How To Save $100,000 For An MBA Or Other Higher Education

by Mike Holman

A reader asked me how he can save $100,000 in order to do his MBA. My first thought was “with great difficulty”.  $100 grand is a lot of cash to save even if you make a high salary. Obviously, to save money you must spend less than you earn and save the difference. Cutting your […]

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LinkStuff – Sandy Edition

by Mike Holman

I hope everyone survived the recent bad weather resulting from Hurricane Sandy.  Luckily in the Toronto area, we were spared most of the effects and just had a bit of extra rain. The New York stock exchange was closed for two days this week because of the weather and my friend Alexandra Macqueen who wrote the […]

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The True Cost Of Owning An ETF – The MER Is The Main Thing

by Mike Holman

I read an article recently about a formula to calculate the true cost of owning an ETF.  The idea behind this formula was to capture all the costs of an ETF, not just the annual expense ratio or MER. Related: What are ETFs? – Exchange Traded Funds If you are trying to add up your […]

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LinkStuff – Dividend e-Book Edition

by Mike Holman

My friend Mike Hereux from the Dividend Guy blog has written a book about dividend stocks called Dividend Growth: Freedom Through Passive Income. It’s a pretty good guide on dividend investing and includes everything from stock selection to diversification to taxes. If you want to learn more about dividend investing, this book is a good […]

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Avoiding Cell Phone Data Roaming Charges While Traveling In The United States – Success!

by Mike Holman

I’ve written a number of articles about my experiences with attempting to reducing my iPhone data charges while traveling in the United States and I”m happy to say that this year, I didn’t have any data “surprises”. Last year, I got some unexpected charges because I wasn’t monitoring the data usage correctly and I also […]

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LinkStuff – Arrowhead Provincial Park Edition

by Mike Holman

I recently wrote about our visit to Pinery Provincial park which is a great park.  I think our favourite park from this summer was Arrowhead Provincial park which is near Huntsville, Ontario. It’s located about three hours north of Toronto and is just outside Huntsville. What we liked about Arrowhead Campsites were large and private. […]

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Withdrawal Of RESP Over-Contributions – Tread Lightly

by Mike Holman

Reader Bryan sent in the following question: I opened an RESP the month after my son was born, and I have been diligently contributing such that my contributions will nearly reach the maximum amount that the government will match by 20%, and the extra room has been filled with money my son has received as […]

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Mutual Fund Trailer Fee Disclosure – Good Move, But Won’t Make Much Difference

by Mike Holman

I agree with Rob Carrick that better disclosure of mutual fund fees and rate of return is worth the extra cost to investors. I’ve already written in the past however, that while I think more mutual fund fee disclosure is good, I doubt it will make much of a difference. Most investors don’t read anything other than […]

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