Should I trust my advisor or accountant? + MORE Jul 20th

When I was growing up, personal finance was never taught in school. Instead of getting money advice, I learned the numeric value of pi and how to multiply fractions; compound interest wasn’t in any of my textbooks. While I don’t have any experience with the current education system, I can imagine that not much has changed.
For many of us, we rely on our parents or friends to give us advice, but just how accurate is that advice in today’s economic climate? Times have changed and everything appears to be much more expensive. My parents bought their first home in cash – something that I will never be able to do. That doesn’t mean their advice is wrong; it just means I need to apply it to how things are now. Here’s some of the money advice I have picked up over the years.
“Spend less than You Make”
Regardless of our income, spending less than we make are always wise words to live by but we also need to factor in savings (I’ll focus on that a bit later). Perhaps what people really mean when they say this is simply to avoid credit…

(Martin Barraud/Getty Images)
Q: We seem to be in a financial dilemma. Different perspectives on RRSPs at a time when my husband is retired and I am going to retire. He has a pension, I do not. The accountant is of the opinion that we should start converting our RRSP monies into cash, which is what I anticipated we would do upon retirement. Our financial advisor [feels] that we should deplete our savings completely and then turn to our RRSP fund at RRIF age [of 71].
Where do I turn to get solid financial advice as I feel that we need an investment advisor however I am uncertain whose interests are being looked after.
—Lea
A: It’s tough making financial decisions when you get conflicting opinions. But it’s not uncommon. One of the problems with generic or rule of thumb advice, however, is that it doesn’t necessarily apply to you, no matter who is giving it. So let’s focus in on some of the specifics in your case, Lea.
First off, assuming your husband’s pension is a defined benefit pension plan, he’s eligible to split up to 50% of his pension income with you on his tax return…

Canadians worrying about the state of their retirement savings can enjoy some good news this week: Canada has been ranked 10th in the 2016 Global Retirement index, up from 12th last year. The annual ranking, by Natixis Global Asset Management, compares the state of retirement security in 43 countries around the world. The ranking placed Norway, Switzerland and Iceland in the top three slots, the United States at 14, with Brazil, Greece and India rounding out the bottom of the list.
The news comes just a few weeks after Canada’s finance ministers agreed to an expansion of the Canada Pension Plan. “When you look at what is driving these results for Canada, we can point to some things that are clearly working, and some things on the horizon that it would be good to address now,” says Ed Farrington, executive vice president for retirement at Natixis. “What we’re hoping is that this ranking will provide policy makers, employers and individuals with information to use moving forward with planning for retirement savings programs…