I've gone through various mutual fund companies and financial planners over the years, but ultimately decided last year to take my finances into my own hands and manage my own portfolio. My main issue with the financial planning/advice market is that there is an inherent conflict of interest in most of the advice given out. Yes, a par-life plan may in fact be a great investment vehicle, but when your purchase of one results in a $1,000 bonus for the financial planner, how can anyone ever be sure that the advice was given solely because it was in your best interest? Also, most mutual funds have ...

A few years ago, the government opened up a new investment vehicle for people looking to save for retirement, the tax free savings account (TFSA). An RRSP is effectively a tax-deferred investment account. When you contribute to it, you are doing so out of pre-tax dollars (or, if you get a tax refund due to your contribution, you are getting the tax you paid on that amount back). Eventually you have to pay the piper, so when you start pulling money out of your RRSP to fund retirement, you will pay tax on that amount. The upside is that you're able to invest pre-tax money (hence you have more of ...

I was talking to someone the other day, and we were both sort of lamenting the long gone days of adolescence. I remember being 17 years old, working a part-time summer job at Bonanza. While summer was only two months off, a good chunk of that was spend up at Cultus Lake, working as a dishwasher 20 hours or so a week, and spending as much time with my friends as possible. As a kid, you really don't have to worry about where your money is going to go since you really don't have much to spend it on, other than the world's crappiest car and the occasional trip to the waterslides. Unfortunately, us ...