This week, I gave myself a $600 annual raise. No, I didn’t get a promotion or take a different job. Instead, I simply increased my passive income by buying some bank stock. As I’ve said before, salary and income need not be the same thing. There are always ways to increase your income even if […]
When you know better, you do better. Maya Angelou This past weekend, I celebrated a rather significant birthday. It was also the 30-year anniversary of when I started my investing journey. As I’m wont to do on my birthday, I considered where I was when I started investing my money and just how far I’ve […]
Truth be told, retirement is a bank balance. People commonly think that of retirement in terms of an age. Traditionally, it’s been age 65 and lately it’s been cropping up to age 70. For a little while in the 90s, age 55 was the catchy second half of a very successful marketing campaign called Freedom […]
Most of the time, I talk to you as though you’re the only person you have to support with your income. The reality is that many people support their parents to some degree. If your parents are still working, then you should find out if your parents have a pension. Will it be enough to […]
Have you seen the article about the 82-year old Walmart employee who received over $100,000 from strangers so that he could retire? This story makes me very, very sad. I’m not sad because people reached out to help this senior citizen , nor am I sad that he retired. No, I feel despondent and a […]
Starting on January 1, 2023, the contribution room to the Tax Free Savings Account will increase from $6,000 to $6,500. If you’re fortunate enough to have any money to invest, take advantage of tax-free growth and invest it under the TFSA umbrella. It should be obvious but I’ll say it anyway. Investments grow faster when […]
As you may know, I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. To my mind, if something is good for me, I should start doing it today if it’s in my power to do so. Waiting for some arbitrary date on which to implement something beneficial seems a little… stupid. Delaying means that I’m continuing […]
When I first delved into the world of personal finance, I came across the idea that savers have trouble spending their money. Basically, the belief is that those who have saved all their lives are incapable of reversing their behaviour and spending their savings once they retire. I pooh-poohed that point-of-view. After all, how could […]
This question recently came up, and I’ve been noodling on it ever since. My whole adult life, I’ve been following the habit of maxing out my RRSP, my TFSA, and saving another chunk of my paycheque in my non-registered investment account. However, yesterday, someone asked me what I was saving it all for and whether […]
There is no way around it. You should always be saving money – some way, some how. Life is expensive, and it only gets more so. Name one essential thing in your life that has gotten cheaper over the years. Food? Nope. Rent or housing costs? No! Gasoline? Not a chance. Utilities? Not a bit. […]