Debt & Frugality

As Didi says in the novel (Findependence Day), “There’s no point climbing the Tower of Wealth when you’re still mired in the basement of debt.” If you owe credit-card debt still charging an usurous 20% per annum, forget about building wealth: focus on eliminating that debt. And once done, focus on paying off your mortgage. As Theo says in the novel, “The foundation of financial independence is a paid-for house.”

Debt Ceiling to rise: “Clark … Could you maybe spare a little extra cash?”

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | September 7, 2017

By Kevin Flanagan, WisdomTree Investments

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

I’ve written a couple of posts about the debt ceiling debate over the last few weeks, but let’s move past that topic and assume the U.S. government will be able to resume its borrowing needs in full, come the fourth quarter. (Editor’s Note: On Thursday, President Trump struck a deal with Democrat leaders to raise the debt limit and finance the Government until mid-December.)

What will investors find when Treasury has the ability to come to market with its full arsenal of t-bill and coupon issuances? The latest press briefing from the nation’s debt managers reminded me of the scene from the movie National Lampoon’s Vacation when Cousin Eddie asks Clark, “Could you maybe spare a little extra cash?”

The Details

For the period of July through September, Treasury estimates it will borrow $96 billion in net marketable debt, but its financing requirement will then ramp up to a hefty $501 billion in the fourth quarter. Remember, the calendar’s fourth quarter is actually the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2018. To put the fourth quarter number into perspective, the figure would be more than the projected $426 billion for all of FY 2017 combined, underscoring the added burden for the upcoming quarter.

The “Whys”

What’s causing such a huge increase in the government’s borrowing needs? First, the underlying budget deficit will need to be addressed. For the record, thus far in FY 2017, the red ink total has come in at -$523 billion through June, leaving one-quarter of the current fiscal year still remaining. For FY 2018, the Office of Management and Budget is projecting the deficit to come in at -$589 billion, up $149 billion from the prior estimate. Second on the list is Treasury’s goal to lift its quarter-end cash balance back to a more “normal” level of $360 billion for the end of December.

The debt managers foresee their September quarter-end balance dropping down to a low of $60 billion, compared to $353 billion a year ago. This drawdown reflects outlays that will be needed as a result of the stagnant debt ceiling. Along those lines, Treasury stated that it “expects to be able to fund the government through the end of September.”

The Final Piece

Paycheque to paycheque: the fate of half of Canada’s employees

Posted By Jonathan Chevreau | September 6, 2017

Living paycheque to paycheque? You’re hardly alone. As my latest Financial Post blog reprises today, almost half of Canadian workers (47%) told the Canadian Payroll Association’s 2017 survey that they’d find it hard to meet their financial obligations if their pay cheque were delayed by even a single week.

You can find the full blog by clicking on the highlighted headline here: Nearly half of Canadians would face a financial crunch if paycheque delayed by even a week, survey shows. The article also appears in the Thursday print edition, page FP5, under the headline Nearly half of Canadians walk financial tightrope.

As I point out at the end of the FP piece, there’s some irony in that the way out of this savings conundrum is to make an effort to save paycheque by paycheque: a strategy the CPA and other financial experts generally term “Pay Yourself First.”

That means using your financial institution’s pre-authorized chequing arrangements (PACs) to automatically divert 10% of net pay into savings the moment a paycheque hits your bank account. Just like income taxes taken off “at source,” the idea is that you won’t miss what you don’t actually receive.

Pay Yourself First

5 planning options to help you reach your Retirement goals

Posted By Robb Engen | September 5, 2017

There are lots of unknowns when it comes to retirement planning. Most of us focus on how much we need to save for retirement without giving much thought as to how much we’re going to spend in retirement.

A $1 million dollar nest egg can provide you with $30,000 to $40,000 to spend each year with reasonable assurance that you won’t run out of money. But if your ideal retirement lifestyle costs $60,000 per year, your million-dollar portfolio won’t be enough to last a lifetime.

Once you determine your magic spending number, the rest of the variables start falling into place. The earlier you can identify the amount of income you need to live the retirement you want, the easier it is to make your retirement plan and adjust course, if necessary.

Let’s say you’ve analyzed your retirement income needs and find, based on your current financial situation, that you won’t be able to fully fund your desired lifestyle. What to do?

Here are five retirement planning options to help you adjust course and reach your retirement goals:

1.) Reduce your lifestyle

A $60,000/year retirement might be out of reach based on your current situation, but maybe reducing your goal to $45,000/year can still provide a great lifestyle in retirement.

This lifestyle adjustment could mean travelling less often, making sure you retire debt free, downsizing your home, replacing your vehicle less often, reducing your hobbies, or a combination of all the above.

Don’t forget to include government benefits such as CPP, OAS, and/or GIS when projecting your retirement income. It’s worth sitting down with a retirement planner to figure out the best way to draw down your assets and when it makes sense to apply for CPP and OAS.

2.) Work longer

It can be difficult to picture yourself working longer once you’ve got retirement on the brain, but a few extra years on the job can drastically alter your retirement projection.

The longer you work, the more you can save (or add to your pensionable service if you’re so lucky to have a workplace pension). But also the more years you’re working and earning a paycheque the fewer years you have to withdraw from your nest egg.

Are you healthy and willing to grind it out at work for a few more years? If so, you might be able to reach that $60,000/year retirement goal after all.

3.) Earn more return from your investments

This is a tricky one because you might take it to mean investing in riskier assets (i.e. an all-equity portfolio), when in fact you can earn higher returns by reducing the overall cost of your portfolio. That’s the first place to start.

Imagine your $300,000 retirement portfolio is invested in a typical set of mutual funds that together comes with a management expense ratio (MER) of 2 per cent. The cost is $6,000/year but you don’t see the charge directly; instead, it comes off your returns.

Switching to index funds and going the do-it-yourself route might reduce your costs to 0.5 per cent, or $1,500 per year. That’s an extra $4,500/year staying in your retirement account instead of going into the hands of your advisor.

There might also be a case for increasing the risk in your portfolio. Say, for example, you tend to hold a lot of cash in your portfolio: you’re not fully invested. Or you hold a bunch of GICs and other fixed income products.

Dialling up your investment risk to include a portion of equities could help you achieve an extra 2-3 per cent per year. The power of compounding can make a huge difference to your retirement portfolio and holding even a small portion of equities in retirement can help your nest egg last longer.

4.) Save more

This one is so obvious it should be first on the list. If you’re not able to fully fund your desired retirement lifestyle based on your current projections then you need to save more.

Hopefully your final working years can give you the opportunity to boost your retirement savings. Big expenses, such as paying down the mortgage and feeding hungry teenagers, are behind you.

But an empty nest and paid-off home might tempt you to increase your lifestyle now rather than doubling-down on your retirement savings to boost your lifestyle later. That’s fine; see options 1-3.

That said, there’s no better time to enhance your nest egg by maxing out your RRSP contributions, including unused contribution room, and doing the same with your TFSA, in the years leading up to your retirement date.

Be mindful here, though, of strategies to reduce your taxes in retirement. It makes little sense to go wild making RRSP contributions in your final working years without considering how withdrawals will impact taxes or OAS clawbacks in retirement.

5.)Supplement your retirement income

Much like working longer can increase your nest egg, supplementing your retirement income with a part-time job derived from a passion or hobby can prolong the life of your portfolio.

The best credit cards to establish credit

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | September 3, 2017

(Sponsored Content)

Building credit is a curious process. To be approved for a most credit cards you really need to have an established credit history already in place. For young adults or people who just never had a need to borrow money, trying to get their first credit card is going to result in a lot of denials. In short, establishing or re-establishing your credit depends on what type of credit you can be approved for and how well you maintain it.

Here’s a guide that will help you to qualify for the best credit cards with minimum approval requirements so you can establish yourself as a responsible borrower.

Secured credit cards and limitations

Normally, when you are approved for a credit card, you are outright given a credit limit. This is the total amount of money that you can spend without being penalised or charged over-the-limit fees, but there’s a catch. Each month there is a minimum credit card payment due. You also get charged interest on your total amount of purchases.

Secured credit cards require cardholders to send the issuer a deposit that is equivalent to their credit card limits. This protects the card issuer and helps you to establish credit at the same time. The best credit cards for people building credit are those that can shield you from falling into a pit of debt.

Why get department store credit cards?

One type of credit card for which you should pretty easily be approved is the kind offered by department stores. Continue Reading…

September could be busy for fixed-income investors

Posted By Financial Independence Hub | September 1, 2017

By Kevin Flanagan, WisdomTree Investments

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

With the calendar turning to September on Friday, we’re all sitting back and lamenting the end of another summer. Well, for fixed-income investors, any possible summer doldrums could quickly change, as a number of potentially headline-making events are looming directly ahead, specifically on the central bank front. While the markets do not appear to be anticipating any surprises, the next few weeks look to be busy.

For the G5 developed market world, the Bank of Canada (BOC) is set to kick things off next week with its formal policy meeting, slated for September 6. After hiking the overnight lending rate by 25 basis points (bps) in July (the first rate hike since 2010), expectations as of this writing are not looking for a follow-up move.

Bank of Canada unlikely to move on Sept. 6

Indeed, the implied probability for a rate hike next week is at only 21.7%. It is interesting to note that an integral reason behind the July increase was the BOC’s belief that it needs to focus on future price pressures and not be complacent even though inflation readings, up to that time, had been on the soft side. Thus, when the July year-over-year inflation gauge jumped .2 percentage points to +1.2%, the policymakers may have felt some vindication. Looking ahead into the fourth quarter, the probability of a rate hike for the October policy meeting jumps to 69%.

The European Central Bank meets the following day, September 7, while the Bank of England and Bank of Japan are on the docket for September 14 and 21, respectively. That leaves the Federal Reserve (Fed) on September 20. As of this writing, market expectations not only don’t see the Fed raising rates at its next meeting, but the outlook is for no hikes at all for the rest of 2017. Continue Reading…

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