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3 weeks ago | 
findependencehub.com | Jonathan Chevreau
On Wednesday, BMO ETFs conducted its second annual ETF Investor day. Conducted at the Toronto Stock Exchange, Do-it-yourself investors and finfluencers [Financial Influencers] were on hand for the ceremonial opening of the exchange, shown in the photo on the left (including myself). Hard to believe, but this marks BMO’s 16th year as a Canadian ETF provider.
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3 weeks ago | 
findependencehub.com | Jonathan Chevreau
In mid-April, my monthly Retired Money column for MoneySense looked at the experience of new retirees who have just shifted from RRSPs to Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs), including my own. Now my followup May column has been published, and it looks in more detail at how such new retirees should handle their Asset Allocation, particularly in light of this volatile Trump Trade War era we are now in.
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3 weeks ago | 
moneysense.ca | Jonathan Chevreau
As for RRIF asset allocation, Lovett-Reid is “still a fan of equities in your portfolio. You could spend a third of your life in retirement and want to keep up your purchasing power. What if you live too darn long? Longer life expectancies require the growth potential that stocks offer over time.” She concedes it might make sense to gradually reduce stock holdings to 30% or 40% as you age, depending on health and income requirements.
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1 month ago | 
findependencehub.com | Jonathan Chevreau
My latest MoneySense Retired Money column has just been published and covers something that was a new experience for me: starting and managing a RRIF or Registered Retirement Income Fund. You can find the full column by clicking on the highlighted headline: How to make sure you have enough money to fund your RRIF withdrawals.
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1 month ago | 
moneysense.ca | Jonathan Chevreau
However, Allan Small, senior investment advisor with the Allan Small Financial Group, has a different view. “Obviously [you] have to make sure that there’s enough money in the portfolio that’s liquid to make the payment,” says Small. “I don’t believe in setting aside a bunch of money, which has to sit there so you can take the RRIF payments from it. I believe in investing as much as possible to take advantage of the market’s upswing—especially [those] over the last few years.
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2 months ago | 
moneysense.ca | Jonathan Chevreau
News flash: At some point health will preclude working for a living, and/or you’ll no longer be able to count on finding someone willing to employ you (or be a paying client if you’re self-employed). This is a problem. As 36% of women surveyed aged 55 to 64 have saved nothing at all, and 22% of men. Sadly, workplace pensions are a distant sixth place for sources of future retirement income.
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2 months ago | 
findependencehub.com | Jonathan Chevreau
My latest MoneySense Retired Money column has just been published. You can find it by clicking on the highlighted text here: Why “unretirement” may be the fate of so many Canadians. Even before the Tariffs threats emerged under Trump 2.0, Canadian seniors were starting to find the economic uncertainty and rising living costs to be unmanageable. No surprise then that many seniors approaching Retirement Age are delaying their exit from the workforce.
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Dec 18, 2024 | 
moneysense.ca | Jonathan Chevreau
Don’t forget, there will be additional provincial taxes on top of the federal haul, also indexed to inflation at various provincial rates. Since this Retired Money column is meant for retirees and those near retirement, we’ll skip the material on CPP contributions, which can be found in the Golombek column linked above. What is relevant for those in the retirement zone is the higher threshold on OAS. In 2025, according to Canada.ca, OAS begins to get clawed back for taxable income of $90,997.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
findependencehub.com | Jonathan Chevreau
My latest MoneySense Retired Money column is a bit of a departure in that its focus is on 57-year old blogger and YouTuber Alain Guillot, who came to Canada from Columbia with nothing but entrepreneurial gumption and a dream of being part of the North America depicted on TV at home. For the full MoneySense column, click on this headline: The first $100,000 is the hardest to save for newcomers. The re-election of Donald Trump is almost certain to make Immigration an even more contentious issue.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
moneysense.ca | Jonathan Chevreau
As I am myself the child of British immigrants, I am naturally sympathetic to those brave or desperate enough to leave their homes to find opportunities in North America. Which is one reason that over the past year, I’ve been corresponding with an interesting blogger and former financial advisor, Alain Guillot. He occasionally republishes his blog posts on my site, Findependence Hub. His own blog is called simply AlainGuillot.com.
