After a working career of three or four decades or more, you hope you have put away an adequate amount of money in your employer pension plan and/or your RRSP so that you can live an adequate lifestyle in retirement. You are concerned, however. Living...
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Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) are the two major federal programs that provide financial assistance for Canadian seniors. OAS is available to almost any qualified resident or citizen of Canada although it can be reduced depending on years of residency...
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Recently, a report from CIBC Capital Markets came out that parents gave their adult kids more than $10 billion to buy homes in the past year. For first-time young home buyers in Toronto, that bit of help averaged around $130,000. For those in Vancouver, the...
Read MoreI have written before about retiring on a low income, in this blog post. Much of that post relied on the writing of John Stapleton, an expert on benefit programs for low-income earners, and a retired Ontario civil servant. Periodically, Stapleton makes live presentations via programs...
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In a few days, my oldest child will get married. There are at least two consequences of this impending event: 1. I will take a break from writing a blog post next week. 2. This blog post. There are certainly more consequences that are much more...
Read MoreAt the end of July, Globe and Mail Personal Finance columnist, Rob Carrick, wrote an article about the cost of a financial plan. For this post, I thought it might be helpful to review how I charge for the financial plans I create for my...
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You are the right age to retire. You have the right amount of money. Is that it, though? What are you retiring into? Has that even been part of your thinking? What other aspects of retirement do you need to get into place? Emotional Issues in...
Read MoreI occasionally participate in an online forum of retirees or near-retirees. Judging by the comments, many are suspicious of the Canada Pension Plan. It seems to boil down to three responses: The government is raiding our retirement nest egg – there will be nothing left...
Read MoreFinancial planners often encourage their clients to think long-term. We are more cautious about the risk of living too long, longevity risk, than we are about dying young. I subscribed to the print version of MoneySense magazine for many years before it went fully online. I...
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The recent news of gravesites being discovered on grounds associated with residential schools has caused many to reflect on the meaning of July 1, Canada Day. Despite growing up in Chilliwack, BC, where many of my secondary school classmates were from local First Nations, I...
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