Happy New Year!
I hope you hear that phrase many times over the next few days.  It is a sincere hope that good health and good fortune will visit you this year.
However, it is also a reminder to go out and make it a great year, by choice. Dream big, set specific, measurable goals, develop a [...]

Once again, I am worrying about the financial future of Canadians.
I’m not referring to the European debt crises, the weakening world economies, the prospects for slow growth and the volatile stock markets. These are all very real sources of concern, but I’m thinking more of things that we can control.
Recently, study after study has shown [...]

The tiny kingdom of Bhutan started measuring its country’s Gross National Happiness in 1972.  This was deemed a more important factor than Gross National Product, the common measure of the economic output of a country.
You’ll note that’s a theme we have voiced periodically over the last 16 years in this column.  The goal of Dollars [...]

Tax season is in full swing, and I know people who have already received their refund. Things happen a lot faster in the electronic age, as income tax preparation software improves and electronic filing means that the first people in the queue get their refunds in record time.
Getting cash back at this time year is [...]

Happy New Year! I hope you get to celebrate the coming of 2011 the way you want, with the friends and family you most want to be with.
Do your best to savour all of the good things that have happened, and all of the progress you have made toward your long-term goals. Make a list [...]

Here is a suggested article, to get you going on your retirement planning:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/retirees-need-game-plan-87559737.html

Financial planning is a process; it is not a one-time event.  Here are the six discrete steps involved in the process of creating the financial future you crave.
This is a great framework to use for your overall planning, and can also be applied to each separate financial issue and decision with which you are faced.  [...]

I need your help.
We need to engage in a campaign – a war, if you prefer that terminology – to win over the hearts and minds of young North Americans.
Our adversaries include the entire industrial, retail and advertising industries, and decades of increasing momentum toward embracing materialism as our way of life.
This is a campaign [...]

Stop me if you’ve heard me say this before – you need to have a Will.
Having a valid, accurate, up-to-date Will is going to save your family a ton of hassle when you die, will reduce legal and other fees associated with death, may save taxes, and will ensure that your estate goes to the [...]

Reading an editorial lately in the magazine Advisor’s Edge, I was reminded that you and I haven’t talked a lot about the non-financial aspects of retirement preparation for several years.
In this magazine column, executive editor Phil Porado talked about the transition between a year ago – when everyone’s focus was on how long they might [...]