I came across a recent CTV News Consumer Alert article/video clip about taxes on the estate when the bulk of the deceased’s assets were held in a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and a principal residence that had been owned as a secondary property for...
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Stewardship is a Luxury For many Canadians earning minimum wage, stewardship feels like a luxury word. It belongs to the vocabulary of the wealthy, people with disposable income, not those just trying to get through the month. Imagine a single parent working multiple part-time jobs without benefits,...
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As summer winds down, many Canadian families are preparing their children for post-secondary education. For parents like Lisa and Jason, both 50 years old and living in Red Deer, Alberta, this means more than just shopping for residence supplies. It also means figuring out how...
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Introduction Linda and David, both recently turned 65, are lifelong residents of Cambridge, Ontario. They’re now settling into retirement with a mix of anticipation and uncertainty. They bought their home 39 years ago, just a year after getting married. It’s where they raised their two children and...
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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...
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The Paradox of Vacation School is out and summer is here. When I was a child, that often meant a road trip from my hometown of Chilliwack, BC, out to Manitoba, visiting relatives in Winnipeg and small communities in the south like Grunthal and Arnaud. In...
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During my time in the discount brokerage world, I encountered individuals whose investment accounts seemed to function more like slot machines or roulette wheels. They would deposit money and bet it all on a single stock, implement aggressive options strategies, or day trade in and...
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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...
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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...
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An Unexpected Discovery David and Susan have done everything right. Born in 1960 and now turning 65, they've worked steady careers, raised a family, and saved carefully. Their London, Ontario home is mortgage-free, their debts are paid off, and between their RRSPs, TFSAs, DC pension plans, and...
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