Apart from the small matter of a federal election on Monday, the big event this weekend for those of us who focus on Financial Independence is the fourth annual Canadian Personal Finance Conference (aka CPFC15), being held in the Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library. On Twitter, follow along throughout the day using the hashtag #CPFC15. Subway riders: check routes, some may be closed.

Highlights include The Wealthy Barber himself, David Chilton, delivering the keynote address Saturday afternoon. You can also find regular Hub contributor Robb Engen, who plays many roles, among them spearheading the Boomer & Echo blog. Just before Chilton is the Star’s Ellen Roseman.

The event kicks off around 9 am, with the Globe’s Rob Carrick scheduled at 9:15 am. Carrick has been described in previous editions of the conference as the PF writer most financial bloggers wish they could be: many yearn to be included in his influential web roundups. Rob was kind enough to include the Hub soon after its launch late in 2014 and I can attest to the reach of his column.

As for yours truly, I’m not scheduled to appear until Sunday for a 2:45 pm panel on “How to pitch the media.” However, I plan to attend at least some of Saturday’s sessions.

Election’s impact on investors

Now about that election. Continue Reading…

Here’s my latest Young Money blog for the Financial Post, bearing the headline Web-literate millennials look beyond traditional banks for online investing and lending services.

For the Millennial generation born between 1980 and 2000, the Internet and social media comes naturally to them, as does entrepreneurship. They gravitate to services like Netflix, Uber and much more.

That makes them a prime market for both automated online investment services (aka robo advisors, which we often highlight here at the Hub) and online lending services, at least three of which have started up in Canada in the past year or two.

Go to the above link for the full FP blog.  Former mortgage broker Chantal Chapman, at 32 also a millennial, has just been appointed National Financial Fitness Coach for one of those three companies, Vancouver-based Mogo, which trades on the TSX under the ticker GO.

The U.S. model for these is San Francisco-based Lending Club.  We may look at this space in more depth in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, Chantel is co-hosting a series of Adulting 101 financial education events in various cities this fall.  The Toronto event is on October 25th:  details here.
 

My Michael Drak

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Jonathan and I finally finished our manuscript for the new book we have been writing and sent it off to the editor this week.

He mentioned to me that the above phrase (having a reason to get out of bed in the morning) was repeated at least five or six times in the book, which got me to thinking about why we felt it was so important that unknowingly we ended up repeating it over and over.

For me it’s all about knowing and understanding my “why.” Why bail on a successful corporate career and attempt something new? Why attempt to co-author a book, never having written before? Why after so many years of being afraid to speak in public did I decide to join Toastmasters?

Wouldn’t it have been so much easier to just stay in my warm, safe, comfortable bed and just pull the covers up over my head whenever a problem occurred, whenever the world got just a little bit too crazy?

The world is in a difficult place and because the problems it is facing are so big I used to think there was nothing I could do to help, but I was wrong. Through working on the book I came to believe that I could make a difference but had to get involved now, not tomorrow and find ways to help others.

The benefits of working longer

Both Jonathan and I are big believers in the benefits attached to working longer but the key is to find meaningful work that gives you purpose that gives you your “why.” As George Halas said “Nothing is work unless you’d rather be doing something else.” Continue Reading…

My latest Motley Fool Canada blog is entitled How Monday’s federal election could impact Canadian investors.

As we pointed out Wednesday in an FP blog about an H&R Block survey, a surprisingly high percentage (70%) of voters are influenced by the personal tax implications of the various political platforms and tax is actually the “primary factor” for 28% of voters so polled.

Motley Fool wanted a “non-partisan” look not only at tax but also retirement and pensions, balanced budgets and other economic considerations. But as you’ll see, tax remains a big part of it: income splitting, TFSA contribution room and small business taxation.

By Robb Engen, Boomer & Echo

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Some investors eventually leave their commission-based advisor and opt to set up a simple portfolio of index funds or ETFs. There are plenty of compelling reasons to do so; the reduction in fees alone can save investors thousands of dollars a year, and academic research shows that the lower your costs, the greater your share of an investment’s return.

In my fee-only planning service, many clients end up doing exactly that. I find the communication fascinating between my client and the bank or investment advisor when they hear their investor wants to move to a lower cost portfolio.

Here I’ve tried to capture some of that conversation with “sh*t my advisor says”:

Sh*t my advisor says

Sexism: When my husband told him we’re choosing simple index investing and that I handle the family finances he smirked and said to my husband, “What credentials does your wife have to manage money?” Continue Reading…