Certified. The word has an air of authority around it. But what does a financial planner even do? Are they different from a financial advisor? And what’s involved in getting “certified?” All questions that we’re going to walk through in today’s post :)

If you have benefits through work, then you’re probably used to being able to claim medical expenses through your benefits, and getting reimbursed through your benefits provider. If you don’t have benefits, you’re probably used to thinking you’re just out of luck and out of pocket, right? ...or are you?

When you think about Monte Carlo, you might conjure images of James Bond sipping a martini in one of the most famous casinos in the world. In the investing world, a Monte Carlo simulation is something completely different. If you’ve heard the team but don’t know what it is or why it matters, read on!

Given it’s a new year and many folks having “paying off debt” at the top of their list of New Year’s resolutions, I thought I’d dust off and update one of my older articles. If you’re like the majority of Canadians, you have multiple types of debt on your books. Maybe you have a mortgage, a car loan, a line of credit and a credit card. With Canadians currently owing almost $1.59 for every dollar they earn according to data from Stats Canada, it’s no wonder one in three Canadians reported feeling overwhelmed by their debt. So where do you start if you want to try and get out from underneath all that crushing debt?

Setting any kind of New Years goals can be a polarizing habit. On the one hand, folks like me swear by it. On the other hand, others say that it’s pointless and arbitrary. Lately, I’ve seen a one-two punch of two types of posts floating around on LinkedIn: one type focusing on fresh energy to start the year (“Let’s crush 2022! Who’s with me?!”). The other seems to focus on bashing the first group, and sounds something like this: “Hustle culture is a sham – those people are probably just faking it, and are minutes away from a complete meltdown.”

2021 was another crazy year for housing prices in Canada. According to data from the Canadian Real Estate Association, prices are up by over 25% from the same place last year, and they’ll be at their highest point ever heading into 2022. So will the New Year bring any relief? Let’s look at a trend or three that might help us figure that out.

There are one or two examples of financial independence pyramids floating around the web, but none of them really capture the way I’ve been thinking about financial independence. As my wife and I have gone on our journey, we’ve found that there are certain key milestones that, when you hit them, give you a massive psychological boost of confidence. It’s those milestones that I built a new Financial Independence Pyramid (not to be confused with pyramid schemes!) around.

If you live in Canada, then you’ve probably heard the terms RRSP and TFSA before. Canadian finance is full of crazy acronyms though… for example, have you ever heard of a LIRA? What the heck is that, and how does it relate to an RRSP and TFSA? Today, we’ll demystify another personal finance acronym. Let’s talk LIRA, shall we?

Today’s post is an update to an earlier post I wrote about personal finance blogs you should be following. As time goes by, the quality of content some blogs put out ebbs and flows, and so I like to update these lists every once in a while to make sure I’m still recommending content I believe to you.