Hub Blogs

Hub Blogs contains fresh contributions written by Financial Independence Hub staff or contributors that have not appeared elsewhere first, or have been modified or customized for the Hub by the original blogger. In contrast, Top Blogs shows links to the best external financial blogs around the world.

Experiential Vacations as part of your Encore Act

Posted By |

Couple snorkeling in Caribbean watersBy Frank Psoras, VP Credit Cards, TD Bank

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

A growing number of North Americans – both young and old – are using vacations as a time to embark on a new adventure or pursue a personal interest. In fact, my wife and I recently travelled to the Cayman Islands to snorkel with exotic fish and swim with local sting ray.

According to a recent TD travel survey, roughly three quarters (74%) of Canadians have already taken or are interested in taking an experiential vacation. And older baby boomers are also interested in trying new travel experiences, with 65% having taken or expressing interest in this type of trip.

But when it comes to travel, there are various factors people consider when determining the type of trip they will take. Continue Reading…

Weekly Wrap, Easter edition: finding purpose, Declaration of Financial Independence & more

Posted By |

Light at end of the tunnel.By Jonathan Chevreau

Since it’s Easter weekend and Passover begins tonight, I thought we’d dedicate the Hub’s weekly wrap to more spiritual matters or at least view personal finances through a spiritual lens.

We’ll start with this essay from Peter Grandich:  A Biblical Perspective on Matters of Finance. As Peter noted in an email to me, “We know that matters of finance are the second most talked about topic in the Bible.”

One of five “Religious Personal Finance” blogs flagged on the Hub’s Top Blogs tag is Out of Your Rut. It recently ran an intriguing piece entitled 10 ways to be rich without being wealthy. Continue Reading…

No April Fool’s: it’s time to get serious about tax-filing

Posted By |

Tax Due DateHere’s my latest MoneySense blog. Now that it’s April and Easter is almost here, you know what that means! It’s tax-filing time: April 15th for Americans, April 30th for Canadians.

As the piece recounts, even if you’ve been staying on top of inputting tax slips and receipts, if you have taxable income you’re better off waiting a few days before filing.

But the good news is that once you file, the onerous task is over for another year, and many can also expect a refund. Plus, of course, winter is finally all but over.  Continue Reading…

Weekly wrap: Hope for “Overwhelmed” single parents, couples living on One Salary & tax revolt

Posted By |
emma-johnson-single
WealthySingleMummy.com’s Emma Johnson

 

By Jonathan Chevreau

Feeling overwhelmed? Everywhere I look, long-time couples are falling apart.

So I entirely sympathize with single parents who feel overwhelmed both financially and emotionally by the twin burdens of raising kids alone and of still having to bring in money, not to mention re-entering the dating scene.

If you’re in this situation, a good place to look for support is Emma Johnson’s Wealthy Single Mommy blog, which I discovered right here under the Hub’s Best Blogs tag, flagged as one of five “Best-kept secret personal finance blogs.”

Most of Johnson’s blogs address these issues since she is in essence chronicling her own similar journey but the one that caught my attention was a video from February: Overwhelm is a Choice: How to get a grip and stop the constant stress.

No question living off just one income can be tough in the modern world. It wasn’t always that way, of course. Back in the Leave it to Beaver world of the 1950s, it was normal for one partner (usually the man back then) to bring home the bacon in the corporate world while the other played the role of Homemaker and raised the kids.

But those days are gone: it’s almost normal to have two salaries, which is why Continue Reading…

Questrade’s six new ETFs are not part of Portfolio IQ (yet); new Q&A

Posted By |
questrade
Twitter.com

By Jonathan Chevreau

Here’s an interesting development in the general field of discount brokers, ETF makers and robo advisers.

Last November, Questrade Wealth Management Inc. (QWM, a subsidiary off Questrade Financial Group Inc.) launched an “online wealth management” service called Portfolio IQ that bears a strong resemblance to so-called “robo” advisers.

A fact sheet bearing the slogan “Wealth Management isn’t just for the Wealthy anymore” described Portfolio IQ as “an online wealth management service” delivering professionally and actively managed portfolios at an ultra-low cost. It promised customized portfolios for those with as little as $2,000.

The second shoe dropped on Monday this week, when Toronto-based QWM announced the launch of six new exchange-traded funds on the TSX. Continue Reading…