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Spring is here and Canadians are getting their gardens ready. At my house, our daughter has a fan blowing on her indoor plants, which she says she will move outdoors on the Victoria Day weekend once the overnight temperature is consistently above 10 degrees Celsius. The plants, she says, will grow tall and are used for making a substance used in rope and industrial textiles. She’s only allowed to grow four of them, she said. Hmm.

I’m a 32-year-old single woman, about to get married, and I plan to start investing my savings of $100,000 in the equity market. My fiancé and I will have separate finances. My time horizon for investing is very long at this point, so I know I don’t need to concern myself overly with market volatility. On the other hand, you have probably seen many “rookie” mistakes over the years—what do you suggest I avoid doing?

The most frequent question I get from my retired or soon-to-be-retired clients is whether they should convert their Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) into an annuity or a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF). With Canadians living longer than ever before they want to ensure that their retirement savings last a lifetime. Thus, converting an RRSP into a sustainable income stream becomes a crucial decision.

The Jetsons, a 1960s cartoon featured “Rosie the Robot” who worked as a household maid who refused to be taken for granted, “I may be made of metal, but I don’t have sawdust for brains!” Today’s robots have CPUs for brains and can do a lot more than sweep floors. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are dramatically changing healthcare, and not a moment too soon.

If you are depending on long-term disability coverage in a group long-term disability or association coverage, be careful as you may be in for a surprise at the time of claim.
Obtaining a personal disability policy has several advantages:

The most recent federal census found that 33.5 per cent of Canadians were renters. Those rental properties are owned by individual landlords, as well as corporate and institutional investors like Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and pension plans.

My younger brother has more money than I do. Do you have any idea how hard that is to admit? My “baby” brother, at the ripe age of 18, who has barely worked a real job, while I’ve worked more than ten, has more money than I do. He has more money because early on, he “got it” and I didn’t. He was smarter with his money than I was, and so now, he has more than I do. What a humbling and terrible thing to accept as an older sibling.

Share buyback or share repurchase is one of the key options in capital allocation that a company can choose to allocate cash flow in addition to paying dividends, implementing acquisitions, or paying down debt.

In a share buyback, the issuing company repurchases its shares on the open market from any investor interested in selling, which reduces the amount of shares available, and increases the value of remaining shares.

You have seen commercials and advertisements for reverse mortgages. The players in the field have utilized instantly recognizable Canadian celebrities such as Kurt Browning and Peter Mansbridge to promote their products. That’s right—those ads! For younger adults, especially those with high six-figure mortgages, reverse mortgages might seem like irrelevant products.