If you’re anything like me, you may have heard of Qtrade Direct Investing™ and Questrade and thought they were the same. Everyone abbreviates everything. Makes sense right? If you were like me with this assumption, we were both wrong. Questrade and Qtrade are not the same company. And although both are online discount brokerages, they …
Qtrade vs Questrade – Which Online Brokerage is Better? Read More »
When we bought our first home, we knew little about homeownership. But after our home inspection, we quickly learned that, eventually, we would want to replace some of our older windows. Enter Ecoline Windows When we finally saved up enough to replace our windows, we decided to go with Ecoline Windows and have been satisfied …
It’s no secret that there is a lot of volatility in the Canadian real estate market. Interest rates increased an astronomical amount over the past year, immigration is also increasing, and house values seem to be on the decline. So, what is a real estate investor to do? First, I want to clarify that I’m …
As a DIY investor, it is easy to want to gain an advantage with your portfolio. After all, no advisor or other financial professional is watching over your money. A large portion of our investment portfolio is in various forms of real estate. But, we do have a chunk of our portfolio invested in the …
After months (maybe years) of talking about it, we finally opened our wallets and bought a home gym. Now, while this might seem like the least financially savvy thing to do, it was the right thing for us. And like they say, personal finance is personal. But I’m not telling you that we bought a …
When it comes to Canadian stereotypes, there are plenty. The stereotypical Canadian wears an outfit made fully of denim and finishes most sentences with eh. Oh, and they probably know Bob or Cindy from Toronto. But what about the typical Canadian? With all of the information available on the internet, I thought it would be …
When my daughter was born I told her the same 7 affirmations everyday (and still do today). Then when my son came along I continued to tell him the same phrases. As I wrote these affirmations as a letter to my daughter, now that my son is 1, I figured it was time to write …
“Has anyone hired a babysitter lately? Where did you find a good one and what is the going rate?” That was the exact message I sent to my mom’s group. And nobody had an answer. My guess is that the pandemic made everyone (including myself) hesitant to have “strangers” in their house. A quick search …
The Bank of Canada recently announced another interest rate hike. The overnight rate (which banks use to determine their prime rate) has climbed 1.25% so far in 2022 with rumours of more increases to come. But how do these rising interest rates impact your mortgage? Well, like most things with personal finance, it depends. In …
With the increase in inflation and stagnation in wages, we are all looking for ways to increase our income or create a gap between earnings and spending. Finding money can help with this gap and ease some of the pressure. There are 3 ways to find money, stumbling upon it, discovering an unclaimed bank balance, …