Calm Money Coach

Five videos on investing simply, in one place.
Since 1926, about 4% of US stocks created all of the market's net wealth, and more than half lost to a GIC. Over the last decade, 95% of Canadian equity funds lost to a simple index. So what do you actually do? DIY, a robo-advisor or a fee-only planner, and why the market you lived through shapes your fear for life (Malmendier and Nagel). Why you already own every AI winner in a plain global index fund, and why the people who borrowed to own them lost everything. And why your 80/20 is fine once you retire, whatever the all-equity crowd says.
More at calmmoneycoach.com
I'm Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. Advice-only planning through Calm Money Coach. No products, no commissions.
Education only, not investment advice for your situation.

Harry Potter lost his parents as a baby, found a vault of gold at 11 and inherited a house at 15. Each one is a real estate planning question in Canada. I'm Brian, a Canadian CPA, and I walk through what happens to a kid, the money and the house when the plan falls apart, and what I'd have set up for the Potters.
1. Name a guardian in your will, then name backups, in order. Ask each of them first, and write a short letter saying why you picked them.
2. Split the jobs if you want: 1 person raises the kid, another handles the money. Leave money for the raising, like life insurance.
3. Leave money straight to a kid with no trust and the province steps in. In Ontario, anything over $35,000 is paid into court, and it all lands at 18 or 19.
4. A trust in the will lets you say what the money is for and pay the rest out in stages, like some at 21 and the rest at 25. Outside Quebec, you can name a trustee right on a life insurance beneficiary form.
5. Canada has no inheritance tax, but at death a house is taxed as if it were sold that day. A home is tax free only for the years the owner lived there, plus 1.
6. Inherit a house and wait before big decisions. Get it appraised, call the insurer, then price out a full year and compare living in it, renting it or selling it.
Free guides and calculators at calmmoneycoach.com
#estateplanning #canada #harrypotter #wills #trusts #inheritance #personalfinance

40 with nothing saved for retirement? You've got about 25 earning years left and a pension floor that's already building. A 2025 HOOPP study found 39% of Canadians have never saved for retirement, so you're in good company.
Meet Jess. She's 40, rents a 1 bedroom in Halifax and earns $70,000. To retire renting there she needs about $41,700 a year after tax in today's dollars, including $6,000 for trips, dinners and gifts. Owning with no mortgage drops that to about $33,500. A renter needs about $35,600 in Saint John, $38,000 in Winnipeg and $45,000 in Toronto or Vancouver.
CPP and OAS give her about $23,000 a year before she saves a dollar, so her savings only cover the gap. At $500 a month her money lasts in 63 of 100 market runs. At $750 it's 80, and at $1,000 it's 90. $750 and working to 67 gets her to 92. Even in the bad runs, CPP, OAS and the top-up for low-income seniors keep about $27,000 a year coming.
TFSA or RRSP? At $750 a month both get her to about 80, as long as the RRSP refund gets invested. Spend the refund and it drops to 52. Closer to $45,000 of income the TFSA comes out a bit ahead, and at $100,000 the RRSP does.
4 things I'd do at 40 with nothing saved
1. Check your CPP estimate in My Service Canada Account, and your OAS.
2. Build your number from what you'd actually spend where you live, and save toward the gap.
3. Start with your employer match, then automate what you can, $50 or $300 a month, into 1 all-in-one fund. Raise it with every raise.
4. Working a couple of extra years and starting CPP later both add guaranteed income for life.
Growing your pay does a lot of the heavy lifting. A $6,000 course that takes her to $80,000 pays for itself in about a year or 2.
My free retirement calculators come with my monthly email at calmmoneycoach.com.
I'm Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. Advice-only planning through Calm Money Coach. No products, no commissions.
Run through my retirement planner, October 2026, in today's dollars. Spending from Statistics Canada's Market Basket Measure and CMHC rents. HOOPP 2025. Education only.
#retirementplanning #retirement #tfsa #rrsp #personalfinancecanada

Why do Canadians pay property tax every year on a home they've already paid for, and what are you actually paying for when you buy a brand new one?
Part 1: property tax is one of our oldest taxes. Upper Canada's first assessment law in 1793 paid for a courthouse, a jail, bridges and destroying bears and wolves. Cities lean on it because it's one of the few taxes provinces let them collect: by their own count they look after about 60% of public infrastructure and collect about 10 cents of every tax dollar. Your bill follows your city's budget more than your home's value. On a fixed income, look for your province's help: Nova Scotia rebates up to $800 for low-income seniors, and BC and Alberta let older owners defer the tax until they sell.
Part 2: take a $1,000,000 new semi in Toronto. $137,846 in development charges (about $83,000 less if the deal with Ottawa and Ontario goes through), $32,950 in land transfer tax with up to $8,475 back for first-time buyers, and about $130,000 of HST that's fully rebated for a first home at $1,000,000 or less. Approvals take about 25 months in Toronto and 31 in Hamilton. The same price in Belleville carries about $126,500 less in charges and tax.
Buying new in Ontario? Have a lawyer check Schedule B of the Tarion addendum before you sign.
Free guides and a simple retirement calculator, then one email a month, at calmmoneycoach.com.
I'm Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. Advice-only planning through Calm Money Coach. No products, no commissions.
Sources: UNB British North America Legislative Database; Federation of Canadian Municipalities; novascotia.ca; gov.bc.ca; alberta.ca; IRS; City of Toronto; C.D. Howe Institute; CHBA; City of Belleville; Tarion. Education only.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Oathill Crescent, Dartmouth by Ben MacLeod (CC BY-SA 4.0); Main Street, Picton by Doug Kerr (CC BY-SA 2.0); Downtown Belleville by Dillan Payne (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Four videos on the bigger Canadian picture.
Why the number at checkout keeps climbing: the dollar, climate, how few companies sell our groceries, and housing. Why 140,457 Canadians filed for insolvency in 2025, the most in 16 years. What 100 years of income tax actually built, since it arrived in 1917 as a temporary war measure. And whether Canada's math still works for the people now in the middle.
More at calmmoneycoach.com
I'm Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. Advice-only planning through Calm Money Coach. No products, no commissions.
Education only, not advice for your situation.