Articles

Meet early retirees Clara and Charlie, both 63 years old and living in Ontario. Charlie has a $3,200 monthly defined benefit pension through his employer and still does occasional consultation work. In total, he earns about $60,000 annually, which puts him in the 29.65% combined federal and Ontario...

The internet is an efficient way for you to stay connected with family and friends. On the flipside, like any public environment, you need to be aware and cautious. Just as locks on your doors can help you secure your home and belongings, there are steps you can take to safeguard your computer and p...

Do you know the difference between a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) and a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP)? Don’t be embarrassed if you don’t know the answer. More than a quarter of Canadians (27%) are unable to explain the difference between the two accounts.1   While RRSPs and TFSAs shar...

The March 2, 2020 deadline for Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) contributions is fast approaching. Undoubtedly, thousands of tax filers will be racing to top up their account before the deadline. To get the most out of your RRSP, it’s important to understand how it works. An RRSP on its own...

January is a great time to examine your finances and set new targets for the year but making progress on your goals can be challenging if you have to deal with a holiday debt hangover. In 2019, the average Canadian was projected to spend approximately $1,600 on the holidays, up about 2% over 20181,...

Do you have a “guest room” in your home that hasn’t seen a guest in years? A basement of clutter you haven’t looked through for even longer? Maybe you’re considering retirement – not just for yourself, but also for your lawnmower and snow shovel. Downsizing can carry a negative association of a meag...

Scott and Fran are a hard-working couple with elderly parents and grown children. Their careers were at a high point when Fran’s mother suffered a devastating stroke. Suddenly, they found themselves juggling roles again as they had when their children were young, except this time around, it came wit...

Financial literacy is increasingly being recognized as a necessary life skill. After all, fluency in the language of finance can help pave the way to greater economic security, especially when proficiency is learned early on. That’s why core curriculum for children as young as elementary-school age...

It would be too dangerous to get behind the wheel of a car without knowing the rules of the road or even where the gas and brake pedals are. Yet that’s the way many Canadians “steer” their personal finances, with no real understanding of how money works or how to get it to work for them. Adding to t...

People value balance in all areas of their life – even their investment portfolios. In a nutshell, a balanced investment strategy is a way of building your portfolio to manage risk and maximize returns based on the principles of asset allocation. Like all investments, having a balanced portfolio req...