The Baby Boomers have become known as the sandwich generation as they are wedged between the dependency needs of aging parents and the needs of their children. Those hit the hardest have been the families ravaged by the onset of dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Baby Boomers now find themselves reaching the age when the disease is more likely to strike. Very few are prepared for the emotional and financial toll this degenerative disease can take.
During our ongoing weekly discussions with clients, we occasionally get questions from individuals about their approach to investing – particularly in terms of fees and value.
The questions are usually focused on the cost of accessing investment advice, or the cost of buying specific investment vehicles such as mutual funds, ETFs etc. With the rise of fintech, trading platforms for smartphones and so on, we also hear questions about the technology related to buying, selling, and monitoring investments.
Balance in life is essential for well-being. Since finances are a number one stressor for most Canadians1, how you manage your money plays a key role in finding and maintaining that balance.
We've curated some savings tips to help ensure you can enjoy your life now while also saving for your future.
After spending a lifetime managing your money to ensure that you actually have something to leave to your heirs, there are some questions that might naturally spring to mind. How much should you leave them? Should you make arrangements to give it to them while you're still alive? More importantly, will giving them a large sum of money actually help them or set them up for failure? These are just three of the most important things you should consider before setting up your estate distribution plan.
An important retirement planning skill is having the ability to "sniff out" the future direction of various factors, such as inflation and interest rates for their potential impact on future household spending and savings efforts. "Reading the tea leaves" is a folk lore expression related to the practice of attempting to divine the future from the display of loose tea leaves at the bottom of a cup.
Self-care is a popular buzzword, and it's an important one. It refers to the deliberate choice of thoughts and actions that are good for your mental and physical wellbeing. Financial self-care means practicing this with money matters to reduce your stress and increase your optimism. It's about making concrete plans, setting goals, and consistently practicing a mindset of possibility - that moves you into place of calm empowerment where you can achieve financial well-being.
Most wives outlive their husbands. Women live longer than men the same age and tend to marry men who are older than they are. So, if you're a wife, it is more likely you will become a widow than your husband becoming a widower.
Knowing this, how can you prepare for it?
First of all, when widowhood strikes, don't do anything drastic. Do not sell the house or car. Don't decide to move to another town. You have just suffered a very traumatic experience and your system needs time to adjust to it. Take your time.
Getting emotional about investments can easily lead to poor decisions as investors fall prey to negative thoughts and fears. The chart below helps to illustrate the emotional aspects of investing.
The human brain constantly searches for trends or patterns in things, trying to make sense out of even random events and data. This essential life skill is not very helpful when it comes to investing.
Owen is married and has two children. He has been working at the same company for over five years and relies heavily on his employee group plan for his life insurance needs. A new single co-worker got the same benefits after only 90-days and Owen wonders if his group insurance can let him down.
When Jesse and Kae Burke purchased a vacation cottage 30 years ago, they knew it was a good investment, but creating time for family was their primary goal. Indeed, the property value had appreciated considerably, but more importantly, it had given them a lifetime of memories with their children and, more recently, their grandchildren.
