Reach that magic number even if you start at 40 It’s sometimes said that you need at least a $1 million retirement fund to maintain the kind of lifestyle you want after age 65. But starting at, say, age 40, can that even be done? The good news is that it is possible...
Financial literacy and the art of budgeting Black Friday. It’s become a pop culture phenomenon. In fact, it’s one of the cleverest marketing gimmicks of all time. For U.S. retailers, the Friday after U.S. Thanksgiving Day has typically been the day they become...
These accounts are designed for pension income When you leave an employer where you had a pension plan, the funds in the plan are transferred to a Locked-In Retirement Account. At times they may also be transferred into a locked-in RRSP. Essentially, these are a...
Protect your portfolio against inflation erosion The Bank of Canada raised its interest rate to 1.75% on Oct. 24. It said that CPI inflation dropped to 2.2% in September, but that its core measures remain around 2%. For many novice investors, this may sound like a...
What successful businesswomen know about start-ups Many women dream of starting their own business. And there are plenty of advantages. First, you are your own boss, and in control of your own destiny. Then, you get to produce that product or service that no one can...
Crunch the numbers before you make an offer The big question for young couples just starting out is whether to move out of that downtown condo unit and borrow to buy a home. This becomes especially critical if you’re planning a family or if a baby is already on the...
Four key areas to focus on to make the settlement last Once a divorce settlement is finalized, the next step is to make that settlement last. But how? What are the next steps in financial planning? Should you keep the same financial advisors and investment...
When your investments take control of you There’s nothing quite like the thrill of managing your own investments. That is, until things go south and you wonder whatever possessed you to buy that two-times daily bull crude oil ETF! Then there’s all that paperwork to...
Carefully selected bond funds as part of a diversified asset mix If you haven’t checked your portfolio for a while, you may have noticed that the performance of your bond mutual funds and ETFs has been lagging a bit. And you may be thinking of selling or switching....
Choosing the best financial advisory team Once you’re established in your profession or career, and you’re accumulating a sizeable nest-egg, getting financial advice from your second cousin or the bank teller just won’t do. You need to get some professional money...
Can you really “live with the risk”? In this day and age of “robo-advisors” and passive index investing, many investors seem to have forgotten the single immutable truth that equity markets are inherently risky. That’s simply because the share prices of stocks traded...
The ABCs of the ACB Thinking of selling your cottage, cabin, or recreational property? Unless it’s truly your principal residence, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will want its share of any capital gain you make on the sale. It calculates the capital gain as the...