Retirement Planning Wisdom
Have You Thought of Turning the Doom Off? How Doomerism Is Quietly Wrecking Your Retirement
Have you thought of turning the doom off? That’s the question the awesome song Nothing Went Foom by Bright Mirror keeps asking. And it’s the right question — because doomerism has a track record, and the track record is that nothing went foom. Not the nuclear winter. Not the population bomb. Not Y2K. Not the…
Read MoreYour FREE Tickets to the 2026 Canadian Financial Summit – Watch My 3 Talks
The online Canadian Financial Summit is coming up October 21–24, 2026. It’s Canada’s top personal finance event of the year! As a reader of the Unconventional Wisdom blog, here are your FREE tickets to the Summit. With your FREE ticket, you can watch talks from some of Canada’s leading personal finance and investing experts, with…
Read MoreNational Post article: Could an RRSP/RRIF meltdown reduce Liam’s GIS clawback without triggering a big tax bill?
Liam thinks he is in a 19% tax bracket. He isn’t. He is effectively in a 50% tax bracket because he pays 0% income tax, but loses 50% of additional taxable income through the GIS clawback. His situation is interesting because: In my latest article for the National Post, I look at why withdrawing more…
Read MoreNational Post article: Can Tom afford to retire by 63 with a $1.16 million portfolio?
Having enough money to retire is one thing. Knowing how to use it wisely is another. Tom and Judy are in a strong financial position. With a $1.16 million investment portfolio and a valuable defined benefit pension, the bigger question isn’t whether Tom can afford to retire at 63 — it’s how they should make…
Read MoreRetiring at an All-Time High: What History Actually Shows
I get this question a lot. Is a retirement plan safe if you retire when the markets are at an all-time high? Can you reasonably still expect good performance in the future? The Conventional Wisdom About Retirement Risk The conventional wisdom here is 3 things: All the questions I get about sequence of returns risk…
Read MoreNational Post article: Everything changed when Kevin’s wife died. He now wants to retire next year, at 54, but can he afford to?
My latest article for the National Post looks at Kevin, 53, who is considering retiring next year after the death of his wife changed how he thinks about work, family and how he wants to spend his time. He has nearly $1 million invested, a $1.5 million debt-free home and an employer pension, but he…
Read MoreGet Financial Freedom Tips Article – Rethinking Retirement: Why Ed Rempel Backs a 100% Equity Strategy for Life
For decades, the bedrock of mainstream financial planning has been built on a comforting, two-part rule: diversify your wealth between stocks and bonds, and steadily shift toward the safety of fixed income as you grow older. But according to Toronto-based veteran tax accountant & fee-for-service financial planner, Ed Rempel, this time-honoured tradition might actually be…
Read MoreNational Post article: Is a $740,000 all-equity portfolio enough for Jasmine and Terry to retire early?
One of the questions I hear most often is, “Do I have enough to retire?” The answer is almost never as simple as looking at the size of your portfolio. The real question is whether your investments, savings strategy, tax planning, and retirement income plan all work together to support the lifestyle you want. In…
Read MoreHow to Build a Retirement Plan That Actually Works (and Grows Your Wealth)
Most people go through life and at some point wake up and realize they should be doing something smarter with their money. When you reach that inflection point, what should you do and what are the few fundamental basics that you need to know? Many retirement plans are designed to feel safe, instead of giving…
Read MoreRetirement Tax Shock: Why Many Canadians Pay More Tax Than Expected
Most Canadians expect to be in a lower tax bracket in retirement. But many end up paying more tax than they expect. How do tax brackets change after age 65 and why can common assumptions about RRSPs and retirement income lead to higher lifetime taxes? Here are practical strategies to reduce tax over time, including…
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