All posts by Jonathan Chevreau

The Hub’s Weekly wrap: Bag lady fears, fast-casual dining stocks & more

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | February 7, 2015

Launched last week, the Hub’s Weekly Wrap aims to be a weekend read with brief commentary and links to some of the more interesting items touching on Financial Independence that appeared in North American cyberspace in the past week or two.

We aim to split these roughly half from American blogs and online media and half from Canadian. (That roughly corresponds to current traffic levels at the Hub.)

We’ll begin with this piece from Next Avenue: Unemployed, 55 and Faking Normal. This blog about the common fear of becoming a bag lady (financially speaking) was widely tweeted, including by a few women I suspect were in similar circumstances. No doubt about it, a combination of divorce and job loss can add up to a tough go, especially if you’re still not old enough to qualify for Social Security or the Canadian triad of CPP/OAS/GIS.

Fast-casual dining

Moving on to the more fortunate comes this piece from the Washington Post, mentioned on the Motley Fool’s Market Foolery podcast on Tuesday. The Chipotle effect: Why America is obsessed with fast casual food is an analysis of the trend to “Fast Casual” dining and the stocks of the major players capitalizing on this change (Chipotle and Panera to name two.) This is a threat to the old-time fast food joints like McDonald’s: ironically, McDonald’s incubated Chipotle in its early days.

4 reasons to pay your credit card bill early Continue Reading…

Are you ready for The Big Shift?

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | February 6, 2015

By Jonathan Chevreau

If you’re intrigued by the kind of content we publish on the Hub, you should be fascinated by The Big Shift, a book published originally in 2011 by Marc Freedman.

The subtitle tells it all: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife. Freedman is a “social entrepreneur” who founded a firm called Civic Ventures (now Encore.org), and previously published (in 2007) a book called Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life. We’ll review that in the next few weeks.

Both books have crystallized my thinking of what this site is all about, so much so that we have renamed the fifth of our six major blog categories Encore Acts, (from the previous IBusiness Ownership). As we noted in Saturday’s new weekly wrap, an Encore Act may or may not include entrepreneurship but there are many Encore Acts that may not involve launching a new business.

The Longevity Bonus: centenarians galore? Continue Reading…

5 low-risk investments for your TFSA

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | February 5, 2015

By TSI Network and Jonathan Chevreau

TFSAs let you earn investment income—including interest, dividends and capital gains—tax free.

The federal government first made the Tax-free Savings Account (TFSA) available to Canadian investors in January 2009. These accounts let you earn investment income — including interest, dividends and capital gains — tax free. You could contribute $5,000 in 2009 to start your Tax-free Savings Account.

Every year until 2013, you could contribute an additional $5,000 to your TFSA. If you contribute less than the maximum to your TFSA in any given year, you can carry the difference forward. That means your TFSA contributions for 2009 and 2010 totalled $10,000, rising to $15,000 in 2011, $20,000 in 2012 and so on.

As of January 1, 2013 the annual contribution limit increased to $5,500, in line with the initial promise to adjust limits with rising inflation. It remains at $5,500 for 2015. That means that if you haven’t contributed yet (and were 18 years or older in 2009) you can now contribute up to $36,500. At some point, once the federal books are balanced, the Conservative government is on record that it will boost the annual TFSA limit to $10,000.

How to shelter your gains with a Tax-free Savings Account

Use your TFSA to complement your RRSP.

Generally speaking, your TFSA can hold the same investments as an RRSP. This includes cash, mutual funds, publicly traded stocks, GICs and bonds.

Contributions are not tax deductible, as they are with an RRSP. However, unlike withdrawals from RRSPs (or withdrawals for RRIFs to which most RRSPs are converted), withdrawals from a TFSA are not taxed. In this respect, RRSPs and TFSAs are mirror images of each other in the way they impact your taxes.

This makes the TFSA a good vehicle for more short-term savings goals, like saving up for a down payment on a first home. If funds are limited, you may need to choose between RRSP and TFSA contributions. RRSPs may be the better choice in years of high income when you’re in the top tax brackets, since RRSP contributions are deductible from your taxable income. In years of low or no income — such as when you’re in school, beginning your career or between jobs — TFSAs may be the better choice.

Investing in a TFSA in low-income years will provide a real benefit in retirement. When you’re retired, you can draw down your TFSA first, incurring zero tax liabilities. After that, you can begin making taxable RRSP withdrawals.

Hold low-risk investments in your TFSA.

Maybe you just THINK you want to retire?

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | February 4, 2015

By Jonathan Chevreau

My latest MoneySense blog has been posted, titled Maybe you just think you want to retire?

The word “think” needs to be emphasized, since the point is that I’m not so sure baby boomers really want to retire anymore, at least not in their 50s or early 60s. I actually had written this particular blog before reading and reviewing some books about Encore Careers and Second Acts, such as last week’s review of Unretirement.

Of course, this entire website is dedicated to the proposition that there is a difference between traditional “full-stop” retirement and Financial Independence, or “Findependence.” To us, Findependence sets the stage for one’s true calling in life, which is why the six blog sections here at the Hub now include one called Encore Acts. From where I sit, it’s a lot easier to launch an Encore Act once you have a modicum of Financial Independence established.

For the full blog, click the red link above.

For archival purposes and the convenience of one-stop shopping, the piece is also included below: Continue Reading…