Finding gifts for the Dads in your life can be a challenge. Few men wear ties or use cloth handkerchiefs anymore and let’s face it — even jazzy socks are a pretty boring and impersonal gift. Furthermore, most family budgets cannot be stretched to pay for big ticket guy things like fast cars, motorcycles or a spring training road trip.

But there are lots of things you can do on a shoestring that Dad will appreciate. Here are a few of my favourites:

1. Save for the dream: You may not be able to afford the latest tech toy or an exotic trip right now, but you can start a bank account or even a piggy bank with the goal of accumulating the necessary funds within a specified time.
2. Golf: If your husband or father is a golfer, finding the time to golf may be as much of a problem as paying hefty greens fees. Block out a few “golf days” for him on the calendar and get a gift certificate to a local course. The kids might enjoy decorating customized golf balls using indelible markers. Or you can plan a family mini-golf outing.
3. Car wash: Most family chariots are pretty grubby after a long winter. Instead of paying for an expensive detailing job, put the kids to work washing and vacuuming the car. After all, he is their father and not yours!
4. Send him on a course: My husband’s hobby is woodworking. Lee Valley Tools offers one day mini-courses on everything from wood turning to sharpening tools. He has received several as gifts and says he learned a great deal. Whatever your husband or father is interested in, chances are some organization in the community offers a “how-to-class.”
5. Senior Dads: If your Dad is a senior and living alone, make him several weeks’ worth of yummy frozen dinners he can microwave. Better still, invite him over to share meals with your family. If he lives in a different city, see if you can manage an unexpected weekend visit.
6. Game tickets: Tickets to big league football, hockey or baseball can cost hundreds of dollars. However there are many local little league and even semi pro teams that provide great entertainment and would welcome your support.
7. Framed pictures: Because photos are digital now, we tend to print very few of them. Instead they are stored on our phones, on Facebook or online. Print and frame a lovely family picture for Dad’s desk or the wall in his office.
8. Make a video: Every smart phone now has a video camera. As a rainy day project, get the kids to put a script together and devise costume from items in your closet. Each one can end with a monologue about why they love their Dad and what they plan to do to make his day special.
9. Phone apps: Is your teenager geeky but his father is not? Have your son or daughter research and find phone apps that will make Dad’s life easier and teach him how to use them. This could include anything from games, to an app that allows easy recording of business expenses to a program that converts foreign currency to Canadian dollars.
10. Gifts that give back: There are many worthwhile charities in your local community or farther afield that operate on a shoe string. You may have already donated your time or money to one or more of these organizations. Make a special donation in honour of Dad for Father’s Day.

Written by Sheryl Smolkin
	Sheryl Smolkin LLB., LLM is a retired pension lawyer and President of Sheryl Smolkin & Associates Ltd. For over a decade, she has enjoyed a successful encore career as a freelance writer specializing in retirement, employee benefits and workplace issues. Sheryl and her husband Joel are empty-nesters, residing in Toronto with their cockapoo Rufus.

This week it’s back to basics with some of our favourite bloggers.

On HowToSaveMoney.ca Heather Clarke shares Budget Home Decorating Ideas. She says you can often make a “knock off” of a pricey designer item and a little bit of spray paint goes a long way. She also reminds us that there are some hidden gems at the dollar store.

Rona Birenbaum, a financial planner at Caring for Clients offers 5 reasons why you should negotiate your severance package. She notes that there may well be more money and protection available to you, but only if you ask. Also, she says the cost of legal advice is tax deductible.

In Jim Yih’s retirement seminars, even participants close to age 65 are often concerned that they have not saved enough for retirement. His Advice for Baby Boomers who are not ready for retirement is to get a plan, revise their retirement date and think about a phased retirement. He also tells readers to focus on their cash flow and consider finding another job if they do not love what they currently do.

Boomer & Echo’s Marie Engen suggests Frugal Summer Fun For Canada’s 150th Birthday. For example, Parks Canada is offering free admission to all national parks, historic sites and marine conservation areas for the entire year. If you haven’t got your Discovery pass yet, you can order one online, or you can pick one up on arrival at any Parks Canada location.

And finally, Tom Drake answers the question What Is the CPP Death Benefit and Who Should Apply? Typically the death benefit is paid to the estate of the deceased, but where he/she does not have an estate, it can go to one of the following three entities:

1. Whoever paid for the deceased’s funeral expenses. The death benefit is mainly designed to offset funeral expenses, so it makes sense that it will be paid out to the person or institution who covers these costs.
2. Surviving partner: The spouse or common-law partner left behind by the deceased can also apply for, and receive, the CPP death benefit.
3. Next of kin: Finally, if the other two circumstances aren’t met, the deceased’s next of kin can apply for the death benefit.

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

Written by Sheryl Smolkin
	Sheryl Smolkin LLB., LLM is a retired pension lawyer and President of Sheryl Smolkin & Associates Ltd. For over a decade, she has enjoyed a successful encore career as a freelance writer specializing in retirement, employee benefits and workplace issues. Sheryl and her husband Joel are empty-nesters, residing in Toronto with their cockapoo Rufus.

Results from the 2016 census show that there are now 5.9 million Canadian seniors, compared to 5.8 million Canadians age 14 and under. This is due to the historic increase in the number of people over 65 — a jump of 20% since 2011 and a significantly greater increase than the five percent growth experienced by the population as a whole. This rapid pace of aging carries profound implications for everything from pension plans to health care, the labour market and social services.

“The reason is basically that the population has been aging in Canada for a number of years now and the fertility level is fairly low, below replacement levels,” Andre Lebel, a demographer with Statistics Canada told Global News. Lebel also projects that because over the next 16 years, the rest of the baby boom will become senior citizens, the proportion of seniors will rise to 23 per cent.

Therefore, it is not surprising that a new study from the C.D. Howe Institute proposes that the age of eligibility (AOE) for CPP/QPP, Old Age Security (OAS) and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) benefits should be re-visited. The AOE is the earliest age at which an individual is permitted to receive a full (unreduced) pension from the government.

Other countries with aging populations are raising the AOE for social security benefits. These include Finland, Sweden, Norway, Poland and the United Kingdom. In 2012, then Prime Minister Steven Harper announced plans to increase the AOE for OAS and GIS from 65 to 67 between 2023 and 2029. However, Trudeau reversed this very unpopular legislation (leaving the AOE at 65) in the 2016 budget.

In their report Greener Pastures: Resetting the age of eligibility for Social Security based on actuarial science, authors Robert Brown and Shantel Aris say their goal is to introduce an “evidence-based” analysis that can be used impartially to adjust the AOE for Canada’s social security system based on actuarial logic, not political whims.

However, they do not argue that current systems and reform plans are unsustainable. In fact, increasing life expectancy and increasing aged-dependency ratios are consistent with the assumptions behind CPP/QPP actuarial valuations. However, they suggest that if there are relatively painless ways to manage increasing costs to the programs, then they are worthy of public debate.

Their calculations assume that Canadians will spend up to 34% of their life in retirement, resulting in recommendations for a new AOE of 66 (phased-in beginning in 2013 and achieved by 2025) that would then be constant until 2048 when the AOE would shift to age 67 over two years.

Brown and Avis believe these shifts would soften the rate of increase in the Old Age Dependency Ratio, bring lower OAS/GIS costs and lower required contribution rates for the CPP (both in tier 1 and the new tier 2). This, in turn, would result in equity in financing retirement across generations and a higher probability of sustainability of these systems.

However they do acknowledge that there are some important issues that would arise if the proposed AOE framework is adopted. One of these issues is the fact that raising the AOE is regressive. For example, if your life expectancy at retirement is five years, and the AOE is raised by one year, then that is a 20% loss in benefits. If your life expectancy at retirement is 20 years, then the one year shift in the AOE is only a five percent benefit reduction.

People with higher income and wealth tend to live longer, so the impact of raising the AOE will be greater on lower-income workers than on higher-income workers. Access to social assistance benefits would be needed to mitigate this loss. The study suggests that it would be easy to mitigate the small regressive element in the shift of AOS by reforming the OAS/GIS clawback as the AOE starts to rise.

The report concludes that having partial immunization of the OAS/GIS and CPP/QPP from increases in life expectancy is  and logical and would help Canada to achieve five attractive goals with respect to our social security system:

• Increase the probability of it’s sustainability.
• Increase the credibility of this sustainability with the Canadian public.
• Enhance inter-generational equity.
• Lower the overall costs of social security; and
• Create a nudge for workers to stay in the labour force for a little longer .

It remains to be seen if or when the C.D. Howe proposals regarding changes to the AOE for public pension plans will make it on to the “To Do” list of the current or future federal governments.

Written by Sheryl Smolkin
	Sheryl Smolkin LLB., LLM is a retired pension lawyer and President of Sheryl Smolkin & Associates Ltd. For over a decade, she has enjoyed a successful encore career as a freelance writer specializing in retirement, employee benefits and workplace issues. Sheryl and her husband Joel are empty-nesters, residing in Toronto with their cockapoo Rufus.

I got married in November, but the fact is that the spring and summer are the prime season for weddings. Whether you are planning a wedding or have been invited to attend one this year, it probably didn’t take you long to realize that weddings are not cheap.

Of course, the all time classic budget wedding story that went viral is Kerry K. Taylor’s How to get married for $239.00. This is based on the cost of a marriage license and services of a marriage commissioner in B.C. several years ago. While she threw in a few extras, getting married on the family farm and ruthlessly paring down the guest list kept the wedding costs to hundreds rather than thousands of dollars.

In a 2014 CBC article, Nisha Patel offered additional tricks to trim wedding costs. She suggests ditching pricey paper invitations in favour of a digital solution. She also recommends that you “Say yes to a cheaper dress,” and “Say no to expensive extras from photo booths to late night snack bars when you have already provided dinner.”

While still lavish by most standards, the wedding profiled by Wedding Chicks on How Much Does a DIY Wedding Cost has lots of great ideas like making almost everything yourself, scouting out pre-owned items, spray painting decor to match with the theme and baking the sweets for the dessert table. Bouquets included blush pink garden roses, snow-white dahlias, and a mixture of wildflowers from a nearby fresh cut flower farm.

Participating in a wedding party or even just attending as a guest can also be an expensive proposition, particularly if you have to buy an outfit and travel to the event as well as paying for a hotel and costly engagement, shower and wedding gifts.

Pattie Lovett Reid gives six financial tips for wedding guests. In general, she says the closer the relationship, the more you should spend. “The old rules say to estimate how much the couple spent on hosting you, i.e. the price of your plate. But the new rules say to spend whatever you think is appropriate depending on your relationship with the couple,” says Constance Hoffman, the owner of etiquette and professional skills firm Social and Business Graces.

In 5 rules of gift giving on The Knot, group gifts are encouraged based on a survey of married couples who said their favorite gifts were big-ticket items purchased by a group of their friends that they would most likely never be able to afford on their own.

How You Can Reduce The Financial Stress Of Attending A Wedding? Book travel early. Consider unique gifts like pre-arranging an experience the couple can enjoy on their honeymoon like a local excursion or a surprise picnic on the beach. Wear what’s already in your closet. And if the wedding weekend includes several events, try wearing the same outfit but dressing it up with a pashmina or different jewelry.

Written by Sheryl Smolkin
	Sheryl Smolkin LLB., LLM is a retired pension lawyer and President of Sheryl Smolkin & Associates Ltd. For over a decade, she has enjoyed a successful encore career as a freelance writer specializing in retirement, employee benefits and workplace issues. Sheryl and her husband Joel are empty-nesters, residing in Toronto with their cockapoo Rufus.

By Sheryl Smolkin

Today I am interviewing Saskatoon lawyer Ted Koskie about everything you need to know about Powers of Attorney in Saskatchewan. In addition to his law degree, Ted has a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computational Science and previously worked as a systems analyst. He has been practicing law in the province since 1981.

Thanks for joining me today, Ted.

My pleasure, Sheryl.

Q: Now, to start off: what is a power of attorney, exactly?
A: A power of attorney is a document that allows an individual to give someone else the authority to act on his or her behalf. You name another person in that document to do certain things for you. It can be somewhat unrestricted, or it can be rather restricted.

Q: Are there different types of powers of attorney?
A: In Saskatchewan you can appoint an attorney to manage your property. That’s called an individual and property attorney. The other is a personal attorney, who is an individual that can be given authority to make decisions about personal affairs. This could include things about where one might live, or what kind of help one might need, perhaps around their home. The thing to keep in mind is that a personal attorney is not entitled to make healthcare decisions. That is something that is done under a separate piece of legislation.

Q: And what is that document called?
That document is called a Healthcare Directive.

Q: Many people routinely complete power of attorney forms when they make a will. Why is it important for an individual to grant power of attorney at that particular time?
A: Well, it’s usually a time when people are planning for unforeseen circumstances. A will plans for death, and ultimately, we’re planning for something that we simply cannot gauge in terms of time. The important thing, really, is that at the time of drafting a will, usually a determination is made that an individual has capacity to make a will. If the person has the capacity to make a will, they will also have the capacity to make a power of attorney. The difficulty is that if we allow that to wait, this unforeseen, or unplanned, event of incapacity, or otherwise, may come at a time when we just simply aren’t able to make a power of attorney.

Q: Should a power of attorney be made with a lawyer, or can someone just download a form and fill it out?
A: Well, people certainly can download forms, and those are becoming more and more popular on websites. I certainly do not recommend it. I think many times what we see is that people think that the plain, ordinary English is something that is going to be something they can employ to carry out their wishes but that is not always the case. I often use the example of someone hiring an electrician to wire their garage. Yes, we probably could do it on our own, but if one thinks about it, we certainly would be far better served if we hired a qualified person and legal fees for powers of attorney are usually quite inexpensive.

Q: So, what happens if a person becomes incapable of handling his or her own affairs, and has not granted a power of attorney?
A: Well, they really are left with only a couple of alternatives. One is to make an application to the court for a decision maker to be appointed, and the other alternative would be to make an application to the court under what is called the Adult Guardianship and Co-decision-making Act. Another option would be to look at the potential of engaging the public guardian and trustee, and indeed, there is a mechanism as well within the Public Guardian and Trustee Act for that person to also become a decision-maker.

Q: What qualifications does a power of attorney have to have?
A: Well, the power of attorney, ultimately, must be an adult which in Saskatchewan is 18 years of age or older. The person must have capacity, and not have certain disqualifications. The person cannot be, for example, an undischarged bankrupt or have been convicted of a prescribed criminal offense within the prior 10 years. Some examples of prescribed offenses are assault, acts of violence, intimidation, theft, fraud, and breach of trust.

If the person has been convicted within the previous 10 years he/she either must have been pardoned, or must disclose that conviction to the person making the power of attorney, and ultimately, in writing, that grantor must consent.

As well, there’s one other possible ground for disqualification. He/she cannot be providing personal care or healthcare services for remuneration to the person granting a power of attorney.

Q: Can a power of attorney make or modify a will?
A: No, it cannot.

Q: Do financial institutions, and other groups, for example, have to accept the power of attorney at face-value, and let the power of attorney manage the granter’s affairs?
A: Yes. My view is that, yes, they must. There are times when there might be certain things that have been either prescribed or not prescribed within a power of attorney that perhaps a financial institution might question. But on whole, yes, they must.

Often, people, perhaps, think about powers of attorney much like they do wills, where financial institutions would require people to go to the court to get what are called Letters Probate which is a, in a sense, a confirmation of the last will and testament, and the appointment of an executor. There is no similar such requirement for powers of attorney.

Q: What other types of documentation might they typically request, though, before acting on a power of attorney?
A: Well, my experience, generally, has been, firstly, identity. And they may well look for any proof of the grantor’s incapacity. They may also want to be assured that the individual is still alive, because a power of attorney is only valid during the lifetime of an individual. At death, the will takes over.

Q: So, can the power of attorney, for example, change the names on bank account?

A: Well, yes, they can. But there must be actual specific provision made within the power of attorney that allows that to occur. But generally speaking, powers of attorney give a very, very broad power. In fact, it’s unrestricted, unless it actually is restricted.

Q: Does the Saskatchewan power of attorney have to be registered anywhere?
A: No, it does not.

Q: And how can it be revoked?
A: Well, it can be revoked in a variety of ways. Sometimes, the power of attorney will actually have a date specified in it, as to when it actually terminates. The grantor –if indeed, the grantor has capacity — can do a written revocation of the power of attorney. It also ceases either on the POA lacking capacity, dying, resigning, or ceasing to meet the qualifications that the act sets out.

It also ceases if a decision-maker is made under the Adult Guardianship and Co-decision-making Act, or if the Public Guardian is appointed to act. Or, indeed, if there there’s an order that the person is presumed dead.

But another case where the POA will cease to be valid is if the grantor and the attorney are spouses and they cease to co-habit as spouses because they intend to end their relationship.

Q: That’s really interesting.
A: Yes. It’s a protective mechanism that I think is there in place to say, all right, perhaps that is an occasion when one should reassess those types of decisions.

Q: So, is a power of attorney made in Saskatchewan valid in the rest of the country, or outside the country?
A: My view is that in most instances, it will be. However, from time to time, I see that there are idiosyncrasies in various jurisdictions that might have a specific provision that perhaps our power of attorney has not provided for. In Saskatchewan, provision is specifically made within the legislation to say that an extra provincial power of attorney is valid, if indeed it is valid in the place where it has been executed. I think, in most instances, that would be the case with other jurisdictions.

But, there may be some unique provisions. For example, prior to our Power of Attorney Act being enacted, powers of attorney needed to specifically reference land — the actual description of land — in order to be effective. So there might be this type of provision in other jurisdictions.

Q: Is the power of attorney entitled to any form of compensation?
A: Yes. There are really three ways to be compensated. One is if the fee is actually set out in the power of attorney. That is something that I often suggest to people that they do, because then they know what is being charged. And ultimately, if the individual is taking on the task, they’re deemed to have accepted that amount.

The second way is if the courts make an order setting a fee. And there’s a third, and that is the fee is set out in the regulations which actually provide for a monthly fee. So, if you are actually appointed as a property attorney, you’re entitled to charge 2.5% of monies received, and 2.5% of payments made every month.

If you’re a personal attorney, you’re entitled to charge $15 an hour. Basically, the fee comes out of the grantor’s estate. And when there is a fee in place, the attorney needs to provide an annual accounting of their activities as power of attorney.

Q: If someone’s exercising a power of attorney, but other family members or friends think it’s fraudulent, how can they contest it?
A: There really are a couple of options. One is to bring an application to the court. The court always has a supervisory responsibility. The second is to lodge a complaint with the Public Guardian. The Public Guardian can make appropriate inquiries, and indeed, take appropriate measures as well. The third mechanism, really, is the police. A power of attorney is an individual in a position of trust, which is a very high standard of care, and the police will not hesitate to review allegations of fraud.

Q: So, what did I forget? Is there anything else that you think that our readers and our listeners might need to know about powers of attorney that I haven’t asked you about?
A: I think, all too often, that individuals think only of making a will, and do not think about the need for a power of attorney. What they must realize is that a power of attorney allows for decisions to be made about the individual while they are alive. In my view, it is a very important document, because it deals with the person, the human being. A will deals with stuff. Yes, it is important to settle your affairs, but in my view, far more important to take care of the individual who is alive.

Q: That’s great, Ted. Thanks very much for talking to me today.
A: My pleasure.

 

 

 

 

 

T.J. Ted Koskie
Koskie Law

 

By Sheryl Smolkin

It’s that time of the month again. We present a series of personal finance videos for your viewing pleasure.

First of all, don’t miss Kerry K. Taylor aka Squawkfox’s two part TEDx Talk. “What do you collect?” can be viewed above. You can also watch “Is it worth it?” here where she discusses whether you should pay $700 for a Canada Goose coat.

In an interview with Breakfast Television, personal finance expert Lesley-Anne Scorgie puts together a procrastinator’s financial checklist for those who have a hard time getting around to dealing with their money situation.

Rubina Ahmed-Haq discusses survey results that reveal why women should be saving a bigger chunk of their pay cheque in their retirement fund.

Ed Rempel presents “The 6 steps to become financially independent.” This 50 minutes of financial education is based on his experience working with nearly 1,000 families to create detailed, personal plans for their journey to financial independence.

Money After Graduation’s Bridget Casey says the stock market doesn’t have to be scary. She suggests three different types of accounts to help you get started in the stock market, no matter the level of your skill, knowledge, or savings.

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

Have you ever had that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize the sum total of everything you owe each month is more than your take home pay? You are not alone.

According to the latest Manulife Financial Wellness Index, two in five Canadians say they are financially unwell. Study respondents are concerned by debt (82%), not saving for retirement (60%), stressed due to their financial situation (67%) and 83% said they are not financially prepared to protect their loved ones in the event of death, serious illness or disability.

“We want to help Canadians live better and healthier lives. Looking at people’s wellness has traditionally included physical aspects, and in recent years focused more on emotional health,” said Sue Reibel, Executive Vice-President and General Manager Institutional Markets, Manulife. “Our findings show that the role of financial wellness, whether good or bad, affects overall well being and is an important contributor to helping Canadians reach positive emotional health.”

Financial wellness is based on the way an individual manages their overall financial situation, including budgeting, retirement planning, investing, debt management, financial protection and financial stress. Manulife’s research shows that money continues to be the greatest source of stress and it impacts an individual’s mental health leading to absenteeism rates and lost productivity.

Canadians who consider themselves financially unwell revealed that dealing with money is a factor of stress (81%, often/sometimes) and they are eight times more likely to have bad stress levels and may be distracted at work (49%, often/sometimes).

Healthy finances and a healthy lifestyle go hand in hand. Canadians who are financially well are more likely to be successful at managing their health according to the Financial Wellness Index. Those with low levels of financial wellness are almost five times more likely not to engage in any healthy activity.

Canadians who say they are financially well are more likely to say that their physical health is excellent (25%) or good (45%), they eat more fruits and vegetables (79%), get more exercise (68%), get regular health checkups (61%) and educate themselves on being healthier (46%).

In addition, if your employer offers group benefit plans, they have an impact on your financial wellness and health. Those who are financially well are more likely to have a group retirement (65%) and group benefits plan (79%) compared to those who are financially unwell (42% and 58%, respectively).  Also, those who have group benefits plans are more likely to score better on the stress index (56%) than those who do not have any plans (48%).

“Employers have an important role to play in their employees’ wellness, physically, mentally and financially. Their actions can positively impact the level of engagement and productivity of their teams, which in the long-term can impact their bottom line,” added Reibel.

About the Manulife Financial Wellness study
Environics Research Group surveyed 2,024 Canadians, 18 and over, between August 31 and September 7, 2016, asking them about budgeting, retirement, investments, debt, protection and stress. Respondents were equally split along gender lines, average age was 47, and quotas and weighting were used to ensure that results reflected the Canadian reality in terms of age, gender and region.

By Sheryl Smolkin

This week we present an eclectic mix of posts from Canadian money bloggers, some of whom have been posting for years but have not previously been cited in this space.

On HowToSaveMoney.ca, Heather Clarke offers 7 Ways To Declutter Without Spending A Fortune, Instead of buying costly clear lucite boxes, monogrammed fabric bins, or classic wooden divided trays, she says that using a little creativity and a few basic craft supplies you can make attractive, low cost storage solutions. But I’m not very crafty, so I think the two year rule is the best way to minimize clutter — if I haven’t used an item in 24 months, it’s time to get rid of it.

Recently governments in British Columbia and Ontario have enacted new laws to try and cap runaway house prices in some markets. Firecracker and her husband Wanderer who blog on Millenial Revolution are typically in favour of a laissez faire approach. But as reported in Your Thoughts on Government Intervention, the majority of their readers disagree. Of 356 readers who responded to a survey they conducted, 198 believe the government should intervene. And about one-third believe a tax on speculators is the most effective strategy.

Does your financial advisor really ‘deserve’ to be paid? Doris Belland tackles this thorny issue in a recent post on Your Financial Launchpad. She notes that the financial advice industry is undergoing a profound shift in which several economists plus some of the worlds’ most successful investors and Nobel Laureates argue persuasively that the higher fees associated with traditional investment products have a negative effect on investors’ results.

Ed Rempel explains Why he will never own an ETF or index fund. He says that the average fund manager can’t beat the market, but superior fund managers clearly can. Based on his research and investment returns, he believes he has selected All Star Fund Managers who have consistently exceeded the relevant indices. “Performance fee models with a very low base fee give you the low fee advantage of an ETF or index fund – plus a good chance of above index returns,” Rempel concludes.

And finally, on Financial Uproar, Nelson introduces The Too Much House Equation. “We constantly rag on people who buy too many video games or finance vacations, but we cheer people who make a similar mistake with their houses,” he writes. “The fact is the easiest way for the average person with only a small net worth to save more is to cut their fixed expenses, starting with housing.”

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.

By Sheryl Smolkin

My Mom will be 90 this year and we recently moved her to a private retirement home that specializes in Alzheimer’s and dementia care. In her prime, she was a feisty, fashionable businesswoman. In fact she sold registered educational savings plans well past when most people retire and her employer finally made a retirement dinner in her honour when she was over 80.

As we sorted through her condo to get it ready for sale, I realized that my mother taught me many essential lessons about money, both before and after I left home. Here are six important things I learned from her over the years — in many cases, by osmosis.

1. Avoid debt at all cost: When we were growing up, the golden rule was, if you can’t afford it, you can’t buy it. Credit cards were not as pervasive as they are now and we were encouraged to save a portion of our allowance until we had enough to purchase the desired item. Other than a mortgage, my parents paid off their bills every month.
2. Never pay retail: As an inveterate shopper on a limited budget my mother knew how to stretch a dollar. Her view was and still is that a sale starts at 50% off. She also seized every opportunity to buy clothes for the family wholesale direct from factories in Montreal she was able to visit as a result of family contacts. Internet shopping came a little too late for her, but if she was a few years younger, I bet that she would have loved searching for bargains online.
3. Get an education: My grandparents emigrated from Europe. Neither of my parents graduated from high school. My brother, sister and I were the first generation on both sides of the family to attend university. For as long as I can remember my Mom viewed education as the key to a golden door that would unlock future opportunities.
4. Invest in your children: While my Mom taught us the value of a dollar and we had summer jobs to defray the costs of going away to university, she scrimped and saved to make sure all three of us could graduate from a first degree, debt free. In her 40s she became a successful real estate salesperson and then a broker, in part, to help generate money for our education. We have done the same for our children.
5. Buy and pay off a home: Mom firmly believed that a paid off home is the best retirement savings plan. It turns out that she was right. When she moved to Thornhill in 1980 she bought a semi-detached house for under $100,000 with a down payment of $30,000 realized from the sale of her home in Cornwall. Since then she moved to a condo which is expected to sell for over six times the value of her first Toronto area property.
6. Save for a rainy day: Once she started making her own money selling real estate and then RESPs, Mom made maximum contributions to her RRSP every year. While initially her savings meant she could afford extras like travel in retirement, in the last few years we have used her money to hire caregivers so she could stay in her apartment as long as possible. And I am grateful that balance of her savings and the proceeds of sale of her apartment will now be available to pay for excellent care as long as she needs it.

But as we gather to celebrate our Mom on Mother’s Day, I realize the most important lesson she taught me is the power of love and family through good times and bad. My daughter’s family lives in Ottawa so she only sees her great granddaughter every few months. She may not remember her name or how she is related but she knows she is someone important and her hugs and kisses are more valuable than anything money can buy.

 

By Sheryl Smolkin

In late April the Globe and Mail’s Globe Talks series widely advertised a panel discussion called “Invest Like A Legend” hosted by Report on Business editor Duncan Hood and featuring speakers David Rosenberg, William J. Bernstein and Prett Bannerjee.

When Kerry K. Taylor aka Squawkfox read about the session, she immediately blogged her displeasure in A woman’s place is on a panel.“ She wrote, “Despite The Globe’s inability to ‘find’ a lady investing expert, both my Twitter feed and my inbox exploded with prospective panelists. So I made a binder — a binder full of financial women.”

Therefore, in solidarity with some of the terrific financial women I have met over the last several years as a personal finance writer, this week’s Best from the Blogosphere highlights some of their work.

In her blog Want to cash-out on your real estate? Read this, Lesley-Anne Scorgie says, “When times are good in real estate there are plenty of reasons to cash-out. But, the cash-out only works to your financial benefit if you’re actually putting real money towards your net worth…that does not mean selling an expensive property and using the equity to buy a less expensive property.”

Toronto Star consumer columnist Ellen Roseman documents changes to Tangerine Bank’s no-fee money-back MasterCard that she says “wowed so many Canadians eager for innovation.” She notes that barely one year after the launch, Tangerine MasterCard is raising fees and cutting benefits – a move many customers call bait and switch. For example, the two percent rebate on two categories of purchases remains. But the rebate on all other purchases dropped to 0.5%, starting April 29.

Cait Flanders, who has previously written about her one year shopping ban and extensive decluttering says it’s now time for her to embrace slow technology. While she acknowledges freely that social media has played an important role in forging her personal and business relationships, she has committed to:

• A 30-day social media detox (April 29th – May 28th).
• Figure out the role she wants social media to play in her life.
• Check/reply to email less often (also experiment with not checking on her phone).
• Figure out the role she wants technology to play in her life (phone, computers, TV, etc.)
• Read from a book every day

Jordann Brown, who blogs at My Alternate Life, recently shared her experience in How to Sell a Car in Canada as a Beginner. She researched how much her Volkswagen City Golf was worth and concluded she could sell it for much more than the $1,200 the dealership offered her when she bought her 2014 Subaru Crosstrek. She determined the car was worth $4,000, had the car professionally cleaned and did some small repairs. The car was advertised for $4,500 on Kijiji and after several days she happily accepted a $4,000 cash offer.

And finally, Jessica Moorhouse shares valuable information about banks and credit unions with free chequing accounts in Canada. You will not be surprised to discover that the list does not include the big five banks. However, Tangerine is now owned by the Bank of Nova Scotia.

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Do you follow blogs with terrific ideas for saving money that haven’t been mentioned in our weekly “Best from the blogosphere?” Share the information on http://wp.me/P1YR2T-JR and your name will be entered in a quarterly draw for a gift card.