More Canadians Living Single: Ways They Are Actually Saving Money + MORE Oct 13th

TORONTO _ Falling home prices in Toronto in September dragged down the Teranet_National Bank national composite house price index as it posted its first monthly decline since January 2016.
The national index, which includes 11 cities, fell 0.8 per cent compared with the previous month, the largest monthly decline since September 2010.
The move lower came as the index for Toronto, Canada’s largest housing market, fell 2.7 per cent on a month-over-month basis.
David Madani, senior Canada economist at Capital Economics, said a sharper slowdown in price inflation in the coming months is unavoidable.
“And with interest rates on the rise and mortgage financing rules likely to be tightened significantly later this year, the worst is still to come,” said Madani, who has been long-time bear on the housing market.
Home sales in Toronto have fallen since April when the Ontario government moved to cool the hot housing market with a package of changes including the introduction of a tax on foreign buyers…

RateSupermarket.ca’s Best of Finance awards recognizes the best credit cards and banking products in the Canadian personal finance industry.
From mortgages to credit cards to loans and lines of credit – there are hundreds of banking products on the market, and choosing just one can be overwhelming.
At RateSupermarket.ca, we strive to help every Canadian consumer find the credit card, bank account or investment product that best fits their lifestyle and budget. The Best of Finance Awards annually recognizes some of the top products in the personal finance industry, and helps you – the consumer – ultimately find your best match.
In selecting the top nominees for each category, we examined dozens of products and took various factors into consideration, such as points, miles, interest rates, balance transfer rates and annual fees. We then converted all figures into cash to see which products put the most money in your wallet. Each category contains two to three nominees, all of which we found performed exceptionally well for the Canadian consumer…

The two most common types of loans are secured and unsecured loans. Whether you’re looking to borrow money for a new car or even a vacation, it’s best to understand your options before applying.
What is a secured loan?
Secured loans are generally more customizable and negotiable. They can have either have a fixed or variable interest rate and can last for a set or variable amount of time.
You can likely borrow a lot more at a lower interest rate with a secured loan, because you are generally required to put up some form of collateral for approval. A common example of a secured loan is a mortgage, in which your home is the collateral. If you are unable to make your mortgage payments, your house can be taken away, in what’s known as foreclosure.
And though your credit history will be considered, your current credit score doesn’t bare as much weight in the approval process. Secured loans can still be a great option for those who are having a hard time getting a loan due to their poor credit rating…

More Canadians are living the single life, recent Statistics Canada census data shows. Out of the 14.1 million households recorded in Canada in 2016, about 29 per cent declared themselves to be one-person households (the highest since Confederation in 1867). This is due in part to changes in income distribution and demographics, including more women in the workplace. In fact, the number of one-person households is now greater than the number of households that consist of a couple with children (26.5 per cent). And for many, this means missing out on some of the big financial benefits of being in a couple.
For example, retired couples can have pension-income splitting to reduce taxes. The disadvantages are even more significant for millennials, as they generally qualify for smaller mortgages than couples, miss out on couple tax credits, and take on more expenses alone, such as electricity and food. The rule of thumb, usually, is that if you live alone, you will solely be responsible for about 70 per cent of the costs a couple would split…

Q: What investments are eligible inside an RRSP? How do I use the funds in my RRSP to buy an income property?
—Wendy
A: Mutual funds still represent about one third of RRSP assets in Canada, Wendy, but there are ever increasing alternatives. The common ones are cash, guaranteed investment certificates (GICs), bonds, stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These six are the primary RRSP-eligible investments.
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Some lesser known alternatives include currencies (excluding digital currencies like Bitcoin); mortgages (which can include your own mortgage); precious metals (like gold and silver bullion); private market investments (including specified small business corporation shares and exempt market securities); options (although CRA warns about writing uncovered call options or put options); and annuities (which are finally becoming more attractive as interest rates rise).
You can use your RRSP to invest in real estate, Wendy, but unfortunately you can only do so indirectly…