routines, vision boards, and setting smart goals gets you motivated to make positive changes in…
Read MoreMental Accounting and How We Spend Money
We all have quirky behaviours when it comes to managing our money. One trick we fall victim to is called mental accounting. We separate our money into different types of mental accounts, with different rules, depending upon how we get it, how we spend it, and how it makes us feel. An easy example is…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: London Edition
Welcome to my latest edition of Weekend Reading. I’m writing from our flat in London, whilst enjoying a coffee on this beautiful Saturday morning. We’re on day four of our 24 day trip to the U.K. that will soon take us up to the Lake District and then into and around Scotland. London is an…
Read MoreDo You Need A Financial Navigator?
I get really nervous when driving in strange places. The anxiety comes from my poor sense of direction – I could get lost in a phone booth. My wife, on the other hand, makes a fine navigator. She could be trapped in an underground cave and still tell which way is north. We didn’t plan…
Read MoreNet Worth Update: 2022 Mid-Year Review
Stocks went down. Real estate went up. Yet I sold stocks to buy real estate. Welcome to 2022, where things no longer make sense. That’s right, we made a big decision earlier this year to purchase a lot and build a new house. Once we decided we were serious about taking this step (as…
Read MoreWhat’s Up?
No, I’m not asking how you’re doing (sorry, I know everything sucks right now!). I’m talking about your investments. Active managers love to tout their ability to capture all of the upside of the market while deftly avoiding the downside. We know empirically that is not the case (the SPIVA scorecard shows that more than…
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