Dealing with Debt

It is no secret that a significant part of the Canadian population is finding it exceedingly difficult to make ends meet. Debt is extremely high per household, primarily as a consequence of large mortgages and more recently, high interest rates. While inflation is slowly diminishing,...

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Can You Retire on CPP and OAS Alone?

A couple we’ll call David and Marie are on the verge of age 65. They managed to pay off their mortgage back in 2008, but they haven’t saved much of anything since. Neither had employers who provided pensions or group Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs)....

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A Canadian Wealth Test

For years, I was an avid subscriber to the old print version of MoneySense magazine. Like many other print periodicals, however, it went exclusively online several years ago. One of the most fascinating articles I read during the print era was The All-Canadian Wealth Test,...

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Preparing for the Retirement Journey

Meet Emma and Roy, a couple from Winnipeg eagerly counting down the days to their retirement, just five years away. Aware of the importance of careful financial planning, they decide to engage an advice-only financial planner to support their transition into their “golden years.”   Step 1:...

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GICs vs. a Balanced Stock-Bond Portfolio

Recently, I’ve been thinking about saving versus investing or the idea of engaging in “risky” investments versus “safe” interest-bearing deposit products. This idea came to mind again because of the findings presented in my last blog post that financial planners in Japan did not tend...

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