Posts by Robb Engen
Weekend Reading: Debt Binge Edition
Not a week goes by without hearing how Canadians are struggling with household debt. We’re taking on too much mortgage debt, using our homes as ATMs via home equity lines of credit, we’re financing brand new vehicles, and we’re not paying off our credit card balances in full each month. A new report from the Financial Consumer…
Read MoreBanning Commissions Won’t Lead To An Advice Gap Because Small Investors Already Get Screwed
The investment fund industry would have you believe that banning embedded commissions – or trailer fees – on mutual funds will create an advice gap. The thought being that a commission ban will cause thousands of financial advisors to flee the industry and leave small investors, those with portfolios under $100,000, without access to quality financial advice.…
Read MoreHave We Reached Peak Stock Market?
The stock market has been full-on raging bull since March 2009. Indeed, the S&P 500 bottomed-out at 682 in the depths of the great financial crash, but has since climbed to a record 2,415 as of this writing. Those who started their investing journey in the past eight years have only known markets to rise, but prices…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Calgary Marathon Edition
I’ve been slowly upping my running game and this weekend my wife and I head up to Calgary to race in the Scotiabank Calgary Marathon. I’m still a step behind my wife, who is a more seasoned runner, so I’m entered in the 10 kilometre race while my wife attempts her first half-marathon. I’m aiming…
Read MoreAn Unhealthy Obsession With Saving Money
I sometimes worry that I’m not saving enough money. It’s a silly obsession, given that we don’t have any consumer debt, we save more than one-third of our income, and I have a defined benefit pension plan at work. I try to strike a balance between saving and spending money, but I’ll admit that I mostly prefer…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: May Long Edition
Welcome to another edition of weekend reading and I hope you’re all having a terrific May long weekend. Grab a coffee or tea and take some time to enjoy the finest hand-curated selection of Canadian personal finance and investing articles from around the web this week. If you’re looking for even more of a weekend reading experience, join…
Read MoreInvesting For Income In Your Accumulation Years
When I sold my dividend stocks in 2015 my portfolio was worth $100,000 and generated about $4,000 a year in dividend income. I’ll admit it was motivating to watch the dividends grow each year as I added new money to my portfolio and companies increased their payouts. I regularly tracked my progress and projected out…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Kids Birthday Edition
At least once a month for the past few years our kids have attended (or have been invited to) a birthday party where the host parents rent out a facility for the kids to run around and then move to a ‘party room’ to open presents and eat birthday cake. For years we resisted this…
Read MoreHow CDIC Would Protect Your Deposits If Home Capital Goes Bankrupt
Canada has not seen a bank failure since Security Home Mortgage Corporation, a Calgary-based company, went bankrupt in 1996, putting $42 million in bank deposits at risk. Two decades later we have another mortgage company, Home Capital Group, teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Deposits at Home Capital were expected to fall to $192 million this week,…
Read MoreForget the Excuses. Here’s a Brain-Dead Easy Way to Start Investing
Many people know they should invest for the future but for one reason or another the investing can gets kicked down the road. Maybe they’re living paycheque to paycheque and can’t free up enough cash to invest, or they simply don’t have time to make an appointment with an advisor to draw up an investment…
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