Posts by Robb Engen
Weekend Reading: House Building Edition
I got a three-month head start on working from home after I quit my full-time job in December 2019. At first, I worked from a laptop at the dining room table. It wasn’t ideal, especially when our kids were sent home for online school. We later carved out a section of the kids’ playroom and…
Read MoreStop Checking Your Portfolio
We’re nearly halfway through 2022 and the year has not been kind to investors, to say the least. Global stock markets are suffering their worst prolonged losses in recent memory. The S&P 500 is down about 18.5%, international stocks are down about 17%, and emerging market stocks are down about 15%. Domestic stocks have fared…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Breaking Up With Your Advisor Edition
I recently coached a client through the process of transferring her existing RRSP, TFSA, and non-registered investment accounts away from high fee managed mutual funds and over to a self-directed investing platform. The goal was to reduce investment fees from an average of 2% on her balanced portfolio down to 0.25% with a balanced asset…
Read MoreTime To Check In On Your Financial Plan
I quit my full-time job in December 2019, three months before a global pandemic shut down the world. I watched my investments fall by 34% in the sharpest and most rapid market decline in history. I cancelled two European vacations. While I did get a three-month head start on the whole work-from-home thing, my routine…
Read MoreUsing Annuities To Create Your Own Personal Pension In Retirement
*Sponsored by RBC Insurance* The reason why retirement planning can be so difficult is because the one variable we need to know – how long we have to live – is impossible to predict. Sure, we have mortality tables and family history to help guide us, but statistically speaking, half the population will outlive their…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Update From Italy Edition
Buongiorno! We’ve spent two glorious weeks in Italy, arriving first in Rome before moving on to Florence and Venice. Three very different, yet equally amazing cities! I loved the history of Rome. We toured the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Vatican, ran through Circus Maximus and along the Tiber, tossed a coin into Trevi…
Read MoreHow To Invest During High Inflation
It’s common for investors to be concerned about inflation because it brings to mind the high inflationary period of the 1970s that completely wrecked stock and bond returns. It’s also easy for investors to draw spurious conclusions about government debt and linking that to the hyperinflation that occurred in Zimbabwe or Venezuela. This article aims…
Read MoreWhat Are Your Money Dials?
One of the keys to designing a great lifestyle is to align your spending with your values, or to practice conscious spending. But what does that mean, exactly? If you showed me your budget would I be able to tell if you’re a world traveler, a wine connoisseur, a golfer, a philanthropist, an outdoorsman, or…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Stocks Vs. Real Estate Edition
A good percentage of Canadians would prefer to invest in real estate (either through their primary residence or by purchasing an investment property) instead of investing in the stock market. There’s even a perception that real estate is less risky than stocks. Couple that with massive gains in house prices across the country and it’s…
Read MoreEvermore Retirement ETFs: A New Target Date Solution For Your Retirement
Investing has often been an expensive and/or complicated endeavour for Canadians. The vast majority of investors put their money into mutual funds sold by their bank or investment firm – funds which typically charge 2% or more in fees and leave Canadians with less money for retirement. Then along came exchange-traded funds (ETFs), then robo-advisors,…
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