There may come a point during the year that you max out your registered Canadian investment accounts, or if you are living abroad, there might be certain restrictions on what you can contribute to tax-advantaged accounts. The great news is that no matter what your situation is, you can still open a non-registered tax efficient ETF portfolio. If you are living and earning an income abroad, or have maxed out your TFSA and RRSP, you may not be able to contribute to an RRSP or a TFSA. Read on to ...| Million Dollar Journey
What is portfolio rebalancing, and should you do it? If so, then how and when? We cover everything you need to know.| Million Dollar Journey
When I first wrote about the Smith Manoeuvre (18 years ago!) - a method to transform your mortgage into a tax-deductible loan - I never imagined it would become one of our most popular topics, racking up hundreds of comments. Even though I kicked off my own Smith Manoeuvre at practically the worst time in the last half-century (back in 2007), it still turned out pretty well for me. As we move into 2025, it’s becoming clear that high mortgages might be coming down a bit, the days of ultra-lo...| Million Dollar Journey
After writing a deep dive article on whether the 4% safe withdrawal rate still works for retirement at various ages, I received a lot of questions basically asking: “Ok, so 4% is a good rule of thumb, but when I actually go to withdraw money from my various investment accounts, to put into my chequing account & high interest savings account in order to pay for day-to-day expenses, what is the best way to avoid taxes?” Upon reading many of these types of questions, I realized that I wasn...| Million Dollar Journey
Most Canadians never stop to consider when low risk investments are the most appropriate use of savings versus when higher-risk long-term investments are the better route. The truth is that most Canadians choose their investment by “gut feel.” You likely don’t need me to tell you, that’s not an ideal process. When choosing between higher risk and low risk investments, it’s important to consider your personal goals and risk tolerance. Personally, I think that if you need your money i...| Million Dollar Journey
Because I’ve written a lot about the Best Canadian ETFs and the top dividend ETFs, I tend to get a lot of questions and comments asking me about the MER and taxes on ETFs that hold equities from other countries. Obviously when you’re asking those types of in-depth questions you already understand the value of index investing, and instant diversification. Personally, I like to balance my love of Canadian dividend stocks, with non-Canadian ETFs to get super-convenient international exposure...| Million Dollar Journey
Old Age Security - better known as OAS - is one of the least understood aspects of Canadian retirement planning that I’ve come across. In order to full wrap your head around OAS and how you can get the most out of it for your particular situation, this deep dive is going to cover: (use the table of contents below to jump to the section that pertains to you) OAS Eligibility (Who gets full or partial OAS) What is the OAS Clawback? (How Do I Keep My Whole OAS Cheque?) How Much OAS Will I Get? ...| Million Dollar Journey