Baby Makes Three: A Boomer & Echo Financial Makeover
Megan (28) and Aaron (29) have been married almost four years. They both have well paying jobs and are living the good life. They feel that since they have little debt, are meeting their retirement savings goals, and keeping up with the bills why not have fun with their excess cash? They regularly surprise each…
Read MoreGenerating Retirement Cash Flow From Your Investments
Once you stop working your objective shifts from growing your investment portfolio to generating income from it. Many retirees obsess over generating enough retirement cash flow from their investments. They prefer a predictable stream of income to partially replace their previous salary income. Here are some strategies for getting cash flow from your retirement portfolio:…
Read MoreEndy, Casper, Bear: Three Online Mattress in a Box Companies Compared
How do you disrupt a mature, billion-dollar mattress industry? Take the mattress out of the store, put it online, and deliver it right to your door with a money-back guarantee. That’s exactly how a growing number of online direct-to-consumer start-ups led by Endy Sleep and Casper have begun to nibble away market share from traditional…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: Get LIT(erate) Edition
Financial author Rob Brown, of Wealthing Like Rabbits fame, is on a cross-country financial literacy tour. His mission: target universities and colleges across the country and speak to post-secondary students, new graduates, and young alumni about the importance of financial literacy. There’s a lot of talk about developing and improving financial literacy curriculum in high…
Read MoreHow Families Can Get More Out Of The Canada Child Benefit
The Canada Child Benefit is a tax-free benefit paid monthly to eligible families. It was introduced by the federal government in July 2016, replacing the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) and the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB). The Canada Child Benefit provides a maximum annual benefit of $6,400 per child under the age of six,…
Read MoreOur Ever-Rising Grocery Bills and the Cost of Convenience
One of the reasons why our grocery bills are getting higher is our increasing reliance on convenience and pre-packaged foods. Yes, I get that they can be, well, convenient when we’re busy but let’s face it, we get lazy and unprepared and often they’re the first things we throw in the cart. The problem with…
Read MoreI Did The Math On Your Investment Fees And The Results Weren’t Pretty
A few weeks ago I invited readers to share their portfolio details with me so I could help ‘do the math’ on their investment fees. Many of you did, and the results weren’t pretty. From accounts loaded with deferred sales charges (DSCs), management expense ratios (MERs) in the high 2 percent range, and funds overlapping…
Read MoreWeekend Reading: For Brock Hirsche Edition
Just over two years ago Brock Hirsche, the 23-year-old captain of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s hockey team, was diagnosed with testicular cancer. It’s a disease most commonly found in men aged 15-35 and one that hit the Pronghorn family hard as three members of the program were diagnosed with testicular cancer within the…
Read MoreAre ETFs Becoming Too Complex?
Exchange traded funds have surged in popularity as more investors realize the benefits of lower investment costs and broad diversification. They started out as a way for investors to tap into the returns of major stock markets using a nice convenient low-cost package that trades like a stock. With passive investment management, a computer could…
Read MoreWaiting For An Inheritance
Have you noticed that your senior parents may be reluctant to discuss estate planning with their children? Obviously, there’s the discomfort of talking about death, but there’s also that long-time reluctance about discussing financial issues. This lack of conversation between the generations may be contributing to poor retirement and estate planning. Needing to fund retirement…
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