Posts by Robb Engen
A New Way To Look At Sustainable Investing
It’s not often we can equate green and sustainable business practices with the oil and gas sector but at a recent leadership summit I had the pleasure to hear Imaginea Energy founder Suzanne West share her ambitious vision to ‘green’ the oil business. Ms. West attended Richard Branson’s leadership gathering at Necker Island where she…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: What’s In A Name Edition
CBC Go Public is like a dog with a bone when it comes to going after Canada’s big banks. First it exposed the high pressure sales culture that has made its way down to the front-line – prompting bank tellers to open up about the aggressive tactics used to dupe customers into taking out new products or…
Read MoreWhy I Don’t Invest In A Taxable (Non-Registered) Account
Rumours of an increased capital gains tax were put to rest last week when the Liberals unveiled their second federal budget with no mention of a change to the inclusion rate. The scuttlebutt around capital gains, however, got me thinking about investing in a taxable or non-registered account. There are several scenarios where investing in…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Federal Budget Edition
It was much ado about nothing when the Liberals announced its second federal budget this week. Despite rumours of tax hikes and increases to the capital gains inclusion rate, the budget delivered none of that, and instead offered what amounts to long-range pledges to improve innovation, skills training and gender equality. For the record, Finance…
Read MoreTaking Out A Second Mortgage: A Cautionary Tale
Let me share a cautionary tale about taking out a second mortgage. I got into a lot of financial trouble in my early twenties. Even though I bought my first home on my own at 23, my finances were a mess and I was stuck in a big-time credit card debt trap. My only saviour…
Read MoreHow A ‘First 60 Days’ Assessment Saves Us Taxes Year Round
I filed my taxes last week and expect to see a $2,500 refund hit my account some time in the next few days. While normally a big tax refund is cause for celebration, I won’t be treating this one as a windfall. That’s because it turned out my wife owed around the same amount when…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Moonlight Run Edition
Today marks the 30th anniversary of one of the biggest running events in southern Alberta – the Moonlight Run – and I’m excited to say that I’ll be competing in the event for the first time along with my wife, who is an avid runner. I don’t have any aspirations of winning my age category…
Read MoreBanking On A High Pressure Sales Culture
Canada’s big five banks continue to post record profits and the pressure to achieve ever-increasing sales targets has filtered its way down to the front line. Three TD Bank tellers went to CBC Go Public and explained how the bank’s high-pressure sales culture has them relentlessly pushing new products on unsuspecting customers. Suggestive selling, cross…
Read MoreChecking In On Fraud Prevention Month
March is Fraud Prevention Month in Canada and the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) wants investors to be on alert for any potentially fraudulent schemes disguised as too-good-to-be-true investment opportunities. To show Albertans how easy it is to become a victim of investment fraud, the ASC orchestrated a scheme of its own to raise awareness about…
Read MoreWhy My Four-Minute Portfolio Is Tough To Beat
I spent a total of four minutes working on my RRSP portfolio last year. It wasn’t benign neglect – my two-ETF all-equity portfolio really is that simple! I made four trades, which took about a minute each after determining how much money to invest, in which of the two ETFs to allocate the investment, and…
Read More