April's Great Reads

I have a short reading list for you this month, since most of us are either rushing to file our taxes or rushing to get outside after a long, cold winter. Notable articles that didn’t quite make the top three include this one from Andray Domise on how - if 40% of Canadians withdrew from their RRSPs last year - maybe it’s the design of the program that’s to blame rather than the people who are using it “incorrectly,” this one from Jennifer Chan on how she set up her finances when she first graduated law school with $40,000 in debt, and this one from Jonathan Clements on the four financial questions that reasonable people can disagree on.

And now:

Here’s a Counterintuitive Idea for Your Retirement...

From Paula Pant

If you know there’s such a thing as “the 4% rule” but don’t really know it's provenance or what said rule actually says, this is the article for you. Paula has a long-proven gift for clear financial writing, and this article is one of the best entry-level explanations of what the “rule” is, why it matters, how it might be flawed, and what to do about it for those of you who want to know more but don’t want to dig into past issues of the Journal of Financial Planning.

Read the full article here.

Three Ways to Increase Your Portfolio’s Longevity

From Anthony Isola

“Concentrate on improving the lifespan and healthspan of your money. The same principles will exponentially increase the quality of your life.”

Read the full article here. 

Some Alternatives to Evidence-Based Investing

From Josh Brown

“Systematic approaches to investing are the best way to express the fact that a) the future is unknowable b) no one can reliably guess at what’s going to happen for extended periods of time and c) other approaches that rely on instinct, intuition and rapid-fire decision making are too inconsistent (and costly) to depend upon for something as serious as building a retirement plan or funding future liabilities.”

Read the full article here. 

You can read this month's entire list below:

It's Time for Canada to Get Rid of the RRSP | Andray Domise

Solid take from former financial planner Andray Domise on how the RRSP program was designed for a past reality and doesn't work for the people who need it most:

"So what we’re left with is a savings scheme that benefits almost everyone except the people it was designed to protect, and often have the most need for access to emergency cash."

Unanswered | Jonathan Clements

“There are four questions where reasonable people can disagree—and where it’s all but impossible to settle the debate, in part because we find ourselves peering into an extremely cloudy crystal ball.”

I Paid Off $40,000 of Student Loans By Organizing My Finances Like This | Jennifer T. Chan

“Once you set things on autopilot, it’s uncanny how much you’re able to let it work in the background while you do other things with your time.