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A recent Family Finance column in the Financial Post showed something strange about the way that financial planners calculate a person’s net worth. Apparently, having a defined-benefit pension plan does not add anything to your net worth. The article profiled Doris, a grandmother with a simple balance sheet. She hasContinue Reading
We often hear statistics about how men and women doing the same jobs aren’t paid the same. I’ve heard that women make anywhere from 60% to 90% of what men make. I don’t trust these figures because the people who quote them often have axes to grind, but I doContinue Reading
My transition from being an active stock-picker to investing in low-cost index ETFs is mostly complete, and I’d have to say that it has been a relief. While I enjoy thinking about investing topics, having to track a basket of stocks can be a chore when I’d rather be doingContinue Reading
It’s possible to make a reasonable argument that the average investor would be better off investing in GICs than stocks and bonds. Unfortunately, David Trahair fails to make this argument well in his book Enough Bull: How to Retire Well Without the Stock Market, Mutual Funds, or Even an InvestmentContinue Reading
A reader of this blog, Chris, posed the following thoughtful question: What do you think the implications would be if Canada were to implement more tax brackets? For example, if federal tax tiers were added at $200k and $300k with a federal rate of say 33% and 37% respectively? I’mContinue Reading
In response to new government regulations on credit cards, credit card companies are changing their minimum payment rules and their interest rates. In general both are going up. I don’t have many credit cards and only use one regularly, but my rarely-used Sears card is the first one to sendContinue Reading
An often touted solution to the problem of too much garbage is charging a tax on each garbage bag picked up by local garbage services. However, according to Levitt and Dubner, authors of the book SuperFreakonomics, this hasn’t worked out very well in some amusing ways. In addition to creatingContinue Reading
The average quality of ETFs has been deteriorating lately. Further evidence of this comes from a Morgan Stanley study where they found that US ETF tracking error in 2009 averaged 1.25% compared to only 0.52% in 2008. (I found this article through the Stingy Investor site. Not too long agoContinue Reading
Usually I like to see reviews of a book before I choose to read it, but I’m less careful with books I listen to on CD rather than read. It’s a good idea to read (or listen to) ideas outside your usual sphere once in a while. I recently tookContinue Reading
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