It took a pandemic to do what infinite personal finance advice never could. Successive economic lockdowns have boxed people into spending less than they make by a big margin. We’re living below our means, which... read more
A certain four-letter word comes up a lot when financial planners address young adult clients who fear they will never own a house. The word is rent. R-e-n-t. Say it with me and then... read more
The rapid acceleration in housing prices is causing tremendous stress to the personal finances of individual households and the nation as a whole. If it’s not vaccinations dominating conversations these days, it’s housing. The national... read more
Almost everything in real estate has changed since the federal banking regulator opened the door early last year to easing a mortgage rate stress test applied to home buyers. The pandemic arrived, interest rates plunged... read more
At 25 years of age, Liz and Tom have a $1.2-million house in Toronto and a mortgage of nearly $750,000. Tom earns $80,000 a year plus overtime as a skilled tradesman; Liz earns $66,000 a... read more
In a hot housing market, it means nothing that you have a household income of more than $200,000 and a down payment of $450,000. A 33-year-old buyer named Greg learned this lesson in early 2021.... read more
Olympic levels of eye-rolling have been set in motion by the recent adventures of young adult investors. The investing establishment thinks very little of what Gen Z and millennial investors are doing with their commission-free... read more
It has been a tough year for the under-20 crowd. Lockdowns, fluid class schedules and cancelled extracurriculars are now the norm. And there are the masks – so many masks. As a teen in 2021,... read more
A year as financially bizarre as 2020 can only be followed by a period of readjustment. So prepare yourself for some surprises on the way back to normalcy – or at least to a new... read more
A personal finance lesson of the past 12 years is that interest-rate forecasts are close to useless – just plan for rates to fall. Keep this in mind as we look at whether the rate... read more
We live in a world of constant disruption, credit card interest rates excepted. Most cards have for years carried an interest rate of 19.99 per cent, a few have been pegged at 20.99 and there... read more
In a year of plenty, we’d shrug off the coming increase in the amount of our paycheques that goes toward Canada Pension Plan premiums. But this is the year of plenty awful. Both employees and... read more
Living the downtown condo lifestyle stopped being cool in mid-March, 2020. That’s when the economy was put into a COVID-fighting lockdown and lot of us started working from home. The housing market hasn’t been the... read more
To talk about your personal finances is to risk being judged. And so, we have a lot of people who hate talking about money. As part of Financial Literacy Month, Toronto-Dominion Bank recently issued a... read more
One of the best takes I’ve seen lately on home ownership can be found in the New Lease series on Refinery29, a website for young women. So I asked Carley Fortune, executive editor at Refinery29′s Canadian operation,... read more
