July's Great Reads
Another monster list for your July reading pleasure. These top three are the ones you shouldn't miss, but the whole list is down there...I'm sure you'll find something interesting on retirement income satisfaction, how to handle a windfall, surviving close encounters of the banking kind, how the 4% rule works outside of the US (where most of the retirement income research has come from), and the first article I've read about market bubbles that didn't blame it on fear and greed (plus more...lots more).
Let's dig in:
FAIR Canada Submits Brief to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance
Frustrated by the recent stories about high-pressure, unethical sales practices at Canadian Banks? (For a refresher, here's the first one on CBC Go Public) FAIR Canada (Canadian Foundation for Advancement of Investor Rights) has submitted recommendations to make banking fairer for consumers, including:
"a requirement for a best interest standard that includes acting fairly, honestly, and with a duty of loyalty to the client and avoiding conflicts of interest. A best interest standard would combat the proliferation of harmful products, damaging sales practices and financial incentives not in the client’s interest, would remove structural conflicts of interest (notably embedded commissions) and require banks to adapt their business practices so that employees no longer prioritize sales over the interest of the consumer.”
And for those of you who want the committee to act on FAIR's recommendations, here's the list of MPs who serve as members or associate members and how to contact them.
Read the full brief from FAIR Canada here.
Build your own financial planning spreadsheet
From Lars Kroijer, an <insert your own superlative here, because I'm running out> series in which he literally builds an incredibly practical spreadsheet in front of your eyes, complete with commentary and mistakes that he corrects in real time. Watching his screencasts has made me a better planner, and even if you ultimately don't use the spreadsheet for planning, just copying what he's doing will make you smarter about your own money.
The Subjectivity of Wealth, Or: Don't Tell Me What's Expensive
From Piggy at Bitches get Riches, a(nother) smart and saucy reminder:
"If you lack the empathy to be able to imagine financial circumstances more dire than your own, perhaps you should retire from polite society and eat your avocado toast in silence...
"Fortune does not smile equally upon us all. If you started your life healthy, debt-free, and unfettered by familial financial obligations, you should count yourself lucky. And yes, you can acknowledge that luck while still taking pride in your accomplishments. But the fact remains that sometimes the only thing separating you from a poorer but equally talented, driven, and worthy person is an accident of birth."
Read the rest here.