Contents: Travel insurance underwriting required up front, Vanguard driving lower fees in Canada, retirement risks, high risk-free returns, US housing still rising but more slowly, potential first time home buyers struggling, Florida property taxes to move significantly higher, homes and cars 50% of typical US household spending, pension or lump-sum? Nortel’s Canadian pensioners to be […]

Contents: ‘To’ vs. ‘through’ retirement strategies, ETF definitions, high market values? home investors: buy-to-flip morphs into buy-to-rent, IMF’s macroprudential advice for Canada’s housing, Nortel allocation trial, can workers really self-prep for retirement? don’t leave free money on the table, managing pensions not just about assets, scammers capitalizing on new UK pension flexibility, demographics to drive […]

Contents: Active management a pseudoscience, signals that adviser behaving badly, paying too much in fees, SEC backing away from broker fiduciary level of care? target-date fund problems, Canada house prices up, condo hell, own vs. rent in Toronto, talk of longevity insurance in Canada? UK financial industry in upheaval due to non-mandatory annuitization, Mom’s winning […]

Contents: Conflict of interest, portfolio strategies, considerations on imminent retirement, Hybrid LTCI policies, retirement consumption, target-date funds, bonds are like stocks? housing: rent vs. buy? Yellen: US housing market risk, UK housing: still firing on all cylinders, self-made annuities? shared-risk pension plans, pension gives peace of mind in retirement, wealth tax inevitable? Sunstein: “Why Nudge?” […]

Contents: Outperformance unpredictable, Clements: “rules of the road”, smart-beta an expensive way to implement factor strategies, financial plan necessary but outcome not guaranteed- flexibility is key, older love but not marriage, tax-aware asset location, intermediate bond funds strike interest rate risk-return balance, robo-adviser shortfalls, Shiller: home ownership tarnished, considering current mortgage refinance options, Florida tangible […]

Contents: A stockpicker’s conversion, inadequate savings, estate planning docs, can’t beat the system, U.S. home sales slow, “private webcast” for Nortel bankruptcy trial? federal and provincial pension reform talk again, advice on annuity or lump sum? Canadian middle class richer than Americans, even minor index composition changes degrade index fund performance, beware of ‘hedgefundification’ of […]

Contents: Investors don’t know what they are doing, rising rate ETFs? dividend funds? financial literacy, long-term-care insurance, adjusted cost base (ACB), fiduciary questionnaire, Canada housing: prices flat but home sales up and Toronto condos flying off the shelves, U.S. housing: market slow start this spring, storm surge maps, take cash from pension to invest? participation […]

Contents: Bond returns should interest rates rise? mortgaging home to invest? Canada housing starts off, private sector DB plans’ solvency ratios >95%, UK: free and impartial advice instead of mandatory annuitization, US: greater adviser roles needed in retirement transition, Ottawa’s hidden $120B pension deficit, investors’ bad choices, real interest rates to stay low, embracing longevity, […]

Contents: Aging brain, investment fees, why ETFs cheap, simple US portfolio, skip LTC insurance, foreign withholding tax in Canada, soft landing for Canadian housing, inadequate data to assess state of Canada’s housing, reverse mortgages affect heirs, pension reform: not “Big CPP” and not “Little PRPP”, what replaces UK’s discarded mandatory annuitization? annuities come up short […]

Contents: Financial plan, adviser questions, hedge fund-like mutual funds, wise words for DIY investors, reverse mortgages, no annuity puzzle, taxation of Canadians abroad, US real estate up but slowing, UK decumulation default needed to replace mandatory annuitization, employers’ 401(k) fiduciary responsibility, pension plan headwinds? Gross: retirees crushed by financial repression, Bogle on parasitic financial industry. […]