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The retirement income solution
How to make your nestegg last through retirement How much should I withdraw every year from my investment portfolio so it will last through my retirement? This is a problem all Baby Boomers are wrestling with. Many high net-worth investors wish to maintain a...
Unlocking the mysteries of active and passive investing
Knowing which is which could affect your bottom line “Active” and “passive” portfolio management used to be fairly straightforward. Active managers traded frequently in an effort to beat the market, while passive managers relied on index-following strategies. But...
Real-world advice for new graduates
Making the most of the sweet spot in your financial life Graduation from college or university is an exciting time. But it can also be unsettling. If you have student loans, you’ll need to start paying those off. You can’t pay them off by, say, “travelling” for a...
‘Sandwich generation’ faces retirement cash crunch
An insurance strategy to guarantee your retirement nestegg If you’re a member of the “sandwich generation,” your story is typical of many people in your demographic. You find yourselves taking care of both your own family (one or more kids off to university) and...
Investment planning in your mid-40s
It’s not too late, provided you follow five basic rules Q – My husband and I are in our mid-40s, with two teenage children. We now own our home free and clear. Because we’ve been diligent about paying off our mortgage, with bi-weekly payments and annual...
How to tell if your advisor is ripping you off
Financial advisory fees don’t always add up to good value Trailing commissions, loads, transaction fees, administration fees. If your investment account statement looks like your advisor is shopping for a new Porsche, it might be time to revisit the whole issue of...
Should you follow the ‘smart money’ and sell stocks?
If you manage a multi-billion-dollar portfolio, maybe The “smart money” seems to be sounding alarm bells about the equity markets. Big movers like Bill Gross of Janus Capital Group, Bruce Cooper, the CIO of TD Bank, and others, like the Institute for International...
Baffled by the alphabet soup of fund fees and series?
Choosing the wrong letter can cost you plenty! The choice of mutual fund investments can be complex and completely overwhelming. There are very nearly 36,000 investment fund products (including clones) on the market. These include not only money market funds,...
Don’t wait: open a TFSA now!
Higher TFSA contribution limit is a real game changer The revised contribution limit for Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSA) really is a game changer. With the annual contribution limit raised to $10,000 from the previous $5,500, the TFSA is now a truly serious...
Should you really ‘sell in May and go away’?
You should... only if you believe in stock market fairy dust You may have heard the old stock market saying, “Sell in May, go away, and don’t come back ’til Labour Day.” These bits of market lore are repeated so often that they eventually become like rules carved...
Your guide to great tax-saving credits and deductions
A crop of lucrative tax breaks ripe for the picking Every year around this time, I get lots of questions about what kind of tax deductions and credits are available to help you cut your tax bill. So here’s a summary of the more popular tax breaks, along with some...
How to decipher your advisor’s baffling language
What to do when ‘asset allocation,’ ‘diversification,’ and ‘correlation’ sound like nothing but gibberish Q - I’ve been told that in my portfolio, I should allocate my investment assets to meet my risk-tolerance level, but that I should also diversify my security...