All posts by Jonathan Chevreau

Weekly Wrap: Happy Financial Independence Day! Eternal Truth # 7 completes series

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Independence day conceptBy Jonathan Chevreau

Financial Independence Hub

To all our American readers, the Findependence Hub wishes a happy  Independence Day, or  as we like to say around here, Findependence Day.

Bloggers are fond of building posts around the July 4th celebration, and this year several are using the phrase Financial Independence Day. For instance, Forbes.com just published a blog titled Financial Independence Day for Millennials.

In fact, a year ago, Richard Eisenberg of Next Avenue and Forbes.com did just that, writing a similar piece entitled How to Declare Your Financial Independence. And he did make an explicit reference to Findependence Day, more on which below.

This weekend’s Motley Fool Money podcast is titled Declare Your Financial Independence.

And a few days ago, the Energy & Capital Site alos used the same phrase in an online commentary: Financial Independence Day. However, the piece merely outlines 55 trading rules and doesn’t get into the topic the way the Hub does.

The trend is clear and it seems from our vantage point that the next logical step is to use our contraction and call it Findependence Day!  It’s not exactly a new term any more: the original book bearing that name was published in 2008 (more about which  below).

So for those for whom the term may still be unfamiliar,what exactly is Findependence?

It’s simply a contraction for Financial Independence.

And Findependence Day? That’s the day you achieve Financial Independence. Continue Reading…

Grexit and Findependence

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Group of People Discussion about Greek Debt Crisis

By Jonathan Chevreau,

Financial Independence Hub

Thus far, the Hub has not commented directly on the ongoing crisis in Greece. Since we’re in something of a pause mode until the Referendum on Sunday, it seems as good a time as any to venture into this issue.

I am as transfixed as anyone by the images of Greek pensioners lining up almost daily for their 60-euro ATM infusions. Those who follow my Twitter feed — which also runs to the right of the Hub’s home page — will know that probably every second tweet or retweet concerns Greece in some way.

The world’s major newspapers and broadcast media seem to me to be doing a more than adequate job in reporting on this crisis. For instance, in Thursday’s Financial Post, Gluskin Sheff’s David Rosenberg wrote a useful piece about Why he still isn’t worried about Grexit. And the cover story in this week’s just-published The Economist nicely lays out the possible near future in Europe’s Future Lies in Greece’s Hands.

There’s little point in adding to the discussion if I can’t provide some unique perspectives. I’m no expert on Greece so I cannot: I’ve never even visited the country, although last fall we were right next door in neighbouring Turkey.

I can say that I’ve not made any changes in our family’s investments in response to this ongoing drama. I briefly owned a tiny position in a Greece ETF in 2014, thinking the worst was over but jettisoned it for tax-loss selling purposes late in 2014 and it will be a long time before I’m tempted to re-enter that position. If ever.

Cash is the furthest thing from Trash right now

Continue Reading…

How “Findependence” differs from “Retirement”

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Road signs to savings and financial independenceHere’s my latest MoneySense Financial Independence blog, titled How ‘findependence’ differs from retirement.

This is of course the ongoing theme of the Financial Independence Hub, aka FindependenceHub, and the reason it’s not called the Retirement Hub.

For convenience and one-stop shopping purposes, the piece can also be found below: Continue Reading…

7th Eternal Truth: Don’t say no to free money from the Government

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Uncle Sam on a white background offering stacks of bills

Today in the Financial Post and online are the seventh and final installment of my series on the 7 Eternal Truths of Personal Finance. The headline and online link is Eternal Truth No. 7: Don’t say no to the few offers of free money from Ottawa.

That applies to Washington to, of course! Either way, and as the article points out, truly free money from Government is a rare thing, since money is really flowing in the opposite direction in the form of taxes.

Still, there are ways to minimize the tax burden in either country, and you shouldn’t say no to them when they’re on offer.

Here’s a summary of the entire series, with links to each of the seven Truths.

 

Weekly Wrap: Eternal Truths # 5 & 6, Home Buyer’s Regret, Debt

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Depositphotos_73781057_originalThat’s six Eternal Truths down, one to go.

Today, Saturday, the Financial Post ran instalment number 6 in my 7-part series on The Eternal Truths of Personal Finance: Don’t turn down free money from your boss (employer).

On Wednesday instalment number 5 ran at the FP and on the Hub: Be an Owner, Not a Loaner (although they used a different headline).

The seventh and final instalment likely runs next Wednesday.

Home Buyer’s Regret

Boomer & Echo ran a piece this week riffing off Globe & Mail personal finance columnist Rob Carrick’s Facebook page, with readers stating how big a priority it is for them to reduce debt. It’s certainly always been one for me and I continue to declare that “the foundation of financial independence is a paid-for home.” But clearly, young people these days face different circumstances: home prices are sky-high, especially in Vancouver and Toronto, but balancing that are historically low interest rates that seem destined to stay low for as long as the eye can see. (“seem” being the operative word.) Continue Reading…