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Personal Finance

Extracurricular costs creep

Parents beware of expensive activities as children age (but still pay for anyway)

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Saturday, Sep. 13, 2025

It’s getting creepy at this time of year for many families with children.

It’s not just the Halloween marketing arriving weeks in advance; it’s the cost creep many parents experience as their children return to school this month. School fees, supplies and clothes are one set of costs. Another, often larger financial outlay is registration fees and equipment for hockey, riding, figure skating, indoor soccer and many more.

You name the activity; there are likely parents willing to pay thousands for their children to be active outside of house and school.

“It really does creep up as your child gets older,” says Treena Nault, a certified financial planner at IG Private Wealth Management in Winnipeg.

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Ingeniously profitable?

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Preview

Ingeniously profitable?

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025

It’s GENIUS, at least by name.

The recent passage of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, in a rare display of bipartisan co-operation, is seen as the first major step to push cryptocurrency into the big league of global finance.

While it isn’t necessarily targeted at the most recognizable of cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin), the legislation involves the U.S. officially recognizing stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies backed by real assets (like the U.S. dollar).

And that is largely viewed as a win for proponents of cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance overall.

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Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025
Ingeniously profitable?

AI-powered personal finance is here: for better and for worse

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Preview

AI-powered personal finance is here: for better and for worse

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025

Financial advice at your fingertips is by no means a new innovation.

Yet with the rise of artificial intelligence, getting insights about your money has been taken to new heights of potential benefit — and dangers.

“There is a lot of upside to using AI, especially for budgeting, and it’s often good as a first draft for anything you want to do,” says Monisha Sharma, Toronto-based chief revenue officer at Fig Financial, which provides consolidation, home improvement and unsecured loans.

Fig has some insight on AI’s benefits. The fintech company leverages AI technology to make loans quickly to Canadians, but its use case is contained to Fig’s own specific data to ensure a low error rate.

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Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025
AI-powered personal finance is here: for better and for worse

Many Manitobans renewing mortgages in coming months, facing higher payments

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Preview

Many Manitobans renewing mortgages in coming months, facing higher payments

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025

If you have a mortgage, it’s likely a source of some financial stress—particularly if its term is expiring this year or next. Bank of Canada data shows that 60 per cent of mortgage holders are renewing this year and next with most holding five-year, fixed-rate terms set to increase with payments that could be 10 per cent higher or more than they were previously paying.

A recent TD survey has found that 22 per cent Manitoba mortgage holders are renewing next year, with 72 per cent expecting higher payments that will affect their living situation.

“That’s highest of all the markets,” says Crystal Leigh, associate vice-president at TD, specializing in mortgages, based in Halifax, noting the national average is 57 per cent.

“There were several options folks also indicated that they were exploring to manage their cash flow to adjust.”

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Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025

Pexels

Sixty per cent of mortgage holders in Canada are renewing this year.
Pexels Sixty per cent of mortgage holders in Canada are renewing this year.

Warpath to profitability?

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview

Warpath to profitability?

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Saturday, Jul. 26, 2025

The defence industry is often overlooked by investors. It’s perceived as boring compared with technology or worse, it’s just an unethical way to put profit in the portfolio.

Since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, however, the defence industry has drawn significant investor interest. Notably, the perception has changed. That includes some of those who might have felt investing in defence was distasteful; they now see it as a needed buttress against rising authoritarianism.

Of course, another shift is financial — based on the forecast injection of hundreds of billions of dollars in additional spending by NATO members.

Canada alone is expected to increase military spending about $70 billion annually to meet its most recent defence commitment of five per cent of gross domestic product.

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Saturday, Jul. 26, 2025

Pexels

NATO members (including Canada) are forecast to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in additional annual spending in defence in the years to come.
Pexels NATO members (including Canada) are forecast to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in additional annual spending in defence in the years to come.

Good alarm system key in new world of financial security

Andrew Froese 5 minute read Saturday, Jul. 19, 2025

We once relied on strong locks to keep our assets safe. Now, we need to rely on strong alarm systems.

Imagine before the internet, before the first computer. Our investments – stock certificates, paper bonds, wads of cash, rolled coins, gold — all had a singular physical form. They each had to be somewhere at all times.

Keeping your assets safe depended on the security of locked door that sealed them from the outside world. The vault at the bank, a safety deposit box, the safe in your basement — they all felt impenetrable; they made us feel secure. Then came debit and credit cards. These tools are designed to give flexible access to your accounts. In short, your assets can be anywhere.

The world changed, so necessarily, we changed.

Failed to save for summer vacation? Consider these ideas to take break without breaking the bank

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Preview

Failed to save for summer vacation? Consider these ideas to take break without breaking the bank

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Saturday, Jul. 19, 2025

If you’re the average summering Canuck, chances are you’re passing on America for your summer vacation.

A new survey suggests a majority are holidaying in-country this year. The BMO Real Financial Progress Index found 62 per cent of respondents plan to vacation in Canada this summer. No doubt many are avoiding the U.S. tiffed at its current administration’s stance toward Canada.

Recent Statistic Canada numbers reveal border crossing to the U.S. were down more than a third year over year in June by automobile and more than 20 per cent by plane.

Just because fewer of us are venturing south of the border, however, doesn’t mean we’re cutting back on holidaying with the survey finding respondents plan to spend on average $3,825.

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Saturday, Jul. 19, 2025

Travel Manitoba

In-country vacations are popular with Canadians, who are crossing the border into the U.S. less and less these days.
Travel Manitoba In-country vacations are popular with Canadians, who are crossing the border into the U.S. less and less these days.

JP Morgan launches 5th such ETF in Canada in past year, but skeptics persist

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview

JP Morgan launches 5th such ETF in Canada in past year, but skeptics persist

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Saturday, Jul. 5, 2025

Negative consumer sentiment in Canada toward anything American-made has not stopped one of the world’s largest investment managers from launching products north of the border.

JP Morgan Asset Management, based in New York, recently introduced a new actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF), specially designed to provide Canadian investors with access to its world-leading U.S. stock-picking managers.

“Actively managed ETFs are what we do well and that expertise is what we’re bringing to Canada,” says Jay Rana, head of Canadian adviser business at J.P. Morgan Asset Management in Toronto.

Part of the storied U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan Chase, the asset manager oversees US$3.7 trillion, among largest money managers in the world. It recently brought a stock-picking strategy for the U.S. stock market to Canada in an ETF wrapper that doesn’t even exist in that form in the U.S.

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Saturday, Jul. 5, 2025
Actively managed but truly more profitable?

Live, work, play, profit

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview

Live, work, play, profit

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Saturday, Jun. 14, 2025

If you’re familiar with the real estate investment trust RioCan, it might not be for the right reasons these days.

RioCan has made headlines for its partnership with Hudson’s Bay Co., operating a portfolio of a dozen properties that were home to the insolvent and now shuttered department store chain.

In reality, HBC accounted for a small part of the business of Canada’s second-largest REIT, which owns 177 properties, encompassing 32 million square feet.

Despite the view the Bay’s closure could be seen as another nail in the coffin of in-person retail’s demise, RioCan is bullish on the sub-sector of commercial real estate.

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Saturday, Jun. 14, 2025

SUPPLIED

RioCan property: Yonge Eglinton Centre in Toronto
SUPPLIED RioCan property: Yonge Eglinton Centre in Toronto

TACO time

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview

TACO time

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Saturday, Jun. 7, 2025

The stock market says, ‘Yes.’ And the bond market says, ‘No.’

This sums up much of the recent sentiment about the economy in the United States, and for that matter the global economy, amid the back-and-forth policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Stocks have largely recovered their losses this year, as investors believe the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — with its tax cuts largely focused on the wealthy — will power a surge in growth.

What’s more, many investors ascribe to ‘TACO’, a term coined by a Financial Times columnist that stands for ‘Trump always chickens out,’ meaning most of the tariffs threats are bluster meant to make him appear to be a master deal-maker and they won’t be here to stay.

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Saturday, Jun. 7, 2025

Michael Probst / The Associated Press files

The curve of the German stock index DAX is seen in the background as U.S. President Donald Trump is shown on a TV screen at the stock market in Frankfurt, Germany.
Michael Probst / The Associated Press files The curve of the German stock index DAX is seen in the background as U.S. President Donald Trump is shown on a TV screen at the stock market in Frankfurt, Germany.

Choose your own adviser

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Preview

Choose your own adviser

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Saturday, May. 31, 2025

A common downside about being a Canadian consumer is a lack of choice.

Be it cell phones, cable and internet or even banking, it can feel the fight for our dollars is performative, opposed to being a matter of survival of the fittest among providers of goods and services.

Surprisingly, that’s less so when it comes to our investments.

We have tens of thousands of advisers, more than a dozen robo-advisers and a similar amount of do-it-yourself (DIY) online discount brokerages to choose from.

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Saturday, May. 31, 2025

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FREEPIK

Retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods hit pet care, pressuring cash-strapped owners

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview

Retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods hit pet care, pressuring cash-strapped owners

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Saturday, May. 24, 2025

In war, collateral damage harming the innocent is among its greatest tragedies.

A trade war may not be a true travesty but it does inflict pain. And it’s often consumers, not the governments lobbing tariffs at each other, taking it on the chin.

That’s true of Canadian tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods from the United States. Those retaliations for U.S. President Donald Trump’s attack on Canada’s economy and, arguably, the nation’s sovereignty, are inflicting collateral damage on Canadian consumers.

Even our furry friends cannot escape the impacts, as pet food and supplies from the U.S. are tariffed. Even more financially ominous are those levies on U.S.-origin veterinary supplies and equipment.

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Saturday, May. 24, 2025

Freepik

Some veterinary services have increased as much as 50 per cent in the last year.
Freepik Some veterinary services have increased as much as 50 per cent in the last year.

More Canadians facing retirement alone, which comes with difficulties couples don’t face

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview

More Canadians facing retirement alone, which comes with difficulties couples don’t face

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Saturday, May. 17, 2025

Two heads are better than one. That’s certainly so for retiring Canadians.

It’s financially more advantageous — in most cases — to retire as a couple.

“They (single retirees) face pretty unique challenges because everything is up to them,” says Adam Mamdani, vice-president at RBC Insurance in Toronto. “There is not another income that they can necessarily rely on.”

More Canadians face retiring single these days, with Census data showing in 2021 some 4.4 million residents lived alone.

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Saturday, May. 17, 2025
Challenges of retiring single

Quantity over quality?

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview

Quantity over quality?

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Saturday, May. 10, 2025

It’s not just the ultimate number-cruncher. Super computers — and their proprietary artificial intelligence algorithms — are analysing thousands of reports, news and other word-based documents about tens of thousands of investments.

In the words of a leading, veteran quantitative analyst Arup Datta, based in Boston: “It’s about building a better mousetrap.”

Of course, the trap isn’t for catching vermin. It’s to glean additional market insight — an edge — to eke out a few extra basis points of outperformance.

For at least two decades, that’s been the promise of quantitative investing.

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Saturday, May. 10, 2025
Quantity over quality?

Public can ask local expert on psychology of money about emotions that roil finances

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Preview

Public can ask local expert on psychology of money about emotions that roil finances

Joel Schlesinger 6 minute read Saturday, Apr. 26, 2025

Talking about money can be taboo for many. That’s despite money often being on our minds, enmeshed in a host of emotions — good and bad.

If you’ve ever wondered why, an upcoming event is an opportunity to gain insight and even ask a few burning questions on your mind about your mental wealth.

Money on Your Mind, an event presented May 4 by Jewish Child and Family Service (JCFS) at the Asper Jewish Community Campus, offers the opportunity to hear from a world-renowned authority on the subject: Winnipeg’s own, Dr. Moira Somers.

The author of Advice that Sticks: How to Give Financial Advice that People Will Follow and a soon-to-be-published book on the psychology of fraud, Stumbles, Snakes and Scandals: Understanding and Preventing Financial Misconduct, Somers is a clinical neuropsychologist specializing in financial psychology and founder of the practice Mind, Money and Meaning.

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Saturday, Apr. 26, 2025

Dr. Moira Somers is a world-renowned psychologist in money and mental health. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press)

Ruth Bonneville / Free Press

Dr. Moira Somers is a world-renowned psychologist in money and mental health.
Dr. Moira Somers is a world-renowned psychologist in money and mental health. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press) Ruth Bonneville / Free Press Dr. Moira Somers is a world-renowned psychologist in money and mental health.

Home sweet tax credits

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Preview

Home sweet tax credits

Joel Schlesinger 5 minute read Saturday, Apr. 19, 2025

If $402,915 sounds like a healthy sum of money, it has become somewhat average these days. That is the amount required to purchase the average-priced home in Winnipeg, as of March, at least. It is likely edging higher as you read this.

Despite being ‘average,’ affording a home is an above-average challenge for many young Canadians, leaving many would-be and newly minted homeowners scrounging for extra money to realize the Canadian dream of ownership.

Filing their tax return this spring could offer them just that.

“It’s a question we get a lot of clients when they buy their first home,” says Yannick Lemay, tax specialist with H&R Block in Quebec City. “They wonder whether there are any tax benefits related to their home to reduce.”

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Saturday, Apr. 19, 2025

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