by Rona Birenbaum BAS CFP®, CHFS | Apr 8, 2015 | All About Investing, For Business Owners
You applied for an insurance policy (life, disability, critical illness or long term care) and your agent advised you that “there is good news and bad news”. The good news is you got approved for coverage. The bad news is that the insurance company has rated the...
by Rona Birenbaum BAS CFP®, CHFS | Mar 30, 2015 | All About Investing, Retirement, Risk Management
Most retirees have several sources of retirement income. The largest contributor to this income is typically a portfolio of investments. Retirees spend decades savings for the future and trying to maximize returns to build the largest possible nest egg. When investors...
by Rona Birenbaum BAS CFP®, CHFS | Feb 1, 2015 | Estate Matters
It used to be enough for an estate trustee (executor) to provide the Ontario government with their own calculation of the value of an estate when filing for letters probate. Provincial probate fees are assessed on the estate value and equal $250 for the first $50,000...
by Rona Birenbaum BAS CFP®, CHFS | Nov 18, 2014 | Musings
I am one of those people that believes that once our basic needs are met (food and shelter), happiness is derived more naturally from things that don’t necessarily have a large price tag attached. This message was hammered home for me and my daughter this weekend...
by Rona Birenbaum BAS CFP®, CHFS | Jul 16, 2014 | All About Investing, Risk Management
There was a time (the early 1980’s) when 5-year GICs and government bonds were paying 12% yields. Investors think fondly of those days even though the inflation rate was also in double digits at this time, making the real rate of return (interest rate less inflation)...
