Welcome
Cashflows and Portfolios is a free online resource providing beginning-to-end content for all Do-It-Yourself (DIY) investors. We offer a free newsletter to your inbox offering wealth-building tips; suggestions; retirement case studies; and more to help you manage your retirement nest egg over time. We also offer personalized low-cost financial projections services beyond all the free content to support all DIY investors by DIY investors!
Check out our low-cost Retirement Projections Services here!
Learn about who we are, why we do what we do, and how we intend to support all DIY investors as DIY investors ourselves right here.
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DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH TO RETIRE?
If financial projections and retirement readiness are what you are after, we using some professional financial software (software that we are using for our own plans in fact), and making it available to you in our affordable and value-packed membership options. With this powerful software, we provide a detailed report(s) that answers questions specific to your financial situation and assumptions such as:
- Do I have enough to retire?
- When can I retire?
- Will I run out of money in retirement?
- What is the most I can spend in retirement?
- How much of a financial legacy can I leave behind?
- Should I take CPP at age 65 or 70?
- How do I minimize OAS clawback?
- Which account (and when) should I withdraw from for the highest tax efficiency and estate value?
Featured articles
Why the 4% Rule Doesn’t Work for Early Retirement (FIRE)
The 4% rule is a common rule of thumb in many retirement planning circles, including the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) community in particular. But…we don’t really like it for FIRE! What does the 4% rule actually mean? Should the 4% rule be used for any FIRE-seeker? Does the 4% rule really matter to retirement planning at all? Read on to find out our final…
Could You Retire if the Global Financial Crisis Happened Again?
Could you retire if the Global Financial Crisis happened again? With stocks tanking recently this summer along with rumours of another recession looming thanks to our existing housing crisis in Canada coupled with higher interest rates – we think this is a legitimate question to ask. You might recall The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) turned a few retirement dreams into investing nightmares. Stocks plunged in…
How to Start Investing for Beginners
How to start investing can be challenging for many and there is seemingly so much information to know. It’s also a challenge to figure out who to trust – so many people want your money! How can you start investing? What accounts should you start investing with? Should you buy: funds/ETFs or individual stocks? Today’s post answers those questions and much more with references to…
Latest articles
Why the 4% Rule Doesn’t Work for Early Retirement (FIRE)
The 4% rule is a common rule of thumb in many retirement planning circles, including the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) community in particular. But…we don’t really like it for FIRE! What does the 4% rule actually mean? Should the 4% rule be used for any FIRE-seeker? Does the 4% rule really matter to retirement planning at all? Read on to find out our final…
Please Stop. Of Course, You Can Retire with Millions!
Really, these articles need to stop. Yes, you can retire with your millions. Here are some actual headlines from some newsworthy outlets or bloggers or financial experts and authors… Primary source: https://newsroom.bmo.com/ Source: X/formerly Twitter Source: Washington Post. From that Post article: “Things happen. . . If you have $20, $30, $50 or $100 million, be like me, okay? If you have that kind of…
Could You Retire if the Global Financial Crisis Happened Again?
Could you retire if the Global Financial Crisis happened again? With stocks tanking recently this summer along with rumours of another recession looming thanks to our existing housing crisis in Canada coupled with higher interest rates – we think this is a legitimate question to ask. You might recall The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) turned a few retirement dreams into investing nightmares. Stocks plunged in…
How to Start Investing for Beginners
How to start investing can be challenging for many and there is seemingly so much information to know. It’s also a challenge to figure out who to trust – so many people want your money! How can you start investing? What accounts should you start investing with? Should you buy: funds/ETFs or individual stocks? Today’s post answers those questions and much more with references to…
Best GIC Rates in Canada
As you well know, to build wealth, it takes more than savings to compound away to grow your portfolio into something meaningful. That said, keeping cash savings secure or guaranteed in some cases can be very smart. What are GICs? What are the best GICs to consider and why? What are the best GIC rates right now in 2023? Read on to learn more about the…
When Beat the TSX (BTSX) works and when it doesn’t!
In previous posts on our site, we highlighted the investing concepts behind Beat the TSX (BTSX) to juice your retirement income. In today’s updated post, we’ll highlight when the BTSX strategy works and when it doesn’t including so far in 2023! Along the way, we’ll remind you about our interview with an early retiree that not only follows this strategy but writes about it extensively…
Our Top-5 Stocks and Holdings
Over the years of running various sites, and including this new venture here at Cashflows & Portfolios in the last two years, the founders (Mark and Joe) have received many requests to share what our portfolios looks like, why, how we’re investing and what companies we are thinking about buying more of over time as DIY self-directed investors. Well, to help answer some of those…
Are You Making Some of These Common Portfolio Mistakes?
One problem that DIY investors can face is dealing with is the persistent urge to tinker with any portfolio. So, we wondered: Are you making some common portfolio mistakes? On that theme, common portfolio mistakes to avoid, we believe there is no perfect portfolio – just yours – which is why owning a reasonable portfolio is good enough. Bad things can happen to good investors…
What is a RRIF? How Does a RRIF Work?
Synopsis: In this article, we’ll dig deep into RRIFs answering questions like: what is a RRIF? How does a RRIF work? Then we’ll dig into the details like the pros/cons, and the important withdrawal rules. Thanks to all subscribers for sending us their questions on RRIFs! If you’re not comfortable with relying on just government benefits like Canada Pension Plan (CPP) or Old Age Security…
How Your Side Hustle Can Help You Retire Earlier
As you well know from this site, we love case studies! We enjoy posting case studies since we believe any retirement related drawdown case studies can help people see themselves in such examples. During the pandemic, that caused so many impacts to so many people on various levels, many folks decided to take income matters into their own hands and develop a side-hustle. This provided…