“Mom, Dad… we’ve found a house we love. We’re just a little short on the down payment.” Sound familiar? Helping your kids buy a home without risking your retirement. That’s the balancing act many parents are facing. The idea of helping your adult children buy their first home is something many would love to do. […]

“The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid.” — Thomas à Kempis Look at any skyscraper and it’s easy to focus on what you can see. But long before the glass, steel and impressive design, there was a plan—and a great deal of work happening below ground. Building—or rebuilding—your credit is surprisingly […]

If you have a mortgage, do you need mortgage protection insurance? Maybe — but before answering that question, there’s an important misconception to clear up.  If you bought your home with less than a 20% down payment, you likely already paid for mortgage default insurance. That insurance protects the lender if you default on your […]

When a relationship ends and you own a home together, one option may be for one spouse to remain in the property and buy out the other spouse’s interest. This is commonly referred to as a spousal buyout.  There are legal considerations involved, but there is also an important financing question: Can the person keeping […]

A house may be built with walls and beams, but a home is built over years — through family, milestones and a life lived within it. For many Canadians, a home is so much more than an investment. And after years of homeownership, it may also represent one of your largest financial assets. You may […]

“Don’t stay with a bank simply because you’ve always been there.” That was one of the key takeaways I recently read in an article by Ritika Dubey of The Canadian Press. The article encouraged Canadians to look beyond habit and ask whether their current banking relationship is still providing the value, service, and advice they […]

Turn an hourglass over and watch the sand begin to fall. At first, the change is almost impossible to notice. Grain by grain, minute by minute, the pile below slowly grows until one day, there’s no sand left at the top. Paying off a mortgage works much the same way. A single mortgage payment may […]

“Progress is impossible without change.” — George Bernard Shaw Could your mortgage be doing more for you than simply helping you own your home? For many homeowners, a mortgage becomes something you set up, make the payments on, and rarely think about again until renewal time. But life doesn’t stand still. Families grow, careers change, […]

“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” — Chris Grosser Running a business means making smart financial decisions every day. Whether you’re launching a new company, expanding your operations, or replacing outdated equipment, purchasing everything outright isn’t always the best use of your hard-earned capital. That’s where equipment leasing can make all the difference. Through my […]