Weekend Reading – Millennials going bankrupt, the cost of materialism, TurboTax discounts and more! 

Weekend Reading – Millennials going bankrupt, the cost of materialism, TurboTax discounts and more! 

Hey folks!

Welcome to my latest Weekend Reading edition where I share some of my favourite articles from the week that was across the personal finance and investing blogosphere.

TurboTax Giveaway Reminder!

I just completed my 2018 tax return submission using TurboTax Canada software – it did all the heavy-lifting for me! A reminder to use TurboTax again this year! (promo over).

This week I shared this latest dividend income update – a new milestone!

Lastly, I’m off to watch the Ottawa 67s in one of their home playoff games this weekend – really looking forward to that.

Enjoy these articles and see you here next week – including the final post in this blogger series about living off dividend income – you won’t want to miss it.

Mark

Dale Roberts suggested good reasons not to blindly follow a 4% retirement withdrawal rule.  In his Seeking Alpha article (subscribers only), he quoted Fredrick Vettese in saying “Retirees do not spend in a linear fashion, they spend in waves.”  I think that only makes sense since if I look at my savings history, for retirement, it’s certainly not linear either.

Here is a must read book on retirement by Fred Vettese here – Retirement Income for Life.

A read an article about a number of millennials are going bankrupt – yikes. This was largely unheard of for my cohort (Gen X) some 20 years ago when I was an early twenty-something finishing university.  I either knew kids that came from money, from my hometown, they couldn’t possibly go broke or the latter worked their asses off to pay their bills; holding down multiple jobs while living with multiple roommates to make ends meet.  Seems there is definitely a different paradigm now with some kids (not all mind you) spending money they just don’t have.  I suspect there are some hard lessons to learn in their financial futures.

Dan Hallett, a “good guy” fighting for lower fees for retail investors like you and me suggests deferred sales charges should be banned.  I agree, but the industry continues to fight this.

DSCs, high fees and trailer fees will likely go away eventually, not without some serious kicking and screaming.

Good advice here, whether you have an advisor or not, how to weather any stock market downturn:

• Look to build an “all-weather” portfolio to stay invested regardless of what the stock market does.
• Ensure any portfolio is built to align with your financial plan.
• Don’t worry about economic forecasts or short-term predictions – you can’t time the market.

Michael Carron won nearly £10 million on the lottery. Today he earns £10 an hour chopping wood and filling coal bags for a fuel merchant in Moray, Scotland, having spent all his winnings on cars, jewellery, parties, drugs, new homes and generous gifts for family and friends.  The cost of materialism but also the cost to change your ways – an extreme but interesting case study.

My friend MDJ profiled low-cost all-world ETF VEQT.  I liked his summary and agree:

“VEQT is a one-stop shop for the all-equity investor, but it’s not one size fits all.  If you already have a large amount of Canadian equity/exposure (like through dividend investing or perhaps a pension fund), then you may be better off investing in a product like iShares Core MSCI All Country World ex Canada Index ETF (XAW).”

Here are some great all-in-one, low-cost ETFs to own including VEQT.

The How To Save Money team compared Aeroplan and Air Miles rewards. 

We use both in our house although we prefer cash back and use this card on our Deals page here – with 4% cash back on gas and groceries.  We’re on pace to earn about $400 cash back later this year.

Happy Investing! 

Mark