After the success of his acclaimed book Just Keep Buying, bestselling author Nick Maggiulli returns with The Wealth Ladder. Below, Nick explains why the Wealth Ladder is a practical framework for tracking progress and improving your financial life. When I was five, my father taught me how to play chess. For fun, he invited his … Read more

If you’ve ever created an investment plan, you know asset allocation—the mix of stocks, bonds, real estate and other holdings that determines your portfolio’s expected risk and return. Less commonly discussed is asset location: how you distribute those assets across your different account types, such as RRSPs, TFSAs and taxable accounts. Like real estate, location … Read more

I have written extensively about return premiums—those so-called superheroes of passive investing that promise to outperform the market. But like any hero, they have weaknesses: circumstances in which they underdeliver or disappear right when investors expect them to save the day. This article is an anti-hero guide. It highlights the key limitations and traps that … Read more

Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, sits along the North Saskatchewan River and its expansive river valley, offering residents a balance of natural scenery and modern urban life. In recent years, Edmonton’s comparatively affordable housing has attracted buyers from other provinces, making the city one of Canada’s most sought-after real estate markets. Table of contents: Best … Read more

The main reason people try to keep up with the Joneses is the status games we all play. Humans are social animals, and across our evolutionary history it has been vital to know where we stand in the tribe. Status could affect access to food, mates, safety, and resources. In modern life it also determines … Read more

What caught my eye this week. When former Chancellor George Osborne announced increases to stamp duty and reductions in mortgage interest tax relief for landlords, many dismissed the move with a shrug. “They’ll just raise the rents!” some scoffed. “Generation Rent can pick up the tab.” But it turns out that having ridden one of … Read more

You and I are often advised to put our money into simple portfolios and to invest in shares for the long term for retirement. That advice is sound for most of us. But once preserving capital becomes more important than growing it, different approaches come to the fore. For the very wealthy, the preservation of … Read more

Personal Finance Highlights: Cottages, Back-to-School, Pennies, Pensions and Insurance This roundup covers several consumer finance topics that matter to many Canadians: the financial implications of cottage ownership, early back-to-school shopping, the fate of the penny, recent pension performance, and how online reviews influence insurance decisions. Each section summarizes key findings and offers practical considerations to … Read more

The life expectancy for a couple is significantly longer than for each partner individually — often by more than a decade. If you’re responsible for a retirement plan that must support two people, you need to understand the odds that one or both of you will live to an advanced age. Long lives can drain … Read more

Few numbers matter more to investors than the rate of return on their portfolio. Despite its apparent simplicity, calculating a portfolio’s return can be complicated, especially when you add contributions or withdrawals during the measurement period. Multiple calculation methods exist, and they can produce notably different results. Each approach has strengths and weaknesses, which is … Read more