2025!! How Did That Happen?!

As a kid growing up in the ‘80s, 2025 seemed like a distant future away. Many movies and TV shows portrayed the 2020s either as an advanced time with flying cars or a dystopian world that has been destroyed by wars or natural disasters. Since my childhood, the Mayan calendar ended in 2012 without major incident, Grigori Rasputin's prediction for a 2013 doomsday style event came and went and while 2020 certainly came with a lot of hardship, the world continues on pretty much as we knew it. Heck, even Skynet (the super-computer from the Terminator series) didn't become self-aware in August of 1997! So here we are, a quarter century into the new millennium. We're still here, and hopefully, you're all doing alright!

Natalie and I are just getting back from some time out of the office. We got in a couple of weeks...

More Overlooked RRSP Tricks

More than 65% of Canadians have made deposits to Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs). Many do so just for the tax savings, but here are some often overlooked tricks you should be aware of:

RRSP loans – Those who use investment funds for their RRSPs should be well aware of the strategy of ’buying low and selling high.’ As unnerving as it may feel, one of the best times to make a lump sum deposit is after there has been a substantial stock market correction. If you don’t have the cash on hand, an RRSP loan, paid back monthly, is an attractive way to come up with a larger deposit.

Use refunds wisely – Many RRSP contributors receive tax refunds each year. All too often, the refund gets blown on consumer items. Why not endorse the cheque directly over to your RRSP carrier and get a head start on next year’s contribution? How about a...

The Retirement Dilemma: Part 1

In the 1960s, retirement planning seemed straightforward. The advice was to move all your investments into fixed-income products as soon as you retired. Why? Because taking risks during retirement was considered dangerous. Back then, this approach made perfect sense.

But here’s the thing–this same advice still gets repeated today, sometimes treated as universal truth by some sources. Yet, the world has changed dramatically since the mid-20th century. So, is this old-school wisdom still relevant?

Let’s consider a story to illustrate the point. A woman preparing Christmas dinner cuts the end off her roast before putting it in the oven. Her daughter asks, "Why do you cut the end off?" The mother replies, "I’m not sure–that’s how Granny always did it. Let’s ask her." When they ask Granny, she laughs and says, "I only cut the end off..."