Above: One of the shinkansen (新幹線), pulling into Fukuyama Station, Hiroshima. Rail Transportation My wife and I each bought three-week Japan Rail Passes. These passes, which can be purchased for one or two-week periods as well, allow access to the entirety of the Japan Railways (JR) system,...
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My wife is from Japan, two of our four children were born there, and I have spent about 10 years there in total. That makes it an important country for us to visit, which we are doing again for the first time since COVID came...
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Meet Mike and Jenn, a married couple residing in London, Ontario. At 41 years of age, they've been married for 12 years, sharing the ups and downs of life as a loving family. With two children, 10-year-old Liam and 8-year-old Emma, their journey through life...
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The Scenario When your child was born, you and your spouse vowed to assist with his post-secondary education costs. In the year he was born, you contributed $1,250 to his Registered Education Savings Plan) RESP, which attracted a Canadian Education Savings Grant (CESG) of $250 (equal...
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“Them’s fightin’ words!” Or so a character might say if I was writing a script for a 1950s Western. Nevertheless, some in the stock picker’s camp might take offence at the assertion in the title of this blog post. This seems to suggest that there...
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On July 4, 2022, I posted my 154th blog, on the topic of bonds and GICs. Coming off a long-term situation when the returns from these fixed-income products left many investors with little interest in buying something other than equities (individual stocks, equity mutual funds...
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I will never be able to buy a home So goes the lament of many young Canadians. When we my wife and I bought our first home in Chilliwack, BC, in 1996, we paid less than $140,000. Homes in the same neighbourhood are now going for...
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Being Cautious With Your Money For years your friends have been telling you to invest in the stock market. You resisted, insisting that High-Interest Savings Accounts (HISAs) and Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs) were all you needed. Besides, you already had some money in the stock market...
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“This whole notion of marriage is out of date.” Maybe. Or maybe this whole notion of marrying for love is out of date. Let’s bring back arranged marriages. Do you think that is farfetched? Although in decline, the practice of arranging meetings between prospective spouses,...
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On July 15, 2023, the Toronto Star published a lengthy article, written by Richard Warnica, about the unregulated services of a debt consultant. While the story focuses on an individual and a particular debt consultancy firm, the context applies to a broad swath of the...
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