My dad’s birthday was September 2. He died a little over four years ago just short of age 89. Thanks to his thoughtful approach to financial matters and the careful executorship of my brother, Rob, we four siblings received our inheritances in a timely manner. What...
Read More
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) seems to get all the press these days. There are these debates about whether one should take it as early as age 60, wait until the “normal” retirement age of 65, or even delay the start until as late as...
Read More
If you have a spouse and/or children, in other words, someone who is dependent on you, life insurance of some sort is an important consideration. Your dependants “depend” on your monetary contribution to the household. A monetary contribution includes income from employment or self-employment, but...
Read More
One of the biggest impacts on my life occurred when I was 25 years old and newly married. A routine medical test detected a problem in the functioning of my kidneys. Further testing eventually determined that I had a chronic kidney disease known as Membranoproliferative...
Read More
Defined Benefit pension plans are required to use a funded ratio, also referred to as a solvency ratio, in determining whether the plan is sufficiently funded. This approach can also be used to assess the funding adequacy, or solvency, of your own retirement savings. What is...
Read More
Friends of mine were talking about downsizing after they retired. The idea of having a smaller space to maintain was appealing. However, they decided against it for the time being, arguing that having more bedrooms and a bigger backyard was beneficial now that grandchildren were...
Read More
One of the hallmarks of any credential-granting professional body is that it has a well-established disciplinary process. The credential-granting body to which I answer is FP Canada. A division of FP Canada, the FP Canada Standards Council™, establishes and enforces the standards that are required...
Read More
You have had it. You cannot stand even one more winter of shovelling snow or fearing the loss of your fingers and toes from frostbite. You are going to retire to Panama, or Malaysia, or Portugal, or… There are lots of lists on the internet...
Read More
Bringing a new baby into your home is an exciting but anxiety-inducing time. There is so much change, especially if it is the first baby. There are also lots of financial implications. In retrospect, I’m not sure how we managed to accomplish it when we...
Read More
Interest Rates and Borrowing, Including Mortgages In the last several months, we have begun to see home sales decrease and prices drop, largely due to an increase in interest rates. If you are planning to borrow money, whether for a mortgage or other purposes, this increase...
Read More