Ellen and Laura sit down to talk about Laura's new book 'Let's Talk About Aging Parents'.

Laura takes a fresh approach to conversations that can be difficult, but don't have to be.

Laura and Ellen discuss topics related to aging family members and all of the different areas to cover in having those important discussions.

Laura Tamblyn Watts is the CEO of CanAge and embodies a commitment to the betterment of elder care and seniors’ rights. Her multifaceted career spans law, academia, and policy development, reflecting a dedication to impactful advocacy and education.

With a legal background as a member of the BC Bar since 1999, Laura has leveraged her expertise to advance the interests of seniors, serving as National Director of the Canadian Centre for Elder Law and as Chief Public Policy Officer at CARP. Her academic role as an Assistant Professor (status) at the University of Toronto’s Factor Inwentash Faculty of Social Work underscores her commitment to shaping future professionals in the field.

We hope you enjoy!

In the interview, we cover what lessons for Canadians that Kornel has learned after doing close to two hundred interviews with financial experts, over the past 10 years.

Kornel and his spouse have also been either fully or semi-retired for the past 8 years, and so we discuss any advice for those who are also planning to retire in their 30s, or just retire early in general. We also examine what kind of financial changes or challenges that surprised them  and that listeners should know about to help them with their own journey towards financial independence and early retirement.

If you’d like to hear more interviews done by Kornel, you can check them out on the Build Wealth Canada Podcast which you can find in your favourite podcast player.

We hope you enjoy!

In today's episode, I talk to a mortgage specialist who loves to educate borrowers on how to shop for the best financing for their income and their needs. 

Ross Taylor of Ross Taylor Mortgages is a two-time national award winner, specializing in difficult mortgages and first-time home buyers. You can find his financial literacy articles at his website (AskRoss.ca).

Here are the top five mistakes he sees home buyers make:

1) They don't pre-qualify themselves for a mortgage with a lender before shopping.

2) They overpay for a house in a hot market, not anticipating that a pre-approved mortgage may not be issued if the house is appraised at a lower value.

3) They underestimate their one-time closing costs -- such as land transfer taxes, PST on high-ratio insurance premiums, adjustments for property taxes and condo fees, utility hookups and moving costs. This CMHC brochure will help you keep track of them all.

4) They underestimate the cost of living in their own home. Mortgage payments, property taxes and condo fees are the obvious ones. But then there is also heating, hydro, water, cable, internet and home insurance.

5) They sign up for a five-year fixed-rate mortgage with a major bank. This means they may be setting themselves up for very large prepayment penalties if they have to break the mortgage before the term is up. This can wreak havoc on your finances. It's vital to understand your lender's mortgage prepayment penalty before you sign up.

In this episode, I ask Ross Taylor about a number of issues he's written about at his site:

-- How to find money for your mortgage renewal when interest rates have soared. Should you consider cashing in your savings, such as RRSP or RESP assets? Should you think about selling your property in order to downsize to something smaller you can buy or to find a lower-priced property you can rent?

Here's an article by Rob Carrick of the Globe and Mail on a Vancouver couple who engineered a sale of their four-bedroom home. Then, with the proceeds from the sale and a cash top-up, they bought a new three-bedroom townhouse in which they could live mortgage-free.

-- What are alternative mortgage lenders?

-- What are high-ratio mortgages?

-- What are common myths about co-signing for a mortgage?

-- Should you convert your variable-rate loan to a fixed-rate loan when you can't afford the higher payments? Here is the article Ross wrote about this dilemma. 

Ellen Roseman speaks with Keith Richards, Founder and Portfolio Manager for ValueTrend Wealth Management. They discuss the difference between Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis and how they fit into a portfolio. They also discuss concepts like support and resistance. 

Ellen Roseman speaks to Fred Vettese, author of "Retirement Income For Life; Getting More Without Saving More", 3rd Edition.  They talk about Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan, attitudes around retirement and the fear of outlasting your nest egg. 

Ellen Roseman speaks to John De Goey, Investment Advisor and author of his new book "Bullshift" about optimism bias that investors and advisors have and whether or not it introduces risk to our portfolios. 

Ellen Roseman speaks to Janine Rogan, CPA and author of The Pink Tax about how women have systematically been held back financially. They talk about financial feminism, the gender pay gap as well as policies that assist women to reach financial equity like paid maternity leave and affordable child care among others.

Ellen Roseman speaks with Clay Jarvis of Nerdwallet.ca.  They discuss the mortgages, becoming a landlord, what to expect when becoming a landlord as well the gratification that one can receive from becoming a real estate investor among a host of other topics.

This Episode is brought to you buy BMOETFs.com.

Ellen Roseman speaks with Kyle Prevost, co-author of the book More Money For Beer and Textbooks and self-proclaimed personal finance nerd, about his new retirement planning course for Canadians entitled "4 Steps to a Worry-Free Canadian Retirement." They discuss topics such as the incentive structure for advisors, the 70% rule of pre-retirement income in retirement, fee-only advice and a variety of personal finance topics including his four steps for a worry free retirement. They also discuss life living in Qatar.

Foodflation!!  We are all facing it!  In this episode, Ellen Roseman talks to a Canadian Researcher in food distribution and policy and otherwise known as The Food Professor, Sylvain Charlebois.  They discuss food inflation, tipflation and even shrinkflation and how to fight them. They also talk about Canada's Food Price Report and Skip The Dishes Inflation Cookbook.