Calm Money Coach

A bond matures. A bond fund never does. Almost everything confusing about owning bonds in Canada comes out of that one line.

This is three pieces in one. The research on whether you should own bonds at all, the seven ways you can actually own them here, and the inflation-indexed floor most Canadians already own without seeing it on a statement.

Part 1. The paper that says own zero bonds.
Anarkulova, Cederburg and O'Doherty. 39 countries, 1890 to 2023, a million simulated lifetimes. All stocks, all the time, a 7 percent chance of running out of money against 19.7 percent for the funds that get more conservative as you age. They publish the price too: the average worst drop along the way is 55 percent, and 1 lifetime in 20 drops 76. Which models home bias for each coutnry. Then the part that rarely gets quoted. When they let the model pick the mix at every age instead of holding one for life, it buys 27 percent short-term government bills at 65, and by 68 it's back above 90 percent equity. So the argument was never whether. It's how many years, and when.

It's a working paper rather than peer reviewed, and Emory funded it, not Dimensional. Both worth saying out loud.

Part 2. Seven ways to own bonds in Canada.
GICs, individual bonds, ladders, bond ETFs, all-in-one funds, target maturity funds, private credit. RBC alone runs 21 target maturity bond ETFs, so the menu is bigger than the decision. One question sorts all of it, and it isn't cost or yield: does the thing have an end date? Something that matures walks its price risk down to zero on a day you knew going in. XBB carries 6.73 years of duration today and will carry about 6.7 in 2041, because it sells bonds as they age out of the index and buys new ones. It isn't a bond, it's a permanent claim on the bond market.

The all-in-one is the one people ask about most and it doesn't work how it looks. It doesn't hold stocks and bonds, it holds other funds inside one trust, and when stocks run past 60 percent the manager sells units of the equity funds and buys more of the bond fund. Nothing on your statement. That's the product: rebalancing that happens in March whether or not you'd have had the stomach for it. Vanguard looked at its own plan members through 2020 and 90 percent made no trade all year, against 4 percent in the all-in-one group. What you hand over is judgement. You can't hold the bonds in the RRSP and the stocks in the TFSA when it's one ticker, you can't spend the bond sleeve first, and you don't pick the year your gains land. VBAL paid out 43 cents a unit at the end of 2025 to people who sold nothing.

Part 3. You already own a bond.
Maximum CPP at 65 this year is $1,507.65 a month and full OAS is $751.97. Call it $2,259.62, indexed to actual inflation, and neither one falls if prices fall. A Canadian insurer this month, single life, registered, escalating at 2 percent, pays about $457.21 a month per $100,000, so that floor is worth roughly $494,000 of purchased annuity.

Blanchett and Finke modelled what that does to the allocation question. As guaranteed income goes from 5 percent of wealth to 75 percent, the optimal equity allocation moves from 30 percent to 95. Two people with identical portfolios, different right answers.

It works because CPP and OAS are tied to real inflation, and most Canadian private sector pensions aren't fully indexed, so read your own plan's clause.

Add up CPP, OAS and any pension. Subtract what you actually spend. The gap is the only part a portfolio has to cover.

Sources named: Anarkulova, Cederburg and O'Doherty on lifecycle asset allocation. Blanchett and Finke on guaranteed income and optimal equity. Vanguard plan member trading data through 2020. iShares XBB duration. Vanguard VBAL 2025 distribution. CRA and Service Canada figures for CPP and OAS.

The full written guide is in the Calm Money Community.

This is education, not advice for your situation, and I don't sell products or manage anybody's money.

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Soup to nuts on stuff I wish was talked about more for retirement. Not which account the CRA already owns part of, not how little of your paycheque you actually have to replace, not that the safest-looking withdrawal rate and the riskiest one land in roughly the same place once a spending rule is running.

This is 22 concepts about retiring in Canada, in about an hour, in the order that makes sense rather than the order I filmed them. Start at the top if this is new. Skip to a chapter if it isn't.

What I cover:

What an RRSP, a TFSA and a RRIF actually are, and the part of the RRSP that was never yours. Why 70 percent of your income is a number nobody can source. Why published safe withdrawal rates run from 2.70 to 5.60 percent and why the rate is not the decision. The decade between the last paycheque and 71 when almost nothing can touch your money. Losing OAS without spending a cent. Two people who retired a year apart, one ran out and one died with more than they started with. Why living off dividends can cost $1,700 of OAS a year. Running the same retirement 11 ways and watching the lowest tax bill lose. The RRSP meltdown, and when not to do it. Withdrawal order, and why the answer is how much from each rather than which one first. The spending smile. Why 2 thirds of Canadians over 72 take only the minimum. What a spouse changes, what being single changes, and what leaving a legacy changes. The care cost gap. And the 4 retirement decisions you cannot undo.

Sources named throughout and people I really respect and look to in the industry and there's many more than this but a few shout outs: Bengen, Blanchett, Vettese, Chandler, MacDonald, Ben Felix and PWL Capital, Morningstar, Statistics Canada, the CRA, and the RRIF factors out of Regulation 7308.

I am Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. I run Calm Money Coach, an advice-only planning practice. No products, no commissions, I do not manage anybody's money.

Free calculators and guides: calmmoneycoach.com

Education only, not advice for your situation. Talk to a professional about your own situation.

Follow me at @calmmoneycoach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.

When I was 22, nobody explained any of this. Not what a TFSA was, not what an index fund was, not why any of it mattered. I was making $33K, living paycheck to paycheck, and investing was the last thing on my mind.

In this episode I break down everything from the ground up. Why your cash is quietly losing value. The three accounts the Canadian government set up to help you build wealth. Why the TFSA is actually an investing account, not a savings account. What an index fund is and why over 90% of professional fund managers can't beat one. Back-tested returns through every major crash. Why no single country wins forever. And the three steps I'd take if I were starting from scratch today.

This one is for anyone just getting started or anyone who knows someone who needs to hear it. Share it with them.

Education only. Not financial advice. Do your own research and talk to a professional about your specific situation.

Sources referenced: SPIVA Scorecard, Vanguard, Morningstar Mind the Gap, Dimson Marsh Staunton 125-year dataset, MSCI ACWI Index, CRA, iShares, BMO.

Follow me on Instagram, facebook, tiktok or youtube at: @calmmoneycoach

Canada's GDP went up. So why does everything feel harder?

In this episode, I dig into the data on Canada's productivity crisis, the housing trap, market concentration, brain drain, the youth job market, and what Canada actually has going for it. No agenda, no politics. Just the numbers and what they mean for your money.

Topics covered:GDP per capita stagnation and why it matters more than headline GDPThe productivity gap with the US and what's driving itWhy 8.9% of GDP goes to housing investmentHow oligopolies in banking, telecom, and grocery affect your cost of livingThe tax math pulling talent and companies southWhat 914,000 young Canadians not working or studying means for the economyCanada's genuine advantages that don't get enough attention

Sources: Bank of Canada, StatsCan, OECD, IMF, C.D. Howe Institute, McKinsey, CMHC, Competition Bureau, RBC Economics

I'm Brian Orlando, CPA. I help Canadians make better decisions with their money.

Like and follow if you want more of this.

canada economy, canadian finance, gdp per capita, productivity, housing crisis canada, brain drain, personal finance canada, cost of living

I have done individual deep dives on cash allocation, account location, portfolio construction, TSX vs S&P 500, and asset classes. This episode ties all of it together into one complete framework.

What I cover:

Why your behavior costs 10 to 30 times more than your ETF structure, and the $160K threshold where optimization actually starts to matter. Why Canada being 3% of global equities means the TSX alone is not a portfolio. 125 years of return data showing dominance rotates between Canadian and US markets in decade-long cycles. How Canada taxes four types of investment income completely differently and what that means for where you put each ETF. The account location cheat sheet for TFSA, RRSP, and non-registered accounts. What the research says about gold, Bitcoin, TIPS, REITs, and why bonds are genuinely attractive again. The lump sum vs dollar cost averaging data, the behavioral science behind why it feels so hard, and Ben Felix's reframe that changed how I talk to clients about it. A five-step action framework you can implement this week.

Every claim in this episode is sourced to named research from PWL Capital, Vanguard, Morningstar, Dimson Marsh Staunton, Charles Schwab, BlackRock, Kahneman and Tversky, and others.

Website: calmmoneycoach.com

This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute personalized financial advice.

Bitcoin has had 87%, 84%, and 77% drawdowns. A 5% allocation contributes 27% of your total portfolio risk. In Parts 5 and 6 of the Complete Guide to Investing, I cover the real math on crypto, what the "digital gold" narrative gets wrong, and then move into alternatives where hedge fund investors give up 64 cents of every dollar earned to managers. The advertised fee is 2-and-20. The actual fee is closer to 50%.

Also in here, the Canadian route rather than the US one: BTCX.B and ETHX.B, and what holding them inside a TFSA changes for tax and for your estate.

I am Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. I run Calm Money Coach, an advice-only planning practice. No products, no commissions, I do not manage anybody's money.

Free calculators and guides: calmmoneycoach.com

Education only, not advice for your situation. Talk to a professional about your own.

@calmmoneycoach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.

An oil ETF lost 86% while oil prices rose 50%. How is that possible? In Part 4 of the Complete Guide to Investing, I break down every major commodity with 125 years of return data. Gold at $5,300 with JP Morgan calling $6,300. The copper story nobody is talking about. And why this is the only asset class that quietly works against you over time. Same volatility as stocks. 600 basis points less return.

The copper section is the one people do not expect: 27 tonnes per megawatt, and about 50,000 tonnes for a single hyperscale data centre.

Sources named throughout: the CFA Institute, JP Morgan, the World Gold Council, S&P Global, WisdomTree and Dimensional.

Gold was around $5,300 when this was filmed in early March 2026. Check the price today before you use that number for anything.

I am Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. I run Calm Money Coach, an advice-only planning practice. No products, no commissions, I do not manage anybody's money.

Free calculators and guides: calmmoneycoach.com

Education only, not advice for your situation. Talk to a professional about your own.

@calmmoneycoach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.

Yale Endowment is one of the most successful institutional investors in history. Their target return on real estate? About 6% after fees. Why would the smartest money in the room accept that? Because that's what's realistic. In this episode, I break down real estate as an asset class: public REITs vs private real estate, the fee structure that eats your gains, which property types are winning (data centers, industrial, self-storage), which ones are dying (office), and the simplest way to get exposure without buying a duplex. Part 3 in the Complete Guide to Investing series. If you missed Part 1 (Equities) and Part 2 (Bonds), go back and listen to those first.

Free calculators and guides: calmmoneycoach.com

Follow Calm Money Coach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. @calmmoneycoach is my handle everywhere.

Every new home in Canada starts $107,000 in the hole before anyone picks up a hammer. Not the house. Just the pipes, the roads, and the water underneath it. And we need 3.5 million of them. In this episode, I break down the real math behind Canada's housing crisis, why municipalities own 60% of infrastructure but only get 8 to 10 cents of every tax dollar, how Toronto's development charges went up 906% in 15 years, and what countries like Japan, Vienna, and New Zealand actually did to fix it. I'm a CPA with 15+ years in finance. I don't have all the answers, but I know how to read the numbers. And the numbers are telling a pretty clear story.

Free calculators and guides: calmmoneycoach.com

Follow Calm Money Coach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. @calmmoneycoach is my handle everywhere.

In 2022, bonds lost 13%. The long bond ETF dropped 31%. The "safe" part of your portfolio got hit harder than most stock crashes.

Now in 2026, bonds are paying real income again for the first time in over a decade. But something is happening in Japan that could push your mortgage rate higher, even if the Bank of Canada keeps cutting.

In this episode I break down how bonds actually work, why duration is the risk nobody explains until it's too late, why your fixed mortgage rate doesn't follow the Bank of Canada, what happened on January 20th when Japan's bond market had its most violent day in modern history, the $250 billion yen carry trade, and what Canadian investors should actually do with their bond allocation.

I also cover ZAG, VAB, ZFL, ZST, how GICs compare, and the tax optimization move that saves you almost half the tax on your fixed income.

This is Part 2 of my series on every asset class ranked by actual returns. Part 1 covered equities.

Links to other socials: calmmoneycoach.com