Thu, 21 November 2024
Today, we tackle one of the most intricate financial puzzles faced by Canadians: transitioning from accumulating wealth for retirement to effectively managing it during the decumulation phase—when you’re actually living off your investments.
In this episode, we’ll explore why this shift can be so complex, even for seasoned savers and investors. You’ll gain insights into balancing financial security with enjoying your retirement lifestyle and sustainably spending the wealth you’ve worked so hard to accumulate.
We’ll also discuss both hands-on and passive approaches to managing retirement funds and share strategies to help maintain your financial stability while still enjoying life.
Whether you’re nearing retirement or planning ahead, this episode offers valuable strategies for navigating the decumulation puzzle with confidence and peace of mind.
Our Expert Guest:
Joining me today is Eric Monteiro. Eric helps lead Canada’s largest provider of workplace savings and retirement platforms, covering over 1.3 million Canadians and managing more than $125 billion in assets. He does this at Sun Life, where he has worked since 2016 as the Senior Vice-President of Group Retirement Services. Eric also serves on the Board of Directors for The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, one of the world’s leading cancer research and care organizations. Questions Covered:
Direct download: The_Complexities_of_Transitioning_Your_Savings_Into_Income_in_Retirement.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 10:33am EST |
Wed, 16 October 2024
On today’s episode we have another Canadian guest, Kyle Prevost, who achieved financial independence at an early age (he was able to pull it off in his 30s). He’s also done hundreds of financial talks and interviews over the years with both regular Canadians, and some of the most highly respected financial experts in both Canada and the US. In this episode, we discuss what he’s learned from these hundreds of discussions that he’s had, especially when it comes to best practices and financial tactics that we can apply to our own lives. He also shares advice on how he personally minimizes and thinks about fees in his own investment portfolio, and we also discuss his findings on CPP and OAS in Canada, which in case you’re not familiar, are the two main income sources from the government that Canadians rely on in their retirement. Kyle has done a bunch of research and interviews on how viable the CPP and OAS is long-term, and if we can continue to expect to receive them in our older age, even if we’re nowhere near that traditional retirement age of 65 yet. We cover all this and more in the interview. Also, free tickets to the Canadian Financial Summit: Kyle and I have run the Canadian Financial Summit together for years in the past, this year I’m attending it as one of the speakers, and I have free tickets for you which you can get at buildwealthcanada.ca/summit. In case you’re new to the Summit, it’s a fully online event for Canadians where you can stream all the educational talks. I’ll be speaking at it again this year, this time about RRSPs, and I’ll be there with 36 other Canadian personal finance and investing experts who will be sharing their expertise and best practices when it comes to investing, retirement, financial planning, ETFs, pensions, cash flow management once you hit your financial independence number, and much more. It’s happening really soon this month, October 23-26. I hope to see you there, and again you can get free tickets to the event by going to buildwealthcanada.ca/summit I hope to see you there! Kornel
Direct download: 5_Major_Lessons_Learned_When_Managing_Your_Retirement_Finances_In_Canada.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 6:30am EST |
Wed, 2 October 2024
We all spend decades accumulating and growing our net worth, along with many hours of research and studying to optimize our investments and minimize our taxes as Canadians. But what if a single incident wipes all that out? or even just a large portion of it out? Wouldn't it be completely irrational to not eliminate that risk? The best solution that I can think of for accomplishing this is insurance, so I thought it would be helpful to come up with a checklist that you can use of the different types of insurance available for us Canadians, so that you can go through it, one by one, and decide which types make sense for you, to protect your net worth. After that, we do a minor pivot to talk about dental insurance and medical insurance for us Canadians. I have been spending an obscene amount on dental care with our two kids. It's super expensive, it stresses me out, and so I wanted to learn more about what the options are for us Canadians when it comes to dental coverage, along with getting medical coverage for things that aren't covered by the government, here in Canada. Today’s Guests:To help me with this, I brought back one of our popular returning guests, Laura MacKay. Laura is the co-founder and COO of policyme.com, Canada's fastest-growing digital insurance company. In 2021, she was named one of the Women of the Year by Bay Street Bull. She has a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, and her degree focused on Actuarial Science, which included learning about mortality risk, the basis of life insurance pricing and valuation. Laura is also joined by her colleague Natalie Dupley, who comes from the not-for-profit sector. Natalie is now a licensed insurance advisor that works with Laura, and specializes in life, accident, and sickness insurance. Links from the EpisodeAbout Laura's Company: PolicyMe.com Educational Guides from the Episode: Types of Dental Insurance Plans in Canada The Canadian Guide to Health Insurance Plans What is Life Insurance: Meaning & Comprehensive Guide Questions Covered:
Direct download: Protecting_your_net_worth_for_Canadians_-_What_insurance_do_you_need.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 6:30am EST |
Wed, 21 August 2024
This interview will be a bit different as I was recently interviewed by Financial Journalist, Ellen Roseman from Canadian MoneySaver Magazine where she asked me some great questions, and so I thought it would be great to also publish that interview, here on the Build Wealth Canada Show. In the interview, we cover what lessons for Canadians I have learned after doing close to two hundred interviews with financial experts, over the past 10 years. My wife and I have also been either fully or semi-retired for the past 8 years, and so Ellen asked me if I have any advice for those who are also planning to retire in their 30s like us, or just retire early in general, and she asks what kind of financial changes or challenges were we surprised by that you should know about to help you with your own journey towards financial independence and early retirement. Ellen has also been teaching investing at the University of Toronto for the past 20 years, so in the interview, she also shares some of her lessons learned over that time. Enjoy the episode, and if you’d like to hear more interviews done by Ellen, you can check them out on the Canadian MoneySaver Podcast which you can find in your favourite podcast player. Thanks for tuning in, and you can get all the show notes and free resources over at BuildWealthCanada.ca.
Direct download: Financial_Lessons_Learned_After_10_Years_of_Interviews_on_the_Build_Wealth_Canada_Podcast.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 3:03pm EST |
Tue, 30 July 2024
In this episode, I interview two professional financial planners to discover what are the most common questions that they receive when working with Canadians. Our two guests are also going to cover what the most important and frequently occurring blind spots are that we Canadians tend to make in our own finances. We also cover how to know if you are on-track to reach financial independence and retire early, or if you have enough to retire comfortably. We cover all this and more, as we tackle the top questions that Canadians have, here in Canada. Our guests today are Hannah McVean and Thuy Lam from Objective Financial Partners. They are both fee-for-service financial planners, are both Certified Financial Planners (CFP), and they and their firm don’t sell any investments and instead focus on providing unbiased, conflict-free financial planning advice. Hannah was actually a guest on our January episode with Jason Heath and that was our most popular episode this year. So, it’s great to have her back, along with Thuy to get multiple perspectives on these most popular questions that Canadians have. Resources & Links Mentioned:You can book a free introductory meeting with Hannah, Thuy and their team at buildwealthcanada.ca/plan. As a Build Wealth Canada listener, you’ll get 10% off if you end up working with them. The discount is for a limited time, and you can sign up for free here. A big thanks to Hannah and Thuy for offering this to Build Wealth Canada listeners.
Direct download: The_Top_Money_Blind_Spots_and_Questions_Canadians_Have.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 3:39pm EST |
Thu, 20 June 2024
How to Live Off Your Investments in a Sustainable, Stress-Free, and Tax Efficient Way in Canada. Featuring Ed Rempel, CFP
When we first hit our financial independence number 8 years ago, one of the financial planners that I asked to look at our numbers before my wife and I quit our full-time jobs was Ed Rempel. At the time, I asked Ed if he could do his own math and analysis on our numbers, to make sure that I didn’t miscalculate something when I was doing it myself, and this way I could be certain that my wife and I could quit our jobs and live off our portfolio going forward. Well, fast forward to today, it’s been around 8 years since we quit our full-time jobs, and so I thought it would be helpful to have Ed back on the show and to once again use us as a case study on how one can live off their portfolio in a sustainable, stress free, and tax efficient way, here in Canada. On this episode, you’re going to learn what strategies and frameworks tend to work when it comes to living off your portfolio here in Canada. You’ll learn about a big mistake that I made which was actually causing me money anxiety even though our investment portfolio was going up in value. Ed helped me get through that, and it’s a mistake that is actually totally avoidable, and a skill that you can start building and mastering today. And, when it comes to a strategy for paying the least amount of tax in Canada, Ed takes us through two main strategies that you can choose depending on your situation so that you pay the least amount of tax throughout your lifetime. We cover all this and much more in the interview. Links, show notes and free resources are all available at BuildWealthCanada.ca.
Direct download: How_to_Live_Off_Your_Investments_in_a_Sustainable_Stress-Free_and_Tax_Efficient_Way_in_Canada.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 6:57am EST |
Thu, 30 May 2024
Having your investments pay you large dividends or yield sounds great. It’s truly passive income where money just shows up in your account without you having to do anything, and without you having to sell off any of your investments even when markets are down. But what if you get too focused on maximizing dividends or yield in your portfolio? After all, there is no free lunch when it comes to investing. There are always tradeoffs, and it turns out that there are some pretty significant disadvantages for investors that just try to maximize their yield or dividends at all costs, and it can result in you actually getting a substantially lower "total return" over time, on your investments. About Our GuestTo help us learn what pitfalls to look out for when deciding on our investments, particularly when it comes to some of these very high yielding ETFs that you may be seeing recommended online, we have Chris Heakes. Chris has over 14 years of experience in the investment industry. He’s a CFA, has a Master of Finance from the University of Toronto, and is a Director and Portfolio Manager at BMO Global Asset Management. Chris is going to take us through what we should look out for so that we don’t fall for the yield trap. We’ll also cover hidden fees that you may be unknowingly paying on some ETF, along with some arguably deceptive advertising to look out for that you may have seen here in Canada when it comes to your investments. Lots to learn in this interview with Chris, so let’s jump right in. You can see all the show notes, resources and links for this episode over at BuildWealthCanada.ca
Direct download: Avoiding_the_Yield_Trap_-_Chris_Heakes.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 9:58am EST |
Thu, 16 May 2024
A big thanks to RBC for sponsoring this episode. We talk a lot about growing our net worth as Canadians, but what about actually protecting our assets from threats like fraud? So, I thought we’d get some security experts on the show to teach us some best practices when it comes to protecting ourselves and our family, especially when it comes to our finances, here in Canada. They are part of the security teams at the largest bank in Canada. They have entire teams devoted to security and invest a lot of time and money to ensure that they and their clients are following the best practices. Today, you and I are going to learn what we can do as regular Canadians, to best protect ourselves. Our first guest is Kevin Purkiss who is the Vice President of Fraud Management at RBC. He leads the team responsible for managing RBC’s fraud capabilities, and helps protect the many thousands of Canadians that they serve. Next, we have Kevin’s colleague, Vice-President, Shekher Puri, who’s going to take us through some additional best practices that you and I should be using, to enhance our security, especially when it comes to our finances. And now let’s jump in to learn what you and I should be doing to better protect ourselves. RBC Disclaimer:
Direct download: How_to_Prevent_Fraud_in_Your_Accounts_in_Canada.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 6:37am EST |
Tue, 9 April 2024
When it comes to managing our investment portfolios, there are definitely some mistakes that are easy to make, and ones that a lot of Canadian investors tend to do.
In this episode, we have Peter McMurtry on the show who is going to take us through what the common mistakes are that Canadian investors tend to do, as well as the best practices that he's noticed from his 30+ years in the investing industry.
One of the things Peter does is portfolio reviews for his clients, so I wanted to pick his brain on the common mistakes that he sees investors make when he reviews their portfolios so that you and I can be sure to avoid those mistakes in our own portfolio.
On the flip side, he’s also worked with clients that are successful investors, and after doing this for 30+ years, one begins to notice certain patterns about what the successful investors do, that the unsuccessful don’t. We go into these best practices that he’s noticed over the years from these successful investors, so that we can apply these lessons ourselves.
Enjoy the show, and you can get the show notes and resources over at BuildWealthCanada.ca
Wishing you all the best,
Kornel
Direct download: The_Top_Investing_Mistakes_Canadians_Make_-_Peter_McMurtry.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:37pm EST |
Tue, 5 March 2024
With inflation slowing down here in Canada, we are starting to hear talks about the Bank of Canada no longer planning to increase our interest rates, or maybe even lowering them.
This can have an impact on your investment portfolio, particularly if you hold bonds, because remember there is that inverse relationship between interest rates and bonds, where increases in the interest rate tend to lower the value of the bonds that you hold in your portfolio. On the flip side, if the Bank of Canada lowers our rates, you can expect your bonds to increase in value.
Apart from your investments, the interest rate can of course have a substantial impact on your month-to-month cashflow, when it comes to things like mortgages as well as the real estate market in general.
So, with Spring just around the corner and the real estate buying and selling season about to kick-off, I thought it would be great to have our Resident Mortgage Expert, Sean Cooper back on the show to discuss:
-What Canadians should be thinking about when it comes to their mortgages right now.
-Should you do a fixed rate or variable rate mortgage if you’re buying a home or have a mortgage coming up for renewal?
-What if you’re considering locking in your mortgage to a fixed rate?
The optimum answer for all of this can change for you depending on what is happening in the market right now and your own situation, so Sean takes us through the different things you should consider.
You’ll also learn, what your options are if you find a better mortgage than what you have right now. What if the rates do drop and you’re now able to get a less expensive mortgage? Can you switch? What can the penalties be? And, can it be worth it to pay those penalties if you find a better mortgage?
About Our Expert Guest:
In case this is your first time hearing Sean on the show, he is the show’s Resident Mortgage Expert and who I go to and who I send friends and family to for any mortgage related questions.
Sean is the bestselling author of the book, Burn Your Mortgage: The Simple, Powerful Path to Financial Freedom for Canadians.
He is also an independent mortgage broker and has made himself available to help answer mortgage related questions to listeners of the Build Wealth Canada Show.
If you have any questions, or are just looking to get a shortlist of the best mortgages that he’s been able to find in Canada (since he’s constantly on the lookout for the best mortgages), you can reach out to him over at buildwealthcanada.ca/sean.
And now, let’s get into the interview.
Direct download: How_to_Save_Money_on_Your_Mortgage_and_2024_Interest_Rate_Update_-_Sean_Cooper.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 11:19am EST |
Thu, 25 January 2024
Today, we’re going to cover what you need to know from a tax, investing, and financial planning perspective as we head into this new year. As you know, the government makes changes every year in these areas and the implications of these changes can have a pretty substantial impact on how much you pay in taxes, your net worth, what government benefits you are eligible to get, and how much you get. These can easily affect your net worth in the thousands of dollars every single year, so it’s definitely in your and my best interest to know about these changes and get a bit of a refresher, so that we can all better prepare, and also take advantage of any opportunities that arise. About our guests:To help me with this, I have Certified Financial Planners Jason Heath, and Hannah McVean on the show. Jason is a popular returning guest on the show, definitely one of the more well known and respected financial planners, here in Canada. Hannah and Jason are both fee-only financial planners, which means they don’t sell any investments so there isn’t that potential conflict-of-interest that you see a lot of here in Canada where someone calls themselves a financial planner or a financial advisor, you think you’re getting a good financial plan and that they have your best interests at heart, but really they are just trying to get you to buy the investments that their firm sells so that they can earn a hefty commission. None of that here, we’re going for purely unbiased financial education with Hannah and Jason. A quick little bio on these experts: Jason has been providing fee-only, advice-only financial planning since 2002 (for well over a decade). He is also a personal finance columnist for the Financial Post, MoneySense, and Canadian MoneySaver. He has a Bachelor of Economics degree from York University and holds the Certified Financial Planner designation. Hannah is also a Certified Financial Planner and a Chartered Investment Manager. She has experience working in the wealth management industry managing investments and filing taxes. She is now on the fee-only, advice-only financial planning side of things, and if you want to speak Jason, Hannah or someone from their team, you can reach them at BuildWealthCanada.ca/jason. Resources Mentioned:You can book a free introductory meeting with Jason and his team at buildwealthcanada.ca/jason. As a Build Wealth Canada listener, you'll get 10% off if you end up working with them. You'll also be entered into the giveaway to win a free financial plan. The discount and giveaway are for a limited time, and you can sign up for free here. Questions Covered:
Direct download: Important_Tax_and_Investing_Changes_for_2024.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 10:24am EST |
Wed, 13 December 2023
We’ve all heard of high interest savings accounts that we can open up at our bank. But is that always our one and only best option when it comes to where we keep our short term cash? What about for things like our emergency fund, or when we are saving for something expensive like a car and we want that money to be available immediately when we need it, and not be subject to the sometimes large day-to-day fluctuations that we see in the stock market? In this episode, you are going to learn what your options are, here in Canada, when it comes to that short term cash that you want to be readily available, without you having to worry about incurring any massive day-to-day fluctuations that you would typically see in the stock portion of your investment portfolio. Today’s guest, Matt Montemurro is going to take us through the different options that we have, as Canadians, and he’s going to take us through the pros and cons of each of these options so that you can make your own educated decision on which option is the best one for you, based on your situation and risk tolerance. Spoiler alert: The best solution isn’t always the traditional high interest savings account at your bank. Make sure you stick around because there are actually some regulatory changes happening here in Canada, which are going to be impacting high interest savings ETFs. A lot of Canadians have been investing pretty heavily in these, and now it’s gotten to the point where the regulators have started to take notice, and they are about to implement some pretty significant rule changes that can negatively impact some of your investments, if you purchase or are considering purchasing high interest savings ETFs. A bit of a background about our guest: Matt is a specialist when it comes to fixed income. He is currently the team lead for all fixed income portfolios managed by BMO ETFs, which is the largest Canadian ETF provider. In his role as portfolio manager and trader, Matt and his team are responsible for all segments of the fixed income market, both in Canada and internationally. He has over a decade of experience in this field and holds an HBA and MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and is a CFA Charter holder (definitely a very difficult designation to get). I’m thrilled to have him on the show, and I must say, speaking with him during this interview actually made me re-evaluate where I keep my short term cash. I really wish we were all taught this back in school, as it’s important for us to know what our options are here in Canada, along with the pros and cons of each, instead of just always automatically defaulting to a regular high interest savings account at our bank. Enjoy the interview, I learned an absolute ton, and I’m sure you will too. Let’s get into it. Questions Covered:
3. For those of us that do invest in high interest savings ETFs, can we expect a drop in those ETFs coming Jan 2024 because of a potential sell off?
Follow up: If not, how do sell-offs work when it comes to ETFs? For example, when there is a sell-off of a specific stock, we know that the price of the stock will plummet. But does it work differently with ETFs because ETFs consist of many different underlying assets? 4. How is a high interest savings ETF different from a money market ETF? Can you take us through the pros and cons?
5. How does using something like a high interest savings account compare to using something like a money market ETF instead (i.e. what are the pros and cons)? And for anybody not familiar, can you define what it means when an ETF is considered to be a “money market” ETF
6. For something like a money market ETF like ZMMK or a high interest savings ETF, would you expect the capital gain to be $0, because everything from that investment is coming in as income in the form of interest?
8. While we are on the subject of ETFs that we can use for that relatively safe portion of our portfolio, can you speak to using ultra short-term bond ETFs instead of a money market ETF, like the ZMMK that we just talked about. What are these ultra short-term bond ETFs, and what are the pros and cons of using those, vs something like a money market ETF or even instead of just using a high interest savings account at our current bank.
9. When it comes to bond ETFs like ZST for example, can you teach us how they can have some tax advantages, in certain scenarios, over something like a high interest savings account? 10. Alright Matt, thanks so much for training us on all of this today. For everybody that wants to learn more, what’s the best place for them to go?
Direct download: Where_to_Park_Your_Cash_in_Canada_with_Matt_Montemurro.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 6:03am EST |
Wed, 15 November 2023
In this episode, you’re going to learn:
How to deal with the volatility of the stock market, once you are financially independent and are living off your investments:
We also go through Kyle’s research on the optimum location for the fixed income portion of your portfolio. Traditionally the advice has been to keep fixed income like bonds in our RRSP. But does that still apply considering these higher interest rates that we are now experiencing here in Canada? And what about GICs? How do they fit into all of this? Should we be using those instead?
Last but not least, after taking into account all the research that he’s done on investing and financial planning for over a decade, Kyle shares what types of investments he buys for his own investment portfolio, and what accounts he puts his own investments in for the greatest tax savings and efficiency. Questions in this Episode:
If you liked the episode sign up for free to receive all new episodes as they get released, news on giveaways, and the free guide on the Top 5 Personal Finance and Productivity Tools.
Direct download: How_to_Live_Off_Your_Investments_in_Canada__Kyle_Prevost.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 9:23am EST |
Tue, 10 October 2023
In this episode, our guest Kyle Prevost is going to take us through how much we need to retire, as Canadians, and how much can we sustainably withdraw from our portfolio to not run out of money once we retire. If you are a long-time listener of the show, then by now you would have definitely heard of the 4% rule, which helps answer these two questions. But, the 4% rule was created by Americans, for Americans, so how do all those findings and statistics apply to us Canadians? (If you are new to the show, then don’t worry, we’ll go through what the 4% rule is, and the many caveats that exist with it, that we should keep in mind as Canadians.) You’re also going to learn:
About Our Guest:Kyle is founder of the Canadian Financial Summit and he and I have been co-hosting the summit together for the past 2 years. He is also a longtime personal finance columnist and you’ve probably seen a lot of his work over at MoneySense, and he’s been in the National Post, CBC News, The Globe and Mail, and many others. Most recently he is also the creator of 4 Steps to a Worry-Free Retirement - the first online course for Canadian retirement planning. Questions Covered:
Direct download: 4_Steps_to_a_Worry-Free_Retirement_in_Canada.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 10:50am EST |
Tue, 1 August 2023
Today we have Canadian author and speaker Fred Masters on the show. Fred has been a professional financial educator for decades here in Canada. He speaks at different universities to students and alumni, teaching financial wellness. In this episode, he’s going to share his findings on:
Fred is also the author of the book “Lessons on Mastering Money” where he identifies six key pillars that can really move the needle for us, when it comes to our finances. We cover those, and much more in the interview. Enjoy! Get show notes and more free educational resources over at BuildWealthCanada.ca
Direct download: Lessons_on_Mastering_Money_in_Canada_-_Fred_Masters.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 7:56am EST |
Wed, 21 June 2023
Today, you’re going to learn how you can save money on your investments, by having the right investments, in the right accounts so that you pay as little tax as possible here in Canada. For example, if you hold Canadian stocks, or ETFs that hold Canadian stocks, should you put those in your RRSP? Your TFSA? Or your taxable account? Which one of those is the most tax efficient? What about your US and other international ETFs and stocks? What accounts should they go into so that you pay the least foreign tax on those investments? For us Canadians, different investments are taxed differently depending on what those investments include, and what investment accounts you put them in. It’s essentially an optimization puzzle that you can solve, by putting the right investments in the right accounts to pay the least Canadian and foreign tax, on those investments. If you choose to optimize to this extent like I do, you can essentially reap the benefits of these tax savings for the rest of your life, since those savings will compound over your investment lifetime, and can accelerate your net worth, since every dollar saved in taxes on your investments, is a dollar that stays invested, and continues to grow and compound for you. Resources mentioned in the episode:
Direct download: How_to_Optimize_Your_Investments_to_Pay_the_Least_in_Tax_for_Canadians_110_PA.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 6:43am EST |
Wed, 14 June 2023
Today, you are going to learn about how much you can save in fees and taxes on your investments, depending on how much time you want to spend optimizing your investment portfolio. In Canada, there are inexpensive options that make things extremely easy and automated for you, but they are slightly more expensive and slightly less tax efficient. On the other end of the spectrum, there are other investments available to Canadians that are as optimized as you can get in terms of keeping your fees low, and saving you money on both Canadian and international taxes. The trade-off though, is that these optimizations take a fair bit of work on your end to learn and implement. So how big are these optimization benefits to you? How much are you really saving by going with a fully optimized approach vs. a semi-optimized approach? How big should your investment portfolio be before you start optimizing? or should you start optimizing right away? We also cover where to go to check what fees you’re currently paying on your investments, so that you can have a nice apples-to-apples comparison when you are debating what fund or ETF to buy, or to check whether you are currently overpaying on your investments. We cover all this and more on this episode. This week’s episode is a little different since I optimize my investments to this highest level (in terms of paying the lowest fees and lowest taxes), and my guest also does the same. And so, in this episode, instead of the guest doing 90% of the talking, we instead each talk about how we both tackle these questions and I figure this way you are getting two educated perspectives, from two different people, in Canada, who have already been doing this for years. I think ultimately this approach to the episode will help you make an educated decision on what level of optimization you want to pursue in your own portfolio. Enjoy the episode. :) Kornel
Direct download: 109_How_Much_Should_You_Optimize_Your_Investment_Portfolio_-_Post_Auphonic.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:13pm EST |
Wed, 7 June 2023
Today I’m going to be answering your questions, to help you out as much as I can in the world of personal finance and investing, here in Canada. We’re going to focus on actionable, practical advice, specifically for Canadians while taking into account the investment options that we have here in Canada, factoring in our Canadian taxes to make sure that we’re not overpaying, and much more. In today’s Q&A session, I’m going to be answering questions around: 1. How to determine if you should sell a particular investment that you own. 2. How to evaluate whether your investment returns should be higher. 3. What rate of return should you expect on your investments? 4. Where can you go to check your “total return” on your investments (growth + dividends) and not just the increase in price. 5. And much more. If you would like to submit a question, the easiest way is to sign up anywhere for free over at buildwealthcanada.ca. When you do that you’ll get taken to a page where you can leave a comment with your question. Also, when you do that, I’ll email you my guide on the “Top Personal Finance and Investing Tools” that I personally use. Enjoy the episode :)
Direct download: 108_Ask_Kornel_-_Should_I_Switch_My_Investments_Are_My_Investments_Falling_Behind.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 3:59pm EST |
Wed, 31 May 2023
It’s graduation season here in Canada, so we thought it would be good to focus this episode on parents with kids, those with nieces and nephews, as well as those that are students or fresh out of school. This week, we cover the topic of how to best set up young Canadians and young adults for success, when it comes to money.
Sadly, if you’re my generation or older then you probably got zero education about money when you were in school or fresh out of school. Yet, those are the crucial years where you either establish good or bad money habits, and there are so many things that can lead a young person astray.
Heck, knowing how to keep your investment fees low can literally save you hundreds of thousands of dollars over your investment lifetime, so why wouldn’t you want to know about these things as a student or upon graduation so that you can set yourself up for financial success?
To help me with this topic, I have Canadian author, Douglas Price on the show. Douglas has written the book “Seventeen to Millionaire” a personal finance book for teens and young adults, specifically here in Canada, aimed to help them become financially literate and establish that strong financial foundation to set them up for success.
Enjoy the interview. :) Questions
Direct download: How_to_Raise_Money_Smart_Kids_Teens_and_Young_Adults_-_Douglas_Price.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 5:05pm EST |
Wed, 24 May 2023
Active vs. Passive Investing: Interview with S&P (S&P 500, Dow Jones) & How to Choose the Right ETFs
In this episode, I interview S&P, the creator of the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and many other popular indices used around the world by millions of investors. On today’s interview, we’re going to be covering the SPIVA scorecards which are semiannual reports published by S&P that compare the performance of active funds (i.e. active investing) vs taking the passive index investing approach. In other words, when you hear the debate of whether you should be a passive index investor, or an active investor, the SPIVA scorecards actually look at how well the active managers have done compared to if you just invested in the index. Our guests today are Joe Nelesen from S&P, and Erin Allen from BMO ETFs. Joe is the Senior Director of Index Investment Strategy over at S&P, and Erin is the Vice President over at BMO ETFs, which is the largest Canadian provider of ETFs. I thought we could have both Joe and Erin on the show, as that way we can learn more about the insights and discoveries learned from the SPIVA reports when it comes to the active vs passive debate. And, since Erin and her team actually create these ETFs for Canadians, we discuss how to actually practically apply these SPIVA findings and insights, when constructing or optimizing our own investments portfolio, here in Canada. In other words, what to look for and things to watch out for when we are actually building, optimizing, and deciding which ETFs to use for our own portfolio. Questions Covered:
Direct download: Active_vs_Passive_and_How_to_Choose_the_Right_ETFs_-_106.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 8:21pm EST |
Thu, 18 May 2023
Today we have a great case study of somebody that I really respect, and who has been able to achieve financial independence, at a really early age. I wanted this episode to be relevant to you no matter where you are on your financial independence journey, so I thought we could approach it from two angles:
Questions Covered:
Our Guest: Steve ChouSteve's New Book: The Family First Entrepreneur Steve is a highly recognized influencer and speaker in the e-commerce space. His blog, MyWifeQuitHerJob.com has been featured in Forbes, Inc, The New York Times, Entrepreneur and MSNBC. His podcast, My Wife Quit Her Job, is one of the top 25 marketing shows on all of Apple Podcasts, and he and his wife run a 7 figure e-commerce store called BumblebeeLinens.com Steve also runs one of my favourite marketing podcasts here.
Direct download: 105_Steve_Chou_-_Financial_Independence_Case_Study_AC.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 11:23pm EST |
Tue, 9 May 2023
One critical topic that can have a substantial financial impact on both us and our loved ones, is the subject of inheritance, and how to ensure that you and your loved ones don’t end up overpaying in both taxes and fees, once the whole inheritance process starts taking place. To help me with this subject, I’d like to welcome back Selene Soo on the show. We learned a lot from her last time in the interview on annuities, and this time, we’re going to focus on some best practices, when it comes to inheritance. Selene is the Director of Wealth Products at RBC Insurance. She has been in the wealth management industry for over two decades, so she definitely has a really large wealth of experience and knowledge when it comes to different retirement planning solutions, whether it’s annuities, segregated funds, and much more. Enjoy the episode, I hope you learn a lot from the session, thanks for tuning in, and now, let’s get into the interview. Questions:
Resources from the Episode:Retirement Investment Solutions - RBC Insurance Facebook: @RBCInsurance LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rbcinsurance/ Check out my previous interview with Selene on Annuities - Guaranteed Income for Life
Direct download: 104_Selene_Soo_-_RBC_-_Estate_Planning_v2.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 8:58pm EST |
Tue, 11 April 2023
A DIY Investor's Guide to Determining Your Financial Independence Number and Sustainable Withdrawal Strategy
Today’s guest is Jason Heath, one of Canada’s best known fee-only financial planners that you’ve probably seen in all sorts of media here in Canada over the years. He’s a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), has been providing financial planning for over 20 years, and is currently a personal finance columnist for the Financial Post, MoneySense, and is also a regular contributor to RetireHappy.ca. I’ve been reading his insightful financial planning articles for years, so it’s really great to have him on again, and in this episode, we get his perspectives on:
Enjoy the episode, it’s great having you here, thanks for tuning in, I hope you leave the show a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and now let’s get into the interview. Questions Asked:
Direct download: A_DIY_Investor_Guide_to_Determining_Your_Financial_Independence_Number_and_Sustainable_Withdrawal_Strategy_-_Jason_Heath_103.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 9:57am EST |
Wed, 15 February 2023
It's RRSP season here in Canada. Remember that March 1 is the deadline for contributing to an RRSP, and have it count towards your 2022 tax year. Also while we’re on the subject, remember that your TFSA contribution room grows every year, and for the 2023 calendar year, you now have an extra $6,500 that you and your partner can contribute each. That's $13,000 total if you both max it out. Last year the limit was $6,000 per person so the government did increase that by $500 per person for this year. I find that these are things that are easy to forget as life gets buys, but I always have reminders set up for these things as, especially in the case of the TFSA, it’s always nice to put in the effort to max that out so that you can get that tax-free growth on that new money invested, all year long. Since it’s RRSP season, and tax season is coming up, I thought it would be worthwhile to have another successful Canadian Financial Planner on the show, so that we can get a good second opinion on: · How much do you need to be financially independent and have the option of retiring? · What are some of the sustainable withdrawal strategies that you can use when you’re ready to start living off your portfolio? · What is the process and calculations that should be done annually to ensure that you are withdrawing a sustainable amount from your portfolio? · And, since our guest has been in the financial planning industry for decades at this point, I ask him if he’s noticed certain patterns when it comes to clients that are successful both financially and in life, versus those that are not. This way we can pick some lessons learned from others, apply them to our own lives, and hopefully avoid some completely avoidable mistakes that others endured before us. Before we get into the interview, I wanted to invite you to a free webinar and Q&A that I’ll be doing with the actual co-creator of the TFSA. He’s the former Chief of Staff for the Minister of Finance in Canada. His name is Kevin McCarthy, and if you’ve ever had TFSA or RRSP related questions, or would just like to ask the creator of the TFSA your questions, you can do so at this webinar. I’ll be there too obviously and so after Kevin goes through his educational presentation where he goes over the RRSP and TFSA fundamentals, as well as the tax deductions and tax credits available to us as Canadians, we’ll then have a live Q&A with him and I and so you can ask him or me your questions when it comes to personal finance, investing, financial independence and retirement, living off your investments, etc. The session is on February 23, 2023, and it will be recorded so even if you can’t make it live, you can still signup to be emailed the replay once it’s released. Also, Kevin has informed me that anyone attending live will receive a downloadable version of his and his team’s proprietary Income Tax and RRSP Tax Savings Calculator. The link to sign up for free is BuildWealthCanada.ca/webinar. I look forward to seeing and interacting with you there, and now, let’s get into the interview!
Direct download: 101_-_Finding_Your_Financial_Independence_Number_-_John_Kalos.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 2:07pm EST |
Tue, 17 January 2023
In this episode, I interview one of the most experienced Canadian financial planners that I know, and who I tend to go to when I have any complex tax and financial planning questions. His name is Ed Rempel, and in this episode, we tackle:
Thanks so much for tuning in, and please remember to leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoy the show. Here are all the questions we cover in the interview:
Direct download: How_to_Live_Off_Your_Investments_and_How_Much_Do_You_Need_-_Featuring_Ed_Rempel.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 10:09am EST |
Wed, 16 November 2022
Today we have another financial independence case study to learn how a real-life couple here in Canada were able to reach their financial independence number by the age of 34. We talk specifically about the practical tactics, strategies and mindset that you can apply in your own life, to help hit your financial independence number quicker. Or, if you’re already at financial independence, these tactics can further help solidify and enhance your net worth and that extra financial cushion that’s always nice to have, when you’re living off your portfolio. Our guest today is Kyle Prevost who I have run the Canadian Financial Summit with for the past 2 years. What makes Kyle unique with his financial independence story, is that he and his wife were able to get there on two teacher salaries. Oftentimes when we hear these stories of couples who have achieved financial independence early, they are often engineers, programmers, or other high paying professions which makes achieving that early retirement number easier. In Kyle’s case, they were able to do it on two teacher salaries instead, so we’re definitely getting a nice unique perspective here. This interview and presentation that Kyle prepared was actually one of the bonuses that we offered to Canadian Financial Summit attendees who bought the All-Access-Pass so you’ll hear him reference his slides at a few points during this talk, but don’t worry, all the lessons and advice still make total sense without the slides. Enjoy the interview and presentation! Resources from the episode: The live Retirement Planning Workshop on November 29th at 1pm EST is over at BuildWealthCanada.ca/workshop The Canadian Financial Summit mentioned on the episode is over at BuildWealthCanada.ca/summit You can see more of Kyle's writing over at milliondollarjourney.com Questions from the episode: 1) Kyle, for those not familiar with you, let’s just start with the usual first question in a job interview - “Tell us a little about yourself”. 2) You recently reached financial independence - tell us about what that term means to you, and what your plans are in terms of work going forward. 3) Tell us what you think your keys to financial success were. 4) How did you and your wife Molly earn money after leaving university? 5) Let’s peak inside your portfolio, and tell us how you invest. 6) To wrap up, just to give folks a broad overview on what the financial independence by 34 road map has looked like for you and Molly, can you sum up how you two were able to do it?
Direct download: How_to_Retire_in_Your_30s_on_Two_Teacher_Salaries_A_Case_Study_and_Practical_Guide.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 3:53am EST |
Tue, 8 November 2022
Many Canadians tend to dabble in at least a bit of active investing, picking individual stocks, even if they consider themselves primarily total market index investors. As long-time listeners of the show know, I personally only do total market index investing through ETFs, but I think it’s important to stay educated and hear the other perspective of how and why active investors choose to invest the way that they do. This episode is going to be a bit of a hybrid because our guest today, Braden Dennis, is an active stock investor who owns an investment research platform called Stratosphere.io. He’s also the host of the Canadian Investor podcast, and with these two companies, it appears that he’s already hit financial independence at a really young age. So, in addition to asking him about how one should research companies if they want to buy individual stocks, we also get into one of the ways of reaching financial independence and early retirement quickly, which is by starting your own business. Interview Questions:
Direct download: Should_You_Do_Any_Active_Investing_and_a_Financial_Independence_Case_Study_-_Ep98.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 5:55pm EST |
Tue, 1 November 2022
A Financial Independence Case Study: How to Achieve Early Retirement and Happiness With Jordan Grumet
Today we have a case study of someone that was able to pull off an early retirement (we get to learn how he did it, and apply those lessons to our own life). He also wrote a book that I personally consider life-changing, in particular when it comes to financial independence, early retirement, and achieving happiness. His name is Jordan Grumet, and his book is called Taking Stock, A Hospice Doctor's Advice on Financial Independence, Building Wealth, and Living a Regret-Free Life. I highly recommend you check out the book. I wish I had it when I first set out on my financial independence journey, and I’ve also found it helpful in designing the lifestyle that we want, in this semi-retired life stage that we’re in right now. In addition to the book, in this interview, we also cover:
Questions Covered:
Direct download: A_Financial_Independence_Case_Study_-_How_to_Achieve_Early_Retirement_and_Happiness_With_Jordan_Grumet.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 11:43am EST |
Tue, 18 October 2022
If you’ve done any sort of research on index investing and ETFs, then I’m almost certain you would have heard of Vanguard, as they are one of the pioneers in this space. They have a very impressive massive following in the US and have really established themselves in Canada as well, where they are the 3rd largest ETF provider. I always wanted to interview them because I’m sure, like you, as one invests, you begin to wonder about certain things when it comes to index investing, and ETFs in general. I’ve been accumulating this list of questions for them over the years and it’s exciting to finally get a chance to interview them. Questions Covered:
Direct download: Vanguard_ETFs_in_Canada_-_Your_Top_Questions_Answered_Right_From_the_Source.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 11:40am EST |
Tue, 11 October 2022
How to Optimize for Financial Independence (Investing, Budgeting, Money Management Optimizations) with Brandon Beavis
Today I have Brandon Beavis on the show who runs one of, if not THE largest YouTube channels on investing, specifically for Canadians. He has over 187,000 subscribers, and also runs the channel with his dad who has decades of financial planning experience here in Canada. Since Brandon and I have each been optimizing our finances and investments for so long, and since we each specialize in this, we thought it would be fun to do a collaboration where we each share how we’ve optimized our investments and finances so that everybody watching on his channel and listening on my podcast can get two different perspectives and ways of doing things. Then you can pick and choose whatever you think is a better fit for you, and what you think will have the biggest impact on your finances. Come join me at the Canadian Financial Summit: Before we get into the show, I wanted to invite you to join me, for free, at the Canadian Financial Summit this year. It’s a fully online educational event, you can stream all the talks for free, it starts this October 12, 2022, and you can get free tickets to stream the talks for free over at BuildWealthCanada.ca/summit. We have over 35 speakers this year, there are already over 22,000 Canadians registered for the event, and we'll be covering investing, real estate, financial planning, early retirement, and much more. We've got some really high-profile guests again this year including Brandon Beavis and Benjamin Felix who each run one of, if not the largest YouTube channels in Canada on investing. We have Rob Carrick from the Globe and Mail, many of the top writers from MoneySense are presenting, along with some of the largest Canadian personal finance bloggers and writers like Robb Engen, Mark Seed, Ed Rempel, Jason Heath, and many more. Here's the link for your free tickets: BuildWealthCanada.ca/summit. I hope to see you there! And now, let’s get into the interview.
Direct download: How_to_Optimize_for_Financial_Independence_Investing_Budgeting_Money_Management_Optimizations_with_Brandon_Beavis.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 6:34am EST |
Tue, 4 October 2022
Today I have one of, if not THE largest financial literacy educators in Canada on the show, and we’re going to go over some practical tips to deal with this horrific inflation that we’ve all been experiencing here in Canada.
These tips and education covered in the episode are of course, applicable right now as we go through this high inflation period. But, even if you end up listening to this episode years after it’s been launched, we made sure that they are still relevant and applicable long term as well.
You might have seen our first guest on Dragon’s Den, where literally all the dragons were bidding to partner with him. His name is Kevin Cochran and he is the founder of Enriched Academy, which is a company that teaches financial literacy, and does financial coaching for everyday Canadians like you and I. They are also now in many schools across Canada, teaching financial literacy as well.
Also from Enriched Academy, we have Arian Beyzaei back on the show. He’s one of our really popular past guests, and you might have seen him featured on Financial Post, Globe and Mail, and other news sources.
I’m really excited to get things going here as both Kevin, Arian, and myself are actually born in different generations so I thought it would be fun and insightful to have the 3 of us on, as that way you get a unique perspective, no matter which age group you fall into.
Free Tickets to the Canadian Financial Summit: Before we get into the show, I wanted to invite you to join me, for free, at the Canadian Financial Summit this year. It’s a fully online educational event, you can stream all the talks for free, and it starts this October 12, 2022 (so only a few days away).
You can get free tickets to stream the talks for free over at: buildwealthcanada.ca/summit
We have over 35 speakers this year, there’s already over 20,000 Canadians registered for the event. We'll be covering investing, real estate, financial planning, early retirement, and much more.
We’ve got some really high-profile guests again this year including Brandon Beavis and Benjamin Felix who each run one of, if not the largest YouTube channels in Canada on investing. We have Rob Carrick from the Globe and Mail, many of the top writers from MoneySense and some of the largest Canadian personal finance bloggers and writers like Robb Engen, Mark seed, Ed Rempel, Jason Heath, and many, many more.
I hope to see you there! Here is the link again for the free tickets:
Resources Mentioned:
The free assessment call mentioned on the episode is available here: buildwealthcanada.ca/call The Ultimate Phone Script PDF is available for free download here: buildwealthcanada.ca/script
Questions Covered:
Direct download: How_to_Protect_Yourself_From_Inflation_-_93_.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 10:14am EST |
Tue, 13 September 2022
I always thought it would be neat to interview someone, that is actually part of the organization that runs the Toronto Stock Exchange. Most of us have the majority of our retirement savings in ETFs or stocks and so it makes sense to actually have some understanding of the exchanges here in Canada, how they work, and the relationships that exist between the brokerage that you use to actually buy your investments, the stock exchange itself, and the governing bodies and regulators that are there to ensure that investors like you and I are protected. To help us with this, I have Richard Ho on the show. Richard works for the TMX Group, which is the organization that actually runs the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Montreal Exchange, and other exchanges that we’ll learn about today, here in Canada. One of Richard’s responsibilities, is leading educational initiatives to help improve investor education, for Canadians like you and I. One of the educational initiatives that I wanted to really highlight, is that Richard and his team have put together a free to enter competition, with a $10,000 grand prize, and 7 weekly prizes of $500 each. The competition revolves around investing using options. If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about what options are, and how they can be used to make money, definitely listen to this episode, but also take part in this free competition as it’s a risk-free trading simulation contest, with a lot of educational resources. The way that it works is that you have a virtual portfolio of $100k, and the question is: Can you strategize and trade options to earn the highest returns in hopes of winning the weekly cash prizes, a $10,000 grand prize and bragging rights as Canada’s Top Options Trader? The contest runs for 8-weeks and kicks off on September 19, 2022. You can register for free here. There’s no entry fee, it’s just good education on the subject, and a way that you can try options as a tool in your investment portfolio, without actually risking any of your own real money. So good luck, and now let’s get into the interview with Richard. Our Expert Guest: I’ve invited Richard Ho, DMS, CAIA, FCSI, Director of Equity Derivatives and Customer Relationship Management at TMX Montréal Exchange, who is responsible for leading educational initiatives and partnerships with brokerage firms to discuss what makes this contest exciting, how it differs from past editions, and the educational component surrounding it. Richard also collaborates on Option Matters, a Montréal Exchange blog whose mission is to help individuals increase their knowledge of the options market. Resources Mentioned:
More educational resources: Education on Options: optionmatters.ca Montreal Exchange Education Resources: m-x.ca/education Montreal Exchange Equity Derivatives & Options Education: m-x.ca/options The Montreal Exchange Main Site: m-x.ca/en The main TMX site (where all the Canadian exchanges are): tmx.com Questions Covered:
Direct download: post_auphonic_tmx_group_richard_after_all_edits.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 9:09am EST |
Wed, 10 August 2022
Optimizing Investing Through Your Work - Employer Match, Defined Benefit, and Defined Contribution Pensions in Canada - Featuring Robb Engen from BoomerAndEcho.com
One question that I’ve been getting asked a lot, both from listeners of the podcast, as well as those in my investing course, is how to deal with and optimize any sort of investments through your work. Typically, in Canada, when you work for a mid-size or large organization, you’ll either be part of a defined contribution pension plan, or a defined benefit pension plan. We’re going to cover both types of pensions in this interview, and specifically, some of the things we’ll cover are:
We cover all that, and much more in the interview (scroll down for the full list of questions). Our Expert Guest:To help me with this, I have Robb Engen on the show, who is one of the most reputable fee-for-service financial planners that I know of in Canada. He also runs one of the largest and most reputable personal finance blogs in Canada called boomerandecho.com. He’s regularly quoted or featured in financial media such as the Globe & Mail, MoneySense, the Financial Post, CBC, and Global News. He used to actually work for a university here in Canada, where he had one of those nice gold-plated pensions, but ended up transitioning from that to becoming self-employed, so he had to go through this pension analysis himself first-hand on what to do when you have a pension, and then no longer wish to stay with that employer. Because of his background, first-hand experience with pensions, and fantastic reputation in this space here in Canada, I thought he’d be a great fit for this episode, as he’s gone through these options and this analysis himself, so it’s not just some theory that we’re going to be talking about here. Resources Mentioned:Robb's Site: Robb's Fee-for-Service Financial Planning Page: https://boomerandecho.com/fee-only-advice/ You can get your free Passiv account here: My guide on how to redeem your free premium account upgrade in Passiv is here: You can view the stock/equity side of my portfolio (what I invest in and how much of each ETF type I buy) here: BuildWealthCanada.ca/portfolio The account that I use for the safe part of my portfolio is here (I use the high-interest savings account, but they also do GICs if you are willing to lock in the money for a bit to get a higher rate): Questions Covered:
Direct download: Optimizing_Investing_Through_Your_Work_-_Robb_Engen.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 11:20am EST |
Tue, 5 July 2022
Long-time listeners of the show know that I am always on the hunt for personal finance and investing tools that actually work for us Canadians. Too often we hear about some great tool or resource and then it turns out that it’s only for those in the US. With that said, I wanted to bring on two CEOs today. The first is from a tool that I’ve been using and been hooked on for years now, which essentially automates any rebalancing that I have to do in my portfolio (so I don’t have to do the tedious data entry into a spreadsheet anymore to calculate how much of each ETF I have to buy every time that I have some money to invest). One thing that I recently noticed is that I almost never log into my Questrade account anymore, because I would much rather just buy the investments right within one tool for all our accounts, whether it’s my account, my wife’s account, or our kids’ RESP, instead of having to log in and out of each account and doing the trades and calculations manually.
Our Guests:The tool and company that I’m talking about is Passiv. The CEO and our 1st guest today is Brendan Lee Young, and you can actually use Passiv for free, over at BuildWealthCanada.ca/free. They integrate with different Canadian Brokerages out there like Wealthsimple Trade for example, but if you’re a Questrade user like me, you actually get their Premium account for free, so that you can do the trades right within the tool and make your portfolio more tax efficient right from within Passiv. Our second guest CEO is Alex from Global Predications which is a tool that I just recently heard about that is now available in Canada. I’m in the process of trying it out now. Some of its main functionality is that it can help find risks and problem areas within your investment portfolio, give suggestions on how to improve your portfolio, and let you visualize your net worth using all your assets (instead of just your investment portfolio). And, if you want to check them out, their Canadian page where you can get a free account is here. I thought we could have an interview to discuss some of the tools available to us Canadians, and as a bonus, what’s really neat is that Passiv actually has a way for you to share what investments you’re holding with others, so in this episode, I also provide a link to my portfolio in Passiv so you can see exactly which ETFs I buy, and what my asset allocation is in terms of bonds vs stocks, and in terms of geography (so how much I have in Canada vs US vs International). I hope you enjoy the discussion! Resources Mentioned:You can learn more about Passiv and get a free account here. You can also see my asset allocation and what ETFs I buy using Passiv here. Here is the Global Predictions page where you can get free access, specifically for Canadians. FYI, this page is specifically for Canadians so you'll find it more relevant than just going to globalpredictions.com (which is the US version).
Thank You To Our Sponsor: ShopifyA big thanks to Shopify for sponsoring this episode. You can get a free 14-day trial of Shopify here. Shopify, helps make it easier than it’s ever been to start, run, and grow your own business. There’s no need for you to know how to design or code, and I really love how Shopify makes starting your own business possible for anyone. You can start selling on Shopify today by going to shopify.ca/bwc where you’ll receive a FREE 14-day trial.
Direct download: Hybrid_Investing_-_An_Improvement_on_Passive_Investing.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 11:40am EST |
Tue, 21 June 2022
When learning how to invest, we are consistently told to conduct our “due diligence” on the investments that we’re considering buying. Yet, almost all of us haven’t actually been trained on how to analyze the investments that we’re considering, so that we choose the ones that are right for our particular situation. To help remedy this, I thought it would be good to give listeners a bit of a training on how to actually interpret the figures and terminology that we see used here in Canada, when we’re considering purchasing an investment. Now this is obviously a very large topic as there are many types of investments, so I thought we could start with learning how to understand bonds (especially bond ETFs). We’ve definitely seen some drops in the market recently and I suspect many investors are wondering about holding bonds, if they are holding the right types of bonds, and how to actually interpret the data that you see when you’re looking up information about a bond ETF. Guest Bio:To help me with this, I have Danielle Neziol back on the show. Danielle and her team actually created and continue to manage the largest bond ETF in Canada (and in case you’re curious, that ETF is ZAG from BMO ETFs which now has over $5.8 billion in net assets). Danielle is the Vice President over at BMO ETFs, and I thought it would be great for us to actually get some training from her on how to interpret the facts sheets that we all see when we look up any type of bond ETF, no matter who the provider is. My goal is that this interview gives you the knowledge to be more confident in your investing, and hopefully helps relieve any anxiety that you may feel when it comes to choosing your own investments, or helping ensure that you are in the types of investments that are the best fit for you. Resources Mentioned:Danielle and her team host free weekly webinars where you can learn more about ETFs, as well as ask them your ETF questions. I've been a guest there several times and it really is a great resource for Canadian DIY investors. You can view past replays and sign up to attend the upcoming webinars for free here: etfmarketinsights.com Also, be sure to subscribe to the ETF Market Insights YouTube Channel where you can also see past recordings. Questions Covered:
7. ETF fact sheets typically have an annualized performance section where they show how the ETF performed relative to its index. For ETFs that are looking to match the index, what would be considered a reasonable spread between the two vs a concerning number? 8. One page that seems especially critical to evaluate, whether evaluating a bond ETF or an equity ETF, is the “Holdings” page where we see all the investments that the ETF contains. Let’s pretend that you just pulled up a core bond ETF like ZAG and went to its holdings page. What would you look for and how would you analyze and interpret the data that you see there? (for anybody that wants to follow along, you can go to BuildWealthCanada.ca/zag and that will forward you there) and click on the holdings tab. Areas to cover:
Are there any other areas that you think are critical to look at, and if an investor is feeling overwhelmed by the large amount of bond ETFs out there and is getting into a bit of paralysis analysis, what would you recommend as their next step? 9. Can you speak to the relationship that bonds have with rising interest rates, and at what point do we start to take advantage of those higher interest rates in our bond portfolio to offset the drop in price that occurs when interest rates go up? 10. For anybody looking to learn more, can you tell us more about ETF Market Insights, the YouTube channel, and any other resources listeners may find helpful?
Direct download: Are_You_Holding_the_Right_Bonds_in_Your_Investment_Portfolio.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 2:13pm EST |
Tue, 7 June 2022
Today I’m extremely excited to have Canadian best-selling author, Andrew Hallam back on the show. His first book, Millionaire Teacher continues to be the #1 best seller in the Investment and Portfolio Management category on Amazon. He is one of the world’s most prolific financial wellness speakers and over the past 16 years, he has given hundreds of talks in over 30 different countries espousing research on financial wellness, sound investing and life satisfaction. He has been investing in the stock market for 32 years, having built a million-dollar portfolio on a schoolteacher's salary when he was in his late 30s. In today’s interview with Andrew, we cover the subject of how to achieve balance, and how to maximize your happiness, health, and wealth. We also cover what to expect and how to maintain balance after having hit your financial independence number. Lots of early retirees in the FIRE movement and traditional retirees continue to do some sort of productive paid work. Why is that, and is it realistic to never work again after you retire? As you can imagine, generating some minor income after retirement, doing something you love, can drastically decrease how much money you actually need to retire from your day job, potentially letting you leave that job you may dislike or be bored with many years earlier. Since Andrew is already financially independent, we dissect how Andrew has found that balance in his life between taking on meaningful and fulfilling work, and balancing that with leisure, health, and happiness. Questions Covered: 1. When a lot of people, myself included start their financial independence journey, the goal is to never work again and that becomes a major motivator to accumulate all those savings to be able to retire. 2. You've spoken with many other early retirees who I assume had a similar experience in terms of that progression from initially never wanting to work again and live a life of leisure permanently, versus eventually realizing that there needs to be a balance to achieve sustainable happiness. Have you noticed any patterns from those you've talked to in terms of how they were able to find sustainable happiness and what that balance was for them in order to achieve it? 3. After reading your book, it becomes very clear that health and longevity is something that is a high priority for you, and should be for all of us since what’s the point of accumulating all this wealth and retiring if you don’t live long enough to enjoy it.
4. In terms of maximizing happiness in retirement, is there a routine that you follow during any part of your day that works well for you? Or do you take a more fluid, go-with-the-flow approach, where things are more spontaneous? 5. Do you find that goal setting and trying to achieve growth and improvement in retirement adds to your happiness and fulfilment? Or do you take the approach of trying to just be happy with where you are, living in the moment, as opposed to continuously striving for more? 6. Please tell us again where we can learn more from you and get your latest book.
Direct download: Andrew_Hallam_-_How_to_Invest_and_Spend_for_Happiness_Health_and_Wealth.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 1:04pm EST |
Wed, 11 May 2022
When it comes to the safe portion of our portfolio, we’ve talked about GICs and high-interest savings accounts before, but one option that we haven’t talked about yet, is one that gives you guaranteed income for life, no matter what the markets are doing, and those are called annuities. So, I thought it would be good for you and me to get some annuities 101 knowledge under our belts, so that we can better understand what’s out there, what are the pros and cons of annuities, and so that we can better determine if they are something that we should look into further, based on each of our particular situations. To learn more about this, I thought it would be good to get our information from two different sources. The first, would be fee-for-service financial planners who don’t actually create or sell annuities, but are responsible for potentially using annuities as part of a total financial plan. With that in mind, I’m definitely going to be asking financial planners that I interview in the future about annuities, so that we can get a holistic view and multiple perspectives on the subject. The other source of information that I thought would be good to interview, is an actual creator of annuities. This way we’re getting the information right from the source about how they actually work, their intent, the pros and cons, and how they can potentially fit as part of a financial plan. To help me with this, I have Selene Soo on the show. She is the Director of Product Strategy and Development in the area of Wealth Management over at RBC. She has been there for over 17 years, and has been in the industry itself for over 2 decades, so she definitely has a wealth of experience and knowledge when it comes to annuities. I thought I’d pick her brain so that we can get a solid foundation on annuities, and one question that I’ve been extremely curious to ask someone like her that’s actually in the industry, is for those of us who don’t have a defined benefit pension through our work (for example, those of us that are not government works, teachers, police officers etc.), is there a way that we can get the type of guaranteed income for life in retirement that the government workers get, by using annuities? We definitely get into that question, plus a lot more. Thanks for tuning in, enjoy the learning, and now let’s get into the interview. |
Wed, 23 March 2022
On this month's episode, we're going to discuss some of the most frequently asked investing questions that I receive. The first of these is helping you decide if you should just pick one ETF for your entire portfolio (these are referred to as asset-allocation ETFs), or if you should pick and choose multiple ETFs for your portfolio to fine-tune tune it based on your specific preferences. We also talk about how to determine the asset allocation for your portfolio (the stock to bond mix), as well as how to determine how risky the ETFs that you're considering actually are. It turns out that there is an actual standardized risk rating in Canada to help you determine this which I think you'll find really helpful. Last but definitely not least, we cover socially responsible investing (also known as ESG investing) to help you decide whether ESG ETFs could be a good fit for your investment portfolio, and some things to be careful about and consider, when partaking in socially responsible investing by buying these types of ETFs. To help me with this, I'm thrilled to have Danielle Neziol back on the show. Danielle and her team actually create some of the most popular ETFs that Canadians invest in. She works for BMO ETFs which is the largest Canadian ETF provider in the country, so we're literally getting this information right from the source here which I'm always a big fan of. Danielle and her ETF research team have put together a lot of free resources for Canadian DIY investors over the years, and because there are so many of them, I created a resources page where you can see them listed and access them easily. They're all free, they're not affiliate links or anything like that, and you can check them out and start learning over at buildwealthcanada.ca/bmo Enjoy, a big thanks to Danielle and the team for putting these together and making them available free of charge, and now let's get into the interview.
Direct download: Your_Guide_to_All-In-One_ETFs_and_Socially_Responsible_Investing.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:04pm EST |
Tue, 22 February 2022
Many listeners of the show (myself included) are total market index investors, where we just buy ETFs that are meant to represent the entire market as a whole, worldwide (as opposed to stock picking, or trying to speculate what will go up or down and investing based on that). After you’ve been index investing for a while though, it’s easy to begin to wonder whether you should customize your portfolio a bit further so that it’s more aligned with your particular situation, or so that it holds more of the types of companies that you want in your portfolio. When you start looking into this, you’ll quickly come across what is known as factor investing, which can be used to tweak your portfolio so that it holds more companies that contain specific attributes that you like. In this interview, we talk about the benefits of doing this so that you can better decide for yourself whether it’s worth the added complexity in your portfolio. We also discuss the risks that you need to be aware of if you partake in modifying your investment portfolio in this way, and we cover how you can analyze factor ETFs to find out which (if any) are the right fit for you. Of course, we also cover some of the different types of factor ETFs out there and what they mean, so that you can better decide about potentially incorporating them into your portfolio. Questions:
Resources:ETF Market Insights (Free resources, webinars, and Q&A) Factor Based Investing ETF White Paper
Direct download: How_to_Use_Factor_ETFs_to_Fine-Tune_Your_Portfolio_and_Market_Update.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:23pm EST |
Tue, 1 February 2022
Today I’m extremely excited to have Canadian best selling author, Andrew Hallam on the show. His first book, Millionaire Teacher is currently the #1 best seller in the Investment and Portfolio Management category on Amazon.
He has been investing in the stock market for 32 years, having built a million-dollar portfolio on a schoolteacher's salary when he was in his late 30s. Over the past 16 years, he has given hundreds of talks in over 30 different countries espousing research on financial wellness, sound investing and life satisfaction. We cover a lot of areas in this interview, but since Andrew achieved financial independence in his 30s, I especially wanted to ask him how we Canadians can live off our portfolios long term, without depleting it prematurely (while also maximizing the income that we are able to withdraw). We discuss what to do when it comes to our withdrawal strategy in different economic environments, and we discuss how one can best use the 4% rule, and how we can modify it, depending on what happens in the markets. We also talk about one of my favourite topics, variable withdrawal strategies which help us maximize how much income we can take out of our portfolio every year (while not running out of money). Questions:
Direct download: How_to_Live_Off_Your_Investment_Portfolio_With_Best_Selling_Author_Andrew_Hallam.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 7:35am EST |
Tue, 25 January 2022
If you’re working with a good certified financial planner here in Canada (a CFP), there are specific categories that they should be helping you optimize. According to FP Canada, which is the organization that issues the Certified Financial Planning designation (the CFP), there are 6 areas that should be covered, as they are critical to your financial health.
For your reference, the pillars are insurance and risk management, financial management, investment planning, tax planning, retirement planning, estate planning and legal aspects. Today, we’re going to talk about the insurance and risk management pillar to help you optimize that, and my returning guest today is insurance expert, Laura McKay. Laura used to work as an actuary, and is now the Co-founder of PolicyMe. One of the things that I REALLY like about PolicyMe, is that they have an incredibly useful tool on their site to help you determine how much, if any, life insurance you actually need. What I found really sets it apart from the other online calculators that I’ve seen, is that it will actually honestly tell you, if you do not need life insurance. Questions Covered:
Direct download: How_to_Make_Sure_Youre_Covered_-_Optimizing_Insurance_in_Your_Financial_Planning.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 11:52am EST |
Tue, 2 November 2021
Lessons Learned After 5 Years of Early Retirement + Post Pandemic Small Business Update for Canadians
Today we’re going to have a two-part episode. Part 1 will be about the lessons that I’ve learned after being either fully retired, or semi-retired for the past 5 years. I definitely made some mistakes both during retirement and leading up to retirement; things that I definitely would have done differently if I were to do it all over again. I hope that by sharing these lessons, it’ll help you avoid them on your financial independence and early retirement journey, as well as give you some insights on what it’s been like to actually live off an investment portfolio as opposed to being reliant on a job.
Part 2 of the episode will be some useful information for all the current and future Canadian small business owners out there:
As COVID-19 restrictions loosen in many parts of the country and world, consumers are thinking differently about their needs/wants. During the pandemic, new habits and practices were formed, and altered how people do business.
For small business owners, it also meant many changes along the way. In the interview, we tackle which of these practices are here to stay because they offered a good client experience? What types of businesses and experiences will Canadians seek out in a post-COVID economy? And what about the businesses that launched during the pandemic - what’s next for them? Resources: Join Our Free Live Retirement Planning Strategies Webinar:
The free live webinar and Q&A on Retirement Planning Strategies is on November 24th, 2021 at 1 pm EST. You can sign up for free at buildwealthcanada.ca/retirementwebinar.
If you’re seeing this after the event has already taken place, you can still go to the link above to get the recorded version of the webinar.
Definitely join us live though if you can as that way you can get your questions answered, plus we’ll be giving away prizes during the webinar but you have to be on the live webinar to be eligible.
Excellent Resources for Canadian Small Businesses:
As mentioned in part two, this RBC page has some really useful education and free resources for Canadian Businesses, and they’ve partnered up with other businesses to get you additional discounts and bonuses. You can access all the information for free here: BuildWealthCanada.ca/rbc
Free Assessment Call for Financial Coaching:
The free assessment call mentioned in the episode is available here: buildwealthcanada.ca/call. This is part of the coaching program that I am currently going through with Enriched Academy.
Direct download: Lessons_Learned_After_5_Years_of_Early_Retirement_and_Small_Business_Update.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 4:05pm EST |
Sat, 18 September 2021
Our guest today is Arian Beyzaei, the Vice President of Enriched Academy, one of the most successful companies to be featured on the show Dragon’s Den. Over the past 6 years he has travelled around the country teaching students and entrepreneurs how to get smarter with their finances. He has presented to over 10,000 people and has been the keynote speaker for several corporations. Arian has also been featured on the Financial Post, The Globe and Mail and many more providing personal finance tips and strategies. What’s really neat about Enriched Academy is that they are definitely one of, if not the largest financial literacy educators in Canada. They have over 100,000 students, so I thought it would be useful for Arian to share some of the top money saving lessons learned, after teaching that many students, here in Canada. In other words, what can really move the needle for all of us, when it comes to making a dent in our spending? What are the highest impact savings strategies that we should be focusing on, to really drastically increase the extra cashflow that we all receive month to month? Questions Covered:
Resources Mentioned In the Episode: The free tickets to this year's Online Canadian Financial Summit are here: http://buildwealthcanada.ca/summit The free assessment call mentioned on the episode is available here: http://buildwealthcanada.ca/call The Ultimate Phone Script PDF is available for free download here: https://buildwealthcanada.ca/script The financial literacy for kids educational program is available here: https://buildwealthcanada.ca/kids The Mortgage Broker mentioned on the episode (to get your mortgage questions answered for free) is available at: https://buildwealthcanada.ca/sean
Direct download: How_to_Save_Money_-_Top_Lessons_From_Teaching_100000_Canadians.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 9:36am EST |
Wed, 21 July 2021
Today we’re going to focus on how to best track your investments, as well as your net worth. This is of course critical, as you need this data to determine: 1. How much more do you need to be financially independent and retire? 2. Whether you are trending in the right direction Tracking your net worth and investments is no longer something that you have to do manually, by tediously entering your numbers from all your different accounts into a spreadsheet. You also don’t have to do that boring data entry over and over again, every time that you want an update. So for this episode, I brought on the creators of two free tools available to Canadians. The first is a net worth tracking tool called Wealthica. While the second is an investment tracking and automation tool called Passiv (which I’ve already been using for years to manage, automate, and get reports on my investment portfolio). Questions Asked:
Resources:You can click here to open up a free Passiv account (Questrade members also get the free upgrade to the Elite Member Plan. You can sign up to Wealthica for free here. Free tickets to the Canadian Financial Summit: Sign up anywhere for free on buildwealthcanada.ca to get free tickets to the digital event once they are ready (the annual event is on September 22, 2021). Your Mortgage Questions Answered: Since it's real estate season here in Canada, we also mentioned our resident mortgage expert who can answer your mortgage questions for free. You can sign up for a free call here (there is no cost and no obligation to select any of the lowest cost mortgages that he's able to find in from the 60+ lenders that he monitors. Investing Course: The investing course was also mentioned in the intermission, which you can try risk-free for 60 days here. If you liked the episode sign up for free to receive all new episodes as they get released, news on giveaways, and the free guide on the Top 5 Personal Finance and Productivity Tools.
Direct download: How_to_Be_Your_Own_Money_Manager_-_Passiv_and_Wealthica.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:07pm EST |
Wed, 16 June 2021
Today we're going to cover the top ETFs in Canada, specifically for Canadian investors. These findings are based on 8 experts in this field who are part of the Best ETFs in Canada Guide which is published annually on MoneySense and written by the one and only Jonathan Chevreau. In this episode, we're going to talk about what the findings were with the creator of the guide, and one of the top Analysts from the panel. We will actually give you the ticker symbols of the top ETFs according to the panel of experts, and we will discuss why those particular ETFs were chosen, and go into detail about some of the nuances so that you can better choose which ETF is better for your situation. Each category has several finalists so it's important to know the caveats of how they differ so that you can choose the one that's right for you. This interview expands on what you will find in the text version of the guide, so use this interview as a supplement to the MoneySense written guide, which you can find at buildwealthcanada.ca/moneysense. If you liked the episode sign up for free to receive all new episodes as they get released, news on giveaways, and the free guide on the Top 5 Personal Finance and Productivity Tools. |
Wed, 14 April 2021
Whether you’ve already done your taxes for the year or not, I wanted to dedicate this episode to the tax optimizations that you can do to save tax not only this year, but for future years as well. To help me with this, I’ve brought on accountant Neal Winokur on the show. Neal is a Chartered Professional Accountant here in Canada, and he’s the author of the of the book, The Grumpy Accountant. You might have also seen some of his writing over at the National Post. He has been an accountant here in Canada for over ten years so I thought it would be great to pick his brain on what all us non-accounts can do to save money on taxes for this year and for years to come. You’ll also learn what we can all do, to ensure that we aren’t missing out on any credits and benefits that we are eligible for from the Government of Canada. Changes happen every year to the different credits and benefits that the government offers, so how can we ensure that we don’t miss out on any of the ones that apply to us, and that we aren’t leaving money on the table? So enjoy the episode, thanks for tuning in, and now let’s get into the interview. Questions Covered: 1. To kick things off, let’s start with the question on everyone’s minds, “How can we pay less in taxes?”. And more specifically, what are the tools that we Canadians can use, to pay less in tax? 2. For this episode, I primarily wanted to focus on how we can reduce our taxes on an ongoing basis (not just for this year), but before we do that, considering that taxes are due at the end of this month, is there anything new for this year that we need to know about, when filing our taxes by the end of April? 3. One of the things that I’m sure many of us wonder about every year, is “Are there some benefits, tax credits, and/or exemptions that we’re missing out on, resulting in us either receiving less money from the government, or paying more than we have to in taxes”. 4. What's the easiest way to screen the different credits and other Canadian government benefits to make sure we're getting all of the ones we’re eligible for? 5. How do you keep up to date on changes in tax laws? Is there something that we non-accountants can do to be informed as changes occur so that we can determine if they actually impact us? (i.e. any favourite resources) 6. Speaking of good resources, can you tell us more about your book and what we can learn from it? 7. Is there any low hanging fruit in terms of tax savings that you find Canadians sometimes miss? If you liked the episode sign up for free to receive all new episodes as they get released, news on giveaways, and the free guide on the Top 5 Personal Finance and Productivity Tools. |
Wed, 17 February 2021
One of my favourite things to do on the show is to interview other early retirees, especially those in Canada to learn how they did it, and really dissect their journey to financial independence and/or early retirement. No matter where you are on your financial independence journey, I truly believe that we can all learn from others that have done it, and so I like to view what they did as a case study where we can break down their journey into actionable parts that we can apply to our own lives. There are after all many paths to financial independence, and so it’s valuable to know what those paths are so that you can pick and choose the components that are the best fit for you, and that are most aligned with your own goals. Our guest today is Réjean Venne. Réjean worked in the insurance industry for eight years before retiring at twenty-nine and becoming a full-time parent. Réjean and his wife Danielle, along with their three young children, live in Northern Ontario. They write regularly on topics related to parenting, health, mindfulness, and money. You can follow them at mindfulfamily.ca. Réjean recently published 5 Years to Freedom: A Canadian Guide to Early Retirement which documents his journey to financial independence. In this interview, he’s going to take us through his early retirement story and how you got there, along with the lessons that he’s learned along the way which you can then apply in your own life to help you retire earlier. We’ll also cover how he was able to cut $53,000 in spending annually by retiring early, and how he and his wife were able to retire so early despite having three young kids which is often perceived as very difficult, due to how expensive many believe kids are. Enjoy the episode :) Questions Asked:
Links and Resources
If you liked the episode sign up for free to receive all new episodes as they get released, news on giveaways, and the free guide on the Top 5 Personal Finance and Productivity Tools.
Direct download: Retired_at_29_-_How_They_Did_It_In_Canada.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 2:25pm EST |
Tue, 12 January 2021
Today we have Robb Engen on the show who is the creator of one of the most respected personal finance blogs in Canada over at Boomer and Echo. He’s been writing about personal finance and investing on the blog for more than 10 years, and he’s also a fee-only financial planner, where he helps Canadians achieve their financial goals through unbiased and objective advice. In this interview, you’ll learn:
We cover all that and much more, during the interview. Links from the episode include: The EQ RRSP, TFSA, and Savings Account What passive investing style are you? (video presentation) Passiv (the tool that I use for tracking my investments and rebalancing) Here is the full list of all the questions we covered:
Direct download: Optimizing_Your_Investments_and_Finances_for_the_New_Year_and_Beyond.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 2:40am EST |
Wed, 2 December 2020
In this episode, we’re going to cover how you can retire early, or at the very least, semi-retire early so that you have more time for friends, family and recreation.
My guest for this month is Mark Seed, who instead of rushing to achieve some giant investment portfolio number and fully retiring to never have to work again, he is instead taking what I believe, is the more efficient, sustainable and fulfilling approach of fully embracing an early semi-retirement, instead of a full stop early retirement.
Mark is very much a DIY Canadian investor like myself and has a lot of knowledge when it comes to financial planning here in Canada as he’s actually executing his own early semi-retirement.
We have an absolute blast geeking out on these subjects in the interview, and I truly believe that by you listening in, you’ll get some really great actionable insights on how you can optimize your own financial independence and early retirement journey (to get there quicker). Questions:
Free 1 Year Subscription to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine:
A big thanks to 5i Research for giving Build Wealth Canada listeners a free 1-year digital subscription to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine (Canada's largest personal finance magazine).
You can get the free 1-year subscription by signing up for free 30-day access to all of 5i’s investment research (there’s no credit card required, or anything like that).
When you signup for free, you'll receive access to over 70 company reports (perfect if you like to invest in individual stocks too), you’ll get 3 optimized model portfolios, and answers to over 90,000 investing questions, along with the ability to ask your stock and ETF questions directly to the 5i Research team of Analysts.
The team at 5i don't sell any investments and they don't get any commissions or bonuses from suggesting stocks and ETFs. I've been using them for years as they are one of the VERY few companies in Canada, that are truly unbiased when it comes to their research and suggestions on stocks and ETFs.
You can get free 30-day access to all their research and resources over at buildwealthcanada.ca/research, and as I thank you for trying them out, you'll receive a free 1-year digital subscription to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine, Canada's largest personal finance magazine.
I encourage you to check 5i out, it's a great place get some truly unbiased insights on your investments (especially if there is a ETF or stock that you’re considering, and you want an unbiased opinion from a professionally trained financial analyst that isn’t there to sell you anything. You get free access for 30 days, and you'll learn an absolute ton.
Top ETFs in Canada Guide & Best High-Interest Savings Account:
In this guide, I go over what I personally invest in, and why I invest in it. The investments that I talk about are literally where we have almost our entire net worth (apart from our house), and is what we are primarily living off right now in our early retirement. At the very least you’ll learn about some great ETFs to consider for your portfolio, and if you are new to ETFs, it’ll give you a nice list of some top ETFs to consider from the thousands that are out there.
The guide is available for free to any listeners that that use my special link to sign up for a free savings account with the bank that I personally use, EQ Bank.
The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada (up to 30 times more interest than other banks).
It’s also free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee like you do with many of the other banks out there. You also get unlimited transactions, unlimited Interac e-transfers, can take out your money at any time if you need it, and there are no minimum balances.
Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money.
To get the free high-interest account and the free guide on the top ETFs in Canada, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you the full comprehensive guide for free. Links and Resources
Mark's Site: MyOwnAdvisor.ca
We talked about several free tools that you can use to experiment with the 4% rule, and run analysis to see how sustainable your portfolio is in worst-case scenarios. Here are the different free tools that we talked about on the show:
Don’t miss future episodes, giveaways, and free in-depth guides by signing up for free to the Build Wealth Canada Newsletter.
Direct download: How_To_Structure_Your_Investments_For_An_Early_Retirement.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 9:04am EST |
Tue, 25 August 2020
Today I have Jessica Moorhouse on the show, who is an Accredited Financial Counsellor, an award-winning blogger, the host of the ‘Mo Money Podcast, and the founder of the Millennial Money Meetup. You might have also seen her on CBC News, The Globe and Mail, The Financial Post, and many other news channels and publications here in Canada. In today’s episode, you’ll learn the highest impact actions that we Canadians can do to really make a dent in increasing our savings. We cover how to best manage your money and day-to-day cashflows, and the different types of tools and systems that you can use to help you manage your finances. We also talk about investments, and how Jessica actually invests her own money. Last but not least, I consider Jessica to also be a very successful entrepreneur, and so if you are considering starting your own business, or are looking for ways to take your existing business to the next level, we talk about how Jessica was able to grow her company so successfully, and what lessons we can learn from her, to propel our own Canadian businesses to the next level. Resources and Links Mentioned:
Questions Covered:
I definitely see you as a successful entrepreneur, so let’s shift gears a bit and talk about your life as an entrepreneur, for anybody that wants to eventually work for themselves like you, or have a side-hustle to generate some extra income.
Don’t miss future episodes, giveaways, and free in-depth guides by signing up for free to the Build Wealth Canada Newsletter
Direct download: How_To_Increase_Your_Savings_Manage_Your_Money_Better_And_What_Tools_And_Systems_To_Use.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 4:40pm EST |
Tue, 23 June 2020
Today we’re going to cover how you can best automate the management of your investment portfolio, while still paying the lowest possible fees. We also share best practices when it comes to sticking to your investment plan. To help us discuss this, I have Brendan Wood on the show who is one of the founders of Passiv, a Canadian fintech company that builds tools for DIY investors. I’m a long-time user of their tools and they've saved me many hours of tedious work when managing my portfolio. So, I thought it would be great to have him on the show especially since Canadians can now get the premium features of the tool for free. Questions and Discussion Points Covered:
Direct download: Automating_Your_Investment_Portfolio_and_Sticking_to_Your_Plan.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 6:59am EST |
Thu, 16 April 2020
There’s been a lot of new programs and initiatives put in place by the Canadian government due to COVID-19 to help you financially. In this episode, I’m going to take you through what’s out there so that you can make sure you don’t miss out on some free money or benefits that can really help you during this difficult time. I’ve actually gone through everything that I could get my hands on at the Canada Revenue Agency site, so this is all coming right from the source, and this episode’s intention is to save you a lot of time by helping you quickly learn what’s out there, whether you’re eligible, and help you make an efficient decision on which benefits to apply for, and which ones to make sure you receive. The 2nd part of this episode is going to focus on mortgages, the drastic changes in the interest rate that we’ve seen (which can of course heavily impact your mortgage payments and decisions), what’s happening right now as far as the real estate market is concerned, if you can take advantage of these lower interest rates by renewing your mortgage. We’re also going to cover the subject of deferring your mortgage payments, if for example you’ve lost your job and fear that you may not be able to pay your mortgage while we are all in lockdown due to COVID-19. Links & Resources CoveredChat with Sean for free to get your mortgage questions answered by entering your email at buildwealthcanada.ca/sean Check out Sean’s best-selling book, Burn Your Mortgage: The Simple, Powerful Path to Financial Freedom for Canadians. New Tool: Get Your Credit Score Checked for FreeA big thanks to Borrowell for sponsoring the show and for building such a great free tool that we can use to check our credit score. It has saved me a lot of time when I want to quickly check the status of my credit score (for example, to ensure there has been no fraud or identity theft on my accounts). You also obviously want to make sure your score is as high as possible for any mortgages or other loans that you end up applying for (to ensure you get the lowest rate and get approved). Even if you aren’t looking for a loan, I encourage you to at least pull your report for free to help ensure that there are no unauthorized transactions on your accounts. As a best practice, you should be doing this kind of check at least annually. Thanks again Borrowell for building a tool where we Canadians can finally get access to this data quickly and for free. Resources from the Episode:Top Tools and Resources for Financial Independence (for Canadians): All the top tools and sites that I’ve personally used to help us achieve financial independence in our early 30s. They’re also what we use now to optimize and manage our finances, and ensure that we’re paying the lowest fees while getting solid returns on our investments. Canada’s Top ETFs Guide & Top High-Interest Savings Account: In the guide, I go over what I personally invest in, why I invest in it. The investments that I talk about are literally where we have almost our entire net worth (apart from our house), and is what we are primarily living off right now in our early retirement. At the very least you’ll learn about some great ETFs to consider for your portfolio, and if you are new to ETFs, it’ll give you a nice list of some top ETFs to consider from the thousands that are out there. The guide is available for free to any listeners that that use my special link to sign up for a free savings account with the bank that I personally use, EQ bank. The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada (they are currently offering 2% which is more than double what the major banks are offering). It’s also free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee like you do with many of the other banks out there. You also get unlimited transactions, unlimited Interac e-transfers, and can take out your money at any time if you need it, and there are no minimum balances. Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money. To get the free high-interest account and the free guide on the top ETFs in Canada, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you the full comprehensive guide for free. Don't miss future episodes, giveaways, and free in-depth guides by signing up for free to the Build Wealth Canada Newsletter
Direct download: What_Can_You_Get-COVID-19_Government_Benefits_and_Major_Mortgage_Changes.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 7:25pm EST |
Wed, 18 March 2020
A lot has been happening with the significant stock market declines and coronavirus, so I’ve been getting lots of questions such as: How am I adapting our portfolio and investment strategy to these declines? Should we be buying into the market at these low prices or selling? Should we be waiting out for the market bottom and then buying? What are the other experts that I listen to and trust saying? With this episode, the goal is to answer these top questions for you. Now, of course, the health and the safety of your family is more important than the temporary performance of an investments portfolio, so that should be the priority. But since I’m not a doctor or medical expert, it doesn’t make sense for me to try to give you medical advice. So instead, let’s focus on what I do actually have expertise and experience in and shine some light on the investment and financial planning side of things. Enjoy the episode. New Tool: Get Your Credit Score Checked for FreeA big thanks to Borrowell for sponsoring the show and for building such a great free tool that we can use to check our credit score. It has saved me a lot of time when I want to quickly check the status of my credit score (for example, to ensure there has been no fraud or identity theft on my accounts). You also obviously want to make sure your score is as high as possible for any mortgages or other loans that you end up applying for (to ensure you get the lowest rate and get approved). Even if you aren’t looking for a loan, I encourage you to at least pull your report for free to help ensure that there are no unauthorized transactions on your accounts. As a best practice, you should be doing this kind of check at least annually. Thanks again Borrowell for building a tool where we Canadians can finally get access to this data quickly and for free. Resources from the Episode:Top Tools and Resources for Financial Independence (for Canadians): All the top tools and sites that I’ve personally used to help us achieve financial independence in our early 30s. They’re also what we use now to optimize and manage our finances, and ensure that we’re paying the lowest fees while getting solid returns on our investments. Canada’s Top ETFs Guide & Top High-Interest Savings Account: In the guide, I go over what I personally invest in, why I invest in it. The investments that I talk about are literally where we have almost our entire net worth (apart from our house), and is what we are primarily living off right now in our early retirement. At the very least you’ll learn about some great ETFs to consider for your portfolio, and if you are new to ETFs, it’ll give you a nice list of some top ETFs to consider from the thousands that are out there. The guide is available for free to any listeners that that use my special link to sign up for a free savings account with the bank that I personally use, EQ bank. The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada (they are currently offering 2% which is more than double what the major banks are offering). It’s also free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee like you do with many of the other banks out there. You also get unlimited transactions, unlimited Interac e-transfers, and can take out your money at any time if you need it, and there are no minimum balances. Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money. To get the free high-interest account and the free guide on the top ETFs in Canada, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you the full comprehensive guide for free.
Direct download: Market_Declines_How_to_Deal_With_Coronavirus_Impact.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 6:13pm EST |
Tue, 11 February 2020
I recently realized that I haven’t really provided an update on our early retirement story and more importantly, the lessons learned from it so far. Therefore my goal for this episode is to share with you what we did wrong and what I think we did right, that allowed us to achieve financial independence by the time I was 32. Please don’t interpret this episode as some sort of showing off, bragging, or an ego boost. I absolutely hate arrogance and hubris (it’s actually ones of my biggest pet peeves). Instead, the whole idea behind this episode is to give you some actionable insights based on our failures and successes over the years, so that you can hopefully learn from our experiences, apply them to your own financial independence, retire early journey and hopefully cut down the time that it takes you to get there. That’s it. New Tool: Get Your Credit Score Checked for FreeA big thanks to Borrowell for sponsoring the show and for building such a great free tool that we can use to check our credit score. It has saved me a lot of time when I want to quickly check the status of my credit score (for example, to ensure there has been no fraud or identity theft on my accounts). You also obviously want to make sure your score is as high as possible for any mortgages or other loans that you end up applying for (to ensure you get the lowest rate and get approved). Even if you aren’t looking for a loan, I encourage you to at least pull your report for free to help ensure that there are no unauthorized transactions on your accounts. As a best practice, you should be doing this kind of check at least annually. Thanks again Borrowell for building a tool where we Canadians can finally get access to this data quickly and for free. Other Resources:Top Tools and Resources for Financial Independence (for Canadians): All the top tools and sites that I’ve personally used to help us achieve financial independence in our early 30s. They’re also what we use now to optimize and manage our finances, and ensure that we’re paying the lowest fees while getting solid returns on our investments. Canada’s Top ETFs Guide & Top High-Interest Savings Account: In the guide, I go over what I personally invest in and why I invest in it. The investments that I talk about are literally where we have almost our entire net worth (apart from our house), and is what we are primarily living off right now in our early retirement. At the very least you’ll learn about some great ETFs to consider for your portfolio, and if you are new to ETFs, it’ll give you a nice list of some top ETFs to consider from the thousands that are out there. The guide is available for free to any listeners that that use this link to sign up for a free savings account with the bank that I personally use, EQ bank. The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada (they are currently offering 2.45% which is more than double what the major banks are offering). It’s also free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee like you do with many of the other banks out there. You also get unlimited transactions, unlimited Interac e-transfers, and can take out your money at any time if you need it, and there are no minimum balances. Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money. To get the free high-interest account and the free guide on the top ETFs in Canada, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you the full comprehensive guide for free.
Direct download: Our_Early_Retirement_Story_and_Lessons_Learned.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 5:55am EST |
Thu, 9 January 2020
Today we’re going to cover some of the top financial questions asked by Canadians, including the number one question, “Am I saving enough for retirement?”. The way we came up with these questions, is that as you may know, the fee-for-service financial planner that I use is John Kalos, and on my site, I have a page where you can sign up for a free 30-minute consultation with him. And so, lots of the listeners of the show have met with John for free to get their questions answered and he then took the ones that were being asked most often, and we decided to do this episode on them so that everyone can benefit from them. The top question was definitely “Am I saving enough for retirement?”, but he also addressed other top questions like “What investments should I be buying for each account (RRSP vs TFSA vs taxable accounts), and how much should I be buying of each?”. Enjoy the episode, and definitely feel free to ask him your own questions one-on-one over at buildwealthcanada.ca/john. When you sign up through that page, I’ve also set it up so that you’ll be automatically emailed a guide that I made on the top questions to ask your financial planner. This can help you whether you’re looking for a new financial planner, or to test out your existing financial planner to make sure that there is no conflict-of-interest and that they really are as competent as they claim to be. This is something that he’s making available on an ongoing basis so even if you are listening to this episode years from now, you can still go there to get some of your top questions answered, privately, and for free. Enjoy the episode. New Tool: Get Your Credit Score Checked for FreeA big thanks to Borrowell for sponsoring the show and for building such a great free tool that we can use to check our credit score. It has saved me a lot of time when I want to quickly check the status of my credit score (for example, to ensure there has been no fraud or identity theft on my accounts). You also obviously want to make sure your score is as high as possible for any mortgages or other loans that you end up applying for (to ensure you get the lowest rate and get approved). Even if you aren’t looking for a loan, I encourage you to at least pull your report for free to help ensure that there are no unauthorized transactions on your accounts. As a best practice, you should be doing this kind of check at least annually. Thanks again Borrowell for building a tool where we Canadians can finally get access to this data quickly and for free. Other Resources:Top Tools and Resources for Financial Independence (for Canadians): All the top tools and sites that I’ve personally used to help us achieve financial independence in our early 30s. They’re also what we use now to optimize and manage our finances, and ensure that we’re paying the lowest fees while getting solid returns on our investments. Canada’s Top ETFs Guide & Top High-Interest Savings Account: In the guide, I go over what I personally invest in and why I invest in it. The investments that I talk about are literally where we have almost our entire net worth (apart from our house), and is what we are primarily living off right now in our early retirement. At the very least you’ll learn about some great ETFs to consider for your portfolio, and if you are new to ETFs, it’ll give you a nice list of some top ETFs to consider from the thousands that are out there. The guide is available for free to any listeners that that use this link to sign up for a free savings account with the bank that I personally use, EQ bank. The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada (they are currently offering 2.3% which is more than double what the major banks are offering). It’s also free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee like you do with many of the other banks out there. You also get unlimited transactions, unlimited Interac e-transfers, and can take out your money at any time if you need it, and there are no minimum balances. Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money. To get the free high-interest account and the free guide on the top ETFs in Canada, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you the full comprehensive guide for free.
Direct download: Are_you_saving_enough_for_retirement_and_other_top_questions.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 9:24am EST |
Tue, 3 December 2019
In this episode, we talk about how we can set our investments up so that we can live off them in retirement (whether it’s a traditional retirement or early retirement). We also cover the important subject of how to stress-test our investment portfolio so that we can help ensure that we don’t run out of money in our retirement. You can also use these tools to see (approximately) if you actually have enough to retire now (or to see how much more you need). New Tool: Get Your Credit Score Checked for FreeA big thanks to Borrowell for sponsoring the show and for building such a great free tool that we can use to check our credit score. It has saved me a lot of time when I want to quickly check the status of my credit score (for example, to ensure there has been no fraud or identity theft in my accounts). You also obviously want to make sure your score is as high as possible for any mortgages or other loans that you end up applying for (to ensure you get the lowest rate and get approved). Even if you aren't looking for a loan, I ecourage you to at least pull your report for free to help ensure that there are no unauthorized transactions on your accounts. As a best practice, you should be doing this kind of check at least annually. Thanks again Borrowell for building a tool where we Canadians can finally get access to this data quickly and for free. Other Resources from the Episode:Top Tools and Resources for Financial Independence (for Canadians): All the top tools and sites that I’ve personally used to help us achieve financial independence in our early 30s. They’re also what we use now to optimize and manage our finances, and ensure that we’re paying the lowest fees while getting solid returns on our investments. Canada’s Top ETFs Guide & Top High-Interest Savings Account: In the guide, I go over what I personally invest in and why I invest in it. The investments that I talk about are literally where we have almost our entire net worth (apart from our house), and is what we are primarily living off right now in our early retirement. At the very least you’ll learn about some great ETFs to consider for your portfolio, and if you are new to ETFs, it’ll give you a nice list of some top ETFs to consider from the thousands that are out there. The guide is available for free to any listeners that that use this link to sign up for a free savings account with the bank that I personally use, EQ bank. The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada (they are currently offering 2.3% which is more than double what the major banks are offering). It’s also free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee like you do with many of the other banks out there. You also get unlimited transactions, unlimited Interac e-transfers, and can take out your money at any time if you need it, and there are no minimum balances. Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money. To get the free high-interest account and the free guide on the top ETFs in Canada, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you the full comprehensive guide for free. Roger's Amazing Educational Resources:Roger's Rock Retirement Club (applicable to Canadians) Roger's Main Site: Retirement Answer Man Roger's Podcast: Retirement Answer Man Podcast Free Monte Carlo Simulation Tools:To help ensure that you have enough to retire, we talked a lot about Monte Carlo analysis. Below are three tools that I use where you can run Monte Carlo simulations for free: Questions Covered:
Direct download: How_to_Live_Off_Your_Investments_and_Stress_Test_Your_Portfolio.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:32pm EST |
Wed, 30 October 2019
Today we have insurance industry insider, Laura McKay on the show, who reveals some of the top tricks and tactics used in the insurance industry, to keep us overpaying. She covers what to look out for, and what we can actually do on our end to make sure that we get the best rates possible, and aren't overpaying for insurance that we may not even need. Laura used to work as an actuary, and is now the Co-founder and President of PolicyMe, which is a great tool for Canadians that you can use for free to see how much insurance you actually need. It also tells you if you are overpaying for insurance, or if you are underinsured and taking on a lot of unnecessary risk in case something was to happen to you. I also really like how it lets you comparison shop different insurance providers without having to fill out countless insurance forms for each individual insurance company that you want a quote from. Enjoy the episode. You'll learn a lot of actionable insider information that can potentially save you thousands of dollars long-term. Resources from the Episode:PolicyMe's free tool to find out how much insurance you need and find out if you are overpaying or are underinsured. The tool also lets you easily comparison shop between different insurance providers to ensure you get the lowest rate. Top Tools and Resources for Financial Independence (for Canadians): All the top tools and sites that I’ve personally used to help us achieve financial independence in our early 30s. They’re also what we use now to optimize and manage our finances, and ensure that we’re paying the lowest fees while getting solid returns on our investments. Canada’s Top ETFs Guide & Top High-Interest Savings Account: In the guide, I go over what I personally invest in and why I invest in it. The investments that I talk about are literally where we have almost our entire net worth (apart from our house), and is what we are primarily living off right now in our early retirement. At the very least you’ll learn about some great ETFs to consider for your portfolio, and if you are new to ETFs, it’ll give you a nice list of some top ETFs to consider from the thousands that are out there. The guide is available for free to any listeners that that use this link to sign up for a free savings account with the bank that I personally use, EQ bank. The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada (they are currently offering 2.3% which is more than double what the major banks are offering). It’s also free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee like you do with many of the other banks out there. You also get unlimited transactions, unlimited Interac e-transfers, and can take out your money at any time if you need it, and there are no minimum balances. Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money. To get the free high-interest account and the free guide on the top ETFs in Canada, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you the full comprehensive guide for free. Questions Covered:
Direct download: Insider_Look_At_Top_7_Insurance_Tricks_That_Keep_You_Overpaying.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 8:51am EST |
Thu, 19 September 2019
Our guest today is Jason Heath, CFP who has been providing fee-only, advice-only financial planning since 2001 and is one of Canada’s best-known fee-only financial planners. He is currently a personal finance columnist for the Financial Post, MoneySense and is also a regular contributor to RetireHappy.ca. I’ve been reading his insightful financial planning articles on MoneySense for years, so I thought it would be great to have him on the show to discuss how we Canadians can optimize our investment portfolios. We cover both phases: Before retirement when you're in the growth phase trying to retire early, and after retirement, once you’ve hit your number and want to make sure you don’t run out of money. Questions Covered:
Resources from the Episode:Free tickets to the Canadian Financial Summit: I’ll be speaking again at the Canadian Financial Summit and I have free tickets for you. The entire event is online so you can watch it from anywhere, and it’s Canada’s largest personal finance conference. I’ll be there together with over 25 Canadian personal finance experts, and in my talk I’ll be speaking about how we optimized our investment portfolio before we retired, and after we retired. This way no matter where you are on your financial independence journey, it’ll at the very least give you some insights on ways that you can optimize your own investment portfolio so that you can retire early, or at least hit your financial independence number quicker. To get your free tickets for a limited time, go to:
Top Tools and Resources for Financial Independence (for Canadians): All the top tools and sites that I’ve personally used to help us achieve financial independence in our early 30s. They’re also what we use now to optimize and manage our finances, and ensure that we’re paying the lowest fees while getting solid returns on our investments. Canada’s Top ETFs Guide & Top High-Interest Savings Account: In the guide, I go over what I personally invest in, why I invest in it. The investments that I talk about are literally where we have almost our entire net worth (apart from our house), and is what we are primarily living off right now in our early retirement. At the very least you’ll learn about some great ETFs to consider for your portfolio, and if you are new to ETFs, it’ll give you a nice list of some top ETFs to consider from the thousands that are out there. The guide is available for free to any listeners that use my link to sign up for a free savings account with the bank that I personally use, EQ bank. The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada (they are currently offering 2.3% which is more than double what the major banks are offering). It’s also free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee like you do with many of the other banks out there. You also get unlimited transactions, unlimited Interac e-transfers, and can take out your money at any time if you need it, and there are no minimum balances. Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money. To get the free high-interest account and the free guide on the top ETFs in Canada, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you the full comprehensive guide for free. Jason’s Site and Financial Planning Practice:https://objectivefinancialpartners.com/ Jason’s Articles on MoneySense: Vanguard’s Asset Allocation Tool/Questionnaire: Vanguard’s Asset Allocation ETFs:
Direct download: How_to_Create_and_Optimize_Your_Investment_Portfolio_Pre_and_Post_Retirement.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 9:59pm EST |
Wed, 21 August 2019
Today we have Meghan Chomut on the show who is a financial planner specializing in real estate for both your primary residence and rental properties. She has also personally done property flipping before so I thought it would be great to have her on the show to teach us some lessons and best practices that we can apply to both our primary residence (whether we are an existing or aspiring homeowner), as well as learn more about what to consider and look out for when deciding to invest in a rental property, or flip houses. I’m a former rental property owner and former landlord as well so we both share some of our lessons learned and give a realistic preview of real estate investing so that you can better decide whether it’s the right fit for you. Resources from the Episode:Top Tools and Resources for Financial Independence (for Canadians): All the top tools and sites that I've personally used to help us achieve financial independence in our early 30s. They're also what we use now to optimize and manage our finances, and ensure that we're paying the lowest fees while getting solid returns on our investments. Have a mortgage question? Looking for the top mortgages in Canada? Get a free call with our mortgage expert Sean Cooper (you'll also get a free guide on what to look out for when choosing a mortgage). Canada's Top ETFs Guide & Top High-Interest Savings Account: In the guide, I go over what I personally invest in, why I invest in it. The investments that I talk about are literally where we have almost our entire net worth (apart from our house), and is what we are primarily living off right now in our early retirement. At the very least you'll learn about some great ETFs to consider for your portfolio, and if you are new to ETFs, it'll give you a nice list of some top ETFs to consider from the thousands that are out there.
The guide available for free to any listeners that that use my special link to sign up for a free savings account with the bank that I personally use, EQ bank.
The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada (they are currently offering 2.3% which is more than double what the major banks are offering).
It’s also free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee like you do with many of the other banks out there. You also get unlimited transactions, unlimited Interac e-transfers, and can take out your money at any time if you need it, and there are no minimum balances.
Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money.
To get the free high-interest account and the free guide on the top ETFs in Canada, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you the full comprehensive guide for free. Meghan Chomut's Site: A big thanks to Meghan for coming on the show. You can reach out to her and learn more about her over at www.meghanchomut.com. Questions Covered:
Direct download: Buying_a_House_a_Rental_or_Flipping_Houses.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 7:05pm EST |
Tue, 16 July 2019
Today we have Kristy and Bryce on the show who are Canada's youngest retirees. Kristy retired at 31 while Bryce was 32, and today I pick their brains on how they pulled it off, how they invest, and how they structured their investment portfolio to ensure that they never run out of money. Kristy and Bryce also just launched a book on how they retired early, and in it they share a repeatable step-by-step plan on how anybody can retire early. It's a very practical book, I really enjoyed it, and wish it was around when I started my FIRE (financial independence, retire early) journey. Their book is called Quit like a Millionaire and I have some copies to give away to you as well. If you want to sign up for free to be entered into the giveaway, just click here and enter your name and email so I know how to reach you if you win. Questions Asked:
Links and Resources Mentioned:Quit Like a Millionaire Book Link Top ETF Guide for Canadians (sign up for free at buildwealthcanada.ca/eq and send any email from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca) Michael Kitces and Mad Fientist Podcast Episode on 4% Rule Our Favourite Retirement Calculators:
Direct download: Canadas_Youngest_Retirees_-_How_They_Did_It.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 7:01pm EST |
Mon, 27 May 2019
House hunting season has officially begun, so I thought it would be a good idea to have an insider from the mortgage industry on the show to learn some tops tips on getting the lowest possible mortgage rate, whether you are looking for a new mortgage, or have one that you’ll need to renew soon. In the interview, we also look at what else you should look for in a mortgage, in addition to just getting the lowest rate possible. In other words, what are the different clauses or contract terms that you should look out for, when getting a new mortgage, or renewing your existing one. And, our industry insider and mortgage expert will tell us what sales and marketing tactics and tricks we should look out for from the banks and other mortgage providers. Last but definitely not least, we discuss the pros and cons of the different ways that you can get your mortgage. For instance, do you use a mortgage broker? Do you go directly to a bank or credit union? Or do you just use one of the many mortgage comparison sites out there? About the Guest: Sean CooperSean is the bestselling author of the book, Burn Your Mortgage: The Simple, Powerful Path to Financial Freedom for Canadians. He bought his first house when he was only 27 in Toronto and paid off his mortgage in just 3 years by age 30. These days, Sean’s helping others burn their mortgages too, as an independent mortgage broker. Before we dive into the interview, Sean has offered to answer for free, any questions that you, the Build Wealth Canada listeners have. I’ve set up a special page for him so all you have to do is go to buildwealthcanada.ca/sean, enter your email, and Sean will be in touch with you and will be able to answer any questions that you may have. He’s a licensed mortgage broker too so I definitely also encourage you to reach out to him if you’re looking to get a new mortgage or if your mortgage is coming up for renewal, as at the very least he’ll be able to provide you with a short list of the best mortgages that he’s been able to find across all of Canada. None of this costs you anything, and there’s no obligation to get your mortgage through him or use any of those suggested mortgages. At the very least, you’ll get some good education on the top mortgages available in Canada, you’ll learn what to look for when choosing your next mortgage, and you can always decide later whether you’d like him to help you with the process, or if you want to do it all yourself. It doesn’t cost you anything regardless. As a bonus, I’ll also email you the Mortgage Checklist, which is a guide on the top things to look for and consider when choosing a mortgage. So, that link again to get in touch with Sean, get your questions answered, get the free mortgage checklist guide, and get that research on some of the best mortgage in Canada is buildwealthcanada.ca/sean.
Direct download: How_to_get_the_lowest_rate_on_your_mortgage_new_and_renewing_mortgages.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 10:18am EST |
Mon, 6 May 2019
A common problem that holds some Canadians back from paying the lowest possible fees in investing by becoming a DIY (do-it-yourself) investor, is that it does take a bit of learning and practice. Also since we’re not taught this in school, it can be intimidating.
Even those that aren't intimidated by it can at times become annoyed with all the manual administrative work that is required when it comes to being a DIY investor (myself included).
For example, whether you're a new or an experienced investor, you still have to go through the hassle of individually buying the ETFs on the exchange, doing the calculations to make sure you buy the right quantities, and rebalancing your portfolio periodically so that you don’t accidentally end up taking on too much risk.
You also have to keep tracking and checking when your dividends came in so that you can quickly invest them to maximize the compound growth in your portfolio.
This is why I’m really excited to have Brendan Lee Young from Passiv on the show along with Stephen Graham from Questrade, as they have teamed up to automate these time consuming and sometimes intimidating elements when it comes to managing and optimizing your own investment portfolio.
I’ve been using the tool very heavily myself, have integrated my wife and I’s entire investment portfolio with it, and I encourage you to try it for free as it will save you a ton of time (just like it has for me).
You can grab your free account over at buildwealthcanada.ca/passiv. I am absolutely hooked on using it, and it's great to see this kind of innovation taking place in Canada. If you liked the episode sign up for free to receive all new episodes as they get released, news on giveaways, and the free guide on the Top 5 Personal Finance and Productivity Tools.
Direct download: How_to_Automate_Your_Investing_without_the_giant_fees.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 11:58am EST |
Mon, 8 April 2019
TFSA creator shares top saving and investing strategies, while promoting financial literacy for Canadians
Today I have the creator of the TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account) on the show who shares his best TFSA tips and strategies, while also discussing his initiative to enhance financial literacy in Canada.
His name is Kevin McCarthy, and while working in Ottawa, Kevin was responsible for the financial literacy file for Minister Flaherty and helped launch the federal government’s Financial Literacy Panel.
He played a key role in the development and naming of the Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), the single most important personal savings vehicle since the introduction of the Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP).
Kevin has since joined a great organization called Enriched Academy which focuses on teaching financial literacy here in Canada. Get Your Free 1-Year Subscription to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine
Lastly, don’t forget to claim your free 1-year digital subscription to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine (Canada’s largest personal finance and investing magazine).
The magazine features Canada’s top experts on personal finance and investing, and is a great place to learn best practices, and stay up to date on changes that will impact your investments and financial situation for years to come, specifically here in Canada.
To get that, all you have to do is open up a free savings account with my favourite bank (and the bank that I personally use, EQ bank).
The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada. In fact, over all the years that I’ve been with them, I’ve seen them consistently be almost double the interest rate compared to other online banks, and well over double the interest rate compared to the major brick and mortar banks that we have here in Canada.
Plus it’s free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee as you do with many of the other banks out there. As a bonus you also get unlimited free Interac e-transfers every month!
Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money.
To get the free account and a 1 year free subscription to Canadian MoneySaver magazine, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you a coupon code that gets you a free one year subscription to the magazine.
Enjoy, and thanks for supporting the show!
Links and Resources:
Financial Literacy Training at Enriched Academy
EQ High Interest Savings Account with Bonus
Questions Covered:
In Closing:
If you enjoyed the episode, please take a moment to leave an honest review and rating on iTunes by clicking the “View in iTunes” button at this link.
If you have any tips, suggestions or comments, please be sure to leave a comment in the section below. I read all the responses and look forward to hearing from you.
Also if you liked the episode please share it using the social media buttons on the left, and sign up for free below to receive all new episodes as they get released, news on giveaways, and the free guide on the Top 5 Personal Finance and Productivity Tools here in Canada!
I looking forward to hearing from you.
Kornel
Direct download: TFSA_creator_shares_top_saving_and_investing_strategies_while_promoting_financial_literacy_for_Canadians.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 5:55am EST |
Thu, 21 February 2019
RRSP season is upon us (the last day is March 1) and to help you avoid the top RRSP mistakes that Canadians make, I've brought back the financial planner that my family and I use, John Kalos.
We had a live webinar where we went over these top mistakes, and it gave everyone a chance to get their questions answered live. What we cover in this episode:•How to use RRSP season to save you thousands in taxes (it ends March 1st!)
•How to make RRSPs work for you to boost your net worth, instead of just making it profitable for the banks (at your expense)
•The top tricks that the banks use to get you to invest with them
•What you can do right now to maximize your tax return, by properly using your RRSP. Download the webinar recording:You can download and stream the webinar recording by going to the show notes at: Buildwealthcanada.ca/53 Ask John Your Questions:Even though you missed the chance to ask John your questions live during the webinar, you can still chat with him 1-one-1 for free for 30 minutes and get your questions answered by going to buildwealthcanada.ca/john. Get Your Free 1-Year Subscription to Canadian MoneySaver MagazineLastly, don’t forget to claim your free 1-year digital subscription to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine (Canada’s largest personal finance and investing magazine).
The magazine features Canada’s top experts on personal finance and investing, and is a great place to learn best practices, and stay up to date on changes that will impact your investments and financial situation for years to come, specifically here in Canada.
To get that, all you have to do is open up a free savings account with my favourite bank (and the bank that I personally use, EQ bank).
The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada. In fact, over all the years that I’ve been with them, I’ve seen them consistently be almost double the interest rate compared to other online banks, and well over double the interest rate compared to the major brick and mortar banks that we have here in Canada.
Plus it’s free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee as you do with many of the other banks out there. As a bonus you also get 5 free Interac e-transfers every month!
Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money.
To get the free account and a 1 year free subscription to Canadian MoneySaver magazine, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you a coupon code that gets you a free one year subscription to the magazine.
Enjoy, and thanks for supporting the show! Kornel
Direct download: Top_5_Costly_RRSP_Mistakes_That_Canadians_Make_secrets_from_an_ex-banker.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 4:19am EST |
Wed, 23 January 2019
Today we have author and Canadian investor, Larry Bates on the show. Larry is the author of the book “Beat the Bank”, where you shows (specifically for Canadians), how you can build a larger retirement nest egg by switching from high-cost mutual funds to more efficient, low-cost investment products. He also explains how you can do it in just a couple of hours per year. He talks about some of the secrets in the investment industry that many Canadians don’t know about, he decodes some of the mystery that is prevalent around investing here in Canada, and he provides a simple, step-by-step guide to investing. Just like me, he believes that you don't need to be an expert to start investing successfully...you just need to know the basics. Larry is a former banker turned investor advocate. He spent 35 years in banking, has since retired from that, and now spends his time increasing financial literacy for Canadians, specifically in the area of investing. Book Giveaway! To kick things off on a good note for 2019, I’ve arranged a book giveaway with Larry where you can enter for free for a chance to win one of 3 signed copies of Larry’s book. This is obviously for a limited time, the giveaway ends at the end of February 2019, so be sure to sign up now for a free chance to win.
To enter the giveaway, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/beatthebank Get Your Free 1-Year Subscription to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine
Lastly, don’t forget to claim your free 1-year digital subscription to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine (Canada’s largest personal finance and investing magazine).
The magazine features Canada’s top experts on personal finance and investing, and is a great place to learn best practices, and stay up to date on changes that will impact your investments and financial situation for years to come, specifically here in Canada.
To get that, all you have to do is open up a free savings account with my favourite bank (and the bank that I personally use, EQ bank).
The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada. In fact, over all the years that I’ve been with them, I’ve seen them consistently be almost double the interest rate compared to other online banks, and well over double the interest rate compared to the major brick and mortar banks that we have here in Canada.
Plus it’s free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee as you do with many of the other banks out there. As a bonus you also get 5 free Interac e-transfers every month!
Because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money.
To get the free account and a 1 year free subscription to Canadian MoneySaver magazine, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you a coupon code that gets you a free one year subscription to the magazine.
Enjoy, thanks for supporting the show, and now let’s get into the episode. Questions Asked During the Interview:
If you liked the episode sign up for free to receive all new episodes as they get released, news on giveaways, and the free guide on the Top 5 Personal Finance and Productivity Tools.
Direct download: How_to_Beat_the_Bank_with_Larry_Bates.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 3:19pm EST |
Tue, 11 December 2018
This is part 2 of our episode on the only 4 ways to invest, where we discuss the pros and cons of each method, so that you can make an informed decision on the investing type that is best for you. Ultimately, this decision on which of the 4 ways you pick has an enormous impact on your net worth and how early you can retire, as it can easily save and earn you an extra tens of thousands of dollars long term, and even hundreds of thousands of dollars for many investors through reduced fees, proper financial advice, and tax optimization. In case you missed part 1, you can listen to it by going to buildwealthcanada.ca/50 Now after the last episode launched, we had a lot of listeners sign up for the free 30 min consultation with our expert financial planning guest John Kalos. One of the links that I had on the site to book the free appointment with John wasn’t working, but that has now been fixed, so if you had any trouble signing up for the free call with John, then definitely try again by going to buildwealthcanada.ca/john. And if you haven’t booked a call yet, then definitely feel free to do so as there’s no obligation, it’s free, and it’s a great way to get some of your financial planning and investing questions answered by someone that has spent decades in this industry, and isn’t trying to sell you some high fee mutual funds or investment product, just because they get a commission or bonus out of it. John doesn’t sell any investments, so he’s a great way to get custom advice specific to your situation, from someone that doesn’t have that conflict of interest from also trying to sell you something. So that link again to book a free 30 min call with John is buildwealthcanada.ca/john, and when you sign up you’ll also get my PDF guide on 'How to Find the Right Financial Advisor in Canada', and the top questions to ask them. Of course, don't miss future episodes, giveaways, and free in-depth guides by signing up for free to the Build Wealth Canada newsletter over at buildwealthcanada.ca. And lastly, don’t forget to claim your free 1-year digital subscription to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine (Canada’s largest personal finance and investing magazine). The magazine features Canada’s top experts on personal finance and investing, and is a great place to learn best practices, and stay up to date on changes that will impact your investments and financial situation for years to come, specifically here in Canada. To get that, all you have to do is open up a free savings account with my favourite bank (and the bank that I personally use, EQ bank). The reason that I personally use EQ bank, is that they have one of the highest interest savings rates in Canada. In fact, over all the years that I’ve been with them, I’ve seen them consistently be almost double the interest rate compared to other online banks, and well over double the interest rate compared to the major brick and mortar banks that we have here in Canada. Plus it’s free to sign up and keep an account with them, so you’re not paying a monthly fee as you do with many of the other banks out there. As a bonus you also get 5 free Interac e-transfers every month! So because of those reasons, I’ve been with them ever since they launched in Canada years ago, and it’s where I keep my entire emergency fund and spending money. To get the free account and a 1 year free subscription to Canadian MoneySaver magazine, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq, open the free account, and once you’re done, forward any email that you get from EQ to bonus@buildwealthcanada.ca and I’ll send you a coupon code that gets you a free one year subscription to the magazine. Enjoy, thanks for supporting the show, and now let’s get into the episode.
Direct download: Part_2_The_Only_4_Ways_to_Invest__Their_Pros_and_Cons.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:19pm EST |
Wed, 17 October 2018
Canadian investors are having a pretty eventful time in the markets right now, as the legalization of marijuana is happening today as I record this episode. Also, let's not forget the hit that the markets took last week. For a long time now we've seen very little volatility in the markets, and it's been a relatively smooth and enjoyable ride. Well finally, last week, we finally got to experience how markets can behave (in the negative sense), and I think how you felt during this period is a good sample of how much you can stomach volatility, and stay invested, when you have some media making it look like the sky is falling. We can and will experience drops even worse than that in the future, but I think it's a good self-discovery event where you learn if for example, that 100% stock, 0% bond portfolio allocation is something that you really can have and still sleep well at night. Because of the marijuana legalization and the recent dip in the markets, I thought it would be great to have another Investing Tips Episode like we did last month, where I speak with 5i Research's CEO, Ryan Modesto about what him and his research team are seeing in the markets with the recent declines, as well as address the subject of marijuana stocks and investing in that industry. Future episodes, giveaways and guides:Of course, don't miss future episodes, giveaways, and free in-depth guides by signing up for free to the Build Wealth Canada newsletter over at buildwealthcanada.ca. There you'll receive some exclusive educational content that's only available to Build Wealth Canada newsletter subscribers, there's never any spam, and it's totally free. It's also the best way to ask questions that you want to be answered on future episodes of the show, and suggests any guests that you'd like to come on the show. That link again to sign up for free is buildwealthcanada.ca. Bonus: Free one-year subscription to Canadian MoneySaver MagazineAlright now before we start the interview, today's guest, 5i CEO Ryan Modesto is also offering a 1-year free digital subscription to Canadian Moneysaver Magazine (Canada's largest personal finance magazine) when you sign up for free 30-day access to 5i Research. There you'll receive over 70 company reports (perfect if you like to sometimes invest in individual stocks), three model portfolios, and answers to over 75,000 investing questions, along with the ability to ask your own directly to Ryan and his analysts. Ryan and his team at 5i don't sell any investments, and don't get any commissions or bonuses from suggesting stocks and ETFs. Because of this, I've been a long time partner with them as they are one of the VERY few companies in Canada, that are truly conflict-free and unbiased when it comes to their research and suggestions on stocks and ETFs. You can get free 30-day access to all their research and resources over at buildwealthcanada.ca/research, and as a "thank you" for trying them out, you'll receive a free 1-year digital subscription to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine, Canada's largest personal finance magazine. I encourage you to check 5i out, it's a great place get some truly unbiased insights on your investments (whether it's stocks or ETFs), and you'll learn an absolute ton. Questions Covered
Resources Covered:
Direct download: Investing_Tips_-_Market_Declines_and_Marijuana_Stocks.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 11:01am EST |
Tue, 18 September 2018
This is a special episode of the show as we are adding a new series of episodes specifically for investors. The show will continue to go on just like it has, but in addition to the types of episodes that you're used to, I'm going to publish another new episode every month which will benefit you in two ways: First, it's going to keep you informed on what is currently going on in the markets with your investments, and the investing world in general. We hear a lot of doom and gloom in the media, there's a lot of misinformation, and it's very easy to become worried about your investments when you hear all the negativity and speculation. Without the right information, it's easy to become emotional, and maybe make a rash decision based on some news we hear, only to regret it later. Therefore in this episode series, the goal is to be the voice of reason and tell you what you need to know, with no biases or conflicts of interest (we're not selling any investments here), so that you can make an informed, rational decision that serves you best. The 2nd purpose of this new series of episodes, is to answer listener and reader questions from Canadian investors. I know I get more questions than I can possibly get to from the show, and as you may know I partner with 5i Research and they've literally been asked thousands of questions over the years and so I thought it would be great for us to answer some of the listener and reader questions that we receive on both our sides. If you'd like to ask a question, just go to buildwealthcanada.ca and sign up for the email newsletter right on the main page. You'll get a free gift when you do this, you'll be informed when new episodes are released, and when you sign up you'll get an automated email from me so all you have to do is reply to that email with your question and we'll do our best to have it on the show. Now I do want to set the expectation with this new series, that despite us talking about the markets, and about the topics that are currently on the minds of investors, and answering questions, this isn't going to be a series about timing the markets, or day trading, or completely speculative get-rich-quick investing. Instead, it's meant to keep you educated and informed on what is happening in the markets, so that you can be an educated and informed investor, with a long-term outlook on your investments, while hopefully getting some of your investments questions answered too. My co-host for this series is Ryan Modesto. He is the CEO of 5i Research which is an investment research company that provides unbiased research on Canadian stocks and ETFs. Ryan holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation (CFA) and is frequently featured on The Globe and Mail, the Financial Post, and you've probably seen him on TV as he's frequently a guest on BNN too, providing his latest research and insights. Ryan and his team have also answered over 75,000 investing questions from Canadians across the country, through their Q&A service, and I'm thrilled to have his expertise on the show. As a listener of the build wealth show, you can get full access to all of Ryan's and his team's research for free, for an entire month. You’ll get full access to all the stock and ETF recommendations, all their model portfolios, as well as their database of over 75,000 answered investing questions. I definitely encourage you to check it out as at the very least you’ll learn a ton and it’s all free anyway. And if for some strange reason that’s not enough, I’ve also arranged for build wealth Canada listeners to get two extra bonuses: The first, is that when you sign up for the free trial, you’ll also get a 1 year, paid digital subscription to Canadian Moneysaver Magazine, absolutely free. This is the exact same magazine that you see at Chapters and other stores all over Canada, it's the largest personal finance and investing magazine in Canada, I actually write for it too, and you get the entire subscription, for free, for an entire year, no strings attached, just for signing up for the free 30 day access to 5i. The 2nd bonus, is that you’ll also get 1 questions credit for free, on the 5i Research site, so you can actually ask 5i’s Research Team your most pressing investment question and they’ll answer it for you, using the knowledge and investment tools that you and I simply don’t have access to. Enjoy, it’s all free, you’ll learn an absolute ton, and you can get it all by going to http://www.buildwealthcanada.ca/research. I also have some exciting news as my favourite bank that I've been using and recommending for years has agreed to sponsor the show, and you can now get one of the highest savings rates in Canada for free, by going tobuildwealthcanada.ca/eq. So the reasons that I've been recommending EQ Bank to anybody that's asked me is because over the time that I've been with them (which is ever since they first started in 2016 in Canada), they have consistently had one of the highest interest savings rates compared to all the other banks. It’s also totally free to join with no monthly fees, and as an extra perk, EQ Bank will give you 5 free Interac e-transfers every month. And just to put things in perspective, at the time of this recording, their Savings Plus Account automatically gives you 2.30% interest while the online banks in Canada are offering a maximum of 1.25% and if you're still banking with one of the larger banks, then you're getting less than 1%. In other words, by using the bank that I use, you're going to almost double the interest you get from your chequing and savings accounts, for free, and this is why I've been using and recommending them for years to anybody that's asked, and even before they became a sponsor on the show. Now even if you love your current bank just for regular day-to-day use, why wouldn't you at least keep your emergency fund and any extra cash that you're not investing in your savings account over at EQ? That way you're at least earning over double the interest on your chequing and savings accounts compared to your current bank. And that's actually what I did when I first started with them years ago, and since then, I've actually transitioned to them now being our primary bank. So, I definitely recommend that you sign up and take advantage of this for free by going to buildwealthcanada.ca/eq. You'll get one of the highest interest rates in Canada, and have my sincere gratitude for helping support the show, at no cost to you. So that link again is buildwealthcanada.ca/eq. And just as an aside, they've also recently launched their own GICs where you can actually get up to 3.52% interest, which at the time of this recording is also one of highest rates available in Canada for GICs. So if you're willing to lock-in your money for a bit, you can actually get that even higher rate of up to 3.52%. And to learn more about that, go to buildwealthcanada.ca/gic.
Direct download: Investing_Tips_-_Market_Update_and_QandA_-_Episode_1.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 4:38am EST |
Wed, 18 July 2018
Today, we’re going to tackle the debate of whether you should focus on growth vs dividends when it comes to your investing. Dividends are of course very popular. Everybody likes having that passive cashflow show up in their accounts, but are we limiting our net worth if we focus too much on dividends, as opposed to choosing a more balanced and growth-oriented portfolio? In this episode, we’ll also talk about how to best withdraw money from your investment portfolio, and how to decide if you should be withdrawing from your equities, your bonds, or your cash cushion instead. We also talk about changing interest rates, and the impact that you can expect them to have on your portfolio, as well as some tips on what to choose for the bond portion of your portfolio. For this episode, I'm excited to have Ed Rempel back on the show, who is one of the top financial planners that I go to whenever I have questions or need a second opinion about my investments, financial planning or on how to minimize my taxes. He's been a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) Professional for over 22 years, and he’s been a professional accountant for over 33 years with a CPA and CMA designation. Personally, I found that when I ask him questions, his decades of experience as BOTH a financial planner AND a professional accountant really helps me feel secure that he has all the bases covered, as he has a holistic view from both of those worlds due to all that experience. He’s also written nearly 1,000 financial plans for Canadians over that time so he's truly as experienced as it gets in this field, and he has extensive knowledge on some of the higher-level investment strategies out there.
Direct download: Dividend_vs_Growth_Investing_Rising_Interest_Rates_Withdrawing_From_Your_Portfolio.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 7:08am EST |
Mon, 5 March 2018
Today I’m excited to have Edward Kholodenko on the show who is the CEO of Questrade. If you’re a long time listener of the show then you know that I actually use Questrade to buy all my investments. So, when Questrade reached out to me about interviewing their CEO I thought it would be a great opportunity to ask him the questions that I have, and that I know a lot of the listeners have about their brokerage. I currently save at least $480 per year in fees by using Questrade so needless to say I’m a big fan, especially since they let me purchase ETFs for free. At the time of this writing, they are the only brokerage in Canada that I know of that offers this. It’s worth mentioning that this episode is not sponsored by Questrade, or anything like that. I’m simply a big fan of what they offer, have been using them for years, and thought this would be a great opportunity to ask their CEO some top questions that you should know the answers to, when choosing a brokerage for your investments. Links & Resources From the Episode
Question’s Covered1. One of the reasons that I chose to use Questrade for all my retirement accounts is because you let your customers buy ETFs for free (or almost for free if we include ECN fees). Is the ability to buy ETFs for free through Questrade something that you see your company offering long term, or is this more of a short to mid-term offer that’s temporarily being used to attract new customers? 2. I imagine you get your fair share of potential customers that are reluctant to keep their investments at an online discount brokerage like Questrade, vs at one of the largest brick and mortar Canadian banks. Can you speak a bit about the security that Questrade uses compared to some of these largest banks? 3. What if there was a scenario where Questrade got hacked, or if somebody’s account got hacked because their password was compromised (through no fault of Questrade). What kind of protection or insurance is provided in those scenarios? Would the $10 million in private insurance cover the customer in these cases? 4. Can you give us an overview of the state of the online brokerage space in Canada? In particular, what trends and developments are currently happening, where do you see things are heading in terms of technology and innovation, and what can consumers expect in the coming years? Are there certain things that Questrade is really prioritizing for the coming years as one of Canada’s largest discount brokers? 5. Can you talk about the lack of financial transparency when it comes to fees that Canadians are paying on their investments? There have been rules that have come out (CRM2) to help with this but is there more that Canadians should know? 6. As far as I know, Questrade doesn’t provide some of the more ultra safe investment options such as GICs. For those that want that high level of safety (despite the lower returns), what options do you suggest for them? 7. You probably hear a lot of myths from potential customers about online investing. Can you share some of the most common and critical misconceptions that Canadian have? 8. Please tell us a bit more about where we can learn from you, and learn more about Questrade. If you liked the episode sign up for free to receive all new episodes as they get released, news on giveaways, and the free guide on the Top 5 Personal Finance and Productivity Tools.
Direct download: The_Number_1_Place_to_Buy_Your_Investments.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:00pm EST |
Sun, 25 February 2018
This is part 2 of the series on how to execute an early retirement, with financial planning veteran John Kalos. In this episode, we use our financial plan as a case study so that you and other Canadians can get some insights on how to execute an early retirement. The goal is to give you a better understanding of what a financial plan should include, what it can do for you, and give you some insider tips from a real ex-banker on what to look out for when you encounter a financial planner or advisor trying to sell you a service like that. If you do have some questions for John (the financial planner we used), or if you'd like to discuss potentially having him take a look at your financial situation too just like he did with my family, then you can sign up for a free consultation with him by going to buildwealthcanada.ca/john. It's totally free, and there's no obligation or anything like that. Links and Resources Covered
Questions Asked During the Interview:
Early retirement execution questions:
Direct download: Part_2_-_How_to_Execute_an_Early_Retirement_-_Secrets_of_an_Ex-banker.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 1:57pm EST |
Tue, 20 February 2018
In this episode, we use our financial plan as a case study so that you and other Canadians can get some insights on how to execute an early retirement. The goal is to give you a better understanding of what a financial plan should include, what it can do for you, and give you some insider tips from a real ex-banker on what to look out for when you encounter a financial planner or advisor trying to sell you a service like that. If you do have some questions for John (the financial planner we used), or if you'd like to discuss potentially having him take a look at your financial situation too just like he did with my family, then you can sign up for a free consultation with him by going to buildwealthcanada.ca/john. It's totally free, and there's no obligation or anything like that. Links and Resources Covered
Questions Asked During the Interview:
Early retirement execution questions:
Direct download: How_to_Execute_an_Early_Retirement_-_Secrets_of_an_Ex-banker.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 5:39am EST |
Wed, 17 January 2018
Today’s guest has written over 1,000 financial plans for Canadians and is truly as experienced as it gets in this field. He has extensive knowledge on some of the higher impact investment strategies that can really help accelerate our returns such as the Smith Manoeuvre and how to use an RESP properly. We also cover how to structure your investment portfolio and what investments to buy. Links and Resources Covered
Questions Covered:1. To start things off, tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into financial planning. 2. One of the strategies that I wish I knew about back when I was younger was how to make your mortgage tax deductible. Our friends in the US are able to easily deduct their mortgage interest against their taxes, whereas this is generally not allowed in Canada. However, you suggest a strategy called the Smith Manoeuvre for Canadians which when properly structured and deployed, lets Canadians deduct their mortgage interest as well. Now you’ve set this up for many Canadians within you financial planning practice. Can you start off by taking us through what the Smith Manoeuvre actually is, how it makes all this possible, and how much money can actually be saved by doing this. In other words, is this actually worth our time to look into? 2.1. I get the impression that Canadians use this with their primary residence a lot, but what if somebody has their mortgage paid off or has a rental property. Is it highly beneficial to use this strategy then too? (ex. taking out equity from the home using a HELOC and using it for leveraged investing?) 3. I’ve researched the Smith Manoeuvre a fair bit and a common theme seems to be that you have to be very careful with how it’s set up so that the Canada Revenue Agency doesn’t flag you and treat this as tax evasion where you end up paying all sorts of fees. Can you talk about what to be careful of, and what the common mistakes are when Canadians try to set this up? 4. A lot of Canadians hear about the free money you can get from the government if you put money in an RESP. I remember when we had our daughter I got numerous calls from companies that were trying the “help” us with setting up an RESP. To kick things off, can you explain what an RESP is, and is this something that we need a company to set up for us? When you work with clients, at what point do you advise them to start moving the investments to something less volatile like bonds once their child starts approaching the age when they start their post-secondary education? Do you start with a diversified, all stock portfolio, and then use a formula to know how much to move into bonds every year? 5. Let’s say you had to retire tomorrow with a $1,000,000 portfolio. You have no debt, a paid off house, but no work pension. How would you structure your portfolio and what investments would you buy so that it would last you indefinitely? Would you change your investments and portfolio structure at all once you hit 65 (assuming that’s when you choose to start receiving CPP and OAS from the government). 6. Traditionally, the general accepted rule has been that the older you get, the more you should put towards bonds to keep your portfolio less volatile. You wrote a very interesting article talking about how loading up too much on bonds isn’t actually the sustainable thing to do. Can you talk about your findings and research. 7. Tell us more about where we can learn more from you? 8. What are some of the most common questions and problems that you tackle for your clients?
Direct download: Maximizing_Returns_Using_High_Impact_Investment_Strategies.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 1:16pm EST |
Wed, 1 November 2017
Today I’m excited to have Mark Seed on the show, who runs the popular Canadian blog, My Own Advisor. On the blog, Mark documents his journey and lessons learned as he invests towards achieving an early retirement, and works on growing his portfolio to 1 million dollars. What’s very interesting about Mark, is that he is a hybrid investor meaning he doesn’t just invest in one particular way (for example, he doesn’t just buy the index with ETFs). Instead, he uses ETFs to hold US and international companies, but when it comes to the Canadian portion of his portfolio, he holds individual stocks of strong dividend paying companies instead of just holding a single ETF that captures all the major companies in Canada. This is a bit of a different strategy than what I’ve been doing, so I thought it would be great to have Mark on the show to broaden our view by seeing how others invest, learn why he invests in that way (the pros and the cons), and see if maybe it’s a good fit for the way you invest. Links and Resources Covered
Questions Asked During the Interview:
Direct download: How_to_Invest_in_Dividend_Paying_Stocks_in_Canada.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 3:20pm EST |
Mon, 25 September 2017
Today we’re going to take a deep dive into the world of real estate, and we’re going to approach it from 2 sides: First, we’ll talk about real estate as an investment (i.e. If you’ve ever thought about investing in a property and renting it out). Now if you’ve listened to past episodes of the show, then you know that it can actually be really hard to get the numbers to work when buying a home and trying to rent it out as an investment. Today’s expert, however, is going to share some strategies with us that she uses to actually successfully invest, and make the numbers work, despite the high prices of real estate that we’ve been seeing. Next, we’ll shift focus and talk about the different home buying tips, and expensive mistakes that you can avoid when buying a home for yourself. Even if you’ve bought a home in the past, I still recommend that you tune-in as the real estate market has likely changed since you last bought a home. Join me in welcoming today’s guest, Limor Markman, as she shares the latest money saving tips and ways to protect yourself, whether you’re buying a home for personal use, or as an investment. Links and Resources
Direct download: Real_Estate_Investing_and_Buying_Your_First_Home.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:09pm EST |
Wed, 13 September 2017
On this episode, we cover some of the top financial mistakes Canadians make, as well as common misconceptions that may be holding you back in accelerating your investments and net worth. Links and Resources:
Direct download: The_Top_Financial_Mistakes_Canadians_Make_-_Kyle_Prevost.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:09pm EST |
Tue, 11 July 2017
In this episode, we talk about what a robo advisor is, and how it can be a lot less expensive than the traditional approach of investing in high-fee, actively managed mutual funds. I find robo advisors to be the easiest way to invest in Canada, but this does result in higher fees than if you were to just buy the investments yourself (which is actually really easy). I personally just buy the investments myself to get the lowest fees and pay the least tax possible (You can see exactly how I do it over at www.BuildWealthCanada.ca/invest.) With that said, I realize not everybody wants to learn how to actually be a passive investor and get the lowest possible fees, and so robo advisors can be a good option if you value simplicity of fees. Links and Resources
Questions Covered:1. For those just getting started in investing, can you explain what a robo advisor service is, and especially why we as Canadians should care? 2. When you build investment portfolios for Canadians, why are ETFs such a core part of your portfolios? (perhaps explain what an ETF is first for all the listeners just getting started with this) 3. Nest Wealth mentions that you manage the money based on proven investing principles and Nobel Prize-winning theories. Can you elaborate on the Nobel Prize-winning theories component? 4. One thing I noticed on your Nest Wealth site, is that you actually list all the ETFs you buy (which is nice, I really like that transparency), but if I’m just a regular Canadian, why don’t I just buy the ETFs myself through a discount brokerage (especially since some discount brokerages let me buy ETFs for free) and then save on the fees that Nest Wealth charges? 5. Anybody following the financial services industry knows that there are a LOT of robo advisor services out in Canada. What sets Nest Wealth apart from all the rest? 5.a. One of the things that really intrigued me when I first heard of you guys is that you have a flat fee model. For those not familiar, can you explain what that is and why it’s actually a pretty big deal? 5.b. You mention that your portfolios are “custom built” unlike your competitors. Can you elaborate how this works and why it’s so important? 6. I imagine that a big concern Canadians have is that with all these robo advisor companies out there, it’s totally conceivable that not all of them will survive long term. Because of this, it wouldn’t surprise me if some Canadians are holding back from investing because they are afraid of losing all their money if something was to ever happen. Can you speak to this concern? 7. What customer support do you offer? Ex. If somebody has questions while going through the automated portfolio building process? What about after all is set up? 8. One of the other things that intrigued me was that on your site you mention that as a client you get your own portfolio manager that you can speak with, text or call. What types of things is a Portfolio Manager ideally suited to help you with? And what types of question are beyond the scope of a Portfolio Manager like this? (I’m trying to gauge what kind of other professionals you need on your team apart from Nest Wealth). 10. I went through Nest Wealth and had it build a portfolio for me. I noticed that there were different goals that you can select, and I assume Nest Wealth will optimize your portfolio, depending on your goal correct? How does Nest Wealth change what portfolio it recommends depending on whether somebody is savings for retirement vs is already retired and now needs the income instead of growth? What about if they’re saving for something like a down payment on a home or post-secondary education for their child? What’s the strategy behind those types of portfolios? 11. I noticed Nest Wealth will build your portfolio based on your questions, but it won’t actually tell you whether you will be able to actually retire by an age you specify, and whether your income in retirement is sustainable. Is that because that is an area where you actually need a financial planner to do a more in-depth, 1-on-1 personalized analysis with you? 12. How is the MER absorbed? Is that covered by the monthly fee? What about other fees? 13. To close things off, who is Nest Wealth not for? ex. Those with credit card debt? 13. Who is Nest Wealth ideally for? What type of person benefits most from what your service?
Direct download: Should_You_Invest_with_a_Robo_Advisor_in_Canada.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 2:40pm EST |
Tue, 20 June 2017
Today I’m excited to have Sean Cooper on the show. There’s a good chance that you’ve already heard of Sean whether it’s on the radio, TV, or the internet as Sean is the guy that bought his first house when he was just 27 and paid off his mortgage at 30 in 3 years. As you may know, my wife and I also paid off our mortgage early at the age of 28 and 29 (you can learn more about it by checking out past episodes of the show). But what makes Sean’s story interesting, is that he did it in Toronto (which as we all know has some of the highest real estate prices in Canada), and he did it with a single income. That to me is really impressive, so it was fun to pick Sean’s brain about how he did it, and the strategies he uses and recommends to save money and get out of debt. UPDATE: Since publishing this episode, Sean has become the show’s Resident Mortgage Expert. If you have a mortgage question, you can speak to Sean for free over at www.BuildWealthCanada.ca/sean A bit more about Sean: He’s an in-demand personal finance journalist, money coach and speaker. His articles have been featured in publications such as the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, MoneySense and Tangerine’s Forward Thinking blog. He makes regular appearances on national radio and television shows to discuss personal finance, real estate and mortgages. He’s also the author of the new book, Burn Your Mortgage, which helps anyone —from new buyers to experienced homeowners — pay down their mortgage sooner and live well while doing it. Links and Resources
Questions Covered:
Direct download: Mortgage_Free_and_Financially_Independent_at_30_-_How_Sean_Cooper_Did_It.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 11:03am EST |
Thu, 8 June 2017
Today we have Susan Daley on the show and we’re going to talk all about early retirement, such us how to pull it off, what to look out for, and some of the most common mistakes that Canadians make when trying to plan this out. Susan is an Associate Portfolio Manager at PWL Capital in Waterloo, where she provides financial planning and investment management services to a wide range of clients. She’s also an Honours BBA graduate from Wilfrid Laurier University, which is actually where I graduated from too, so it’s always fun to chat with a fellow grad about best practices when it comes to financial planning and investing. Links and Resources
Questions Covered:
Direct download: Early_Retirement_-_How_Much_Do_You_Need_to_Retire.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 6:55am EST |
Tue, 4 April 2017
In this episode, we’re going to continue covering the subject of “How to Not Run Out of Money in Retirement”, specifically for Canadians. This is from a live webinar that I did for Canadian MoneySaver Magazine so in case you weren’t able to make it, I wanted to provide you with as many tips as possible from that presentation in audio form. If you missed part 1 of the series, it's the episode right before this one (episode 31). Links and Resources
Bonuses for Build Wealth Canada Listeners: You are eligible to receive a free 1-year paid subscription to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine by signing up for the free 5i Trial at www.buildwealthcanada.ca/trial. If you would like more information, just listen to the beginning of the episode or you can learn more about 5i Research below: In case you’re new to the show, 5i Research is Canada’s only conflict-free investment research network. What that means is that as you know, there is a lot of conflict of interest in Canada when it comes to people telling you what to invest in. So let’s say you go to your bank and ask to speak to a financial advisor because you want to invest some money. Well what many of them will do, is try to sell you their investment products like their mutual funds for example. You’ll get a well-rehearsed sales pitch, but what they don’t tell you is how ridiculously high their fees are compared to just investing the money yourself using ETFs or stocks. There’s also a conflict of interest because they are incentivised (either through bonuses or getting a promotion at work) to sell you products that make the company the most money, but may not necessarily be the best fit for you and make you the most money. So here’s the thing, why would you ask someone what you should invest in when that person has a financial incentive to sell you what makes them the most money, as opposed to what makes you the most money so that you can, for example, retire early because you’re not paying ridiculous fees on underperforming investments? Where 5i Research comes in is that they actually have a team of analysts that do the research, and all the financial math and analysis for you on the best investments to own (whether it’s the top stocks or the top ETFs in Canada), and whether you’re a growth focused investor, or a dividend focused investor. What makes them stand out, is that they don’t try to sell you any investments, so they’re not getting some commission or fee on the back-end, and the result is you getting unbiased investment analysis and insights, where you never have to worry that they are recommending something just because they are getting some sort extra compensation on the back-end. What’s also neat, is that you can ask them questions, like if you’re considering a particular stock or ETF. Or, maybe you have no clue what you should invest in, and in that case they can recommend some model portfolios for you depending on your risk tolerance, objectives, and whether you want to invest in ETFs, stocks, or both. They actually already have over 54,000 answered quested in their database, so you can actually see what others are asking too about the stock or ETF that you’re considering buying, and see the answers to those too. Now as a listener of the Build Wealth Canada Show, you can actually get full access to everything for free for 1 month. In other words, you get full access to all the stock and ETF recommendations, all the model portfolios, as well as 5i’s database of over 54,000 answered investing questions. I definitely encourage you to check it out as at the very least you’ll learn a ton and it’s all free anyway. And if for some strange reason that’s not enough, I’ve also arranged for Build Wealth Canada listeners to get two extra bonuses: Bonus 1: The first, is that when you sign up for the free trial, you’ll also get a 1 year, paid subscriptions to Canadian MoneySaver Magazine, absolutely free. This is the exact same magazine that you see at Chapters and other stores all across Canada, and you get the entire subscription, for free, for an entire year, no strings attached. Bonus 2: The 2nd bonus, is that you’ll also get 1 question credit for free, on the 5i Research site. This means you can actually ask 5i’s team of analysts your most pressing investment question and they’ll answer it for you, using the knowledge and investment tools that you and I simply don’t have access to. So enjoy, it’s all free, you’ll learn an absolute ton, and you can get it all by going to www.BuildWealthCanada.ca/trial. In Closing: If you enjoyed the episode, please take a moment to leave an honest review and rating on iTunes by clicking the “View in iTunes” button at this link. If you have any tips, suggestions or comments, please be sure to leave a comment in the section below. I read all responses and look forward to hearing from you. Have a great week, Kornel
Direct download: How_to_Not_Run_Out_of_Money_in_Retirement_the_top_20_financial_planning_tips.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 11:55pm EST |
Thu, 10 November 2016
How Much Do You Need to Retire? No matter what age you are, chances are you’ve asked yourself this critical question at some point. The stakes are high, and there are no do-overs, so how can you best prepare yourself now to ensure that you have enough to live the lifestyle you want in retirement? Join me as I dive into the best practices and key factors to consider when figuring this out for yourself. Is there a magic retirement number that you should aim for with your investments? What levers can you pull to retire early, and sustain that retirement long-term? Whether you’re decades away from retirement or are getting close to that big day, join me to learn some of the key considerations to ensure that you have enough to retire. Links and Resources
|
Mon, 20 June 2016
In this episode, I’ve pulled together the newest numbers of what you can expect from your investments. These are based on historical returns using several different highly reputable sources that I personally use and trust. In other words, this isn’t some subjective opinion of what one person thinks you’ll get on your investments. Instead, it’s actual data, studies, and reports that reputable sources in the industry have put together, and is what I personally use. I’ve also created a summary where you can see the ranges of possible investment returns based on the different sources (which use different times frames and assumptions). You can get all that by going to the episode's show notes over at www.BuildWealthCanada.ca/29 Links and Resources
Direct download: Investing_Returns_What_Can_You_Expect.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 9:43am EST |
Mon, 16 May 2016
When it comes to the Build Wealth Canada show, there are 2 questions that I get asked more than any other. The first is how to actually buy ETFs, so how to actually be an index investor, what tools to use, which ETFs are great ones to consider, and how to actually do it step-by-step. So that’s why I built the course (to basically answer this question). If you're interested, you can check it out at www.BuildWealthCanada.ca/invest Now the 2nd question that I get most often is from Canadians who are either in their 50 or 60s, are about to retire (or will be retiring in 10 years or less) and are looking learn how to do it properly. So how do you withdraw from your portfolio properly to pay as little tax as possible? What are some best practices and things to look out for so that you don’t run out of money during your retirement? Obviously when it comes to retirement planning like this, things gets really complicated, and the risks are ridiculously high since you’re basically at a life stage where you’re going to start spending the money that you’ve been saving and investing throughout your whole life. So, the stakes are really high. We’re dealing with a lot of real money here, and the terrifying thing is that there are no do-overs. In other words, if you mess this up, you can’t just hit the rewind button, get all your money back and try again. Because of this, it’s extremely important to get this right as the worse case scenario is basically you running out of money during retirement. Also if you do run out of money, then going back to the workforce may not be an option due to the physical and/or mental health that you may be in at that time. Employers might also have a preference to hiring someone younger that they can pay less money for, and groom to stay with the company long term (unlike you since you’ll be back in retirement at the first possible opportunity). Also with all the development in medical technology, now more than ever we are faced with the new challenge of living too long and outliving our money. This makes having a good financial plan that you review with a professional periodically even more important to ensure that you are living the type of lifestyle that you want in retirement, while minimizing the risks of running out of money. Now I’m not trying to instill fear or anything like that, but I say all this just to help anybody out there realize that this is critically important, doing it wrong can be catastrophic to you and your partner’s life, and so you have to take accountability and responsibility for your financial situation, and not just hope that everything will turn out okay. So with that said, I’m of the opinion that since the stakes at this stage of life are so high, you need a customized financial plan specific to your particular situations. This is definitely one of those times where you can’t just read a blog post about the top 10 retirement tips and assume that you’re all set, and that some “general” guidance is good enough for you as well. You simply can’t do this because the stakes are too high (i.e. you running out of money in retirement), and there are too many variables in your life that can change the plan drastically. For example:
To address and help you with this, I’d like to introduce you to Sandi Martin who is a professional fee-for-service financial planner here in Canada. Sandi has been requested by listeners of the show, and in this interview I chat with Sandi about the top questions that I’ve been asked from Build Wealth Canada listeners, especially those in their 50s and 60s that are nearing or at retirement. So enjoy the interview, and thanks for submitting the questions. Now just to give you a bit of a background, Sandi is an expert in helping Canadians answer questions specific to their situation such as: Are you on track to retire? Did you miss something in your analysis? Are you saving enough for retirement? What’s the best way to take out income from your portfolio to minimize taxes (based on all your assets and income sources) How much do you need to save so that you can retire comfortably? When can you retire? Can you fully retire or semi-retire now? When should you choose to take your CPP and OAS? What kind of lifestyle can you expect when you retire based on your current savings? How can you help ensure that you don’t run out of money in your retirement? Links and Resources
Questions Answered:
Direct download: How_to_Withdraw_from_RRSP_and_TFSA_in_Retirement_tax_efficiently.mp3.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 9:13am EST |
Tue, 26 April 2016
Today I wanted to cover the subject of debt consolidation. What is it? Should you do it? and if so, then what are the options available to you? Links and Resources
Questions Covered
|
Fri, 8 April 2016
Questions Covered
Links and Resources
Direct download: Dividend_Investing_-_Is_it_Right_for_You.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 6:25am EST |
Tue, 29 March 2016
In this episode, I cover several mistakes and misconceptions that held me back from maximizing the growth of my investment portfolio. By sharing my mistakes and what held me back, I hope that it will help you avoid these same mistakes. Fortunately, things still ended up great, although not perfect, and definitely not the most efficient in terms of net worth growth. These are the lessons about the money left on the table, and what I would tell my younger self. Links and Resources
Direct download: How_I_Lost_16128_by_Not_Getting_Started_in_Investing_Earlier.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 5:13am EST |
Mon, 21 March 2016
This episode covers how to protect yourself from overpaying in hidden investment fees, and how to ensure that you are getting unbiased advice from your financial professionals. Did you know that there is a lot of conflict-of-interest that exists with many of the financial advisors here in Canada. We also have one of the highest investment fees in the world. While there are ways to bypass these fees, you need to know what to look for so that you can spot if your advisor is recommending a poor investment that is primarily designed to maximize their firm’s profits, instead of growing your net worth. Join me as we cover some of the most dangerous traps that exist for us Canadians in the investing and financial services industry. Links and Resources
Direct download: Is_Your_Financial_Advisor_Ripping_You_Off.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 7:13am EST |
Sat, 15 August 2015
This is part 2 of the interview with Peter. If you missed part 1, it's the episode right before this one. Episode Description: Today I’m thrilled to have Peter Hodson on the show who is the owner of 5i Research, the Canadian MoneySaver Magazine, and in his investment career, has managed over $1-billion dollars in assets. I’ve always wanted to have Peter on the show to pick his brain about investing best practices here in Canada, and see what he learned over his decades of professional investing. Peter and his team have also been generous in providing Build Wealth Canada listeners with a special offer where you can get your investment questions answered, and learn more investment best practices by getting a free trial membership over at www.buildwealthcanada.ca/trial. As a "thank you" for taking a look at their research, you'll also receive a free 1 year digital subscription to Canadian MoneySaver magazine (Canada's largest personal finance magazine). Links and Resources
Questions Covered:
Can you walk us through these options and how do we decide what type of investing is right for us?
Direct download: Part_2_-_Lessons_Learned_from_Investing_1_Billion_Stock_vs_ETF_vs_Mutual_Fund_Investing.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 8:48pm EST |
Sat, 15 August 2015
Today I’m thrilled to have Peter Hodson on the show who is the owner of 5i Research, the Canadian MoneySaver Magazine, and in his investment career, has managed over $1-billion dollars in assets. He's also been called "The Warren Buffett of Canada" by the Globe and Mail. I’ve always wanted to have Peter on the show to pick his brain about investing best practices here in Canada, and see what he learned over his decades of professional investing. Peter and his team have also been generous in providing Build Wealth Canada listeners with a special offer where you can get your investment questions answered, and learn more investment best practices by getting a free trial membership over at www.buildwealthcanada.ca/trial. As a "thank you" for taking a look at their research, you'll also receive a free 1 year digital subscription to Canadian MoneySaver magazine (Canada's largest personal finance magazine). Links and Resources
Questions Covered:
Can you walk us through these options and how do we decide what type of investing is right for us?
Direct download: Lessons_Learned_from_Investing_1_Billion_Stock_vs_ETF_vs_Mutual_Fund_Investing.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 8:44pm EST |
Sat, 18 July 2015
Today I’m really excited to have Rob Carrick on the show, who is the main Personal Finance Columnist at the Globe and Mail. Rob is also the author of five personal finance books for Canadians, and all in all is easily one of the most respected and well known personal finance experts here in Canada. Today we’ll cover whether you should be putting your savings in an RRSP, a TFSA, or use it to pay down your mortgage quicker (if you have one). We also cover:
Links & Resources Covered:
Direct download: BWC_018_RRSP_vs_TFSA_vs_Mortgage-_Where_Should_You_Put_your_Money.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 1:43pm EST |
Mon, 11 May 2015
Today I’m really excited to have Bruce Sellery on the show from MoneySense Magazine and Moolala.ca, to tell you all about how to save and invest for your retirement. Bruce is a bestselling author, and you might have seen him on TV as he’s been on CTV, CNN, BNN, MSNBC, as well as the Lang & O’Leary Exchange with Kevin O’Leary from Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank. He is also the author of the book “The Moolala Guide to Rockin’ your RRSP” which is a fantastic book that I’d recommend to everyone. In it, he actually does a great job of inspiring you to take action when it comes to planning and saving for your retirement (which is great if you know this is something you should be doing but just aren’t feeling motivated to do it). He also provides a great step-by-step guide that you can actually implement to pull it all off. Links and Resources
Questions Covered1. Why should Canadians even care about saving for retirement through their RRSPs and TFSAs?. 2. What are the top mistakes Canadians make when it comes to their RRSPs, and retirement planning in general? 3. Tell us about the 5 steps in your book that listeners can use to retire early. 4. For someone that is looking to buy their first home: They may want to save money for a down payment inside their RRSP since they can withdraw it when they’re ready to buy using the Home Buyers Plan. In this case, what should they put their money into? (i.e. bonds, bond ETFs, GICs?) Especially considering interest rates are low and Canadians are worried about getting hurt on bonds if rates go up. GIC rates are very low too so it doesn’t seem very appealing for most. What about those Canadians that are getting very close to retirement? Is the strategy different for them? In other words, what are the best safe options in the current low interest rate environment? 5. RRSP loans: What are they and when is it a good option? 6. How to factor in inflation when doing retirement planning calculations? (i.e. Would you just use the anticipated rate of return and subtract out inflation? Or use some other method?) 7. Is there a way to be able to take some of your spouse’s RRSP contribution room if you’re in a higher tax bracket? 8. Your thoughts on using annuities for retirement? (please define annuities first) 9. Your thoughts on using broad market index funds or ETFs vs buying smaller indexes like small cap stocks or different bond ETFs?
Direct download: BWC_015_The_Guide_to_Rockin_Your_RRSP.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:05pm EST |
Mon, 4 May 2015
This is part 2 of the interview on How to Retire Early, with MoneySense Senior Editor Julie Cazzin. In Part 1 we covered the beginner level questions. In part 2, we take it up a notch and get into the more intermediate and advanced level questions. If you missed part 1, it's the episode right before this one. Links and Resources
Questions Covered:
|
Mon, 27 April 2015
This is part 2 of the interview on How to Invest in Canada, with author and investor Dr. John Robertson. In Part 1 we covered the beginner to intermediate level questions. These were perfect for those just getting started on their investing journey. In part 2, we take it up a notch and get into the more advanced level questions. If you missed part 1, it's the episode right before this one. Links and Resources
Questions Covered
|
Thu, 23 April 2015
Today we are going to learn all about how to invest if you’re living here in Canada. For all our non-Canadian listeners, we’re also going to cover best practices when it comes to investing so you can definitely start applying those too and get a lot out of the show. To make this series beneficial to everyone, we’re going to start with answering beginner level questions intended for those just starting out in their investing journey. As the interview goes on, we’re going to progress into more advanced level questions. This way if you are already investing you’ll still get a LOT out of the show by learning some best practices, and how to optimize your portfolio and save money by eliminating unnecessary fees. To help me with this, I’m very excited to have Dr. John Robertson on the show. John is a is a PhD scientist, a writer, investor, and he teaches newbie investors on how they can actually start investing. Links and Resources
Questions Covered
Direct download: BWC_011_How_to_Invest_in_Canada_Part_1.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 8:43am EST |
Sun, 5 April 2015
This is part 2 of the interview with Justin on how he retired at the age of 33. In case you missed it, part 1 is the episode right before this one. In the interview, we talk about everything from how Justin was able to retire at 33, to what he invests in, and we even cover other subjects like how to save money on vacations and how he manages his money so that he never has to work again. Lastly, Justin gives us some great tips that you can start applying today to retire early. Links and Resources
|
Sun, 5 April 2015
Today I’m excited to have Justin on the show who actually retired at the age of 33! This is a huge 2 part interview where we talk about everything from how he was able to retire at 33, to what he invests in, and we even cover other subjects like how to save money on vacations and how he manages his money so that he never has to work again. Lastly, Justin gives us some great tips that you can start applying today to retire early. Links and Resources
Questions Covered:
|
Sun, 29 March 2015
Today I’m excited to have financial planning expert Carl Richards on the show. Carl has been in the financial planning industry for over 20 years, has a column in the New York Times, the Morningstar Advisor, and he’s even been featured on Forbes.com and Oprah.com. I thought it would be nice to pick his brain a little bit and pick-up some of that knowledge that he’s gathered over the years. In the interview, Carl shares much of his 20 years of experience, and takes us through the financial planning process that he does with his private clients. Links and Resources
|
Mon, 4 August 2014
Welcome to the very first episode of the Build Wealth Canada Podcast! This episode is all about what you’ll get out of this podcast series and what you can expect in future episodes. More specifically, the podcast series will focus on:
Links and Resources
Direct download: BWC_001_Becoming_Debt_Free_Mastering_Money_Management_Investing_and_Earning_Money-on-the-side.mp3
Category:Investing -- posted at: 12:00pm EST |