Barbara Captijn had a 20-year career in communications and sales in the publishing and consumer goods industries. For the past 15 years, Barbara has been an independent consumer advocate for new home buyers, has advocated at all levels of the Ontario government for better consumer protection, and has written over 20 guest columns published in The Toronto Sun on this subject. Her first-hand experience as a new home buyer prompted her advocacy to fix what many have found to be a faulty system. Her advocacy work includes participating in ministry consultations, giving consumer feedback to Ontario ..read more

Alex Kjorven is a CPA, CA and Chief Product Officer at Ourboro. Ourboro is a private, Toronto-based company dedicated to providing access to homeownership through co-ownership. Ourboro co-invests up to $250K towards a buyer’s down payment, purchasing a share in the future value of the home. Once they are in their home, additional programs, such as maintenance check-ups and renovation credits, are available to co-owners to help preserve and increase the home's value. In my interview with Alex, we discuss: Barriers to homeownership Shared Equity to break into the market Co-owning the home with ..read more

An 18-year veteran of the Canadian insurance industry, Stefan Tirschler has extensive experience advising Canadians as they journey through the process of buying, understanding, and using home insurance. At Square One, Stefan works with a team of creative professionals whose mission is to make home insurance effortless, whether getting a quote or making a claim. Holding one of the most sought-after designations in the industry, Stefan is a Fellow Chartered Insurance Professional and Canadian Risk Manager who strives to inform consumers and professionals alike about insurance. In my interview w ..read more

Shannon Lee Simmons is an award winning Certified Financial Planner, speaker, bestselling author, Chartered Investment Manager and founder of the New School of Finance. She is a personal finance writer for the Globe and Mail as well as CBC Radio’s Metro Morning money columnist and was a financial expert on The Marilyn Denis Show. Shannon’s latest book “No-Regret Decisions” is a decision crisis playbook that will help you to make sound choices when the emotional and financial stakes are high. From the initial shock of Panic Mode to the insecurity of the Messy Middle, and finally, the acceptance ..read more

Giacomo Ladas is the Communications Manager for Rentals.ca, a free-to-use, leading marketplace connecting private landlords and renters across the country. He fosters relationships with journalists, bloggers, and industry thought leaders. He is integral in the Rentals.ca National Rent Report publication as he handles all media inquiries throughout the year. In my interview with Giacomo, we discuss: The rental market that was in 2023 What’s going on right now in the rental market Predictions for the rental market in 2024 Good places to invest across Canada right now as a landlord ..read more

Bruce Sellery is a personal finance expert and the CEO of Credit Canada, the longest-standing non-profit credit counselling agency in the country. He appears regularly on Cityline and Breakfast Television, has a national money column for CBC Radio, hosts a radio show on SiriusXM, and speaks at events from coast to coast. He is also the author of the Globe & Mail bestseller, “Moolala: Why smart people do dumb things with money (and what you can do about it).” Credit Canada recently launched a free, multi-lingual online learning program about credit, developed specifically for newcomers to C ..read more

Not all journalists get to live their beat, but Rob Carrick does. His personal finance column in The Globe and Mail is one regular guy’s attempt to make sense of the world of money. He’s married with two 20-something kids and constantly figuring out ways to spend and invest intelligently. He asks the same questions you would and applies his experience and contacts to get answers. He got his start in financial writing back in the early 1990s when he covered the Bay Street business scene for The Canadian Press wire service. A few years later, he was transferred to CP’s parliamentary bureau in Ot ..read more

Jonathan Chevreau is a veteran financial columnist, blogger and author based in Toronto.  He was the Financial Post’s personal finance columnist between 1993 and 2012 and editor-in-chief for MoneySense Magazine from 2012 to 2014.  He still writes the Retired Money column for MoneySense. In 2014, he launched the Financial Independence Hub, which usually publishes four blogs every week. Jon has authored several books with traditional book publishers like McGraw Hill and Key Porter books, including The Wealthy Boomer, and a series of mutual fund guides called Smart Funds. In 2016, he co ..read more

Tomas Ronis is the founder and CEO of Rhenti. Being both a landlord and a renter, Tomas has a unique perspective of the residential rental industry that enables the Rhenti team to build digital leasing tools for landlords in a way that shifts renters to the forefront of the experience. Rhenti is the busy landlord's trusted leasing platform, connecting them with more renters, faster. Rhenti helps busy landlords to protect their time and free themselves from menial and tedious tasks by reducing their overall time to lease. In my interview with Tomas, we discuss: What is Rhenti and how does it w ..read more

Larry Bates is an independent investor advocate, author of Beat the Bank: The Canadian Guide to Simply Successful Investing, consultant and speaker. Larry enjoyed a 35-year banking career with several major financial institutions in both Canada and the U.K. including as Global Head of Debt Capital Markets for RBC. Over the course of his career, Larry both collaborated with and advised many of the world’s most sophisticated investors and financial institutions. Larry is currently on the board of FAIR Canada and is an Ambassador of the Transparency Task Force. He is a graduate of Dalhousie Unive ..read more