Welcome
Cashflows & Portfolios is a free resource providing a beginning-to-end guide for Do-It-Yourself investors. The journey begins with how to budget and generate cash flow; how best to invest that cashflow; onto using the nest egg to fund the next phase of life – retirement).
We (Mark and Joe) are personal finance bloggers with a combined experience of over 25 years in helping Canadians with their finances. Using this experience, we created this site to provide you with actionable steps towards your financial goals. Both of us are in our 40’s, and like many of you, we started from scratch. Using the steps and strategies outlined in this site has allowed us to build significant 7-figure portfolios that are leading the way to financial independence (more about us 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
Should you use an All-Weather Portfolio?
Stock market volatility can and will happen, which can really spook many investors. To help with that, should you use an all-weather portfolio for changing market conditions? Would an all-weather portfolio be best long-term? How would I build an all-weather portfolio using Canadian ETFs? Read on and find out our take, including the pros and cons of this all-weather investing approach. The portfolio is designed…
Avoid These 5 Big RRSP Mistakes
The Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) is also one of our favourite accounts to build long-term wealth with, and the same should apply to you. On that note, it’s also an account that can trigger huge opportunity costs if not used wisely. For today’s post, we’ll share how you can avoid these 5 big RRSP mistakes – in your asset accumulation and asset decumulation years….
Avoid These 5 Big TFSA Mistakes
The Tax-Free-Savings Account (TFSA) is one of our favourite accounts to build long-term wealth with. It’s also an account that can trigger huge opportunity costs if not used wisely. For today’s post, we’ll share how you can avoid these 5 big TFSA mistakes – in your asset accumulation and asset decumulation years. Mistake #1 – Not using the TFSA for investing We love the account. We hate…
Latest articles
RRSP Deadline and Contribution Limit 2022, and Everything in Between!
Before we start, as quick reminder, the RRSP contribution deadline for 2022 is March 1, 2022. There are a lot of RRSP questions going around, especially during RRSP season. This is why we have this comprehensive post so you can find everything you need to know about the RRSP in one spot! What is an RRSP and how does it work? What is the RRSP…
How to Become The Money Master (Author Q&A and Giveaway!)
A new year brings new opportunities to grow and improve for all of us. In The Money Master, author and speaker Sandy Yong shares her personal experiences with money, interviews a few financial experts, and provides some actionable tools to show you how you can: Develop a millionaire mindset Develop healthy and wealth-building habits that stick Balance today’s needs with tomorrow’s wants or dreams How…
New Year Financial Checklist Items
Out with the old, in with the new some say. That said, whatever is old can also be new again with our valuable new year financial checklist items – to start your 2022 personal finance journey off right! Budgets are good but monitoring your cashflow is better in any year! While budgets are good we’re not really fans of them here on this site –…
Cashflows and Portfolios Best of 2021
Happy Holidays everyone! Thanks for being part of our journey at Cashflows & Portfolios. Welcome to our best of 2021 where we will highlight some milestones and top posts from the last year. Our mission on this site is something quite unique in Canada. We’re not running this site to share any personal finance journey perspectives like many other blogs. In fact, we don’t share…
Top Year-End Tax Season Tips
While you might be focused on other things this holiday season, the end of the calendar year is also a great time to get recharged and reorganized before another year approaches. Here are some of our favourite year-end tax season tips to save money now and build wealth later. Year-End Tax Season Tips 1. Receipts matter. Be aware an audit from our Canada Revenue Agency…
Is it Possible to Retire at 32 with a $1M Portfolio?
Advocates and passionate followers of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement have been ripped by some financial professionals for years now because financial planning is now harder than ever, and there is no magic bullet to any finance independence journey. So, we figured we’d answer this question with some math for today’s post to fuel that discussion: Is it possible to retire at 32…
When is the Best Time to Start Collecting CPP?
You might already know you can start collecting your CPP (Canada Pension Plan) benefits as early as age 60. Should you collect CPP at age 60? What about age 65 or age 70? Somewhere in between? When is the best time to start collecting CPP? Read on and we’ll share our thoughts and some data to prove our point! Canada Pension Plan (CPP) 101 During…
Why You Should Take CPP at Age 70
To help make good financial decisions today, that impact your tomorrow, you need to make some assumptions about the future. When you should take your Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefit is one of those decisions. So, when and why take CPP at age 70? This post provides the goods including a link to one of our case studies. What is CPP? The Canada Pension Plan…
What is Inflation, Deflation, Stagflation?
In economics, experts love to use complex terms to explain simple subjects. Well, for today’s post, we’re going to break down what is inflation, deflation and stagflation in simple terms including what that means for you and me – the passionate DIY investor. Read on and let us know your thoughts! What is Inflation, Deflation, Stagflation? What is Inflation? At the most basic level, inflation…
Top Bitcoin ETFs in Canada
There’s no question that owning crypto assets, including Bitcoin, is hot with some investors. Any crypto assets however can be very volatile, fraught with uncertainty, and to be honest – they might not pan out at all long-term. So, if you’re going to own Bitcoin, what are the Top Bitcoin ETFs in Canada? Should you even bother owning Bitcoin or any crypto in your portfolio?…