David Chilton’s interview with me on his The Wealthy Barber podcast

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As those who follow me on social media may already know, financial guru David Chilton interviewed me on his popular The Wealthy Barber podcast, which dropped Tuesday on YouTube.com. You can find the full 39-minute clip here: try 1.5x speed if you’re pressed for time!

David is a good interviewer and got me to confess a few things I might not have coughed up otherwise. Mostly, we chatted about personal finance in Canada, retirement and retirement planning and — a particular concern for David — the plight of young Canadians priced out of the Canadian real estate market. This included a discussion of our own family’s situation and how the “Bank of Mum and Dad” may be enlisted to supplement down payments scraped up by some combination of TFSAs, the RRSP Home Buyers Plan and the new First Home Savings Accounts (FHSAs) that David is quite enthusiastic abøut.

Naturally we talked about Retirement. David himself is retiring at the end of this year soon after he turns 65, so he will have “beaten” me to Full Retirement by roughly eight years. I wrote about his looming Retirement recently in my MoneySense Retired Money column, which was also flagged here on Findependence Hub.

A Who’s Who of Canadian Personal Finance

I was David’s 71st interview on the podcast since he launched it two years ago: he says he plans to keep it going at least until the end of this year. As I comment in the interview, his many guests constitute a veritable “Who’s who” of Canadian personal finance, with a handful of Americans thrown in.

Glad to be part of it and to join such luminaries as Ben Felix, Preet Banerjee, Rob Carrick, Fred Vettese and many more. As David notes, a lot of his guests are younger newer voices known as “Finfluencers,” a group I also wrote about in Retired Money earlier this summer.

We also discuss other more “seasoned” financial commentators, including Bruce Cohen, Ellen Roseman, Jim Daw, Mike Grenby and other pioneers of the genre. Some of those veterans’ names came up in another Retired Money interview I did after Rob Carrick retired a year ago from his full-time job at the Globe & Mail.

The financial novels spawned by The Wealthy Barber

With an estimated 4- to 5- million copies of his books sold worldwide, it’s no surprize that Chilton’s pseudo-fiction financial format spawned many imitators. I fondly recall Jim Daw (retired from the Toronto Star) cracking a joke about the many financial novel knockoffs inspired by The Wealthy Barber. Rather than a “branch” of personal finance literature, Jim quipped in his review of my own Findependence Day that this specialized field consituted merely a “twig” of the genre.

While much of the interview was perforce about investing and retirement, good interviewer that he is David manages to coax some confessions about my own lifestyle and choices. For example, I tackled headon the fact that the title of my own similarly titled The Wealthy Boomer was not initially conceived as a ripoff of Chilton’s far more commercially successful The Wealthy Barber: that title was just a description of the possible demographic target for the book’s publisher.

We also talked about 12 Good Years, the blog that blogger Fritz Gilbert originally ran on his Retirement Manifesto blog. That article make she case that new or aspiring retirees should strive to make the best of the years between ages 60 and 72, whether for strenuous travel or demanding hobbies, physically or mentally. Continue Reading…

7 Common IRA Mistakes that can Derail your FIRE Journey

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Image from UDirect IRA Services

By Dan Parks

Special to Financial Independence Hub

The Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement requires precision in every financial decision. Similar to the Canadian RRSP, the American IRA is an Individual Retirement Account that can help you leave the working world behind much faster. However, some in the FIRE community may have issues managing their IRA strategically. Avoid these seven mistakes to keep your early retirement timeline on track.

1.) Delaying your Annual Contributions

Some FIRE-focused investors wait until the April tax-filing deadline to fund their IRAs, likely because it is convenient to do everything at once. This procrastination can cost you compound interest that accumulates over decades. Every month your money sits outside the account, it leads to lost growth potential you can’t recover later.

Automating your contributions solves this problem. Set up recurring transfers in January to maximize the time your contributions are invested. Even spreading $7,500 across 12 monthly deposits beats a single April lump sum. This disciplined approach aligns well with the systematic savings habits that make early retirement possible.

2.) Misunderstanding Roth Withdrawal Rules

Roth IRAs attract the FIRE community because you can withdraw contributions anytime without penalty. There is an assumption that all funds in a Roth are immediately accessible. This creates dangerous planning gaps. Converted funds and earnings are subject to strict timelines that can trigger taxes and penalties if violated.

The Roth IRA five-year rule governs distributions from individual retirement arrangements in ways that directly affect early retirees. Conversions must age five years before penalty-free withdrawal. Earnings require both five years and that the account owner be 59½ years of age. IRA qualified-distribution rules include other qualifying conditions, such as disability, death and first-home exceptions. Understanding these distinctions before executing conversions or withdrawals helps protect your strategy from costly missteps that could derail your retirement plans.

3.) Confusing Traditional and Roth Tax Structures

FIRE participants may misunderstand how limits apply across different tax structures, leaving valuable tax-free growth on the table. For 2026, the IRA contribution limit is $7,500, or $8,600 if you are 50 or older, and that limit is combined across Traditional and Roth IRAs.

Since this is a Roth IRA, your contribution limit is post-tax. Your effective contribution limit is higher than that of a Traditional IRA.

Contributing $7,500 to a Roth means $7,500 invested. A Traditional IRA contribution of the same amount represents less after-tax money once you factor in the deduction.

For FIRE participants planning decades of tax-free withdrawals, this distinction compounds into substantial additional wealth. Use calculators and projections to model the long-term impact before committing to one account over the other.

4.) Taking unplanned Early Distributions

Tapping an IRA before age 59½ generally triggers an early withdrawal penalty on top of ordinary income taxes for Traditional accounts, unless an exception applies. It devastates FIRE timelines by depleting the assets meant to fund your early retirement. Even Roth accounts impose penalties on earnings when withdrawn prematurely, despite their flexibility for contributions and withdrawals.

Building parallel liquidity can help. Establish a taxable brokerage account or maintain an emergency fund covering 12 to 18 months of expenses. This makes it less likely that you’ll be forced to touch tax-advantaged accounts. FIRE strategies work best when IRAs remain untouched until penalty-free withdrawal windows open.

5.) Letting Retirement Anxiety drive your Strategy

Non-retirees are worried about their financial comfort in retirement, and FIRE participants may face more anxiety due to their accelerated timelines. This anxiety becomes problematic when it drives all of your decisions. Panic-selling during market downturns or abandoning ‘safer’ assets, like government bonds, can undermine your plan. You must trust your math and maintain your savings rate through volatility, especially if you have a trusted and experienced advisor who can offer good advice.

FIRE planning relies on calculated risk tolerance and historical market data. Second-guessing your strategy in response to temporary market movements could affect decades of disciplined saving. Build your plan on solid assumptions, and then execute with confidence instead of emotion.

6.) Pacing your Savings to the Average Retirement Age

Benchmarking savings goals against traditional retirement timelines is not advisable for FIRE participants. The average retirement age for men has risen to 64 due to changes in Social Security, education levels, retirement plans, the nature of work and health coverage. This timeline assumes conventional career arcs and standard Social Security claiming strategies.

FIRE requires aggressive saving and investing, with some followers saving a large share of their annual income to reach Financial Independence well before traditional retirement age. This means maxing out IRA contributions annually while prioritizing high savings rates over lifestyle inflation. Treat retirement accounts as nonnegotiable budget items. Your contribution pace must align with your ambitious timeline, not the average worker’s retirement age. Calculate backward from your target retirement date to determine required annual savings. Focus on yourself instead of what your peers are doing.

7.) Ignoring traditional IRA Tax Benefits

The FIRE community may over-index on Roth accounts while dismissing Traditional IRAs entirely. This bias overlooks powerful tax arbitrage opportunities. These opportunities benefit high earners planning to retire early with lower income levels.

Deductible Traditional IRA contributions can reduce taxable income during peak earning years when you face high marginal tax rates. However, deductibility depends on your income, filing status and whether a workplace retirement plan covers you or your spouse. Early retirees may then withdraw funds or complete Roth conversions during lower-income years, potentially reducing their lifetime tax burden.

Evaluate your current tax bracket against your expected FIRE income brackets. If you qualify for a Traditional IRA deduction during a high-earning year, it may create valuable tax arbitrage when paired with lower-income retirement years or strategic Roth conversions. If your income or workplace retirement-plan coverage limits the deduction, a Roth IRA or another savings vehicle may be more effective. Use both account types strategically based on your tax situation.

Securing your Early Retirement Timeline

Individual retirement accounts are great tools for achieving Financial Independence when managed correctly. Review your current IRA setup against these seven mistakes, take action where needed and maintain the discipline that defines successful FIRE strategies. Your early retirement timeline requires both ambitious planning and precise execution.

Dan Parks is a senior writer at Modded.com. Based in Washington, D.C., Dan has a proven track record of distilling complex subjects into accessible narratives across various fields. His expertise in clear communication and meticulous research makes him a valuable contributor to discussions on personal finance and investment strategy, helping readers navigate intricate topics with ease. Dan is dedicated to providing readers with well-researched insights to foster financial literacy and independence.

10 things People get Wrong when Planning their Estate

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Avoid common estate planning mistakes that can complicate inheritance, taxes, and family decisions. Learn what Canadians should review before retirement.

Image Adobe Stock via Logical Position

By Dan Coconate

Special to Financial Independence Hub

Estate planning can feel like a task for another day, particularly when retirement already brings decisions about income, investments, housing, and lifestyle. Yet an estate plan affects far more than what happens to your assets after death. It can also shape who manages your finances during incapacity, how efficiently your estate moves to beneficiaries, and how much work falls on family members.

For Canadians approaching or enjoying retirement, the strongest plans usually come from looking at the entire financial picture rather than treating a will as a standalone document. There are many things people get wrong when planning their estate, from stopping at writing a will to choosing an executor solely due to familial ties. Avoiding these mistakes can help make your wishes clearer and reduce unnecessary complications for the people who eventually carry them out.

1.) Thinking a Will is the Entire Estate Plan

A will plays a central role in estate planning, but it does not cover every situation. A will generally takes effect after death. Other documents and arrangements address what happens while someone is still alive but unable to manage financial or personal matters. Powers of attorney, beneficiary designations, insurance policies, jointly held assets, and trusts may all form part of the larger picture.

It’s best to plan for both a will and appropriate powers of attorney as part of preparing financial affairs for later life. The distinction matters because an estate plan should address both asset distribution and continuity during incapacity.

2.) Assuming every Asset passes through the Will

A will does not automatically control every asset a person owns. Certain assets may transfer according to their ownership structure or beneficiary designation rather than instructions in a will. Registered accounts, insurance policies, jointly owned property, pensions, and other financial arrangements can require separate consideration.

That makes an asset inventory valuable. List financial accounts, real estate, insurance, business interests, investments, debts, and significant personal property, then determine how each item would transfer.

3. Choosing an Executor because they are the Closest Relative

Another thing many people get wrong when planning their estate is who they choose as an executor. Naming an executor can look like an honorary gesture, but it comes with serious responsibilities.

An executor may need to locate assets, protect estate property, deal with creditors, handle tax matters, complete legal procedures, and distribute property to beneficiaries. The executor is a key figure in administering the estate and carrying out the deceased person’s wishes.

The best choice may not be the eldest child or nearest family member. Consider financial ability, organization, availability, location, and willingness to handle the work.

4. Forgetting to Plan for Incapacity

Estate planning should not begin at death. Illness, cognitive decline, or an accident can leave someone unable to manage banking, investments, bills, or property. Without the correct legal authority in place, relatives may discover that family relationships alone do not give them the right to take control.

For example, in Ontario, even a spouse or family member does not automatically gain authority to manage another person’s property when that person becomes mentally incapable. The terminology and rules differ across Canada, so residents should review the appropriate documents for their province or territory.

5. Treating Beneficiary Designations as a One-time Decision

A beneficiary designation made many years ago may no longer reflect current intentions. Marriage, separation, divorce, deaths, births, retirement, and changes in family relationships can all alter what makes sense. A beneficiary on an old account can create an unpleasant surprise if the rest of the estate plan has changed, but the designation has not.

Review beneficiary information whenever a significant life event occurs. A periodic review during retirement can also reveal outdated forms before they create a conflict.

The important point is consistency. The will, financial accounts, insurance arrangements, and broader estate strategy should work together rather than point in different directions.

6. Assuming Trusts work the same way everywhere

Trusts can play an important role in some estate plans, but Canadians should be careful when reading general financial information in another country. Terms such as “revocable living trust” appear frequently in U.S. estate-planning discussions. Canadian tax treatment, probate rules, trust law, and estate administration can differ considerably by province and from American practice. Continue Reading…

The alternative to the 4% Rule isn’t a different number. It’s a different mechanism.

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By Stefano Starkel

Special to Financial Independence Hub

Ask for an alternative to the 4% Rule and most people offer you 3.5%, or 5%, or a dynamic band. Those answer the wrong question. The rule’s most important feature isn’t the number: it’s the assumption buried in its first sentence.

William Bengen’s 1994 study said this: Withdraw about 4% in year one, adjust that dollar amount for inflation, and across the worst U.S. sequences he tested no portfolio was exhausted before 33 years. He has revised it upward since: to roughly 4.7% in his 2025 book. The number was never the fragile part.

Notice how you get the cash. You sell. The 4% Rule is a selling rule, and most Retirement calculators inherit that frame: the portfolio is the only lever, drawing it down the only way to reach it. So “what’s the alternative” is really two questions: a smarter way to size withdrawals, or not drawing the pile down at all?

Why the number isn’t the weak point

The fragile part of a fixed-withdrawal plan is Sequence-of-Returns risk. I run a leveraged, income-oriented book myself, and I’ve watched how brutally the order matters.

Round numbers: A $1,900,000 portfolio. $76,000 withdrawn at the start of each year, held flat, then that year’s return applied. (The real rule inflates the withdrawal; flat isolates the sequence effect, and understates the damage.) Two retirees, same three returns, opposite order.

Same returns, same withdrawals, and B finishes about $80,000 behind: a gap that compounds with every subsequent return. The reason sits in year two: B took that $76,000 from a portfolio already down to $1.28M, a 6.0% bite against A’s 3.5%. Selling a fixed amount into weakness turns a paper dip into spent-and-gone principal. Over a full retirement, that early-sequence damage is what empties portfolios: not the headline rate.

Changing the mechanism, and what it costs

One family keeps selling, but flexibly: guardrails soften Sequence Risk at the cost of variable income. Still decumulation.

The other changes the mechanism: borrow against the portfolio rather than sell it, so the assets stay invested and nothing is forced to be realised in a downturn. This is what people mean when they say the wealthy never sell. It is not a free lunch : and for a Canadian reader, considerably less free than the American version.

The loan is callable. FINRA’s mandated margin disclosure is blunt: the firm can sell your securities without contacting you, you don’t choose which ones, and you aren’t entitled to extra time. Canada is no gentler: TD Direct Investing tells clients it may sell holdings “potentially without any prior notice,” and decide which. That is the bottom-of-the-market sale the strategy exists to avoid, arriving on the broker’s schedule. Continue Reading…

Vanguard Canada launches its first actively managed domestic Fixed Income ETF

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Vanguard Canada opens Toronto Stock Exchange on Sept. 9, 2026. Photo courtesy TMX Group.

Yesterday, Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. announced the launch of what it says is its first actively managed fixed-income ETF: the Vanguard Global Core-Plus Bond ETF (TSX: VCOR). VCOR began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday (Sept.9, 2026), where Vanguard opened trading for the day (as shown on left.)

The new ETF was a major focus of one of two major presentations at Vanguard Canada’s annual Global Insights Forum, held in Toronto at the Royal York Hotel. The other was billed as Megatrends, AI and Market Implications.

In a press release, Vanguard Capital Management CIO and Global Head of Vanguard Fixed Income Group Sara Devereux described VCOR as being part of the firm’s push to make Vanguard’s specialized fixed-income capabilities accessible to more investors. She said it “combines the resources of our global investment platform, a disciplined active process, and broad diversification across fixed-income markets in a single ETF.”

It aims to provide investors and their financial advisors with an “actively managed, single-ticket fixed-income solution at a low management fee of 0.25%.” While the “core” allocation is to investment-grade bonds, it also invests in global rates, credit, and securitized markets,  along with a “plus” component that allocates to higher-yielding bonds.  Depending on markets, investors can expect allocations of between 20% and 50% for investment-grade credit; 0 to 20% U.S. treasuries/agency; 10 to 35% mortgages; 5 to 20% Emerging Markets debt and 0 to 20% high-yield corporates. The fund seeks to hedge its U.S.-dollar currency exposure back to the Canadian dollar and plans to pay monthly distributions.

Sal D’Angelo, Head of Vanguard Canada, said active ETFs have experienced significant growth in Canada and now account for roughly a third of Canadian ETF assets: “We continue to see strong advisor and investor demand for active global fixed-income solutions that offer broader diversification and access to a wider opportunity set.”

Bonds becoming more important for financial advisors as well as their clients

Dan Shaykevich/Linkedin

At the Forum on Wednesday, the new ETF was the focus of a presentation by Vanguard principal and senior portfolio manager Dan Shaykevich (pictured on right). Fixed income is once again playing a central role in investor portfolios, he said. As Canadian financial advisors prepare for CRM3 (Client Relationship Model Phase 3), it will also play a more important role for advisors too. The fund taps one of the world’s largest Fixed-Income money managers: Vanguard’s global fixed income team manages US4.2 trillion in assets under management, including C$30 billion in Canadian Bonds.  It’s supported by more than 20 portfolio managers, 35 traders, 50 credit researchers and at least eight quantitative analysts.

Generally speaking, financial advisors tend to spend more time with clients on equities than on Fixed Income, Shaykevich said, “even though Fixed Income may be 20 to 40%” of advisors’ money under management.

Marketing materials distributed at the event included an insert on Fixed Income Investing reminding investors that bonds can complement the growth potential of equities by providing stability, generating income and supporing diversification.

The insert lists several already existing Canadian Index-based Fixed Income ETFs. They include: Continue Reading…