Clear money advice
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Subscribe to The Smallbird BriefFoundation Series
Why Invest at All? Why Saving Isn't Enough
Saving keeps your money safe, but inflation slowly shrinks it. Here's why investing, not just saving, is how Canadians build real wealth over time.
Before You Invest: Building Your Financial Foundation
Before you buy your first investment, four things put in place first decide whether it sticks: clear goals, steady cash flow, high-interest debt, a cushion.
How Big Should Your Emergency Fund Be?
Three months of expenses or six? Here's how to size your emergency fund to your own situation, where to keep it, and how to build it without stalling.
TFSA, RRSP, and FHSA: How Canada's Registered Accounts Work
The TFSA, RRSP, and FHSA explained simply: how each Canadian account taxes your money, who each one suits, and why they're buckets you fill, not investments.
Which Account Should You Fund First?
Can't max your TFSA, RRSP, and FHSA all at once? Here's a simple order for funding them, and how your income and goals change where your money goes first.
What Should You Invest In?
Stocks, bonds, GICs, or funds? Here's what each one is, and why a low-cost index fund is where most Canadian beginners are best off starting.
Why boring investing usually wins
Most professional stock-pickers lose to a simple index fund over time. Here's why that happens, and why it's good news for you.
The real cost of a 2% fee over a lifetime
A 2% fee sounds tiny, but over an investing lifetime it can take half of what your money would have been worth. Here's the math, with a calculator you can run yourself.
One-ticket ETFs, and why one fund is enough
A one-ticket ETF holds thousands of holdings around the world and rebalances itself. Here's what sits inside one, what the letters on the label mean, and when it isn't the right fit.
How much of your money should be in stocks?
Your stock and bond mix shapes your results more than which fund you pick. How to land on your own number using your timeline and your behaviour, and the two reasons to change it.
Buying your first index fund: what every box on the order screen means
The buy screen is where most first-time investors freeze. What the ticker box, the order type, and the share count are asking you, and why the price you get isn't always the one you saw.
Building a system you'll stick to
One automatic transfer, one annual check-in, and a rule for the year the market falls. How to build an investing setup that keeps running when you stop paying attention to it.
The Retirement Series
The words that make retirement sound harder than it is
CPP, OAS, GIS, RRIF, decumulation, sequence-of-returns risk. The vocabulary you need before any of the retirement questions make sense, and what this series is going to work through.
The part of your retirement the government pays for
CPP and OAS put a floor under your retirement, and the average Canadian's floor is about $19,550 a year. What the two programs really pay, and what that leaves for you to cover.
What each account costs you on the way out
An RRSP withdrawal is taxed as income, a TFSA withdrawal is not taxed at all, and a non-registered account sits in between. What the same $10,000 costs from each one, and why the bank's withholding is not the final bill.
When to take CPP (and OAS)
CPP can start anywhere from 60 to 70, and the gap between the two ends is far bigger than the usual 42% suggests. Why waiting is often the cheapest longevity insurance a Canadian can buy, who should take it early anyway, and the GIS trap in deferring OAS.
How long to plan for in retirement
Planning to an average age leaves about half of people short. Why Canadian retirement plans run to 94 and beyond, what planning long costs, and what a 30-year retirement looks like decade by decade.
What to hold near retirement, and which account to draw first
How much to keep in cash near retirement so a bad market never forces you to sell, and the order to draw your RRSP, TFSA and other accounts so your tax is spread across the whole retirement. Part 6 of the Retirement Series.
Permission to spend
Why people who saved well often underspend in retirement, how spending usually changes as you age, and how a spending range and a bigger CPP make it easier to use the money you saved. Part 7 and the finale of the Retirement Series.
The Home Series
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