Posted on February 5, 2015 by Mark | 23 Comments
Welcome to some Weekend Reading folks, helping you save, learn and prosper here on My Own Advisor.
This week I shared some of my favourite, low-cost equity Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and thanks to my friends at TurboTax Canada I’m giving away a bunch of online tax codes for you to use this tax season.
Next week I hope to post answers to some reader questions about my dividend investing journey so stay tuned for that. Until then, kick back, relax and enjoy these articles from the personal finance and investing blogosphere. Thanks for reading and sharing.
Jim Yih wrote about six good things you can do with your RRSP on BrighterLife.ca.
Young & Thrifty provided a review of the MoneySense Guide to Retiring Wealthy.
Simon fromSustainable Personal Financehas a smart strategy for PayPal currency exchange.
Readers of this site have been emailing me about some good books to “get started with saving and investing”. Although this ebook was written targeting Millennials I believe the concepts are excellent for all. Check out a link here to If You Can: Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly by William Bernstein. I had a review of his book here.
Stephen Weyman reviewed this BMO credit card.
Dividend Diplomats provided a list of stocks that should increase their dividends soon.
Boomer & Echo wrote about the problems that come with core and explore.
Kevin Press has a take on why the Bank of Canada rate cut made sense.
Preet Banerjee told us regardless what the Bank of Canada does when it comes to rate changes, your financial fundamentals should never change: “run a surplus, use debt wisely and responsibly.”
Based on older 2011 U.S. Census Bureau information, here is U.S. net worth by age and quintiles. For U.S. residents it was interesting to read for age 65, you’re in the 50th percentile if you have about $170,000 net worth. That doesn’t seem like very much to live from in your golden years.
Dan Bortolotti wrote there are incorrect ways to think about withholding taxes.
Michael James on Money shared some entertaining replies from his outbox.
My friend the Digital Nomad Andrew Hallam wrote a fine post about how too many investment choices tend to limit our wealth. This point was key for me from Andrew’s article: “I show readers which ETFs to buy if they want to build portfolios with cap-weighted funds. I also show how to do the same thing with fundamental indexes. For variety, I then show how to follow Harry Browne’sPermanent Portfoliomodel. Nobody knows which type of portfolio will outperform the others. So my advice was to choose one method…and stick to it.”
Big Cajun Man is wondering when the financial Fit Bit might hit the market.
If you’re looking for some fit stocks look no further than 5i Research on my sidebar – every 5i subscription also receives a free Canadian MoneySaver special edition of “Young Money” (affiliate).
Tawcan shared how he got started with dividend investing.
I enjoyed this article about trying to avoid a huge tax refund. My wife and I seek to earn a small RRSP-generated tax refund every year and then reinvest the refund back into our RRSP accounts or use the money to pay down our mortgage.
Mark
My name is Mark Seed - the founder, editor and owner of My Own Advisor. As my own DIY financial advisor, I'm looking to start semi-retirement soon, sooner than most. Find out how, what I did, and what you can learn to tailor your own financial independence path. Join the newsletter read by thousands each day, always FREE.
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Sam Lampert July 25, 2016 at 11:47 pm · Edit
Thanks for sharing! Finding a good investment plan for your retirement can be hard and confusing. Online investment management services can help you find the right investment that will perfectly reflect your economic outlook and returns expectations as well. If you want to know more about wise investments and how to save a lot of money try checking out online investment management services like https://www.macroaxis.com/ to see how it can help you.
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Thanks a bunch for the inclusion Mark.
Paying service providers (banks, paypal) for conversion fees that are 5x that of other viable and easy to use service providers. Folks need to understand they have options. I am not a fan of giving away our earned money on fees and interest payments.
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Mark February 7, 2015 at 7:44 am · Edit
Your post was great Simon, very interesting. Yes, if you can avoid bank fees, that’s a great thing!
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James February 6, 2015 at 3:10 pm · Edit
Hi Mark,
Is it a good idea to build a dividend portfolio in my family RESP account?Reply
Mark February 6, 2015 at 4:20 pm · Edit
It depends what your goals are James. I know a number of investors that use TD e-funds for the RESPs. They are happy with those passive investing choices. The only challenge I see with dividend stocks inside an RESP, is you really have to keep a long-term view, I mean at least 10 years. You might also need some luck with your selections to ensure those stock picks meet or exceed market returns. Otherwise, you might as well index.
I use dividend stocks for my portfolio because I like the passive income and I’m getting largely index-like returns because of the diversification of stocks I have but it took many years to get to this point. With just starting out with an RESP or even an established RESP, individual stocks could be a bit risky. Just my take.
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Stephen Weyman February 6, 2015 at 1:33 pm · Edit
Thanks for sharing my BMO credit card review. How’s the new year treating you?
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Mark February 6, 2015 at 4:16 pm · Edit
So far, so good. You’re a writing machine Stephen. I’ll try and drop you an email soon. Have a great weekend!
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Stephen Weyman February 10, 2015 at 11:24 am · Edit
Hah, I wish I felt that way about myself – glad somebody does 🙂 I’d say Robb is a writing machine actually!
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Mark February 10, 2015 at 1:34 pm · Edit
You both put me to shame 🙂
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Nimish February 6, 2015 at 9:56 am · Edit
Hey Mark,
Long time reader.. really appreciate your content.
The globe and mail article on tax refunds is interesting. I keep hearing about this from time to time, but have never implemented it. Have you or any of your readers tried this out yet?
Look forward to your dividend investing Q&A next week. Take care.
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Mark February 6, 2015 at 4:13 pm · Edit
Hey Nimish, thanks for reading and sharing the site with others, I least I hope you can 😉
We try and optimize our RRSPs, meaning, when it comes to making RRSP contributions, we try to save enough to get a small refund back. We are fortunate to have pensions via work, so this in a good way eats into our RRSP contribution room. I prefer to get a small but modest refund back from our government because while the RRSP is great, so is paying down debt (mortgage) and investing in our TFSA. We simply can’t do it all so a balance works for us. I hope that provides some context and why I like the approach mentioned in the article.
I need to write that Q&A article! Cheers.
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Nimish February 7, 2015 at 6:26 pm · Edit
Well I do share your site with others actually 🙂 I just sent this link to my cousin: https://www.myownadvisor.ca/why-i-left-the-mutual-fund-industry/
He just started his 1st job and had a meeting with a financial “adviser” last week at one of the large banks… so I just warned him before his meeting and guided him towards the couch potato scheme!
And maybe someday if I have a blog, you’ll be top of the special mention list 🙂
Thanks for your input. I might try out the advise in the Globe and Mail article this year and see how it works.
Have a great weekend.
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Robb Engen February 6, 2015 at 12:02 am · Edit
Thanks for the mention, Mark – have a great weekend!
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Mark February 6, 2015 at 7:19 am · Edit
All the best Robb.
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Dividend Diplomats February 5, 2015 at 10:15 pm · Edit
MOA,
Thank you SO much for the mention, this is awesome being listed here and we are very humbled by it. Love our dividend aristocrat and each month the new round of dividend increases. Thank you for sharing our post!
-Lanny
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Mark February 6, 2015 at 7:12 am · Edit
You’re most welcome and have a great weekend Lanny.
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Michael James February 5, 2015 at 9:27 pm · Edit
The article about saving on PayPal currency exchange was interesting. It’s hard to tell if PayPal is determined to get their 2.5% currency exchange fee or if Canada is just an afterthought to them. Thanks for the mention.
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Mark February 6, 2015 at 7:12 am · Edit
Simon’s article was interesting for sure, I suspect they (PayPal) are determined to get their money 🙂 Have a great weekend.
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Alan W. (BCM) February 5, 2015 at 8:23 pm · Edit
Thanks for the inclusion this week, hopefully it warms up this weekend, but I doubt it.
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Mark February 5, 2015 at 8:29 pm · Edit
I hear ya 🙂 Take good care.
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Hi Mark,
Great list of articles that you shared. Great article on how to avoid a big tax refund, I need to look into that. Thanks for sharing my article with your readers, really appreciate that.
Have a great weekend! It’s long weekend here in BC. I guess Ontario have to wait for another week.
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Mark February 5, 2015 at 8:29 pm · Edit
You’re most welcome Tawcan, keep up the great investing progress.
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