Weekend Reading – #RRSP deadline advice, 7% return is enough, FIRE for you, more #moneystuff

Weekend Reading – #RRSP deadline advice, 7% return is enough, FIRE for you, more #moneystuff

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.

Well, we put our house up for sale last week.  It was conditionally sold in 48 hours.

Crazy.  I really didn’t see that coming.

It’s all part of the move to the city that will happen in just four more months – something I wrote about here in my housing dilemma series.

There are some house conditions as part of the sale of course, so with fingers, toes and eyes crossed – hopefully everything will go well.  I’m sure I’ll write about all of this at some point – so stay tuned…

Here are some posts I put up recently that you should check out:

Canadians who are retiring or are self-employed don’t have workplace benefits to rely on – here is what to consider when those benefits are disappearing or don’t exist.

I have a dream to live off dividends to a degree.  So do other dividend investors and bloggers – here is an update about one of those investors:  why living off dividends still works for me.

Have a great weekend and enjoy this other Weekend Reading material!

Mark

“RRSP Season” tips and advice including RRSP vs. TFSA

Hey fans…the March 1, 2019 deadline for contributing to an RRSP for the 2018 tax year is here!

In that spirit, here are some of my posts and other posts about this outstanding tax-deferred account.

It’s “RRSP season” – here are my top tips to build a fat RRSP nest egg. 

Find out here the best tax bracket to choose between the TFSA and RRSP.   I’ve always used a rule of thumb of about $50,000 per year in income – as a cutoff – whether you should max out TFSA or RRSP first.  This article largely defends that.

Regardless of what experts might or might not suggest – I think I’ll keeping doing what I’ve been doing for years – I’ll max out my TFSA first every year because…

Here are some very important RRSP “dos” and “don’ts” this year – and beyond!

Stocks for FUN and PROFIT author Herman Vangenderen believes the RRSP is still an outstanding account to own and contribute to.

Mark Goodfield exploded 19 RRSP myths.  I’ve always been a big fan of this bean counter.

Can you have too much money in your RRSP?  Even if you have a workplace pension?  I highly doubt it – here’s why.

Other Weekend Reading insights and posts!

I was sent a recent survey study that mentioned Canadians “think they are getting 7% on their investments” but because they remain quite complacent about the investment advice they are getting, and their returns, they really have no idea.

“According to the survey, only 11% of Canadian investors check the rate of return on their investments regularly (monthly) and the majority would not consider switching advisors if they believed they were getting a 7% return on investment.”

Notes – Adam Hennick, who commissioned the survey, suggests that few investment advisors actually achieve a 7% rate of return consistently, but says the number is frequently tossed around in the industry because it’s what investors want to hear.  Curious readers – do you know how your portfolio is performing?  How do you know?

Should retirees pay off their mortgage with investments?   My buddies on my golf trips have debated this subject in the past.  Expert Jason Health responses mostly with “it depends” but does argue paying down debt with non-registered assets is usually smart, if you’re going to do anything at all.  That aligns with my thesis to not touch registered investments (RRSP, TFSA, RESP, etc.) and if you’re going to pay off debt, use taxable investments when in doubt.  

A fellow blogger from Vancouver highlighted 13 ways to reach financial independence sooner – even if you live in an expensive city like Vancouver.  When I looked at this list, there are very few drastic measures I’m ready to pursue; now in my mid-40s.  My wife and I however are moving to a smaller house, a 1,200 sq. ft. condo, which should be just fine for two adults and two cats.  To reach financial independence (FI) I’m not ready whatsoever to rent from family (business with any family is a big fat NO for me); live in a co-op; house hack or live with a renter; or go car-free although we are going down to one car in June this year.  FIRE in my 40s, with some extreme frugality, is not right for me.  What about you?

What is a yield shield and how can it protect you against a horrific sequence of returns?  Millennial Revolution will tell you.  

“By pivoting our portfolio into higher-yielding assets like Preferred Shares, Corporate Bonds, REITs, and Dividend Stocks, we raised our portfolio’s yield in the first few years of retirement from a paltry 2% to around 3.5%.”

I don’t mind this angle but I prefer not changing my investing approach as little as possible.  Like a bar of soap, the more you play with your portfolio the less you have and more you might drop it/make a mistake.

A BIG thanks to Tom Drake for having me on his podcast recently:

If you haven’t listened to Tom and I discuss how to get wealthy eventually via dividend investing, ETFs, using Robo-Advisors and more – check it out here!

Here is a review of BAM.A, a dividend growth powerhouse, on Dividend Earner.

Dale Roberts suggests these 7 ETFs are all you need for a retirement portfolio.

Save, Invest, Prosper!

Make sure you check out my Deals page for saving and investing cash back and more!

All the best.

Mark