Weekend Reading – Yield curves, brain food, Aeroplan news, and 2019 #money help
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. I hope you’re having a great holiday.
Mine, so far, so good! It’s been great to decompress and be away from work. It’s also been great to get some exercise too – be outdoors and enjoy the milder winter weather while it lasts in Ottawa. Most importantly, it’s been special to reconnect with family over the last week. Life gets busy – it’s hard to find the time.
I want to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy New Year and I look forward to interacting with you again throughout 2019. 
Thanks to all of you for being huge fans of this site and sharing it with others in 2018. Let’s see if we can push this site to over 1 million pageviews in 2019! 
Want some guidance for next year???
Here are 10 ways to master your money in 2019. Can you go 10 for 10?
In 2019, millennials can get wealthy eventually if they do these five things.
Want to get closer to building your $1 million dollar portfolio next year? This post will tell you how to do it. Part of the magic is:
- Start saving early, preferably in your 20s, and never stop.
- Use registered accounts for investing. Max them out if you can.
- Focus on investing in equities instead of bonds.
- Keep your money management costs low. Avoid any high-fee product like the plague.
- Let time in the market (versus trying to time the market) do its thing.
You are what you eat. Here’s a list of foods to eat for your brain as you age – to maintain memory and cognition. The summary – eat more fruits and vegetables, and drink more juices. In our house, we’re trying to eat most of these foods every day or every week as prescribed in the article:
- Leafy greens are nutrient powerhouses. Eat spinach, kale, arugula, etc. in your diet at least six times a week.
- Eat lots of berries such as blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries – eat them at least twice a week.
- Eat nuts of any kind. They guard reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and memory loss. Eat a quarter-cup five times a week.
- Eat fish. You probably know they are an excellent source of fatty acids essential for brain function. Eat fish twice a week.
- Use olive oil when cooking and for your salads as much as possible. Doing so may remove beta-amyloid from the brain, a protein that can interfere with communication between brain cells.
I stay motivated on this blog because I can see, not our finish line, but a new direction coming with our Crossover Point on the horizon.
I enjoyed reading Million Dollar Journey’s December update on his goals. Impressive and focused as always. His site remains an inspiration for me.
A new year means better saving and investing choices!
Use this page on my site to own the best low-cost ETFs. Less money management fees – more cash for you. It’s that simple.
Check out my Deals page here to save more, invest better, and keep more of your money!
Check on all of the eats list. Fish sometimes only once per week but I think we’ll step that up! Leafy greens at least 10-12x/wk.
I went 9 of 10 on your list. But pay yourself first doesn’t really apply in retirement so I think we passed.
I like what Jason Heath wrote. It’s past time to make some RRSP/DC pension adjustments to give others the same opportunity as DB folks, and to make sure taxpayer public pension portions are fair. Improved annuity options, and the death/delay OAS benefit makes sense.
Inverted curve means “something”. What exactly and when is much harder to figure out. This is truly the strangest bull market. I can’t recall a big correction that ever happened when lots of people were really looking/waiting for it, let alone a few lucky folks that claim to have predict them.
MDJ certainly is an inspiration. Doing much right financially.
Rob Engen is on target, although for many easy to say but hard to do. I’m actually keen to pick up more equities but have to stay disciplined to our plan-slightly overweight now. Having a good income floor from investments and a pension in retirement makes it much easier to deal with market gyrations. At least so far!
G/L with your 1M page views. The job you do with your site deserves that.
I’ll say you passed as well!!
I doubt any RRSP/DC reform will come. People just don’t care enough although they love to complain. Talk is cheap 🙂 This is why we prefer to take matters into our own hands – I will never trust the government to make good policy changes for long-term benefit. They are short-term, vote-getting actors. Sadly, little else!
“MDJ certainly is an inspiration.” I’ll say. Geez, he has done phenomenally well for himself in his late-30s as a DIY investor and small business owner (via the blog, other).
I can only hope the site will have $1 M pageviews in 2019. Fingers crossed!
A very Happy New Year once again – chat again soon.
Mark
We think alike on financial personal responsibility and short term government thinking/vote buying, although much of this is driven by misguided public expectations/demands.
Thanks and same to you.
nice List Mark.
Ive been trying to eat a little healthier these days as well. Maybe i should add more nuts. Do beer nuts count?
Happy new years man and great work on the page this year!
keep it up
cheers
Beer nuts can count – I can attest to those too!
Best wishes for 2019 Rob. I look forward to more interactions with you – hopefully we can help grow the brands more next year.
Holiday cheers,
Mark