Posts by FT
Best USD Bank Accounts in Canada
Choosing the best USD bank account in Canada isn’t just about convenience. It can easily save you hundreds of dollars in fees and give you more control over when you convert your money. If I’m being honest, I’m not exactly thrilled about propping up the U.S. economy these days (I’m writing this in July 2025,…
Read MoreQuestrade vs Qtrade in 2025
When I first kicked off Million Dollar Journey back in 2006, Qtrade and Questrade were already elbowing each other for the top spot among Canadian online brokers. Nearly twenty years later, that rivalry hasn’t cooled down one bit. In fact, these two platforms have only cemented their status as the go-to choices for DIY investors…
Read MoreBest Canadian Dividend Stocks – July 2025
The summer’s June and July updates have our 2025 Best Canadian Stocks list looking up from the last time we focused on. While the S&P 500 is back to even on the year, TD Bank is up a stunning 24% as the bank recovers from the negative news that has dogged it for the last…
Read MoreCanadian Undervalued Stocks 2025
Undervalued stocks in Canada are usually identified as having a market value that is for one reason or another below their “true value.” The idea is that if you as an investor are able to identify these undervalued stocks while their purchase price is still low, then, someday in the future, when the rest of…
Read More49 Best ETFs in Canada – July 2025
When I first started writing about Canadian personal finance twenty years ago, my list of the best ETFs in Canada could fit on a napkin. There were no Canadian all-in-one ETFs, no catchy tickers, and definitely no slick marketing campaigns. ETFs were basically niche tools used by hardcore index investors and a handful of spreadsheet-loving…
Read MoreTop 6 Indexing Options for Your Portfolio in 2025
If you’ve been circling the idea of index investing, and fully committing to a passively-managed portfolio – but find yourself in paralysis-analysis mode – then unfortunately you have plenty of company. A lot of folks get stuck in the pre-game – unsure where to begin, thinking they don’t have enough money to get started, or…
Read MoreWealthsimple Review 2025
What is Wealthsimple? Wealthsimple was founded back in 2014 by Michael Katchen, Brett Huneycutt and Rudy Adler. I gotta say that I really liked the company more in its first few years than in its current iteration. For the first five years of its existence, Wealthsimple was solely focused on the product that is now…
Read MoreThe Biggest Risk of Early Retirement (FIRE) – Sequence of Returns!
The dream of Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) is everywhere these days (it wasn’t so common when I started my journey almost two decades ago). But here’s the thing most FIRE “influencers” don’t like to dwell on: retiring early comes with a unique headache – what’s known as sequence of returns risk. Sequence of returns…
Read MoreBest Canadian Robo Advisors 2025
As we look ahead to the warmer days of summer, Canada’s best robo advisors are already heating things up with some excellent offers for hands-off investors. Justwealth is leading the charge right now with a cash bonus of up to $500 when you open a new account – making it one of the best robo…
Read MoreQuestrade Review 2025
Is Questrade Safe & Secure? One of the most common questions that I have gotten in the comments below is: Is investing my money through a Questrade online brokerage account safe? Is Questrade as safe as RBC, TD, CIBC, ScotiaBank, and BMO? – MDJ reader The answer: Yes! Questrade is fully regulated by two key…
Read MoreHow Do RDSPs Work in Canada?
A Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) is a special long-term savings plan designed by the Government of Canada to help people with severe disabilities (and their families) save for the future. In essence, an RDSP is similar to other registered plans like an RRSP or RESP – you contribute after-tax money and it grows tax-free…
Read MoreBuying Fractional Shares in Canada
Buying fractional shares is an excellent way to get exposure to Canadian All-Stars like Constellation Software without having to toss down more than $4,000 just to buy a single unit of stock! Even if you could afford that single share of CSU, tying up that much of your portfolio in one stock probably isn’t the…
Read MorePassiv Review 2025 – Portfolio Management Tool
If you’re a Canadian DIY investor who prefers index ETFs – but prefers living life to dealing with rebalancing math and spreadsheets – then you might want to check out a tool called Passiv. The name is a play on the concept of passive investing (aka “index investing”). Passiv is most effective when used like…
Read MoreBest Short Term Investments in Canada Right Now (May 2025)
With interest set to fall, the best short term investments in Canada continue to evolve as we move toward the second half of 2025. As recently as 18 months ago, we were still seeing 5%+ GIC options, but now, I’d argue that high interest savings account options give you the best bang for your buck.…
Read MoreBest Defense or War Stocks in Canada
You know it’s not a great sign of the times when you start getting emails from Canadians about investing in war stocks. More politely referred to as defensive industry stocks, these are companies that sell weapons to governments around the world. You will sometimes hear them collectively referred to as the military-industrial complex. While the…
Read MoreTFSA Contribution Room In 2025 + TFSA Rules and Limits
There’s an overwhelming amount of investment advice out there. While some of it requires careful research and planning, some tips -like contributing to a TFSA – are simply smart moves that should be acted on as soon as possible. Why? Two powerful words: tax-free. Tax-free is not something you hear about every day, which is…
Read MoreUltimate Smith Manoeuvre Guide For Canadians
When I first started writing about the Smith Manoeuvre nearly two decades ago, I had no idea it would strike such a chord with Canadian DIY investors. What began as a niche topic on how to turn your mortgage into a tax-deductible investment loan has since become one of the most popular articles on this…
Read MoreBest Online Banks in Canada 2025
Canada’s online banks are innovating and stealing market share faster than most people thought possible a couple of years ago. According to the Canadian Bankers Association, 78% of Canadians now do most of their banking online – and that number just keeps climbing. This shift has proven to be a lot more than a short-term…
Read MoreThe Best Joint Bank Accounts in Canada
Not long ago, the Best Joint Bank Account in Canada lists were basically just the Big Five playing musical chairs. RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC, and maybe Tangerine getting an honourable mention. But let’s be honest: not much separated them, and none of them were offering anything remotely exciting. That all changed when EQ Bank…
Read MoreBMO Investorline Review 2025
Is BMO Investorline Safe and Trusted? In a word, YES. As one of Canada’s oldest and most trusted companies (founded in 1817) the Bank of Montreal is as safe, trusted, and legit as you can get. InvestorLine has been around longer than the internet – BMO introduced self-directed trading way back in 1988 before moving…
Read MoreBest Canadian High Interest Savings Accounts
With GIC rates shrinking as quickly as Canada’s economic prospects, finding the best Canadian high interest savings account in 2025 is more important than ever. The combination of best interest rates, flexible payment options, and no-fees or transactions is what separates our favourite savings accounts from the rest of the pack. A quick reminder that…
Read MoreWithdrawing From RRSP/TFSA to Fund Early Retirement
Moving from the accumulation stage of my professional career, to withdrawing investments in early retirement was more difficult than I would have predicted a few years ago. For those who haven’t been following me since I started writing Million Dollar Journey back in 2005, I have slowly-but-surely detailed my rise from a very average net…
Read MoreBest All-in-One ETFs in Canada 2025
Canada’s all-in-one ETFs (also called portfolio ETFs) have been the single most important investment product innovation since I’ve started writing about this stuff nearly two decades ago. The Vanguard, iShares, and BMO all-in-one ETFs are the perfect marriage of index investing strategy, convenience, asset allocation math, and behavioural safeguards. These ETFs – which are actually…
Read MoreIs Robinhood Available in Canada?
When Robinhood burst onto the online discount brokerage scene, its approach to “gamifying” commission-free trading completely reshaped how countless young people viewed the stock market. By rolling out zero-commission trades and an ultra-slick mobile app, it attracted a wave of first-time investors. However, since going public – and especially following the 2023 release of the…
Read MoreBest Stock Trading Apps in Canada
As a DIY investor, it has been quite rewarding to watch Canada’s best stock trading apps transform over the last nineteen years. When I first kicked off Million Dollar Journey, the trading app options were limited and often quite clunky – nearly all were controlled by the big banks. If you wanted to buy or…
Read MoreMaxed out RRSP and TFSA – Now What?
I recently received an email from a reader with a bright financial future. They have a maxed out TFSA and has recently maxed out her RRSP as well. Here’s a snippet of the email below (edited for brevity). First of all, thank you for sharing your wisdom and financial journey. I love reading your blog and…
Read MoreInvesting in Canadian Bank Stocks 2025
Last year (2024) was a very solid year for Canadian bank stocks. Most of us invest in bank stocks for peace of mind, solid dividend increases, and overall stability characteristics. But it’s always nice when you can add a 26% capital gain on top of that as well! Looking ahead, there are several good reasons…
Read MoreBest Canadian Dividend ETFs for 2025 (And Why We Prefer Dividend Stocks)
Because I’ve been writing about dividend investing for nearly two decades now, I get a lot of inquiries every month about the best Canadian dividend ETFs vs the best dividend stocks in Canada. Obviously Canadians love their tax-efficient dividend income. The consistency of having those dividend payouts hit their accounts allows investors to better control their…
Read MoreWealthsimple Trade Review 2025
What is Wealthsimple Self-Directed Investing (Formerly Wealthsimple Trade)? Wealthsimple self-directed investing is an online brokerage that lets you buy individual stocks and other assets. It’s part of the Wealthsimple ecosystem – a financial company (primarily owned by the massive Quebec-based conglomerate Power Corp) that has over 3 million customers and oversees $70+ billionin assets. Wealthsimple…
Read MoreDogs of the TSX Dividend Stock Picks
The “Dogs of the TSX” dividend investing strategy for Canadian stocks has been a focus of mine for the past 13 years. I don’t follow the “Dogs” strategy with 100% of my portfolio, but it is a key factor when I look at my relative weighting of Canadian stocks at the end of each year.…
Read MoreCanadian Dividend Kings & Aristocrats – February 2025
Investing in Canadian Dividend Kings (sometimes known as Dividend Aristocrats) tends to come back into fashion when bond yields and GIC rates start to go down. With safer assets generating so little income, dependable dividend payers begin to look more and more attractive. So it’s no surprise that these solid blue chip stocks outperformed the…
Read MoreEdward Jones Review (Canada)
After Kyle wrote about the best financial advisors in Canada a couple of weeks ago, we got several emails that asked some version of, “Should I use Edward Jones financial advisors?” or one of the other large financial advisory firms in Canada. Since I have had several friends use their services, and many of their…
Read MoreBest Options Trading in Canada 2025
Options are one of the best ways to capitalize on market trends and enhance profitability – if you get your prediction right. While buying options has a limited downside on a per contract basis, it is also one of the “best” ways to lose your money in the market – or as WSJ put it…
Read MoreAlterna Bank Review
What is Alterna Bank? Alterna Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the credit union Alterna Savings, based in Ontario. Alterna Bank has brick-and-mortar locations within Ontario that can provide in-person services, but they also have online-only accounts. In this review, we will be focusing on Alterna Bank’s eAccounts, which are its no/low-fee online products. Alterna…
Read MoreWhy I Don’t Invest in Chinese Stocks
Technically, l I guess that I can’t say that I don’t invest in Chinese stocks at all, since I advocate for using Canadian all-in-one ETFs, and have ETFs such as VXC on my best Canadian ETFs list. That said, I would never advocate for investing directly in Chinese stocks. I didn’t like the idea when…
Read MoreBest Tech Stocks in Canada For 2025
While Canadian technology stocks have seen impressive growth over the last decade – particularly during the pandemic—they remain a relatively small slice of the Toronto Stock Exchange. We have a lot of great Canadian dividend stocks, Canadian bank stocks, Canadian energy stocks, Canadian utility stocks, etc. But tech stocks account for just 8-9% of our…
Read MoreQtrade Guided Portfolios Review
What is Qtrade Guided Portfolios? (Formerly VirtualWealth) Qtrade Guided Portfolios is the new robo advisor put out by our #1 rated online brokerage company Qtrade. Much like other robo advisors, the Qtrade Guided Portfolios mission is to: Furthermore, one of Qtrade Guided Portfolios’ mission claims is “To build investor confidence”. Personally, I found them to…
Read MoreBest Personal Finance Courses in Canada
I need to be clear right off the bat that I’m a bit bias when it comes to recommending the best financial literacy courses in Canada. Kyle Prevost has been a big part of Million Dollar Journey for many years now, so when he released the first ever DIY retirement planning course for Canadians, I…
Read MoreCanadian Financial Summit 2024
It’s that time of the year… the leaves are falling, pumpkin spice lattes are brewing, and for MDJ’s Kyle Prevost – it’s back to the Canadian Financial Summit. Kyle asked me to write something this week as he’s pretty busy putting the final touches on the Summit’s interviews, emails, etc. Click here for free registration…
Read MoreThe Best Investments for Canadian Retirees: Stocks vs ETFs vs Robo Advisors
When discussing the best investments for Canadian retirees it’s important to understand upfront that it’s a nuanced topic. There is no one-size-fits-all silver bullet answer that will fit everyone. I personally recommend checking out this retirement course that I gave feedback to the author on (Kyle writes here at MDJ as well). I also recommend…
Read MoreBMO SmartFolio Review 2025
I’m a huge fan of robo advisors, and BMO’s robo advisor: SmartFolio is no exception to that. If you’re not familiar with robo advisors the basic idea is that you will determine your overall risk tolerance, and that BMO will set you up with an automated portfolio using big broad index funds that spread your…
Read MoreBuilding a $1,000,000 RRSP Starting in your 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s.
When I initially wrote this article about building RRSP wealth in your 30s, 40s, and 50s, my goal was to create an easy visual that illustrates just how much you would have to begin saving today if you wanted to be a millionaire “tomorrow” (when you retired). Five years later, the data stands up pretty…
Read MoreOaken Financial Review
What is Oaken Financial? Oaken Financial is a digital bank owned by Home Trust Company, which is a subsidiary of Home Capital Group Inc. (one of Canada’s largest trust companies). Home Trust has been around since 1987 and founded Oaken Financial in 2013. While a digital bank, Oaken Financial has a few physical locations in…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update August 2024 – $81.5k in Dividend Income!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2024 Financial Freedom Update – the first update of the year! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I shifted my focus to achieving…
Read MoreBest Recession Stocks in Canada for 2025
With Canadian dividend stocks facing significant pressure this year, many readers are asking me what are the safest stocks in Canada right now. Given the volatility affecting traditional favorites like bank stocks and telecoms, are they really the right play for investors that are focused on not losing capital? As recession and bear market concerns…
Read MoreThe Real MER on ETFs – Foreign Withholding Taxes on ETFs
Because I’ve written a lot about the Best Canadian ETFs and the top dividend ETFs, I tend to get a lot of questions and comments asking me about the MER and taxes on ETFs that hold equities from other countries. Obviously when you’re asking those types of in-depth questions you already understand the value of…
Read MoreHSBC Expat Bank Account for Canadians Abroad and Internationals in Canada
What is HSBC Expat? HSBC Expat banking is a British-headquartered bank that tailors its services to folks who aren’t living in Canada and seek to manage their finances across multiple currencies – or expats from other countries living in Canada. If you are living outside of Canada and find yourself wanting to hold currencies from…
Read MoreEQ Bank vs Neo Financial
EQ Bank continues to hold its place as our top rated online bank in Canada, but have you ever heard of Neo Financial? In the field of online banks in Canada, Neo offers one of the top Canadian high interest savings accounts available. For those seeking high-interest saving accounts with everyday spending capabilities, both Neo…
Read MoreVEQT ETF 2025 Review
As one of the Best ETFs in Canada, it made sense to take a deeper dive into one of my favourites with an in-depth VEQT ETF Review. VanguarD VEQT ETF The Vanguard All Equity ETF Portfolio is one of the best deals going in Canadian personal finance. A super cheap, super efficient way to get…
Read MoreEQ Bank vs Wealthsimple Cash
We throw the name EQ Bank around here quite frequently as it is our top rated online bank in Canada. And most people have heard of Wealthsimple or know someone who uses one of their many products. So, an EQ vs Wealthsimple matchup of elite savings account options is likely to determine the take the…
Read MoreStocktrades ETF Insights Review
What Is Stocktrades ETF Insights? ETF Insights is a platform that wants to help you cut through the noise, and select the best ETF for your RRSP, TFSA, or other accounts. It’s that simple. Twenty years ago there were only a few Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) out there to choose from, and they were basically…
Read MoreScotia iTRADE Review 2025
What is Scotia iTRADE? In 2008, Scotia iTRADE was launched when Scotiabank acquired E*Trade Canada and promptly rebranded it. This purchase was a smart move as it essentially doubled the online client base of Scotiabank overnight. Scotia iTRADE initially gained popularity among active day traders because of its discounted flat rate commissions for active traders.…
Read MoreTD Direct Investing Review 2025
What is TD Direct Investing Brokerage? The TD Directing Investing online brokerage is a solid option, even though it doesn’t quite make it to the top of my list of Canada’s best online discount brokerages. As Canada’s second biggest bank (and one of our largest companies, period) it’s probably not a surprise that the TD…
Read MoreBest Canadian Chequing Account 2025
With more and more options available, choosing the best chequing account in Canada isn’t as easy as you might assume. When was the last time you wrote a cheque anyways? You’re probably not pulling out a cheque book at the grocery store or using it to settle monthly bills. I’d reckon you’re paying most bills…
Read MoreEQ Notice: NEW Account from EQ Bank
What is the EQ Notice Account? There are three things you need to know about the NEW EQ Notice Account: 1) It’s a brand new product in Canada – no other bank has it. It’s based on a model that has been around for decades over in the UK. 2) Your money will be fully…
Read MoreHow to Become a Millionaire in Canada
Most of us have wondered what it takes to reach millionaire status in Canada. We certainly don’t advise getting involved in any “get rich quick” schemes, but we do have practical steps to share that you can take to start your journey to become Canada’s next millionaire. The majority of millionaires in Canada didn’t get…
Read MoreRESP in Canada – Rules, Eligibility & Optimal Strategy
An RESP, or Registered Education Savings Plan, is a registered tax-deferred investment account designed to help pay for a child’s education. In other words, RESPs are the best possible way to pay for your child’s eventual college and/or university bills! RESPs are eligible for government grants (re: Free Money) of up to $7,200. In this…
Read MoreBest High Yield Canadian Stocks 2025
Many people love investing in dividend stocks for their predictable income stream. One of our most popular articles is our best Canadian dividend stocks list. Many investors are looking in particular for the best high yield Canadian stocks, so each year we provide the updated list below. You may notice we haven’t picked the stocks…
Read MoreXEQT ETF 2025 Review
Given that I recommend the XEQT ETF (and other Canadian all-in-one ETFs) quite often these days, I figured that it was time to give a 2025 update to my XEQT review. If you’ve checked out my Best ETFs in Canada comparison you’ll see that XEQT is at the top of the list – and it’s…
Read MoreWays to Maximize the Canada Child Benefit (CCB)
Most Canadian parents don’t understand how they maximize their Canadian Child Benefit (CCB) and get paid thousands of government dollars every year! We’ve been receiving this benefit since the Trudeau administration has been in power (2016), and I’m always tinkering with ways to max out this benefit. It’s worth my time since the CPP clawback…
Read MoreWhat is Income Splitting?
Income splitting is a tax-saving strategy that divides a stream of income between family members (usually two spouses). The goal is to apportion as much of the higher-earning family member’s income to other family members, in an effort to get that higher-earning spouse into a lower tax bracket. Some economists and policy wonks have made…
Read MoreIs National Bank Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
National Bank of Canada has demonstrated its resilience in the face of market challenges, standing out as a great investment opportunity in the coming years. Its historical performance reflects a commitment to stability and growth, with recent advancements reflecting its proactive approach to evolving market dynamics. However, it’s essential to consider the broader context of…
Read MoreIs BCE Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
If you’re considering investing in BCE stock in 2025, evaluating the company’s performance, dividend growth, and the latest developments in the telecommunications industry can help you make your decision. Being informed about BCE’s recent advancements is crucial in determining whether it is a wise investment choice, and comparing it with its fellow Canadian telecommunication competitors…
Read MoreIs CNR Stock A Good Buy Right Now?
If you’re considering investing in Canadian National Railway (CNR) stock in 2025, it is important to evaluate the company’s performance, dividend growth, and recent developments in the railway industry. Staying informed about CNR’s recent advancements and industry trends is crucial in determining whether it is a wise investment choice. Additionally, comparing CNR with other Canadian…
Read MoreWebull Canada Review
When I sat down to take a close look at Canada’s newest brokerage for my Webull review, I realized a couple of things pretty quickly. 1) Webull had higher prices for Canadian customers than it did for its American clients. 2) Webull doesn’t have TFSA, RRSP, and other Canadian investment accounts available. Consequently, this US…
Read MoreDo I Need an Accountant To Do My Taxes?
Two of the most common questions that I have gotten in our MDJ inbox over the years are: Do I need an accountant to do my taxes or can I DIY it? Do I need an accountant for my small business in order to do bookkeeping, tax preparation, and general financial advising? And then most…
Read MoreDividend Stocks Rock Review 2025
Investing on your own is not an easy task. From mutual funds to robo advisors and individual stocks, there are a wide range of strategies, information services and trading platforms to choose from. It can quickly become overwhelming. This is where the simplicity of dividend investing really shines. I started investing in mutual funds when…
Read MoreIs Algonquin Power Stock A Good Buy in 2025?
When considering an investment in Algonquin Power stock, it is essential to evaluate the company’s performance, market trends, and recent developments in the renewable energy sector. Keeping yourself informed about Algonquin Power’s recent advancements and industry dynamics is vital in making an informed investment decision. If you’re interested in diversifying your portfolio with dividend-paying stocks,…
Read MoreCIBC Investor’s Edge Broker Review 2025
What Is CIBC Investor’s Edge? If you are already a CIBC customer, you might already know that it has been around for a long time, over 100 years in fact. As a result, it offers an array of choices when it comes to how you save and invest your money. It offers the basics, such…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update Nov 2023 – $78.8k in Dividend Income!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey November 2023 Financial Freedom Update – the third update of the year! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I shifted my focus to achieving…
Read MoreInvesting Taxes: Dividends, Interest & Capital Gains
Are you curious about how investing taxes are calculated on capital gains, dividends, and interest in Canada? I’m not a tax expert, but with tax loss harvesting season coming out, I figured it might be a good time to review some of the basics between how Canadian investment returns are taxed in your RRSP, TFSA,…
Read MoreIs Air Canada Stock A Good Buy in 2025?
If you’re considering investing in Air Canada stock in 2025, it is important to understand the company’s performance, market trends, and recent developments in the airline industry. Staying informed about Air Canada’s recent advancements and industry dynamics is crucial in determining whether it is a wise investment choice in 2025. As an investor, it is…
Read MoreIs Rogers Stock A Good Buy in 2025?
If you’re considering investing in Rogers stock in 2025, it is important to understand the company’s performance, dividend growth, as well as its recent merger with Shaw. Staying informed about Rogers’ recent advancements and industry developments is crucial in determining whether it is a wise investment choice in 2025. This also allows you as an…
Read More4 Steps for a Worry Free Retirement Course Review by Frugal Trader
It’s not every day that one of your co-writers pens the first online course for retirement in Canada. Naturally, it only felt right that the first review of 4 Steps to a Worry Free Retirement was posted on Million Dollar Journey! If you want to skip my review and see what the course is all…
Read MoreIs Telus Stock a Good Buy in 2025?
If you’re considering investing in Telus stock in 2025, it’s crucial to assess the company’s performance, dividend growth, and recent developments in the telecommunications industry. Staying updated on Telus’ latest advancements is key in determining whether it is a smart investment choice in 2025. If you’re seeking to diversify your portfolio with additional dividend stocks,…
Read MoreIs BNS Stock a Good Buy in 2025?
If you’re thinking about investing in Bank of Nova Scotia stock in 2025, you must consider the bank’s individual performance, its recent developments, and the future outlook for not just the Canadian banking sector, but the global financial services industry . For additional perspectives on alternative investment choices, you can explore our article highlighting the…
Read MoreInvesting In Gold In Canada 2025
As one might expect in a market pullback (and geopolitical crisis) we’re getting many requests about how to invest in gold in Canada, as well as how to invest in commodities (which we covered not so long ago). The awkward truth is that while you’d think this would be gold’s time to shine (see what…
Read MoreInvesting in Flow Through Shares in Canada
Since writing my original “How to Buy Flow Through Shares in Canada” article over a decade ago, I’m consistently surprised at how many people are interested in this uniquely Canadian investment idea. Early on in my Million Dollar Journey, I’d written about not what flow through shares were, but also on my personal experiences, as…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update Aug 2023 – $77.8k in Dividend Income!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2023 Financial Freedom Update – the second update of the year! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I shifted my focus to achieving…
Read MoreIs Shopify Stock a Good Buy in 2025?
If you’re considering investing in Shopify stock in 2025, it’s important to assess the company’s performance and the latest developments in the e-commerce industry. Staying informed about Shopify’s latest financial and innovation updates are essential in determining whether it is a favorable investment choice. If you are looking to diversify your tech investment dollars, we…
Read MoreCanadian Value Stocks – Top 10 Picks 2025
Finding the best value stocks in Canada isn’t an easy task. The truth is that the criteria for what makes an excellent value stock is a bit nebulous, and not as easy to define as when value stock Godfather Ben Graham was writing his treatise on investing. This is the second article in our Million…
Read MoreIs Enbridge Stock a Good Buy in 2025?
If you’re considering buying Enbridge stock in 2025, then you need to be aware of the company’s individual performance, its dividend growth rate, and recent developments in the energy industry. These indicators pretty solidly show why Enbridge has historically been an excellent investment, and will continue to be going forward. If you’re looking for more…
Read MoreIs Suncor a Good Stock to Buy in 2025?
If you’re thinking about buying Suncor stock in 2025, it’s important to consider how the company has been performing, its dividend growth, and any recent changes in the energy industry. It’s also important to keep up with the company’s latest developments, all of which show that Suncor is a good buy right now. If you’re…
Read MoreBest Utility Stocks in Canada 2025
There is a reason why so many of Canada’s best utility stocks are also on our overall list of best dividend stocks in Canada: They are natural oligopolies/monopolies, meaning that can pass along increasing costs almost instantly, and have really solid yields for income-seeking investors. This combination makes them a natural fit for Canadian investors…
Read MoreThe Best Low Cost Ways to Convert CAD to USD
Any Canadian who’s traveled to (or ordered something from) the US knows about converting CAD to USD. It’s never fun to watch every dollar of your hard-earned money suddenly turn to $0.75 (or less!), and with additional foreign exchange fees, it can really add up. And exchange rates aren’t going anywhere. The cost of one…
Read MoreWhen to Buy Dividend Stocks in Canada
Dividend stock investing is a great strategy for those looking to invest primarily in mature, stable companies with a history of spinning off free cash flow. Whether or not someone chooses to take the dividend payout out of their brokerage account in order to pay for life, or to reinvest any dividend income depends on…
Read MoreBond ETFs vs GICs vs High Interest Savings Accounts
For income-oriented Canadian investors the choice between a Bond (or Bond ETF), a GIC, or a high interest savings account has become more important than ever. With interest rates at historic lows (for a little while longer anyway) choosing the best option for the “safe, low risk investing” part of our portfolio can make a…
Read MoreIs TD Bank Stock a Good Buy in 2025?
If you’re considering buying Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank stock in 2025, then you need to be aware of the bank’s individual performance, its abandoned merger with First Horizon, and the long term prospects for Canadian and American banking as well. For more insights on comparable investment options, check out our article on the Best Canadian…
Read MoreCanadian Stock Market vs U.S. Stock Market in 2025
We Canadians might like to argue with our U.S. neighbours about who makes better beer or who plays better hockey but when it comes to your portfolio, the real argument is who gets the better returns, the Canadian stock market vs the U.S. stock market? Both Canada and the U.S. are wealthy developed countries with…
Read MoreIs RBC Stock a Good Buy in 2025?
If you’re considering buying Royal Bank stock in 2025, then you need to be aware of not only the company’s individual performance, but also RBC’s current valuation, and the general prospects for Canadian banking as well. For more information on comparable investments check out our article on the Best Canadian Bank Stocks, and to decide…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update May 2023 – First Update of the Year ($73.8k in Dividend Income!)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey May 2023 Financial Freedom Update – the first update of the year! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I shifted my focus to…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Calculator/Spreadsheet
By now, most people here know that I’m interested in the Smith Manoeuvre. If you are new to this concept, you can read more about them in my article “Mastering The Smith Manoeuvre“. Originally, I discovered the Smith Manoeuvre, through a great thread on RedFlagDeals.com that talks exclusively about the strategy. This includes the tax…
Read More46 Ways to Save Money in Canada
Editor’s Note: This article was originally written by FT back in 2017. Due to its popularity, we have asked FT to update it for 2023 with more relevant advice. As always, we encourage you to comment below and tell us how you save money in your day to day life. If you are looking for…
Read MoreVanguard vs. iShares All-in-One ETFs
All-in-one ETFs are giving robo advisors a run for their money with their ease of use and low fees. All-in-one ETFs contain multiple ETFs, which means in one single purchase, you are essentially getting an entire well-balanced and hugely diversified portfolio at the tap of a button. There are many Canadian all-in-one ETFs to choose…
Read MoreThe Best REIT ETFs in Canada For 2025
A Real Estate Trust (REIT) ETF is the most straightforward way to invest in real estate without becoming a landlord yourself or spending time researching the 30+ individual REITs on the Toronto Stock Exchange. This article will give you all the details about REIT ETFs: Top REIT ETFs in Canada: Quick Comparison Name Ticker Number…
Read MoreThe Best No-Fee Cash Back Credit Cards in Canada 2025
If you’re not using the best free cashback credit cards in Canada, then you’re missing out on free money! We published our no-fee cashback credit card list back in 2007 and we’ve been updating it regularly ever since, so you always know which no-fee cashback cards to consider. We start our list with a quick…
Read MoreInvesting on Behalf of my Kids
One of the most rewarding things about becoming financially knowledgeable and secure is being able to pass that knowledge on to your own children. When they begin to make, save and invest their own money, you will be there to guide them. If you want to take it a step further, you can start investing…
Read MoreTop 10 Wealthiest Canadians in 2025
It’s been over a decade since we first wrote about the richest Canadians, and we thought it was a good time to update the list! While some have remained on the top 10 wealthiest Canadian list for years, some have not been able to maintain that title. Others have been able to retain their top…
Read MoreSimple Low Cost Diversified Index ETF Portfolios 2025
We’ve been writing about low-cost ETFs in Canadian index portfolios since 2008. Below is our 2025 update. ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, first entered the Canadian market over a decade ago. From day one, they impressed us as an excellent tool to help you build a low-cost, diversified portfolio. As time has passed, ETF providers have…
Read MoreTop Blue Chip Stocks in Canada for 2025
A blue chip stock refers to stocks of high value companies. Think companies that are household names, have a widely recognized brand and are so big that they are unlikely to fail. The top blue chip stocks in Canada include companies from a wide range of sectors; utilities, industrial, financial and consumer staples. These companies…
Read MoreHow to Build a Dividend Growth Portfolio
If you’ve been following MDJ for a while, you will come to learn that I’m a fan of two investing strategies, index investing and investing for income through Canada’s best dividend stocks. I like index investing (also known as passive investing) for its ease, low cost, and ability to beat most active mutual fund returns…
Read MorePre and Post Market Trading in Canada
Most Canadian investors are content to buy and sell stocks when the main North American stock markets are open. What that means is that you can buy and sell shares of companies and ETFs if they appear on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and the NASDAQ, between the hours of 9:30am…
Read MoreBest Canadian Dollar (CAD) ETFs for U.S Equities
A reader recently emailed me about my thoughts on the best US Dollar USD ETFs vs CAD ETFs when it comes to getting portfolio exposure to the American market. You may already know that I’m a fan of index investing using the best ETFs available. Whether that’s all-in-one ETFs, Canadian dividend ETFs, or in this case,…
Read MoreNational Bank Direct Brokerage Review 2025
NBDB has made changes over the last two years to make their fee structure competitive among other discount brokers, and have now dropped their commission fees altogether for those trading on their online platform. It seems as though they have taken customer feedback to heart and made improvements to make those customers want to stay…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update Dec 2022 ($73.8k in Dividend Income!)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey December 2022 Financial Freedom Update – the final update of the year! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – 2022 Update
For those of you just joining us, this is an update (it’s been a while!) on my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC) – otherwise known as the Smith Manoeuvre. What is the Smith Manoeuvre? The Smith Manoeuvre, in its simplest form, is a leverage investment…
Read MoreTax Efficient Index ETF Portfolio for Non-Registered Account
There may come a point during the year that you max out your registered Canadian investment accounts, or if you are living abroad, there might be certain restrictions on what you can contribute to tax-advantaged accounts. The great news is that no matter what your situation is, you can still open a non-registered tax efficient…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update Oct 2022 Update ($73k in Dividend Income!)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey Oct 2022 Financial Freedom Update – the third update of the year! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to…
Read MoreLow Cost Currency Conversion with DLR/DLR.U ETF
With foreign exchange fees as high as 2.5% for discount online brokers, low-cost currency conversion methods are a great way to keep a little extra money in your portfolio. If you’re dealing with larger trades, those FX fees can really add up! For example, say I wanted to purchase $10,000 worth of Walmart stock with…
Read MoreNorbert’s Gambit – Save Money With USD to CAD Foreign Exchange
If you’re looking to save money on foreign exchange, you’re in luck. There is a simple and effective way to convert your CAD to USD so you can make US stock purchases. It’s called Norbert’s Gambit, and it can save you hundreds of dollars on trading fees. Smart investors know that investing in US stocks…
Read MoreBest Real Estate Stocks in Canada 2025
I like the idea of owning real estate – but I don’t want the headaches of being a landlord. If that sounds like you, then you basically have two options: Invest in Canadian Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) Or Invest in Canadian real estate stocks. Personally, I’m a massive fan of investing in Canadian bank…
Read MoreBest Cannabis Stocks in Canada 2025
In October of 2018, Canada became the first North American country to completely legalize marijuana, opening the doors for the cannabis industry to expand into new territory, and for Canadian cannabis stocks to begin trading on the TSX. While in the US, weed isn’t Federally legal, the majority of states allow the purchase of marijuana…
Read MoreBest Emerging Market ETFs to Buy in Canada 2025
I have to admit that due to my focus on Canadian dividend stocks, I am guilty of having a bit of an overall home country bias in my portfolio. I’m fine with that, as I really like Canada’s current valuations and long-term prospects. That said, when I want quick diversification, I tend to look for an…
Read MoreBest Pipeline Dividend Stocks In Canada 2025
It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Canadian dividend stocks here at MDJ, and while we have given some shine to Canadian energy stocks over the last couple of years, we have always just sort of tossed the Canadian pipeline stocks in alongside those big energy producers. The fact is the Canadian pipeline stocks…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update June 2022 – Q2 Update ($70.5k in Dividend Income!)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey June 2022 Financial Freedom Update – the second update of the year! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to…
Read MoreBest Industrial Stocks in Canada For 2025
With the market shifting to defensive mode, Canadian industrial stocks are back in style. Investors are clearly in the mood for solid (boring?) dependable earnings that can keep up with an inflation-heavy environment. While Canadian railroad stocks and Canadian airline stocks are technically considered Canadian industrial stocks, we decided that they needed their own articles. While…
Read MoreInvesting in Canadian Airline Stocks 2025
Now that travel has opened up again, many MDJ readers have been asking us if now is the time to invest in Canadian Airline stocks. Truthfully, we might be the wrong folks to ask about this one. If you take a look at our best Canadian dividend stocks and/or Canadian Dividend Kings articles, you won’t…
Read MoreBest Renewable Energy Stocks in Canada 2025
With all of the attention on Canadian energy stocks due to the recent run up in oil prices, many experts are arguing that now is the time to look into Canadian renewable or “green energy” stocks. If you are a longtime MDJ reader, you’ll notice a few crossover companies from our best Canadian dividend stocks…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update March 2022 – First Update of the Year ($68,100 in Dividend Income!)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2022 Financial Freedom Update – the first update of the year! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to…
Read MoreIndexed Family Education Fund (RESP) Portfolio Update – 2022 Edition
Welcome to the annual Registered Education Saving Plan (RESP) update where I show transparency on our indexed investment strategy to help pay for our children’s future education costs. Since we’ve been posting about these accounts since my kids were born (my oldest was born in 2008), it shows the power of long-term compounding of a…
Read MoreHow To Track Your Net Worth
This post was originally published in early 2009, but brought to the forefront as I believe it’s one of the more important strategies for growing wealth. For those of you who have been following my journey, you’ve probably noticed that I’m a big believer in tracking and managing progress to help achieve desired goals. I…
Read MoreTop Premium Cash Back Credit Cards in Canada 2025
A premium cashback credit card with an annual fee is a great way to maximize your cashback rewards – especially if you make most of your purchases on credit cards. The best paid cashback credit cards in Canada feature high earn rates and some truly excellent perks – significantly better than Canada’s best no-fee credit…
Read MoreShould I buy Whole Life Insurance for my Children?
A reader, Arlene, recently asked a question in my article “investing on behalf of kids” about obtaining “Whole Life Insurance” for their young children. A financial planner suggested that obtaining permanent insurance for their children is a good idea to invest in their future. Here is the question: Hello! A financial planner thinks it’s a good idea…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update Nov 2021 – Big Dividend Raises Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey November 2021 Financial Freedom Update – Big Dividend Raises Edition! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial…
Read More5 Ways to Get Your Credit Score and Credit Report for FREE
It’s now easier than ever to get a credit score check in Canada for free! I mean… a credit score check is only really important if you hope to: Get a mortgage Purchase a car Rent an apartment Get a great credit card Qualify for certain types of insurance Even gain specific types of employment…
Read MoreTop No Fee Rewards Credit Cards in Canada
I’ve written about the top free cash back credit cards in Canada before, and even modified my top pick to be Neo Financial in 2021, which is also the overall best credit card in Canada in my opinion. However, there are an abundance of other rewards based credit cards out there that deserve a look.…
Read MoreHow To Pay Off Your Mortgage In 3 Years
In the October 2010 net worth update, I briefly mentioned that I was planning on paying of the mortgage balance this month and I’m happy to say that we officially became mortgage free in 2010! As this is a significant milestone in any financial journey, I thought that it deserved a post all on its…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update Sept 2021 – Market Highs Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey September 2021 Financial Freedom Update – Market Highs Edition! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence.…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q3) 2021 – Sequence of Returns Risk Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey 2021 (Q3) Financial Freedom Update – the third update of the year! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my…
Read MoreHave I Given Up on the Smith Manoeuvre?
Out of many investing topics written about on Million Dollar Journey, the Smith Manoeuvre was one of the first and among the most popular investment strategies discussed. What is the Smith Manoeuvre? But, what is the Smith Manoeuvre and why is it so popular? This investment strategy was named after Frasier Smith, a financial advisor who…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q2) 2021 – Portfolio All-Time High Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey 2021 (Q2) Financial Freedom Update – the first update of the year! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q1) 2021 – First Update of the Year
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey 2021 (Q1) Financial Freedom Update – the first update of the year! If you would like to follow my whole financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my…
Read MoreIndexed Family Education Fund (RESP) Portfolio Update – 2021 Edition
Welcome to the annual Registered Education Saving Plan (RESP) update where I show transparency on our indexed investment strategy to help pay for our children’s future education costs. What is an RESP? At a high level, an RESP is an investment account for future post-secondary students and stands for Registered Education Savings Plan. It can…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q4) 2020 – Volatile Stock Market Edition ($61,850 in Dividend Income)!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey 2020 (Q4) Financial Freedom Update – Volatile Market Edition! If you would like to follow my latest financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter and/or Facebook. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to…
Read MoreMy Favorite Free Personal Finance Apps
Readers often ask what my favourite personal finance apps are. It’s not an easy question to answer, as the apps we choose are highly personalized to our particular needs, goals, habits and more. The good thing is, there are so many apps out there, that anyone can find exactly what they are looking for. But…
Read MoreThe Pros and Cons of the New Aeroplan
The new Aeroplan was just announced and there were a lot of changes. This wasn’t a minor refresh, it’s a complete redesign that will benefit most people, but there’s no denying that some travellers will be disappointed. To give you some context, Air Canada was going to cut ties with Aeroplan (owned by Aimia at…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q3) 2020 – New Market High Edition ($61,050 in Dividend Income)!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey 2020 (Q3) Financial Freedom Update – New Market High Edition! If you would like to follow my latest financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter or Facebook, and/or you can sign up for the monthly Million Dollar Journey Newsletter. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M…
Read MoreCalculating Your Adjusted Cost Base (ACB)
If you’ve invested in a non-registered portfolio you’ve likely come across the tax-preparation question: How to calculate your adjusted cost base (ACB). It’s certainly a pain in the portfolio, and can be tedious and complicated at times. But it’s a necessary ‘evil’. You need to know your ACB in order to calculate the capital gain…
Read MoreThe Hot Potato Investing Strategy
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll know that most of my wealth is in the stock market for the long-term. While there are many short term stock trading strategies, many of these strategies just don’t work out for regular investors. In fact, the initial losses often turn beginner investors away from…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q2) 2020 – V-Shape Recovery Edition ($60,550 in Dividend Income)!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey 2020 (Q2) Financial Freedom Update – the V-Shape Recovery Edition! If you would like to follow my latest financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter or Facebook, and/or you can sign up for the monthly Million Dollar Journey Newsletter. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M…
Read MoreIndexed Family Education Fund (RESP) Portfolio Update – 2020 Edition
During this time of uncertainty, many readers have contacted me for continued portfolio updates. One group in particular – parents – are asking me what I’m doing with my RESPs. What is an RESP? At a high level, an RESP is an investment account for future post-secondary students and stands for Registered Education Savings Plan. …
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q1) 2020 – Bear Market Edition ($59,500 in Dividend Income)!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey 2020 (Q1) Financial Freedom Update – the Bear Market Edition! If you would like to follow my latest financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter or Facebook, and/or you can sign up for the monthly Million Dollar Journey Newsletter. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M…
Read MoreWill a Mini-Split Heat Pump Save You Money? Our Results After the first Year!
In late 2018, we installed a mini-split heat pump for the purpose of reducing our electricity bill. Around here in the most easterly parts of Canada, most of the houses use electric baseboard heating as the primary source of heating. While baseboard heating is a lower cost option during installation, the operating costs can rack…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q4) – 2019 Year End Update ($55,200 in Dividend Income)!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey 2019 (Q4) Year-End Financial Freedom Update. If you would like to follow my latest financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter or Facebook, and/or you can sign up for the monthly Million Dollar Journey Newsletter. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June…
Read MoreWhat to do if Run out of HELOC Space with the Smith Manoeuvre
If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you may have heard about the Smith Manoeuvre. At a high level, it’s a long-term investment strategy for investors with high risk tolerance. Essentially, it’s where an investor borrows against his home (using a HELOC) to invest in the stock market, business, and/or real estate. The plan…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q3) – September 2019 – Reaching the Cross Over Point ($53,400 in Dividend Income)!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey September 2019 (Q3) Financial Freedom Update – the third update of 2019! If you would like to follow my latest financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter or Facebook, and/or you can sign up for the monthly Million Dollar Journey Newsletter. For those of you new here, since achieving…
Read MoreCan You Have Too Much RRSP?
Since I’ve written about how much you need to save to reach $1M in your RRSP starting in your 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s, I’ve been getting questions from readers who have significant RRSP contributions. More specifically, can you have too much in an RRSP? I haven’t been able to find any good articles online that…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q2) – June 2019 ($50,660 in Dividend Income)!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey June 2019 (Q2) Financial Freedom Update – the second update of 2019! If you would like to follow my latest financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter or Facebook, and/or you can sign up for the monthly Million Dollar Journey Newsletter. For those of you new here, since achieving…
Read MoreBuilding a Simple Low-Cost Indexed ETF Portfolio in USD
With recent articles about all-in-one ETFs and withholding taxes on ETFs in registered accounts, I’ve been getting questions about if there are USD based all-in-one ETFs, and if not, what are the most efficient USD ETFs to own? There are a number of readers who make their money in USD, and there are some advantages…
Read MoreRetirement Calculators – How Much Do You Need to Retire?
This popular article was originally written in 2017, but since then, a couple of the calculators have gone offline. I have updated this article with a couple of new additions. Enjoy! A reader recently asked me if she had saved enough for retirement. While it seems like a challenging question to answer, it can be roughly calculated…
Read MoreWhat Happens to your RRSP and TFSA after you Die?
Last week, I wrote about the most efficient way to withdraw from your accounts during retirement. Within the article, I mentioned that while the general rule of thumb is to keep your RRSP as long as possible, there are some situations where drawing down on your RRSP first makes the most sense. This is particularly…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q1) – March 2019 ($48,200 in Dividend Income)!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2019 (Q1) Financial Freedom Update – the first update of 2019! If you would like to follow my latest financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter or Facebook, and/or you can sign up for the monthly Million Dollar Journey Newsletter. For those of you new here, since achieving…
Read MoreThe Mini-Split Heat Pump Experiment – Will it Save You Money?
Way back in 2008, we completed a custom home that we still live in today. In that same year, I wrote a post about my regrets of not going with a heat pump to save money on energy bills. I’m not sure if you use electric heat where you are from, but if you do,…
Read MoreIndexed Family Education Fund (RESP) Portfolio Update – 2019 Edition
It has been about a year since my last RESP portfolio update which is probably an appropriate time span since it’s a fairly steady portfolio that is 100% indexed. 2018 was certainly a test for equity portfolios and although stocks were pounded, these indexed RESP accounts performed a little better than I expected. The RESP portfolios for…
Read MoreNet Worth Update January 2019 – Nobleea the Engineer and Millionaire!
Name: Nobleea Age: 40 Net Worth: $1,049,416 Day Job: Engineering manager at oilfield services company, Teacher (wife) Family Income: $140,000 (main job), $20,000 (part-time job/rental income), $85,000 (wife main job) Goals: Million dollar family net worth before 40 (Complete), Retirement from the primary job at 50 (for me) We live in Edmonton where incomes are…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q4) – December 2018 – Did we Reach our Goal?
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey December 2018 Financial Freedom Update – the final update for 2018! If you would like to follow my latest financial journey, you can get my updates sent directly to your email, via Twitter or Facebook, and/or you can sign up for the monthly Million Dollar Journey Newsletter. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M…
Read MoreRogers World Elite MasterCard – Best Free Cash Back Card in Canada?
In a recent post announcing the new Simplii Financial Cash Back Visa (4% at restaurants), I hinted that the Rogers World Elite MasterCard may be a top contender for the best free cash back credit card in Canada. My post comparing the best free cash back cards in Canada is a popular one with the…
Read MoreNet Worth Update October 2018 – SmilingSaver (+63.2%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey October 2018 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. SmilingSaver was selected as a team member and will post net worth…
Read MorePaying Property Tax and Utilities with a Credit Card
Recently, a reader asked about my monthly expenses and how I flow all my expenses through a credit card. If you’ve been following MDJ for a while, you’ll know that I am a big fan of some loyalty programs and cash back credit cards. The best is when the stars align that combine a generous…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q3) – Sept 2018 ($43,450 in Dividend Income)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey September 2018 Financial Freedom Update – the third quarter update! For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point where they are enough…
Read MoreCanadian Financial Summit 2018 – All Online and FREE!
The bloggers behind Young and Thrifty have organized a virtual Canadian Financial Summit (CFS) starring 28 personal finance experts in the country. Some of these experts include: Jon Chevreau (author of Findependence day and former editor of MoneySense Magazine); Preet Banerjee (CBC’s The National Commentator); Ellen Roseman (Columnist at Toronto Star); Rob Carrick (Columnist…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q2) – June 2018 ($41,050 in Dividend Income)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey June 2018 Financial Freedom Update – the halfway mark of the year! For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point where they…
Read MoreWhere to Put your Investments for Maximum Tax Efficiency
I’ve been getting a number of emails from readers about dividend investing and which type of investment account to use for maximum tax efficiency. This article should help clear up some of those questions. This post has been modified and expanded but was originally written in 2009. Efficiency is the name of the game not only…
Read MoreTop Premium Credit Cards with No Foreign Transaction Fee
Credit cards with no foreign transaction fees seem to be a hot area these days with new products popping up in recent months. Since the demise of the popular Amazon Visa, there have been a number of new cards that have popped up. In a recent post listing the best travel credit cards, I wrote about…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q1) – March 2018 ($37,550 in Dividend Income)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2018 Financial Freedom Update – the first update of the year! For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point where they…
Read MoreNet Worth Update March 2018 – Nobleea the Oil and Gas Engineer (+4.2%) ($995,244)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2018 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Nobleea – the Oil and Gas Engineer, was selected as a team…
Read MoreOfficial Passive Income Rules for Canadian Small Business
In the Summer of 2017, the Canadian government dropped a tax bomb on Canadian small business owners with proposed changes to how they are able to split their income and their ability to invest excess cash flow into passive investments. While they had some vague guidelines, they did not have concrete rules to wrap our heads around. …
Read MoreIndexed Family RESP Portfolio Update – 2018 Edition
It has been about a year since my last RESP portfolio update which is probably an appropriate time span since it’s a fairly steady portfolio that is 100% indexed. The RESP portfolios for our children are set up with TD e-Series mutual funds which provide a low-cost way to index the market (some other ways to index your portfolio). …
Read MoreNet Worth Update January 2018 – SmilingSaver (+46%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey January 2018 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. SmilingSaver was selected as a team member and will post net worth…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q4) – December 2017 (+9.82%) – Year End Update
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey December 2017 Financial Freedom Update – the final update of the year. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point…
Read MoreNet Worth Update Nov 2017 – Karl the Real Estate Agent Millionaire (+1.8%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey November 2017 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after my million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Karl the Real Estate Agent was selected as a team member and…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q3) – Sept 2017 (+5.56%) – Major Milestone!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey September 2017 Financial Freedom Update – the third update of the year. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point…
Read MoreCanadian Financial Summit – All Online – and FREE!
The bloggers behind Young and Thrifty have organized a virtual Canadian Financial Summit (CFS) starring 25+ personal finance experts in the country. Some of these experts include: Andrew Hallam (Author of Millionaire Teacher); Jon Chevreau (former editor of MoneySense Magazine); Peter Hodson (CEO of 5i Research Inc); Preet Banerjee (CBC’s The National Commentator); Ellen…
Read MoreRRSP Deadline & Contribution Limit 2018/2019
RRSP Deadline/Contribution Limit For those of you coming here through Google search looking for the RRSP deadline for tax year 2018, the deadline is: March 1, 2019. Basically 60 days into the new year. There is an abundance of choice out there for RRSP accounts, but here is a review of the best online brokers for…
Read MoreNet Worth Update August 2017 – Nobleea the Oil and Gas Engineer (+1.3%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2017 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Nobleea – the Oil and Gas Engineer, was selected as a team…
Read MoreNet Worth Update August 2017 – SmilingSaver (+121%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2017 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. SmilingSaver was selected as a team member and will post net worth…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q2) – June 2017 (+9.73%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey June 2017 Financial Freedom Update – the second update of the year. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point…
Read MoreGlobal ETF ex-Canada (XAW/VXC) or 3 Individual ETFs?
If you’ve been following my financial freedom updates, you’ll see that I’m a fan of global index ETFs (ex-Canada). Two of my favorites are XAW from iShares and VXC from Vanguard. I like them because they provide diversified exposure to the largest companies in the world (outside Canada) through a single ETF, they are on…
Read MoreNet Worth Update April 2017 – Nobleea the Oil and Gas Engineer (+10.8%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey April 2017 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Nobleea – the Oil and Gas Engineer, was selected as a team…
Read MoreNet Worth Update March 2017 – SmilingSaver – The Big Move (+140%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2017 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. SmilingSaver was selected as a team member and will post net worth…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update (Q1) – March 2017 (+10.89%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2017 Financial Freedom Update – the first update for the year. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point…
Read MoreNet Worth Update January 2017 – Karl the Real Estate Agent (+4.74%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey January 2017 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after my million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Karl the Real Estate Agent was selected as a team member and…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update – December 2016 (+15.5%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey December 2016 Financial Freedom Update – the final update for the year. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point…
Read MoreNet Worth Update Nov 2016 – Nobleea the Oil and Gas Engineer (-3.2%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey November 2016 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Nobleea – the Oil and Gas Engineer, was selected as a team…
Read MoreReal Life Example of Norbert’s Gambit and Foreign Exchange w/ BMO Investorline
The continued strength of U.S Dollars (USD) has made it more expensive for Canadians to purchase US goods. As of this week, $1 CAD = 0.73856 USD, in other words, it would cost you $1.354 CAD to purchase $1 USD. This is a great situation if you already own USD, and perhaps now is a…
Read MoreHow to Transfer a Work Pension to a LIRA
When my wife recently left her career in health care, there was a bit more administrative work than expected. One of these administrative items was to decide what to do with her accrued pension with her work place. Technically, there are two pensions that we have to deal with. The first was a “defined benefit”…
Read MoreNet Worth Update October 2016 – SmilingSaver – New Goal Edition (+9729%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey October 2016 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. SmilingSaver was selected as a team member and will post net worth updates on a regular basis. Here is more…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update – September 2016 (+9.7%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey September 2016 Financial Freedom Update. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point where they are enough to cover our family…
Read MoreNet Worth Update August 2016 – Karl the Real Estate Agent (+27.02%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2016 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after my million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Karl the Real Estate Agent was selected as a team member and…
Read MoreNet Worth Update July 2016 – Nobleea the Oil and Gas Engineer (+8.38%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey February 2016 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Nobleea – the Oil and Gas Engineer, was selected as a team…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update – June 2016 (+5.78%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey June 2016 Financial Freedom Update. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point where they are enough to cover our family…
Read MoreNet Worth Update June 2016 – Sean Cooper (+2.76%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey June 2016 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Sean Cooper was selected as a team member and will post net worth…
Read MoreHow to Create a Stock Watchlist with Google Spreadsheets
I brought this post out of the archives due to a number of recent emails about how to track stock holdings. I still use Google spreadsheets today to track my dividend holdings. With the market volatility, there is a heightened interest in dividend stocks and how to buy stocks in general. Within my article on…
Read MoreNet Worth Update May 2016 – Smiling Saver – Student Loan Edition (+100%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey May 2016 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. SmilingSaver was selected as a team member and will post net worth updates on a regular basis. Here is more…
Read MoreNet Worth Update April 2016 – Karl the Real Estate Agent (+6.9%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey April 2016 Net Worth Update (a little late, sorry!) – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after my million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Karl the Real Estate Agent was selected as a team member…
Read MoreBreakdown of Our Expenses in 2015
Back in 2008, I wrote my initial post about our monthly expenses. It’s always interesting going back in time to see what the circumstances were. Back then, the update was compiled just before we had our first child, and we had a mortgage on our principal residence (a new build). Our annual recurring outlay was around…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update – March 2016
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2016 Financial Freedom Update. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point where they are enough to cover our…
Read MoreNet Worth Update March 2016 – Sean Cooper – Mortgage Free @ Age 30 (+10.39%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2016 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Sean Cooper was selected as a team member and will post net…
Read MoreRESP Portfolio Update – February 2016
It’s been a little over two years since my last RESP portfolio update which is probably an appropriate time span since it’s a fairly steady portfolio that is 100% indexed. The RESP portfolios for our children are setup with TD e-Series mutual funds which provide a low cost way to index the market. We contribute $2,500/account/year to get…
Read MoreNet Worth Update February 2016 – Nobleea the Oil and Gas Engineer (+4.53%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey February 2016 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Nobleea – the Oil and Gas Engineer, was selected as a team member and…
Read MoreCapital Gains Tax when Converting Currency
When I wrote about some low cost ways to convert your valuable US Dollars (USD) back into Canadian dollars (USD), there was a comment about the potential for capital gains tax which caught some readers by surprise. At a high level, if there is any sort of “profit” from doing a conversion from USD to…
Read MoreNet Worth Update January 2016 – Smiling Saver (Digging out of Debt) (+39.46%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey January 2016 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. SmilingSaver was selected as a team member and will post net worth updates on a regular…
Read MoreFinancial Freedom Update – December 2015
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey December 2015 Financial Freedom Update. For those of you new here, since achieving $1M in net worth in June 2014 (age 35), I have shifted my focus to achieving financial independence. How? I plan on building my passive income sources to the point where they are enough to cover our family…
Read MoreNet Worth Update October 2015 – Karl the Real Estate Agent (+4.94%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey December 2014 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. Karl the Real Estate Agent was selected as a team member and will…
Read MoreOne Year After – A Financial Freedom Update – August 2015
It has been a little over a year since reaching the million dollar net worth milestone and a number of you have emailed me requesting an update on what I’ve been doing since, how it feels to be a millionaire, and mostly, how my new financial goals are progressing. Life Since Becoming a Millionaire Back when I…
Read MoreNet Worth Update June 2015 – Smiling Saver (Just Married)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2014 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. SmilingSaver was selected as a team member and will post net worth…
Read MoreNet Worth Update April 2015 – Nobleea the Oil and Gas Engineer
Name: nobleea Age: 36 Net Worth: $747,709 Day Job: Engineering manager at oilfield services company, Teacher (wife) Family Income: $145,000 (main job), $10,000 (part time job), $70,000 (wife main job), $10,000 (wife part time job) Goals: Million dollar family net worth before 40, Retirement from primary job at 50 (for me) Notes: Owns primary house.…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre/Dividend Portfolio Update – Q1 2015 Update – The Oil Plunge!
For those of you just joining us, listed below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I started this portfolio in 2008 (at the height of the market) and write updates every…
Read MoreEasy Index Mutual Fund Portfolios with the Big Banks
Over the years while helping readers, friends, and co-workers with investing, I’ve come to the conclusion that convenience is of the highest priority, even if it means paying higher fees. Most people simply want to stick with their current banking institution and have no interest in opening a discount brokerage of their own. Having said…
Read MoreNet Worth Update October 2014 – SmilingSaver (Deep in Debt)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2014 Net Worth Update – Team MDJ edition. A select group of readers were selected to be part of Team MDJ which was conceived after the million dollar net worth milestone was achieved in June 2014. SmilingSaver was selected as a team member and will post net worth…
Read MoreReader Mail: Should I Sell or Hold during Stock Mergers/Acquistions?
The big financial news in Canada these days is that Burger King is acquiring Tim Hortons in a cash and stock deal worth $12 billion. When big events like this happens, I typically get a number of emails on the topic, this time around, readers are wondering what to do with their shares of Tim…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre/Dividend Portfolio – Q2 2014 Update
For those of you just joining us, listed below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I started this portfolio in 2008 (at the height of the market) and write updates every…
Read MoreCompleting The Million Dollar Journey
It’s been a long time coming, but we finally did it, we hit the million dollar net worth milestone. Our million dollar journey started in 2006 with a family net worth of about $200,000. While that is a significant amount of money for a 27 year old, the balance sheet, or net worth statement, was…
Read MoreHow Much Do You Need to Retire in Canada? Not as Much as You Think!
For the traditional “retire at age 60 or 65” situation, the popular advice pushed by the financial industry is to save enough to replace 70% or even 80% of your gross income during working years. Another popular notion is that you’ll need at least $1M to retire comfortably. The truth of the matter is that…
Read MoreNet Worth Update April 2014 (+0.81%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey April 2014 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreHow to Start Making Money with YouTube
One of the oft-written about topics on financial blogs involves ways to save money. Saving money is certainly one piece of the ‘earn more and/or spend less’ mantra. Supplementing one’s primary income with part-time gigs/ventures can provide a fillip to stretched budgets and/or offer additional contribution to savings/investment accounts. With the ubiquity of the Internet,…
Read MoreNet Worth Update March 2014 (+0.71%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2014 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre/Dividend Portfolio – Q1 2014 Update
For those of you just joining us, listed below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I started this portfolio in 2008 (at the height of the market) and write updates every…
Read MoreNet Worth Update February 2014 (+12.1%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey February 2014 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreNet Worth Update January 2014 ( +3.04%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey January 2014 Net Worth Update – first update of the year. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million…
Read MoreNet Worth Update December 2013 – Year End Summary
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey December 2013 year end Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre/Dividend Portfolio Year End Update 2013
For those of you just joining us, listed below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every so often to show new positions added along with any market…
Read MoreRESP Portfolio Update – December 2013
It’s been about a year since my last RESP portfolio update and probably would have been longer if it wasn’t for a reader request for a quick update. The RESP portfolios for our children are setup with TD e-Series mutual funds which provide a low cost way to index the market. We contribute $2,500/account/year to get…
Read MoreNet Worth Update November 2013 (+1.27%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey November 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreWalmart Credit Card Review (Canada) – How Does it Stack Up?
For one reason or another, I’ve been getting a number of emails looking for my opinion on the Walmart credit card. Generally, I prefer credit card rewards to be flexible, like a cash back credit card, rather than being locked into a single vendor. However, there are some vendors that offer good value, like Loblaws…
Read MoreNet Worth Update October 2013 (+1.64%) – Crossed $800k Threshold!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey October 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreTop Canadian Preferred Share ETFs
Preferred shares are an odd asset class. They aren’t quite equities, and they aren’t quite bonds. They are similar to equities in that they pay a dividend, and Canadian preferred shares are eligible for the dividend tax credit. Preferred shares are also traded on the stock market and while they are not as volatile as…
Read MoreNet Worth Update September 2013 (+1.19%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey September 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreSelf-Employed Freelancer or Professional? How to File Your Income Taxes!
With fewer employers offering stable full-time positions, instead opting for part-time and contract work, self-employment is on the rise. According to the latest jobs numbers from Statistics Canada, self-employment rose 3.6 per cent in August 2013. With over 2.6 million Canadians relying on self-employment for their livelihood, it’s more important than ever to understand how…
Read MoreHow Regular and Synthetic Dividend Reinvestment Programs (DRIP) Work
The questions are still rolling in about investing small amounts per month, this time regarding the differences between a dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP)/stock purchase plan (SPP) and a synthetic DRIP that most discount brokerages offer. For those who are new to the concept, a DRIP is a way to automatically reinvest dividends received from a…
Read MoreNet Worth Update August 2013 (+0.26%) – The Volatility Returns!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreNet Worth Update July 2013 (+1.89%) – Strong Market Moves!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey July 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre/Dividend Portfolio Update – July 2013
For those of you just joining us, listed below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every so often to show new positions added along with any…
Read MoreNet Worth Update June 2013 (+0.17%) – Summer Stock Market Volatility
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey June 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreTop Canadian Stock Screeners
When it comes to picking your own stocks it can be hard to sift through all of the data and opinions in order to make sure that you’re buying stocks at the right price. For instance, if you like Canadian dividend stocks, some may choose to screen for low book values or payout ratios instead…
Read MoreNet Worth Update May 2013 (+1.61%) – Sell in May and Go Away?
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey May 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreNet Worth Update April 2013 (+0.92%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey April 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreNet Worth Update March 2013 (+2.19%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreNet Worth Update February 2013 (+1.15%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey February 2013 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – February 2013
For those of you just joining us, below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every so often to show new positions added along with any market…
Read MoreNet Worth Update January 2013 (+4.53%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey January 2013 Net Worth Update – The first update of the year. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one…
Read MoreHow to Calculate Annual Investment Returns Using XIRR
After my 2012 year end net worth update, there was some chatter about how to properly calculate annual investment returns. The fact is that there are a number of ways to calculate annual investment returns, some easier than others. For example, if you have a starting portfolio value and an ending portfolio value for a…
Read MoreNet Worth Update December 2012 (+1.75%) – Year End Summary and Giveaway Winners
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey December 2012 Net Worth Update – The Year End Summary. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in…
Read MoreRESP Portfolio Update – December 2012
It’s been a couple of years since my last RESP portfolio update and probably would have been longer if it wasn’t for a reader request for a quick update. Since the last update, there has been a big change. Instead of managing one RESP, now there are two! We have the RESP accounts setup separately, but…
Read MoreNet Worth Update November 2012 (+1.04%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey November 2012 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreNet Worth Update October 2012 (+1.36%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey October 2012 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreAsk the Readers: What’s in Your Wallet?
The personal finance blog group, The Money Writers, came up with the idea of writing a post about the contents of a blogger’s wallet. As it’s a regular occurrence for me to bare all (financially) on this blog, I agreed to play along as some of my readers may be curious as well. What’s my…
Read MoreNet Worth Update September 2012 (+1.84%) – The Unlikely Rally
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey September 2012 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreNet Worth Update August 2012 (+1.53%) – End of the Summer Rally?
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2012 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – August 2012
For those of you just joining us, below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every so often to show new positions added along with any market…
Read MoreNet Worth Update July 2012 (+1.47%) – Market Bounce?
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey July 2012 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreHow Rent to Own Houses Work in Canada
One real estate strategy that I’m quite familiar with, but never written about, is rent to own or lease option homes. What is a rent to own home? It’s pretty much exactly as it sounds. It’s where an investor, or home owner, rents out their property to a tenant, but gives the tenant the “option”…
Read MoreNet Worth Update June 2012 (+1.69%) – Growth Chart Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey June 2012 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreNet Worth Update May 2012 (+0.66%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey May 2012 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – May 2012
For those of you just joining us, below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every so often to show new positions added along with any market…
Read MoreNet Worth Update April 2012 (+0.25%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey April 2012 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreNet Worth Update March 2012 (+0.98%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2012 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreHow Much Does a Tim Hortons Franchise Cost and Profit?
With Tim Hortons being one of the most successful Canadian franchises, I’m willing to bet that you have wondered about the Tim Hortons business. that is specifically how much revenue/profit a single location generates and how much it costs to start one up. While it’s apparent that owning a Tim Hortons is like having a…
Read MoreNet Worth Update Feb 2012 (+1.91%) – Market Gains Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey February 2012 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the time…
Read MoreNet Worth Update Jan 2012 (+2.16%) – A Fresh Start!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey January 2012 Net Worth Update – The first update for 2012! For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million…
Read MoreNet Worth Update Dec 2011 (+0.97%) – Year End Summary
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey December 2011 Net Worth Update – The Year End Summary. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – December 2011
For those of you just joining us, below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every so often to show new positions added along with any market…
Read MoreNet Worth Update Nov 2011 (+0.93%) – Santa Claus Rally?
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey November 2011 Net Worth Update – Santa Claus Rally Edition. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in…
Read MoreCanada’s Most Expensive and Lowest Cost MBA Programs
Since obtaining my undergrad in Engineering about eight years ago, I’ve played around with the idea of going back to school for my Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration on finance. Although I don’t see the MBA designation advancing my career at the moment, I’m more interested in it for the sake of…
Read MoreNet Worth Update Oct 2011 (+2.66%) – Market Bottom?
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey October 2011 Net Worth Update – Market Bottom Edition. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net…
Read MoreNet Worth Update Sept 2011 (-0.64%) – The Volatility Continues
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey September 2011 Net Worth Update – The Volatility Continues Edition. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in…
Read MoreNet Worth Update August 2011 (-0.92%) – Market Correction Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2011 Net Worth Update – Market Correction Edition. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net…
Read MoreTop US Dollar Credit Cards in Canada
One of the hot topics in Canadian financial landscape is the strong Canadian dollar and the deals that we can obtain from the U.S. I’ve written about USD Chequing accounts, how to save money during foreign currency exchange and even the process of buying a car from the U.S. When I shop in USD, despite…
Read MoreNet Worth Update July 2011 (+1.69%) – Rising Rates Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey July 2011 Net Worth Update – Rising Rates Edition. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net…
Read MoreNet Worth Update June 2011 (+1.50)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey June 2011 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth, hopefully by the…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – June 2011
For those of you just joining us, below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every so often to show new positions added along with any market…
Read MoreNet Worth Update May 2011 (+1.18%) – Money is Moving Edition!
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey May 2011 Net Worth Update – Money is Moving Edition. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in…
Read MoreReader Question: Comparing MERs, Yield and Returns
A reader emailed me with a question about comparing ETFs, more specifically their MERS, yields, and if there is a correlating return. Here is the question in detail: I have a question regarding ETFs that follow indexes, like the XCV and XIC in Canada that follow the TSX in one way or another. There seems…
Read MoreFinancial Strategies for the New Stay at Home Parent
With most households these days generating income from both spouses, it can be a challenge to switch to the single income when the need arises. Such as having multiple children or losing employment. The biggest reason for the challenge of dropping to one income is that dual incomes typically result in a lifestyle that matches the…
Read MoreNet Worth Update April 2011 (+0.66%) – Middle Class Definition?
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey April 2011 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth. If you would…
Read MoreNet Worth Update March 2011 (+1.55%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2011 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth. If you would…
Read MoreCanadians Buying Property in Florida – The Tax Issues
My wife asked me the other day about my thoughts on buying property in Florida. As an East coast Canadian, I must say that the fantasy of owning property where it’s sunny most of the time is quite appealing. Not only that, this seems like great timing as the Canadian Dollar is slightly greater than…
Read MoreBuying Foreclosures in Canada – The Process
Once upon a time, I was a landlord and owned a couple rental properties. As this may be old news to some of you, what you may not know is that I purchased one of the properties via foreclosure or bank sale. As I’ve been a capitalist for as long as I can remember, it…
Read MoreNet Worth Update February 2011 (+1.56%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey February 2011 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth. If you would…
Read MoreManulife ONE Mortgage Review
As I’ve been looking into using the Smith Manoeuvre strategy, I’ve come across a few mortgage solutions that will fit nicely. Among them include the RBC Homeline mortgage, the First Line Matrix mortgage, and the Manulife ONE (M1) mortgage. The first two mortgages are similar where they have a traditional mortgage portion with a home…
Read MoreConverting a Principal Residence into a Rental Property – The Solution!
This is a guest article from Kerry, a soon to be Chartered Accountant, who has tips for those who want to convert a principal residence to a rental property. From a young age many of us aspire to own a home. Historically, the investment benefits of home ownership have been fairly significant, particularly here in…
Read MoreNet Worth Update January 2011 (+3.61)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey January 2011 Net Worth Update – The first update of the year. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one…
Read MoreFinancial Goals for 2011 – What are Yours?
Since starting this blog, I’ve set financial goals every year to help keep me focused. One strategy that has been written a lot about a lot in the blog world is using the SMART goal strategy. SMART is an acronym for: S: Specific M: Measurable A: Attainable/Actionable R: Realistic/Relevant T: Time Based The SMART goal…
Read More2010 Financial Goals Evaluation
As I like to stay accountable for my finances, I set financial goals every year. Last years goals were fairly aggressive and although I’m happy with the way things worked out, there was some room for improvement. Out of the six goals, three were achieved, one made good progress, and two just didn’t happen. Lets…
Read MoreNet Worth Update Dec 2010 (+1.87%) – Year End Summary
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey December 2010 Net Worth Update – The Year End Summary Edition. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – December 2010
For those of you just joining us, below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every so often to show new positions added along with any market…
Read MoreNet Worth Update November 2010 (+1.49%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey November 2010 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth. If you scroll…
Read MoreNet Worth Update October 2010 (+1.78%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey October 2010 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (or beginning of the next) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth. If you scroll…
Read MoreNet Worth Update September 2010 (+2.06%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey September 2010 Net Worth Update. For those of you new to Million Dollar Journey, a monthly net worth update is typically posted near the end of the month (late this time) to track the progress of my journey to one million in net worth. If you scroll down below,…
Read MoreAsk the Readers: Living Paycheque to Paycheque?
I read a disturbing article in the Globe and Mail recently about how 59% of employed Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque. What does that actually mean? Simply that 6 out of 10 Canadians would be in financial trouble if their pay cheque was delayed by a week. Yes… a week. Here is an excerpt…
Read MoreNet Worth Update August 2010 (+1.56) – RRSP Contribution
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2010 Net Worth Update – RRSP Contribution Edition. It’s a little past halfway through the year and I finally got my act together and made our RRSP contributions. I figured since our cash savings was buiding up, we might as well put it to some use. The bright side is…
Read MoreNet Worth Update July 2010 (+1.49%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey July 2010 Net Worth Update Very little has changed since the June update. In fact, the updates look very similar with the biggest increase this month again being … savings! While building and generating cash is the goal, it can become an issue if you don’t know what to do with…
Read MoreShould University Students Contribute to an RRSP?
Linda, a University student, is on the financial ball and considering starting her RRSP contributions but is wondering if it’s the best choice. Here is the question: I am going into my 3rd year of university and just started a well paying summer job. I have been hearing about RRSPs since high school and the…
Read MoreFinancial Goals Mid Year Update 2010
It was suggested by a regular reader, canucktuary, to write an update of my financial goals for 2010. I always find it helpful to review progress to see if I’m on track for the end of year report. I’ll be honest, in preparation for this post was the first time I’ve gone over my 2010 goals. …
Read MoreNet Worth Update June 2010 (+1.45%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey June 2010 Net Worth Update With summer underway, it’s the time of year where vacations are plenty and things slow down a bit in online world. Trading volumes decrease, markets slow down, and blog followers are busy enjoying the sunshine. On the same note, my net worth increases continue to be…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio Update – June 2010
For those of you just joining us, below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every so often to show new positions added along with any market…
Read MoreNet Worth Update May 2010 (+2.67) – Sell in May and Go Away?
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey May 2010 Net Worth Update – Summer Correction Edition. For those of you who believe in seasonality, there is a recognizable historic pattern of market performance between the months of October and May, and bearish the remaining months. That’s where the saying “sell in May and go away” comes…
Read MoreApril 2010 Net Worth Update (+1.34%) – New Beginnings Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey April 2010 Net Worth Update – The New Beginnings Edition For those of you following my net worth updates, you may have noticed that the bulk of the net worth increase is due to savings. The savings have been higher than normal as of late due to higher household…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio Update – April 2010
For those of you just joining us, below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every so often to show new positions added along with any market…
Read MoreMarch 2010 Net Worth Update (+2.03)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2010 Net Worth Update. Another month, fortunately another net worth gain. Usually when it comes to personal finance, there are two main lines of thought. The first, and perhaps the most common, is to spend less than you earn. This train of thought leads to frugality and separating your needs and wants. The second line of…
Read MoreIn-Kind Transfers of Non-Registered Stocks to an RRSP/TFSA
I’m a bit late getting to this reader question as the RRSP deadline was at the beginning of this month (March 1, 2010), however, this can apply to the current tax year. The question relates to the tax implications of transferring stock in-kind to an RRSP or a TFSA. Say Mr. Investor has stock in…
Read MoreRESP Portfolio Update – March 2010
It’s been over year since my last RESP portfolio update and probably would have been longer if it wasn’t for a reader request for a quick update. Our RESP portfolio for our child is setup with TD e-Series mutual funds which provide a low cost way to index the market. I chose to go with mutual funds…
Read MoreFeb 2010 Net Worth Update (+1.54)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey February 2010 Net Worth Update. There was a small market correction in late January/early February but the market is still as resilient as ever bouncing back above the 50 day moving average. As a result, my portfolio numbers remained status quo. The biggest financial move this month was that…
Read MoreRoadside Assistance Comparison
I’ve never really given thought about buying roadside assistance protection before as I considered it just another unnecessary cost. However, with an alternator failure the other day in our 8 year old car, it made me think about what it would cost to get a tow truck should I ever need one. Along the same line of thought,…
Read MoreJan 2010 Net Worth Update (+4.43)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey January 2010 Net Worth Update – New Beginnings Edition! If you recall, 2009 was a great year for net worth growth. With stock markets and savings up for 2009, we managed to increase our net worth by 29%. What’s on the horizon for 2010? I’m hoping for more of…
Read MoreMy Financial Goals for 2010
As per the annual tradition since I’ve started Million Dollar Journey, it’s time to declare some financial goals for the New Year. As I’ve written before, I believe that setting realistic goals are important in making progress towards desired, bigger picture milestones. For me, one of my bigger picture financial goals is to be a…
Read More2009 Financial Goals Evaluation
At the beginning of every year, I typically set financial goals for myself. The goals are usually fairly lofty but achievable with the proper discipline and desire. Although 2009 was a great year for net worth and income growth, there was room for improvement in terms of achieving the financial goals that I set out…
Read MoreDec 2009 Net Worth Update (+2.11%) – Year End Summary
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey Dec 2009 Net Worth Update – year end summary edition. 2009 has been a great year for net worth growth due to a combination of factors. First, the markets were much stronger than I expected which has resulted in an aggressive portfolio recovery from the market crash of 2008. …
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Update December 2009
It’s been a while since my last Smith Manoeuvre portfolio update (see August update). Perhaps it’s because of the lack of portfolio changes lately as I’m one of those people who are not buying much in this market. However, since it’s the end of the year, it may be a good time to do one…
Read MoreRent a House to my Parents?
Mark emailed me with an interesting scenario in building a house for his parents and renting it out to them. It’s not that his parents can’t afford to build their own, Mike is simply wondering about the benefits and pitfalls of such an arrangement. Here are more details: My parents are thinking of selling their…
Read MoreClaiming Capital Loss from a Delisted Stock
With Nortel becoming delisted, there are thousands of investors out there still holding the delisted stock. So what happens next? How do you claim the capital loss? As I’m not a tax expert, I contacted Tax Guy to help me out with that question. Here is what he came back with. If you own shares…
Read MoreNov 2009 Net Worth Update (+1.65%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey Nov 2009 Net Worth Update It’s almost the end of 2009 and my net worth growth (along with many others) has been on a steady climb over the months. Most of the gains this year has been from rapidly appreciating equity markets since March 2009, strong income and, most…
Read MoreHow Car Lease Payments are Calculated
With the new 2010 Honda CRV released, a renewed interest in a replacement vehicle has occurred in our household. After browsing around the auto makers website, I was curious as to the difference between purchase and lease payments. As someone who likes to pay cash for everything to avoid the interest, I’ll reluctantly admit that…
Read MoreOct 2009 Net Worth Update (+1.58%): Halloween Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey Oct 2009 Net Worth Update – The Halloween Edition Halloween is here once again, it’s hard to imagine where time goes. It seems that the more we age, the faster time passes. This year, we expect a lot of trick or treaters ringing our doorbell as our street is now fully…
Read MoreSept 2009 Net Worth Update (+2.78%) – Pension Buy Back Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey Sept 2009 Net Worth Update – The Pension Buy Back Edition. As I’ve mentioned in passing before, my wife has a defined benefit pension plan that she contributes to through her work with the government. As she was on maternity leave last year, her work recently gave her the…
Read MoreHow to Convert a Principal Residence into Rental Property?
A real estate situation that I hear about often are people considering keeping their first home as a rental while moving onto their second personal residence. The upside is obvious, if they do it right, they get to keep an appreciating property along with the potential extra cash flow that rent brings in. The Basics…
Read MoreAugust 2009 Net Worth Update (+1.70%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey August 2009 Net Worth Update. There’s not a lot to report this time as not a lot has happened in the month of August. The markets continue to edge upward but we are closing in on the volatile September and October months. Do you expect a significant market correction…
Read MoreSmith Manouevre Portfolio August 2009 – Where is the Correction?
Hey guys, for those of you just joining us, below is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every couple months or so to show new positions added…
Read MoreGuaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and GIS Clawback
I received an email from a senior reader (married) recently who was wondering what he can do about avoiding the GIS clawback as he was soon due to convert his RRSP to an RRIF thus a forced withdrawal. Before we get into the question, lets start with the basics. What is Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS)?…
Read MoreJuly 2009 Net Worth Update (+1.75%): Big Home Expenses
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey July 2009 Net Worth Update – The Home Expenses Edition Houses are expensive! With summer in full force, I have been diving into the “honey do list.” Thus far, we have installed a fence and organized the garage. Other items on the list include creating a front garden for…
Read MoreBuying a Car from the U.S – The Pros/Cons and Process
My last post on the car research that I’m doing spurred a great deal of interest with some readers requesting more information on purchasing a car across the border. If you didn’t know already cars in the U.S, for the most part, have a much lower price tag than the exact same vehicle sold in…
Read MoreCase Study: Young and Cash Rich
Kevin, from Canadian Money Forum, started a forum topic asking for advice on his financial situation. Check it out: I’ve chosen to write this topic in order to have an idea about what you would do in my situation. I’ve read most of the MDJ blog, as well as several other websites, but the more…
Read MoreJune 2009 Net Worth Update (+2.12%): Car Shopping Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey June 2009 Net Worth Update – The Car Shopping Edition. With one of our cars already 8 years old, the repairs are starting to add up. So we’re currently in the process of shopping for a good used car/compact SUV, preferably a late model that is off lease with…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio June 2009 – The Rally Continues!
For those of you just joining us, this is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. I write an update every couple months or so to show new positions added along with…
Read MoreMay 2009 Net Worth Update: Mortgage Pay Down Edition (+5.32%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey May 2009 Net Worth Update the mortgage pay down edition. As I mentioned before, we are going to get aggressive in paying down the mortgage. Having said that, we have dumped most of our savings onto the mortgage along with increasing our payment by about 50%. The result is…
Read MoreReader Mail: What to do with $5,000?
Here is an email from a young reader who has put himself in a very good financial situation. Mark has $5,000 sitting around and is wondering what to do with it. I’m in a situation that I’m sure many would envy, but I’m stuck. Through a combination of income tax returns and unintentional savings, I…
Read MoreApril 2009 Net Worth Update: Bull Market? (+4.12%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey April 2009 Net Worth Update – Is this really a bull market edition. My last net worth update in March indicated that we just started a market rally. The rally has continued throughout April and I’ve actually done a little buying within my leveraged portfolio as well as within…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio April 2009 – The Turning Point?
For those of you just joining us, this is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. For more details, check out my modified smith manoeuvre strategy. There hasn’t been a lot of…
Read MoreMarch 2009 Net Worth Update: Market Rally Edition (+1.92%)
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey March 2009 Net Worth Update – The Market Rally Edition. Finally, some relief from the markets where buyers are starting to come back. Investors seem to have renewed faith in financials and other dividend paying blue chips. My feeling is that this is a temporary rally, but who knows…
Read MoreHow Capital Cost Allowance Works (CCA)
I’ve brushed on Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) before when discussing rental property tax deductions and the CCA schedule for the purchase of a computer in 2009. However, as it can be a fairly complicated topic, I thought I would write a primer and explain the basics of CCA. Capital Cost Allowance is basically the fancy…
Read MoreFeb 2009 Net Worth Update (-2.29%): Landlord No Longer Edition
Welcome to the Million Dollar Journey February 2009 Net Worth Update – The Landlord No Longer Edition. As some of you know, I purchased a cash flow positive rental property a few years ago. What you probably didn’t know is that the tenants were interested in purchasing the properly. I ended up selling the house…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – Feb 2009
For those of you just joining us, this is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. For more details, check out my modified smith manoeuvre strategy. It’s been a couple of months…
Read MoreHolding a Mortgage within an RRSP
A reader wrote me last week very excited about the prospects of holding your own mortgage within an RRSP. Yes, that’s right, under the right conditions, you can use your own RRSP to fund the mortgage owing on your house and pay yourself back on a monthly basis. As this sounds great on paper, after…
Read MoreRRSP Tip: Carry Forward Your RRSP Tax Deduction
With the RRSP deadline right around the corner (March 2, 2009), this is a strategy that I’ve mentioned in passing a couple times, but never in great detail. That is, providing that the situation is right, you should consider carrying forward all or a portion of your RRSP tax deduction to a future year to…
Read MoreHow to Get Free HDTV (in Canada)
This is a guest post by Tomasz who is a manager of systems engineering at AMD Inc. in Markham, ON. He is a technology enthusiast with his latest project on getting free HDTV over the air (OTA). He has been doing research for months and is looking to install his own OTA system in May…
Read MoreRESP Portfolio Update – Feb 2009
A few readers have requested that I do a blog post about the performance of my Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) portfolio based on the TD e-series low cost mutual funds. As I’ve written before, I chose the TD RESP solution as it provided a low cost way to index the bambinos education fund. In…
Read MoreProtect Your Savings: CDIC and CIPF Explained
Since the inception of this blog, I’ve received numerous emails from readers asking where to put larger deposits. Most know about CDIC (Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation) and how it protects most accounts up to $100,000, but what about amounts greater than $100,000? What do you do then? What exactly happens to your money if a…
Read MoreJanuary 2009 Net Worth Update (+2.94%)
Welcome to the very first net worth update of 2009! The most notable update this past month was that I took a portion of our savings ($20k) and put a lump sum payment on our mortgage. I’m hoping to do this again later in the year to meet one of my financial goals. However, the…
Read More9 Ways I Reduced My Taxes Last Year
With 2008 done and over with, it’s that time of year to start thinking about the dreaded T word… taxes. On one hand, I enjoy strategizing about legitimate methods to reduce income tax. On the other hand, I don’t enjoy paying them. Below are 9 ways I reduced my income tax in 2008 which can…
Read More2008 Financial Goals Report Card
Time for the annual financial goal report card. I set these goals at the beginning of the year to help bring focus to what I want to achieve financially. What’s a better way to stay focused than to make the goals public to thousands of readers! 2008 was a big and busy year for our…
Read MoreDecember 2008 Net Worth Update (-0.45%)
Welcome to the recurring monthly net worth update – The December 2008 edition. Well it looks like this will be the final net worth update for 2008! With the huge market correction in the 2nd half of 2008, it’s almost a relief that 2008 is over. However, who knows what 2009 will bring as some…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – Dec 2008
For those of you just joining us, this is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. For more details, check out the modified smith manoeuvre strategy. It’s been a couple months since…
Read MoreNovember 2008 Net Worth Update (-1.59%)
Welcome to the recurring monthly net worth update – The November 2008 edition. For the second month in a row, I was not looking forward to putting this post together. As you can see from the title, November 2008 is another down month with my net worth dropping an additional 1.59%. What’s the reason for…
Read MoreOctober 2008 Net Worth Update (-0.26%)
Welcome to the recurring monthly net worth update – The October 2008 edition. Before I started writing this update, I was actually quite nervous about the result as my portfolios are deep in the red for the year. This dramatic correction is the largest of my investing career and it comes with mixed feelings. The…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – October 2008
For those of you just joining us, this is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. For more detail, check out the modified smith manoeuvre strategy. It almost sounds like a giant…
Read MoreSeptember 2008 Net Worth Update (+0.34%)
Welcome to the recurring monthly net worth update – The September 2008 edition. Seems that lately having the word “frugal” in my handle is hypocritical. As one of my regular readers puts it, I’ve been “spendy”. This month, it started with the new HD TV along with cables, then of course we had to get…
Read MoreAugust 2008 Net Worth Update (+1.27%)
Welcome to the recurring monthly net worth update – The August 2008 edition. This summer is turning out to be a little expensive. As predicted a few months back, now that my wife is back on her feet and settled into the baby routine, she is now in home decorating mode! Of course with a…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – August 2008
For those of you just joining us, this is my portfolio that is leveraged with money borrowed from my home equity line of credit (HELOC). As the money borrowed is used to invest, the interest charged is tax deductible. For more detail, check out the modified smith manoeuvre strategy. Onto the business at hand. I…
Read MoreSunday Morning Reading – August 3, 2008
My Dollar Plan announces “I Quit!” Madison is yet another blogger who has taken her online business full time. Congrats! The Digerati Life teaches us how to Reduce Your Grocery Bill With These Practical Tips. Lazy Man and Money writes about Extreme Foreclosure! A family who went through a home transformation a la Extreme Makeover…
Read MoreJuly 2008 Net Worth Update (+0.54%)
Welcome to the traditional monthly net worth update – The July 2008 edition. In terms of expenses, this month was a little higher than expected. We typically funnel all of our spending through our credit card (for the rewards points) and we ended up with a $2,500 bill for the month (paid in full of…
Read MoreMid Year Investment Portfolio Checkup 2008
I’m a little past due but it’s time to do a mid year portfolio check up. TheMoneyWriters came up with the idea of doing a portfolio update to see how we are all doing thus far. Honestly, I would be surprised to see anyone with any significant portfolio growth at this point in 2008 Non-Reg…
Read MoreJune 2008 Net Worth Update (+2.09%)
Welcome to the traditional monthly net worth update – The June 2008 edition. I keep writing these updates to give myself a little heads up on how the finances are doing and it seems that most readers find them enjoyable also. Lets start off with our income and expenses. Even with our reduced income due…
Read MoreSmith Maneouvre Portfolio – June 2008
Time again for the monthly Smith Manoeuvre Portfolio update, June 2008 edition. For those of you just joining us, The Smith Manoeuvre is a Canadian wealth strategy that utilizes a home equity loan to invest in income producing assets. The result is a tax deductible loan and portfolio that increases as you pay down your…
Read MoreHybrid vs. Gasoline Vehicle Comparison – Are Hybrid Vehicles Worth it?
Are hybrid vehicles worth it? With record high gas prices due to the price of oil, I’m sure that most car owners out there have major concerns over their gas usage. Over the past 10 years, the cost of gasoline has grown 250%! This got me thinking, with the newer “gas friendly” hybrid cars/SUV’s out…
Read MoreMay 2008 Net Worth Update (+3.12%)
It’s the end of month financial checkup! Lets see, where do we start? On the income front, my wife finally started getting her maternity benefits along with the monthly UCCB payments. Even though the benefits are much less than her regular paycheck, they help take some of the pressure off. On the expense side of…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – May 2008
Time again for the monthly Smith Manoeuvre Portfolio update, May 2008 edition. I asked during the last update whether or not I should keep these monthly portfolio posts going, or if I should space them out a bit. I think that most of you enjoy these posts, but some may find them boring. So, I…
Read MoreThe High Cost of the Manulife One Mortgage
One of my older posts regarding the Manulife One Mortgage is still generating a lot of discussion. Basically it’s a battle between the convenience of having all your banking and debt under one account vs. the extra premium that you pay for the privilege. To quickly summarize the Manulife One mortgage, it’s a giant HELOC…
Read MoreApril 2008 Net Worth Update (+1.65%)
Another month has gone by already which means it’s time to do a quick financial checkup. Lets start with the markets. It seems that the markets have stabilized and even on an uptrend. I’m not sure how long this is going to last, but I’m not too worried as most of my money is in…
Read MoreSmith Manoeuvre Portfolio – April 2008
Since the beginning of MDJ, I have talked about the Smith Manoeuvre. For those of you just joining us, The Smith Manoeuvre is a wealth strategy that utilizes a home equity loan to invest in income producing assets. The result is a tax deductible loan and portfolio that increases as you pay down your mortgage.…
Read MoreGetting Organized for Tax Season
As the tax deadline is approaching, the procrastinators out there are scrambling to get their receipts in order to file their income taxes. Yes, I am one of those procrastinators, but this year tax preparation has been easier than previous years. There have been years where my receipts were a mess and difficult to locate. …
Read MoreNew Car every 10 years or Used Car every 5?
David asked an interesting question in the comments section of “Best and Worst Used Cars of 2007“, the question was: .. is it cheaper to buy a used car every 5 years, or a new one every 10 – 12? I currently have a ‘95 Dakota (needed a new rear diff this year (caused by…
Read MoreMarch 2008 Net Worth Update: (+1.17%)
Time for another net worth update: The March 2008 Edition! There is a saying in Newfoundland that would describe the markets perfectly.. “The arse has fallin out of her.” When will the markets find a bottom? Are we there yet? In terms of market returns, the only reason my retirement accounts are showing positive relative…
Read MoreDifferences in Non-Refundable Tax Credits and Tax Deductions
This is a pretty common question asked during tax season. What exactly is the difference between a non-refundable tax credit and a tax deduction? Tax Deduction A tax deduction reduces your income for the year which can potentially mean that you’ve over paid on your taxes. Come tax return season, you’ll get a refund on…
Read MoreInformal In-Trust Accounts
I received an email from Leah the other day asking what are some options for investment accounts for children. Right away, I thought about RESP accounts, however, those aren’t for Leah as they are too restrictive. I can see the new Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) being an alternative to the RESP, however, the rules…
Read MoreFeb 2008 Net Worth Update (+2.69%)
Time for another net worth update: The Feb 2008 Edition! This was a very non eventful month where we are gearing up for the big move next month. Most of the non-registered portfolios are cash right now which means very little growth on that side of things. On the RRSP side of things, I recovered…
Read MoreJan 2008 Net Worth Update (+1.04%)
Time for the first net worth update for 2008! January was ANOTHER volatile month in the markets and my portfolio was hit hard. Even though my non-registered portfolio is mostly cash right now (for the upcoming house and Smith Manoeuvre), my RRSP account took a beating. This month, I took the advice of the readers…
Read MoreFinancial Goals 2007 Report Card
It’s the beginning of 2008 which means it’s time to to look back at my financial goals for 2007 and see if my original financial goals for the year were met. It’s report card time! Goal #1: Increase passive/alternative income to $500/mo (Grade: A+) Final Report: Our passive/alternative income well surpassed the $500/mo. What I…
Read MoreDec 2007 Net Worth Update (+2.35%)
Time for the final installment of net worth updates for the year 2007. December was a volatile month for the markets, but better than November. A few readers commented in my November net worth post that insurance shouldn't be counted as a liability. Yes, technically, I can cancel my insurance anytime so it's not a…
Read MoreDIY Smith Manoeuvre II – The Readvanceable Mortgages
The Readvanceable Mortgage Canadian Capitalist contacted me to write part 2 of his DIY Smith Manoeuvre 3 part series. Part 1 more or less introduces The Smith Manoeuvre Part 2, which is this article, is about the various readvanceable mortgages available in Canada and which ones are recommended, and Part 3, discusses some investment options…
Read MoreNov 2007 Net Worth Update (+0.52%)
It’s time again for the monthly net worth update – The November 2007 edition. October was a great month for the markets, but November has been terrible. This recent drop has taken a bite out of my registered/non-registered accounts. Thank goodness for our bigger savings these couple months as they have offset most of the…
Read MoreRental Property Income Taxes and Deductions
As tax season is coming up, I’ve had a few readers email me about how income taxes are calculated with investment rental properties. It’s actually a pretty basic calculation, with your total NET rental income added to your regular income throughout the year. The basic formula works out like this: Total Rental Income – Expenses…
Read MoreOct 2007 Net Worth Update (+2.34%)
It’s time again for the monthly net worth update – The Halloween 2007 edition. October was an interesting month for us. We sold our house and moved into a rental while our new home is being constructed. As we currently are in limbo, our net worth statement will be a shaken up where the assets…
Read MoreSept 2007 Net Worth Update (+2.27%)
It’s time again for my monthly net worth update – The Sept 2007 edition. The first net worth update of the fall and we're off to a good start. After a slow summer, September was good to us and gave us a +2.27% increase in net worth. Although our liabilities remained the same, the net…
Read MoreAugust 2007 Net Worth Update (+0.11%)
It’s time again for my monthly net worth update – The August 2007 edition. This summer isn’t going as smoothly as planned. First I’ve had a ton of unexpected expenses followed by a market correction which started in late July. The market correction has affected my August 2007 net worth statement a little more than…
Read MoreReader Mail: Buried in Debt, Help!
I received an email from Curtis last week regarding how to deal with all his debt. This was the email: I have a question in regards to student loan debt. Myself and my wife both have student loan debt over $40,000 combined. We both have good paying jobs with a total income of about $80,000-$85,000.…
Read MoreProbate Fees by Province
In an article about the lack of estate taxes in Canada that I wrote a couple weeks ago, The Financial Blogger mentioned that there are probate fees instead. This got me thinking as I haven’t done a lot of reading on probate fees, so I did some digging to get some info for interested readers.…
Read MoreJuly 2007 Net Worth Update (+1.74%)
It’s time again for my monthly net worth update – The July 2007 edition. This past month has also been tough on the expense side of things as we decided to purchase our appliances in advance. On top of that, we had to purchase plane tickets for our vacation coming up. On the bright side…
Read MoreJune 2007 Net Worth Update (+1.54%)
It’s time again for my monthly net worth update – The June 2007 edition. This past month has been brutal in terms of unplanned expenses. Let me list them down for you: Auto Insurance: $2450 Auto Registration: $180 Home Insurance $1250 (both houses) SUV Repair/Summer tires: $1000 New Home Construction Deposit: $5,000 (not really an…
Read MoreShould Spouse Stay at Home with Kids OR Work?
I got a common young couple question from Fab (Cashflow 101 charity sponsor) a little while back about whether it’s better financially for his wife to stay at home and take care of their children, or go back to work. Here is the question in more detail: … for families with young age kids (like…
Read MoreAsset Allocation: June 2007
There has been a lot of talk of Asset Allocation around the blog world so I thought I’d join in. Based on my current portfolio, here is my asset mix of my investments (not including savings and pension): Total Portfolio: $184,773 (obtained from my May Net Worth Statement) Cash: $32,000 (17.3%) Bonds: $3,870 (2.1%) Equities:…
Read MoreFinancial Goals Progress: June 2007
As I was reviewing my financial goals for 2007 the other day, it dawned on me that it’s half way through 2007! I figure now is a good time to discuss my progress thus far. I have listed my goals and progress below: Goal #1: Increase passive income to $500/mo Progress: As I last reported…
Read MoreMay 2007 Net Worth Update (+3.04% )
It’s time again for my monthly net worth update – The May 2007 edition. This month has shown another modest increase mostly due to savings, a small tax return, and organic gains in my RRSP account. I had a question from a reader about my last net worth statement. The reader asked how I calculated…
Read MorePassive Income Update – May 2007
It’s been a little while since I’ve last talked about passive income. To be completely honest, we’ve been more focused on saving and investing in capital appreciating products than generating passive income. Is passive income the key to financial freedom? I think that it could be! If your passive income can meet or exceed your…
Read MoreApril 2007 Net Worth Update (+3.53%)
It’s time again for my monthly net worth update – The April 2007 edition. I’ve been asked by a reader on why I include my cash accounts in my net worth. The cash amount is the bare minimum that we keep in our accounts, even after paying all our bills at the end of the…
Read MoreYoung, Rich, and Retired: An Interview with QCash
I’d like to introduce a fellow Canadian who has accumulated over $1.5 million dollars in net worth at the young age of 36 and has recently retired. Did he inherit his money? Did he obtain a windfall of some sort? How did he do it? I had the opportunity to interview the young millionaire about…
Read MoreMarch 2007 Net Worth Update (+1.57%)
It’s time again for a monthly net worth update – The March 2007 edition. Not many changes this month, just a slight increase in net worth due to savings. The market drop during the end of February reduced my portfolio by about 3%, but it has since regained most of it’s losses. Assets Cash: $4,500…
Read MoreFebruary 2007 Net Worth Update (+3.35%)
How time flies, it’s time again for a monthly net worth update – The February 2007 edition. No big changes this month, only that we finally got off our butts and used some of our savings to pay off the car loan of ours. Yes, I know, we should have paid that off a LONG…
Read MoreMonthly Mortgage Payment Multiplier
Here is a handy little table that I found in the book “Personal Finance for Canadians for Dummies” for calculating monthly mortgage payments using a simple multiplier. Interest Rate 15-Year Amortization 25-Year Amortization 5.0% 7.88 5.82 5.5% 8.14 6.1 6.0% 8.4 6.4 6.5% 8.66 6.7 7.0% 8.93 7.00 7.5% 9.21 7.32 8.0% 9.48 7.63 8.5%…
Read MorePassive Income Goals and Update
I know, I keep harping on passive income. Why? It’s because I believe that when my passive income exceeds my living expenses, I’ll consider myself financially free. Yes, that is a definition ripped straight from Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad/Poor Dad, but it makes sense to me. As stated as one of my goals for…
Read MoreSurviving on $12 000 a year
There is an article on msn money central that details how a middle aged woman named Jill has left her husband, gone back to college and raising a daughter on $12000 / year fixed income. Yes, you’ve read correctly, she lives on $1000/month. Could you live on $1000 / month? I guess it depends on…
Read MoreJanuary 2007 Net Worth Update (+4.43%)
It’s time for the January 2007 net worth update! This time around, I decided to include my wifes pension account as it would more accurately represent our net worth. Assets Cash: $4500 (this fluctuates) Savings: $26000 Registered Investment Account: $33800 Pension: $16000 Non-Registered Investment Account: $40700 Real Estate: $ 266500 (2 properties) Vehicles: $18000 (2…
Read MoreGoals for the New Year (2007)!
With 2007 fast approaching, it is soon time to discuss and plan out my goals for the new year. I’ve never been one to set goals at a beginning of the year but maybe I will start now. Here are my goals for 2007: Goal #1: Increase our passive income to at least $500/month. Right…
Read MoreNet Worth: December 2006
So I want to keep track of my net worth on a monthly basis but I’m undecided whether I want to post it over the Internet. However, how else are you readers going to know how I’m progressing? I always find it interesting reading other personal finance blogs to see how their net worth is…
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