How to go about securing the best Retirement Plan in Canada.
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Should you be worried about retirement? If you don’t have a pension, you probably should + MORE Feb 24th
A new survey reveals that many Canadians suffer from an appalling lack of knowledge when it comes to retirement planning, writes Gordon Pape..... More »
Nervous about protecting your retirement savings? Here’s what you shouldn’t do + MORE Apr 20th
As the stock markets tumble in the time of pandemic, it’s difficult to know what steps to take to protect savings..... More »
The upside to waiting until age 70 to take CPP benefits + MORE Oct 5th
Q. I am retiring next year at age 65 and I don’t know if I should take my CPP immediately, or wait. My friends and other people I know from work took their CPP when they retired and they are telling me I should take it when I retire. Are they right? When is the best time to draw CPP?
–Jit
A. H.... More »
Can you make a transfer from an RESP to a spouse’s RRSP? Sep 1st
Q. I have an RESP account that I plan to wind down—and I have very little RRSP contribution room, but my wife has quite a lot. I just read this article you wrote for MoneySense about transferring money from an RESP to an RRSP. I thought it was permissible for a subscriber (that would be me in this.... More »
This 30-year-old freelancer makes $125,000 a year and pays modest rent living with his parents. Should he invest in retirement or buy a home? + MORE Feb 3rd
Jeremy says his main goal is to save for retirement, but after looking at condos online, he’s trying to decide if that will be a worthy investment..... More »
Bad behaviour or bad math?
– moneysense.ca
Wade D. Pfau, the professor of retirement income at The American College, recently fired a broadside at DALBAR’s annual research study on the “Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior”. The professor claims the study is deeply flawed.
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Safer Canadian Dogs
That’s a problem because the research is regularly highlighted by advisors and the media. Pfau says that, “The study is meant to educate investors about how the returns they earn generally lag behind the returns for market indices widely reported in the media. The study analyzes the sources of poor investor performance, finding that the bad timing behaviour of buying high and selling low is the main culprit, along with fund expenses, the need for cash and a lack of cash to invest.”
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You may be familiar with the flavour of the findings. For instance, DALBAR found that the average equity fund investor gained an average of 4.7% annually over the 20 years through to the end of 2015…
The numbers don’t appear to add up for this couple’s retirement goals
– theglobeandmail.com
While the couple’s affairs seem complicated, their concerns are shared by many Canadians: How to help their children pay for postsecondary education, pay off the mortgage on their house and save for retirement
Should I rely on REITs for better investment returns?
– moneysense.ca
Q: As a retiree, I need to maximize my return on investments. I notice there are a number of income trusts that have significant yields and I was wondering if there is an ETF made up of income trusts. While I know this income is fully taxed my plan was to keep such an ETF in a TFSA. I have a REIT ETF in my TFSA now, but was looking for greater diversification. Can you help? — GloriaA: Income is indeed important in retirement. Retirement could be seen as income that starts once your work income stops. However, focusing on income-generating investments is an oversimplification that is pandered to (and at times exploited by) the financial services industry.
For your portfolio, it’s real returns that matter (returns after tax, fees and inflation). Real returns determine your retirement account’s vitality as you get older, ability to keep up with inflation, and success in meeting your spending expectations during retirement. Income within a portfolio is only one part of returns. Yes, there are tax differences between interest income, dividends, and capital gains (there are use-of-accounts strategies to handle these differences), but a myopic focus on income is unlikely to maximize overall real returns…
