An Unexpected Retirement Question Robert (Rob) is a 64-year-old DIY investor living in the B.C. Okanagan. Born in 1961, he is turning 65 in February 2026 and will be retiring at the end of that month after a long professional career. Rob is comfortable managing his own...
Read More
The Calm Before the Fear Permit me to introduce an investor whom we’ll call Michael. He is 41* years old, and a disciplined DIY investor who left his full-service investment advisor to build a globally diversified, 100% equity portfolio in early 2023. The portfolio consists of: ...
Read More
I have joined several Facebook groups that discuss personal finance. Among them there is a lot of discussion about investing through index ETFs. Somewhat ironically, there are people in this category who repeatedly ask questions about income or dividend ETFs, technology ETFs, or U.S.-listed ETFs that...
Read More
Over 25 years ago, I first learned about options trading. I never got around to implementing any such strategies for my accounts, but unexpectedly, I found myself in the investment industry, initially serving U.S. investors at a discount brokerage that had a contact centre here...
Read More
Allow me to introduce Daniel—a 32-year-old single man living in Calgary, earning $105,000 per year. He contributes regularly to his TFSA and personal RRSP, and also to a group RRSP through his employer, who matches his contributions via a Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (DPSP). Daniel...
Read More
A New Option, or a New Distraction? Periodically, investors are introduced to new asset classes with the promise of improving their portfolios. Lately, “alternatives” and “commodities” have become buzzwords in the world of investment products, sometimes packaged as part of a fund’s “expanded opportunity set,” or...
Read More
You may have heard that the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) has proposed the introduction of the “Canada First TFSA Top-Up,” a plan to allow Canadians to contribute an extra $5,000 in their Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs), as long as the amount qualifies as a...
Read More
There Are Too Many ETFs It wasn’t that many years ago when I was barely aware that Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) existed. After a few years, the benefits of ETFs began to appear. They were a remarkably low-cost way to get broad-market exposure to the world’s investment...
Read More
The Problem – Choosing the Right US Market Exposure You’ve decided to add US equities to your portfolio but now comes the tricky part—choosing between the S&P 500 or a total US market ETF. They both sound great, but which is right for you? If you follow...
Read More
Investing on your own can be rewarding, but it’s not without its difficulties. Adam Bornn, from Parallel Wealth, highlights eight challenges DIY investors often face in his YouTube video, "8 Hidden Challenges Every Investor Should Know." While Adam provides valuable insights, his perspective seems to assume...
Read More