Personal Finance Canada

I'm in a place where I've spent the last 10-12 years saving like a chipmunk before an ice age. I've been fortunate and have a decent chunk saved up. I've got another 15-20 years of work ahead of me but want to find a bit more balance between saving and living during that time.

How does one forecast retirement targets vs current value? In other words, how can you calculate when it's ok to decrease retirement savings without compromising too much?

Stumbled upon an excellent podcast interview featuring Evan Neufeld, CFP, and Aaron Hector, CFP, R.F.P., TEP.

They delve deep into the topic of FHSA (First-Time Home Buyer Savings Account) and cover all the crucial details you need to know.

From the intricate rules and eligibility criteria to contributions, deductions, and even tax efficiencies, they leave no stone unturned.

They also discuss what happens if you don't buy a home, qualifying withdrawals, and the transfer of funds. Moreover, they provide a comprehensive comparison between FHSA and Home Buyers Plan, as well as insights on how it stacks up against TFSA, RRSP, and RESP.

I highly recommend giving it a listen!

The Canadian Money Roadmap, Episode 77

The country added 60,000 jobs, driven by gains in full-time work, while the unemployment rate rose to 5.4 per cent, the highest since February 2022, Statistics Canada reported Friday in Ottawa. The figures beat expectations for a gain of 20,000 positions, but missed the forecast for a jobless rate of 5.2 per cent, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/653849

I'm trying to follow conventional wisdom and have more and more of our portfolio as straight up VGRO but want some more US exposure (though I am aware there are arguments in favour of a home-country bias). I was also interested in picking a USD fund as not only do they tend to have a lower MER but also get an extra boost from witholding tax exemption if I hold them in an RRSP.

An S&P 500 fund seems the way to go, but it seems awfully slanted towards giant tech megacaps. Apple alone is over 7% of VOO. With a P/E over 31 it's hard for me to feel like there's not extra risk with the concentration here--is it really such a safe bet to think the largest company in the world has that much more growth ahead of it? And VGRO already has a solid chunk of cap-weighted exposure.

And so, after my inexpert research failed to dissuade me, I'm probably going to use an equal-weight ETF like RSP or EUSA for this portion---there are no penny stocks on the S&P 500 and it doesn't seem to perform much worse (and indeed better depending how far back you test). At this point I'm more comfortable with either of those than VOO and will probably do this just for the irrational psychology, but I do wish there was something that combines an equal weighting with a screen for quality (something like SPHQ) as a big drawback seems like for as much concentration risk as it avoids it also keeps rebalancing more and more into failing companies as they crash and burn.

Anyone else subscribe to a similar reasoning and incorporate an equal weight fund into the passive portion of your portfolio? Which one did you go with?

Wealthsimple recently opened stock lending. I had never heard of it before, but it sounds interesting - you only have potential upside (with the only real downside being your money isn't covered by CIPF if something goes wrong)

I saw this card (https://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/personal/credit-cards/visa/momentum-infinite-card.html) offered by Scotiabank that offers 10% cash back on purchases within the first 3 mo up to $2k, and 4% regularly on groceries and recurring payments. From first glance, it looks really good, but at the same time, there's a $120 annual fee. Although, the first year has no fee.

I wonder if I could use it for the first year and then close or downgrade it afterward. Would my credit score take a substantial hit?

What's your general opinion on cards with annual fees? What benefits would it need for you to consider one?

Looking to make a will. Anybody have any suggestions? Are online ones any good or do I need a proper lawyer? Things to look out for?

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Some investors are attracted to covered call funds because of their high income yields and seemingly high risk-adjusted returns. However, the appearance of high income and high risk-adjusted returns is the result of clever financial product design, not of actual improvements to returns or risk-adjusted returns.

Let's inaugurate this community with a new video by The Ben Felix. 🥲