Michaeljamesonmoney

We’ve heard that melting down an RRSP early can be valuable when it lowers your future tax rate on RRSP withdrawals later in retirement.  But we’ve also heard that delaying RRSP withdrawals so the RRSP can continue growing tax-free is valuable.  But not everyone agrees that longer tax-free compounding is valuable. Who’s right? Let’s dig in.

We can make mistakes w...

When Canadians have some money available, a big decision they face is whether to invest it in an RRSP or TFSA or to focus on paying down debt.  Dave Chilton, The Wealthy Barber, asked me how I thought about this choice on

One of the talking points of financial advisors is that even if right now you’re able to handle your own investments, tax planning, and other aspects of personal finance, you may face cognitive decline later in life.  The implication is that maybe you should get a financial advisor now before it’s too late.

The challenge here is that many people who hold themselves...

The best way to respond to stock market news is usually to ignore it.  This is (almost) what I do.  The exception is that I make small adjustments when stock prices are very high. David Chilton asked me about these adjustments when

People who have savings when they retire are faced with tough choices for how to spend their money to get the most out of retirement.  Their instincts to try to preserve their savings often leads them to mistakes such as living too small, overpaying their taxes, and not getting the most they can out of CPP and OAS.

The common investment accounts retirees have are R...