It's Personal Finance Canada

“My investment strategy used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you!" This week we talk about the market and economic outlook for 2024 and see that it is a tale of two conflicting opinions. Is recession still a risk, what equities are over or under valued and how can you prepare your stra...

Make work not profit, oh that’s where I went wrong. This week we conclude our two-part series on small business and talk about how to build a realistic business plan that enhances profitability. Find out how your personal finance habits can make or break your company, and profitability, and sanity. Plus some tips from Mike Michalowicz’s book “Profit First” to help you make sure you remember to pay...

The best way to not get laid off, is to be your own boss… I hope. This week we talk about one of the best ways to take control of your personal finances, starting a small business. Is it right for you, can you handle being a “jack of all trades,” and can you master the art of systemization? Find out what it really takes to make things work and the pro’s and con’s of being your own boss. If you liv...

This week we talk about how different stages in your life impact how you use RRSPs and TFSAs. What is strategy could be best for each age group, what will help you net the most returns and what is some of the fine print that most people don’t notice. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com  Keep the conversation going on our Fa...

A new year, a new me, a new series of mistakes to make. This week we help you start the year off right with some of our favorite personal finance tips that we think will help you in 2024. Everything from market timing, to adjusting your finances for wanted & unwanted life changes and finding low cost ways to reduce stress. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the peopl...

Jingle bells, budget’s broke, bills are on the way, Oh, what fun it will be, to live in a one-horse open sleigh, hey! This week we reminisce about our most popular and engaged with podcasts of 2023 and see if our advice… ramblings, still holds up. Also we talk about what happens behind the scenes and what we are looking forward to talking about in 2024. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! If you l...

“Family, religion, friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business.” This week we talk about Ray Dalio’s book “Principles for Success” and how you can better live your life thanks to the founder of an asset management firm. Turns out the secret isn’t finding joy through buying and crushing smaller business. Rather this is Ray’s way of guiding young entrepren...

Step:1 evaluate all of your 2023 financial decisions, Step: 2 drink coco and watch Christmas rom-com’s, Step: 3 gaze into the void, Step 4: repeat step 1. This week we go over 14 different tips you help you close out 2023 and get ready for another exciting year (can we please just have one boring year). Everything from budgeting, insurance, debt management and goal setting we help you get off on t...

The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is spending loud for all to hear. This week we see how much Canadians are expected to spend over the holidays. Some are saying spending going up, pleasing Santa and others say its going down to the delight of Scrooge. Find out what factors are at play and how can you better prepare for the Christmas season without the soul crushing debt, because really, that...

Home is where the debt is. This week talk about the new First Home Savings Account (FHSA) and how your can maximize your ability to overpay for a house. We also talk about how your can combine this with other tax advantaged savings options to build up a deposit of over $163,000 per person. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.co...

Some of you may suffer, but it's a sacrifice I am willing to make. This week Cam gives his debriefing on a recent event he attended headlined by Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers and how you apparently need to do a better job at fixing the economy. We talk about Canada’s continued high interest rates, lagging productivity, decreased standard of living, who to blame for it al...

Anyone have any spare change, I need to adjust my perception of reality. This week we go deeper into the concept of challenging our core beliefs about ourselves and how that impacts our finances and more importantly our overall health. Is change as easy as it sounds and what is the cost of refusing to? If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit brau...

People keep saying that money is simple, and I took that personally. This week we get deep with “Simple Money: No Nonsense Guide to Personal Finance” by Tim Maurer and find out how to make understanding finances more personal and real to our own lives. Learn how to figure out what success really looks like to you and how to challenge your inherited and ingrained views on money. If you live in Brit...

A proclamation has been sent forth from Ottawa, “don’t forget to drink more Ovaltine!” This week we break down the freshly released Survey of Household Spending report from StatsCan to see where all of our money has been going. Find out how far apart average expenses are from average income and what the data tells us about how people are able to budget effectively. If you live in British Columbia,...

Age is in the eye of beholder! This week we take a deep dive into Moshe Milevsky’s book “Longevity Insurance for a Biological Age: Why Your Retirement Plan Shouldn’t Be Based on the Number of Times You Circle the Sun” and see how we get retirement planning wrong by relying on our calendar age more than our biological age. Find out what the difference is between biological age and chronological age...

This week we welcome IPFC listener Michelle D. whose journey started by listening to podcasts and discovering how to live with intention. A concept that took her and her family on a journey that lead to the repayment of $301,000 of mortgage debt in less than five years. Michelle talks about how they changed spending habits, sold things they didn’t need, put their savings towards the debt (minus RR...

If at first you don’t succeed just do the same thing over and over and over again. This week we tackle the root of most people’s personal finance issues, their decision making process. For many people the decisions we make feel almost automatic and outside of our control bringing us to the same unwanted results day in and day out, and no budget is going to help us out of that rut. If you live in B...

So it turns out the best way to help people without money is actually to just give them money. This week we talk with Claire Williams co-founder of “Foundations for Social Change” and Dr. Jiaying Zhao Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC, two of the co-authors of the landmark study “Unconditional Cash Transfers R...

Now always never forget to don’t do what Donny Don’t does! This week we open up and show you how we got things wrong… in the past, and how you can avoid those same money mistakes today. Plus, don’t miss out on the lightning round where we rapid fire more ways to help you avoid wasting money. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial....

Yes, yes, asking is the first step to understanding, but spending is the first step to a new Lego Venator-class Star Destroyer. This week we explore some of the key questions people should be asking themselves about not only their finances but their daily habits and purpose in life, wow that got deep quick. Everything from income, spending, savings, investing and protection is talked about and how...

We come into the world with nothing and we leave with everything, wait that’s not right. This week we talk about the book “Die with Zero: Getting All You Can From Your Money” by Bill Perkins and find out what he has against his kids. Find out how Bill’s philosophy of decumulation and making the most of a certain portion of your life can help people kick their bucket after it's been empty. If y...

Now to revolutionize your finances first get out your 401k documents *throws book*. This week we tackle the biggest frustration among Canadians who read personal finance books, the dreaded use of the American tax system and we give you a cheat sheet to help apply those ideas to your life. Is an IRA an Individual Retirement Account or a Individual Retirement Arrangement, we don’t know! Plus a host...

And with a wave of my wand I shall make all my financial problems disappear, “klaatu barada nikto!” This week we open the mystic tomb known as “Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money, Less Risk, and a Better Life” by Laurence Kotlikoff and see how this master of the financial arts can teach us about crafting our lives into the best financial outcome possible. *IPFC is not responsible fo...

This week we get personal and Christine shares about a health issue in her life that forever changed the way we look at money, priorities, finances and our planning process. It’s introspective and a bit dark, and not our usual light and fluffy personal finance centric type of episode. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the people you love and visit braunfinancial.com  Ke...

"I’m sorry Dave I’m afraid I can’t invest in that." This week we peer into the S&P 500 and see how its core sectors have performed so far in 2023. Is there a true boom in the market happening or has HAL 9000 and his shiny new AI buddies distracted everyone from what is really happening in the American stock market. If you live in British Columbia, let us help you take care of the peo...