Welcome to your Weekend Reading, over a coffee or a beer or a glass of wine this weekend.
Earlier this week I shared how I would manage a $1 million portfolio and for the first time ever on this site, I shared what I thought might be an age whereby we could achieve financial freedom.
To clarify, “freedom journey” this is not about us leaving the workforce for good, cold turkey. It’s about providing more choices regarding how we work, where we work and what we work at. Plans are always estimates about the future, based on what you know and what you don’t know. This makes plans subject to change and we’re open to those changes – but I think it’s important to have some goals to strive towards even if the future is unknown; things associated with family, relationships, career, finance and so on. Anyhow, drop me a comment or an email and let me know what you think about plans shared on this site or in general.
Enjoy your weekend!
First up for Weekend Reading…the financial services industry should be ashamed of this news release. To quote the reader that sent this article to me: “this firm appears to be menace to society”.
On a happier note I enjoyed Jon Chevreau’s money diary.
It’s hard to feel sorry for this rich Vancouverite couple who are unsure about spending $350,000 to fix their cottage.
Roadmap2Retire shared his passive income update.
Our Big Fat Wallet shared his dividend income report.
The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association or CLHIA for short, just released this web tool for Canadians approaching retirement.
Michael James on Money has a take on CRM2 (Client Relationship Model, Phase 2).
Freedom Thirty Five Blog shared his fiscal update.
Hi Mark: There is a process, and I’m not at OBSI yet. ( I wish I were; to cut to the chase.) At the appropriate time, I will take you up on your offer. Thank you kindly!
Thanks and understood!
I appreciate the sharing of the story of Mr. E’s experience with the financial services firm, and OBSI’s report. I have a very similar experience with an “advisor” (read; salesman) at RBC Dominion Securities. At this stage I’m dealing with RBC, but I expect my case will end up with OBSI. So, in a few months, you may be reading about my case as an attachment here. All in all, this is the reason why I became a do-it-yourself investor who has been on a mission for the last 2 years to learn all that I can to invest intelligently for my retirement years, which are only about 2-3 years away, .
Sorry to hear about this Helen but glad you’re doing something…at least working with OBSI is something. I’d be happy, without the names, etc. to publish any story on my blog. I feel awful for investors being taken advantage of…
No obligation, but you are welcome to email me via my Contact page.
You are smart to taken things into your own hands. The ol’ adage is true: nobody cares more about your financial future than you. Good luck!
Thanks in part to your post I am also motivated to hit $1 million in 2023. Financial freedom here we come. Thanks for the mention btw. 🙂
Hopefully sooner than later.
Thanks for the CLHIA link for Canadians approaching retirement. I immediately downloaded their Virtual Shoebox Guide (under Getting organized > Pull it all together) for keeping track of key documents and information. It’s excellent – except that it assumes everyone is a home owner. The form includes extensive sections for tracking one’s various real estate holdings (and fair enough too), but there is no place for those of us who rent to record our salient details. Given how many Canadians live in rental property OR choose to downsize to one upon retirement, this is a significant omission.
It pervades financial/retirement literature, the assumption that everyone owns their home. It’s very aggravating.
@Tawcan: Nice post. I’ve always paid off our cards each month and do enjoy the “Cash back” I get from Costco and PC. Less impressed with Air Miles, but have cashed in the points for reward items.
@Michael: Didn’t mention actually paying NO FEES. Has to better than even Low Fees.
Thanks for the mention Mark. Have a great weekend.
Enjoy!
I’ve always defined financial independence as never needing to earn income again. However, I see some declare themselves financially independent because they can quit a hated job and get by on some lesser income. The terms “retirement” and “financial freedom” mean different things to different people. Thanks for the mention.
OBSI/Financial advisor: “The advisor recommended purchasing severa…exempt market securities.” There’s a reason the advisor recommended EM products: ~10% commission (the advisor probably took home a good $10,000). “Sentinel Financial advisor characterized the products as “low-risk” ” = outright fraud. Government regulations stipulate that ALL EM products be classified as high risk (they aren’t even to be sold to seniors!). There’s a big disconnect within the industry between the rules & regulations and the enforcement of penalties.
The term ‘financial independence’ means nothing (mostly to me). Let’s take MOA as an example: he plans to retire and utilize dividends (for the most part) to grant him ‘financial freedom’. That retirement and perceived freedom are wholly dependent on the dividends and underlying companies. Even if you have a mountain of cash, your independence, even though great, is still tied to the country of issuance and its dependence (e.g. Canada and oil, US/CAN exchange, etc.). ‘Financial optionality’ presents a much more true goal for people to contemplate and aim for instead of the fairytale that is ‘independence’.
WEEKEND!!! 🙂
MOA plans to retire with dividends and distributions – yes. He hopes to have “financial optionality” – yes. I don’t believe in fairytales. 🙂
Enjoy your weekend SST.
I believe everything has a context and those contexts often further mean, different things to different folks as you say, how they internalize things. Enjoy the weekend.
@Michael, “I’ve always defined financial independence as never needing to earn income again” Before I retired I agreed with your statement. But once I changed my investment strategy and found it worked, especially now that I’ve been retired for 10 years (with no defined pension), I now define FI as my retirement income being much more than I’m spending and it’s still growing.
Thanks for the mention, Mark. Hope things are well on your end and you are staying cool in this heatwave.
cheers
R2R
Enjoy!