I feel an obligation to come up with something for readers to mark Financial Literacy Month, even if it’s hard to find a more ineffectual phrase in the world of money than financial literacy.
Admit it – if we headline a personal finance article with that term, you won’t read it. I don’t blame you – the term financial literacy insinuates people are financially illiterate. Financial literacy badly needs a rebranding – for now, financial wellness seems a lot better.
To further your financial wellness, let’s address the fact that people are overwhelmed these days by all the personal finance and investing information available on traditional and new media. Here are five ways to separate out voices you can ignore:
They tell you to shop around or do your homework: The worst. A personal finance writer who tells you to do your homework is too lazy to do their own.
They start by telling you to make a budget: Sure, budgeting can help you organize your finances. But it’s a simplistic cop-out in addressing bigger problems.
They push too much sponsored content on their websites: It’s hard to consider online personal finance content unbiased when a lot of it is sponsored by financial companies.
It’s all about real estate: Nothing against real estate investing, but there are many levels of personal finance to master before you start buying investment properties. Like, for example, having an emergency fund and long-term investments in stocks and bonds.
It’s all about crypto: Nothing against crypto currency as a concept, but the amount of scamming that goes on in the crypto world is unreal.
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Rob’s personal finance reading list
Your next vehicle should be a PHEV
That’s plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, which combines an internal combustion engine and an electric powertrain. Save money on fuel and maintenance, with no compromises on range.
How to fight off a layoff
Advice on what to do if you fear you might lose your job to a layoff, or be fired. Timely stuff, given that the job market is cooling fast.
Funeral rules
Advice here for executors on arranging a funeral for a deceased person. No cheaping out.
Live to 100?
Financial planners and investment advisers talk about how they factor increasingly long lifespans into client retirement plans. One planner says most people should use 100 as their target age. Now for some advice aimed at people forced to retire suddenly, and some thoughts on the best strategies for withdrawing money from a registered retirement income fund.
Reader comments
Several readers responded to a recent newsletter on overcharging at retail store checkouts by pointing out the Retail Council of Canada’s Scanner Price Accuracy Voluntary Code. “If the scanned price of a non-price ticketed item is higher than the shelf price, or any other displayed price, the customer is entitled to receive the first item free up to a $10 maximum. If the item is more than $10, the customer is entitled to $10 off the lowest advertised or displayed price.”
Do you have a question or comment for me? Send it my way. Sorry I can’t answer every one personally. Questions and answers are edited for length and clarity.
Tools, explainers, guides and charts
How to identify home improvement and loan scams, which particularly target seniors.
The Money-Free Zone
A thread from Canadian History Ehx on the history of an institution in this country, Swiss Chalet restaurants. I well remember my first visit – a downtown Toronto location my parents took my sister and I to after seeing a movie when we were little kids. Been back many times since.
On social media
A reminder about the importance of tracking your contributions to your tax-free savings account so you don’t go over the limit and incur a penalty.
In case you missed these Globe and Mail personal finance-related stories
- Here’s how home owners can age in their own place, even if they are struggling to afford it
- Would-be retirees: Should you start your CPP pension before year-end or wait until 2024?
- Does it ever make sense to skip collision and comprehensive car insurance?
More Rob Carrick and money coverage
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Even more coverage from Rob Carrick:
- 🎧 Catch up on Stress Test: Why millennials and Gen Z are Alberta-bound for a more affordable life • Rising interest rates brought pain for new homeowners – and opportunity for house hunters • Why more Canadians are choosing to be childfree or delay parenthood • Love in the time of inflation: How to manage rising costs when dating • You're not bad at money – you're suffering from money shame • Retirement might look different for Gen Z and millennials. Here's how to plan for it • Recession-beating tips for the job market, housing, investing and the cost of life • Is the middle class dead for millennials and Gen Z?
- ✔️ The housing file: A house isn’t special. Get your head straight about the reality of home ownership • The good, the sad and the unaffordable: Saving for a home downpayment in Canada’s big cities • Property taxes are popping in some cities – how worried should you be about other tax hikes? • Our other real-estate problem – people have too much wealth tied up in houses • Borrowers and savers, here’s how to time the eventual rollback of interest rates
- 📈 Investing: Canada's top digital broker is TD Direct Investing, with an assist from the TD Easy Trade app • 2023 Globe and Mail ETF buyer's guide part one: Canadian equity ETFs • For the ultimate in cheap investing, check out the Freedom .08 ETF Portfolio • Yes, there is risk in Canadian bank deposits for the unwary and complacent • CDIC covers bank deposits, but who protects your investments if your broker goes bust? • Answers to your questions about the low-risk ETF paying almost 5% • Happy fifth birthday to one of the all-time best investing products for everyday people • An investing strategy that wins cleanly over the long term by outperforming in bad years like 2022
- 💰 Your money: Mortgage holders, savers and GIC investors, it’s time to change your thinking on interest rates • How much debt is each generation of Canadians carrying, and how do you compare? • For the sake of their financial futures, young people should leave Toronto and Vancouver • This practical new spin on a savings account might just peel you away from your big bank • Rental fraud grows amid rise in fake, falsified tenant applications • Are Canadians worse off financially now than in the 1980s? • From groceries to auto loans, here’s how much more it costs to live right now • When saving for retirement, should you change your asset mix over the course of your career? • Do retirement income needs always rise alongside inflation? Not necessarily • When the bank suggests you lock in your variable rate mortgage, it has an angle
