Your March Money Update + MORE Mar 10th

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Women not only earn less and devote less of their income to savings and investments than Canadian men do, but are also significantly less engaged in managing their finances, finds a BlackRock survey.
BlackRock’s Global Investor Pulse Survey finds women are having a harder time than men in balancing everyday expenses with saving for retirement, and that lack of engagement in financial matters is translating into greater risk aversion—holding women back from realizing their retirement goals.
While a similar proportion of men and women say they have begun saving for retirement—about three in five—women feel they face significant challenges in reaching their financial goals. One reason: they have less income available to save.
Read: Women less prepared for retirement
Women respondents in the survey were significantly less likely to be working, and those who are working are much more likely than men to have part-time employment. That translated into an average personal income that was 25% lower than male respondents and household savings and investments that were 46% lower than men’s…

March may come in like a lion, but our economy is in for a lambish season. The Bank of Canada has decided to hunker down and wait out the short-term effects of oil, declaring last month’s interest-rate cut will be enough to keep spending and inflation afloat.
Meanwhile, a debate rages over Canadians’ savings options – will weakened government coffers mean the Conservatives will renege on their long-awaited promise to double TFSAs? Read on for the latest.
Bank of Canada Keeps Overnight Lending Rate at 0.75%
It was a somewhat anti-climatic end to the most anticipated Bank of Canada announcement since the financial crisis: the central bank decided not to cut its rate further, leaving it at 0.75%. What does this mean for consumers, the cost of borrowing and the economy? Read on to find out.
Read Penelope’s Blog | Bank of Canada Keeps Overnight Lending Rate at 0.75%
Can Canada Afford to Double TFSAs?
Doubling the contribution room for TFSAs to $10,000 annually has long been promised by the Conservative government in the case of a balanced budget…

Mark Wade of Belleville, Ont. wants to have $400,000 by age 50 so he can retire early, like his parents did (Photograph by Ash Murrell)
The current situation
Mark Wade, 32, wants to retire at age 50 with $400,000 in savings. As an operations supervisor for a cleaning company in Belleville, Ont., he earns a modest $28,000 a year. But Mark’s a diligent saver and annually deposits $5,100 into his TFSA, $4,000 into his RRSP and $3,000 into a non-registered account. “I don’t like to work so I’m saving more than 30% of my income now to retire frugally at 50 like my parents did,” he says.
Of some concern, though, is the fact that almost all of his investments are in mutual funds with management expense ratios (MERs) of 2.7%. That’s high, Mark realizes, but his portfolio, which is mainly comprised of Canadian equities, has returned 11% annually over the past 16 years—so he’s not too concerned. Mark’s also done some shrewd real estate investing and recently sold an income property he bought four years ago…

Who do you turn to if the banks – and your parents – won’t offer you a loan? Increasingly, people are turning to online alternative lenders.
Loans on a leash
Over the past few years the federal government has introduced a number of measures to tighten the Canadian mortgage lending market in an effort to preempt any U.S.-style real estate collapse. These changes have included capping the amortization period on CMHC-insured mortgages at 25 years and requiring the self-employed to provide third-party income verification with their application.
The result has been to force some people to seek out alternative lenders. These options have always existed – ranging from family and friends offering short-term loans, often with little or no interest, to private mortgage arrangements – but the internet (literally) opens up a whole new world of potential connections. The market share of such lenders has increased to 2.2 per cent of all mortgage loans, according to a recent study by CIBC…