In my student days, I remember an ethics professor saying something to the effect of, “That which is not prohibited is permitted.” Of course, one pithy sentence does not exactly provide the full range of nuance that was elaborated on over the semesters that I...
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As sure as the snow will inevitably melt away in the spring, so will a portion of our income as it is paid to the Canada Revenue Agency. Many employed people will have overpaid their income taxes in the course of the year and are...
Read MoreYou are a Canadian who has just returned to Canada after working for many years in the United States. In that time, you have accumulated assets in a 401(k), a traditional IRA, and a Roth IRA. In addition, you have children who were born in...
Read MoreI have sometimes heard it said, “There’s no point in earning extra income; it’s just going to be taxed away.” Oddly enough, no one seems to turn away a raise. Graduated vs. Flat Tax Canada has a graduated income tax regime. This means that the more you...
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Canada welcomes significant numbers of immigrants each year. However, many people choose to leave Canada for other countries, too. I have relatives and friends who live in the United States, Japan, and Australia, to name just three countries. I lived in Japan myself for a...
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As I wrote on my website, one of the major reasons I began to work in financial planning is because I saw multiple DIY portfolios that were not founded on any rational approach to investment planning. Many seemed to view investing as a variation on...
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A couple of years ago, David Bach, with John David Mann, published the book The Latte Factor. I haven’t read the book, so this is not a review. But looking at the table of contents, it appears that the book is not simply about investing...
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As a member of the Financial Planning Association of Canada (FPAC), our overarching goal is to professionalize financial services in Canada. One way in which we seek to get the word out about FPAC’s mission is by providing a regular column, Qualified Advice, for MoneySense,...
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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Do you mean asset allocation? If you have read anything about setting up an investment portfolio, you have probably come across the term asset allocation. This term has to do with how you mix the various investment options at your disposal. For example, if you scan...
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