At this time of year the topic of getting through the holidays without financial stress invariably comes up. In a recent BMO holiday spending survey, over half (54%) said thinking about holiday spending causes financial anxiety.
After enduring several years of relatively high inflation and interest rates, 79% plan to cut back on spending during the holiday season. On average, survey respondents plan to spend $519 on holiday gifts and $1,991 when you include holiday travel, entertainment, and other expenses, though 21% are not confident they will pay off their holiday bills on time.
Here are 4 tips to help you avoid the post-holiday hangover: Continue reading
Most Canadians are very familiar with mutual funds. In simple terms, a mutual fund is made up of a collection of individual stocks, bonds or other securities chosen by a fund manager with the goal of generating returns for the investors while balancing risk. Investors pay a percentage fee, referred to as the Management Expense Ratio (MER), to cover the cost of the management, marketing and administration of these funds. In Canada the average MER is around 2%.
