November is Financial Literacy Month
Worries about personal finances are at the top of the list when Canadians talk about their sources of stress. By clearly showing you where your money goes, a budget is a simple but powerful tool that can help you feel in control and protect you from unexpected financial surprises.
Take this Financial literacy self-assessment quiz to see how well you’re doing at staying on track.
DM Monthly Newsletter – Nov 2016
U.S. ELECTION REVIEW – This is why we shun the forecast game that fuels the financial media and in which so many managers are willing to partake! If asked for predictions, we would have been 0 for 2 on the US election, never having fathomed a Donald Trump presidency and certainly not guessing that stocks would be up at the market’s open. In light of the unexpected landscape that greeted us this morning, here are some of the points that will inform our thinking going forward:
- Clearly, that market is placing significant weight on the “pro-growth” aspects of the president elect’s platform….
- Within DM portfolios, there isn’t yet a stark delineation between “winning” and “losing” groups….
- Bond yields have risen….
Click here to read more: dm-monthly-report-nov-16
Tackling the challenges of benefits provision for employees over age 65
by Kim Siddall
Increasing longevity, better health and the elimination of mandatory retirement means many Canadians are delaying their retirement past age 65, presenting employers with both advantages and challenges for managing benefits for this unexpected segment of their workforce.
Statistics Canada’s last census indicated that one in four Canadian seniors were still working in some capacity past the traditional age of retirement, whether driven by choice or economic necessity. This finding was echoed by Sun Life’s last Unretirement index last year, which pointed to a growing number of Canadians who fully expect to still be working full time at age 66. In fact, 2015 marked the first year in the seven years of the study that more respondents expected to be working full time at 66 than those who expected to be fully retired. Read more 
Boomer + Sandwich Generation + Club Sandwich + Boomerang = Financial Instability
The Sandwich Generation was a term coined by Dorothy Miller in 1981 to describe adult children who were “sandwiched” between their aging parents and their own maturing children. There is even a term for those of us who are in our 50’s or 60’s with elderly parents, adult children and grandchildren – the Club Sandwich. More recently, the Boomerang Generation (the estimated 29% of adults ranging in ages 25 to 34, who live with their parents), are adding to the financial pressures as Boomers head into retirement. It is estimated that by 2026, 1 in 5 Canadians will be older than 65. This means fewer adults to both fund and provide for elder care. Today, it is likely that the average married couple will have more living parents than they do children.
What are the challenges? Read more
