It’s not just you. Life is more expensive now that it was before the pandemic. 15.57% more, to be precise. While inflation can seem like an abstract economic statistic, it’s perhaps the more visceral of them all. When the price of your daily needs rises month after month, you notice. I’ve certainly noticed. I’ve never fussed much about the price of groceries but even I’ve noticed prices going up. Cereal, coffee, butter, salmon and frozen fruit are some of the things I’ve felt the most. (My current obsession is to find the giant can of Tim Horton’s ground coffee on sale.) And lots of big thin ..read more

There are few topics as important in a relationship as money. Disagreements about money consistently ranks as a top irritation for couples. It could be due to having opposing views about the role that money plays in your life, disagreements about what to spend money on, and how much to plan for the future. If I had to guess, I’d say that 80% of couples aren’t on the same page when it comes to how they view and manage money. Although having different views doesn’t always lead to conflict, it certainly requires couples to talk about their differences and find an approach to managing money that w ..read more

If you’ve decided that you want to manage your own investments and use ETFs, you might be asking “Now what?” If you’re investing in ETFs, you really have two options for getting invested: doing it yourself using an online broker or using a robo-advisor. In some cases, you may be able to own ETFs through a financial advisor but generally you’ll need an online broker to take full advantage of passive investing. Don’t be intimidated by the name; an online broker is simply a company that provides a service for people to trade stocks. There are two main functions of an online broker: the first is t ..read more

A quick overview of what you need to know Despite the attention that ETFs get in the personal finance world, mutual funds are still much more popular than ETFs. At the end of 2023, Canadians had $383-billion invested in ETFs but had more than five times that amount invested in mutual funds ($1.9-trillion). If ETFs are so awesome (and they are), why would anyone still buy a mutual fund? It’s a great question and the answer provides a lesson in understanding mutual funds and ETFs. Quite simply, mutual funds are more profitable. Not for you the investor necessarily, but for the companies selling ..read more

Understanding the difference is foundational to investing Investing can seem complicated. So much lingo, so many products. The truth is, though, that investing is actually quite simple once you break it down into pieces. There are really just five things you need to know about investing: 1. How to determine your appropriate asset allocation. 2. The difference between active and passive investing. 3. What ETFs and mutual funds are. 4. How to invest with an online broker and/or how to talk to your financial advisor. 5. When to revisit your asset allocation and make changes to your investments. T ..read more

Small changes are powerful I always feel excited about the start of a new year. It’s a prompt to set goals, to think about what’s important to me, and to decide on what changes I want to make in my life. As the weeks roll forward, though, it’s easy to forget about the list of new habits I was planning on putting in place. Many of the items are forgotten. But not all of them. Some years I am able to remember what I wanted to do. This happens when I have a (short) list of simple and well-defined things I can do to work towards my desired habit. Each year, I’ll bet many people swear that they wil ..read more

December is the season of giving. Gifts, baked goods, kind greeting and charitable donations. It’s convenient that Christmas lines up with the end of the tax year. Why? Both provide an incentive to make donations to charities. You probably know that you get a tax credit when you make a donation. But do you know just how generous that tax credit is? Very generous. In fact, if you do some quick math just before you hit the “Donate” button of your charity of choice, you might add a bit more money to that donation amount. The donation tax credit is just that – a credit. Don’t confuse it with a ded ..read more

My life has been expensive lately. I’m very disciplined with my spending but sometimes life gets away from me. November has been one of those months when the big-ticket items just kept rolling in. I needed winter tires, I had an (out-of-pocket) root canal, I booked plane tickets to Costa Rica for me and my boys, and I booked a cottage through Air BnB for my 50th birthday next year. Oh, and my son needed a new winter coat. When I was married and enjoyed the benefits that come with having two incomes, these extras didn’t phase me. It seemed that between the two of us there was usually enough mon ..read more

Do you know how much you’re paying your financial advisor? If you don’t, you’re not alone. Figuring out just how much you are paying isn’t straight-forward. Despite regulation that attempts to force transparency, fees remain a mystery for many clients of financial advisors. * This is hugely unfortunate for clients (and fortunate for advisors) for two reasons: fees are sometimes higher than they need to be and advisors don’t always provide the level of service, advice and performance that clients deserve. You should sit up and pay attention. You need to figure out how much you are paying every ..read more

DIY investors need a special kind of fortitude Those who keep an eye on the stock market will have noticed that the it has been a little vile lately. (For those who don’t, I’m sorry to have brought it to your attention.) Anyone who checks their investments with regularity is probably feeling some combination of anxiety, uncertainty and frustration with a touch of nausea. The Canadian market has taken a nosedive over the past month, falling 8%, giving up all the gains made earlier this year to leave us down 4% since January 1st. The U.S. has also taken a big dip in the past month but at least i ..read more