Dwayne Rettinger is an Executive Financial Consultant and Certified Financial Planner professional (CFP) with Rettinger & Associates Private Wealth Management, which is a part of Investors Group Financial Services Inc., one of Canada’s largest financial service companies, based in Winnipeg. Dwayne and his Guelph, Ont.-based team at Rettinger & Associates specialize in a number of financial areas, including investments and retirement planning, group retirement planning, estate planning, cash management and tax planning. We sat down with Dwayne to discuss his leadership style and to answer some common questions he gets from clients. Continue reading →

A bank account helps you to keep your money safe and while still being able to easily access it when you need it, at any time. You may also open a bank account because you want to save and you need someone to help you limit access to your funds. Other times, you may simply open a bank account for receiving payments that require you to have a bank account. Continue reading →

Whenever you are searching for anything on the internet about Forex, there will be some pop-ups on your screen. Most likely it is the advertisements of the professionals’ blogs with a smile on it where it says you are one step away from changing your career. They are now giving discounts and you should not waste time and get their offers. It is their blogs and they write about their own ideas and things of the industry. This article will tell you if you can really learn something useful that you can use in your career by spending your time in reading these blogs. The number of these blogs is increasing and people are more thinking of them as a substitute for their strategy. Many people have also got this idea that if they read this blog then they do not have to use their strategy. They also do not have to analyze the market but only match the trend with their reading blogs. This idea is wrong and you need to know if these blogs are doing more harm than you can imagine.

The professional traders are always one step ahead of you. You have a lot to learn from senior traders in the United Kingdom. They know very well how to manage their losing trades. At times you might think that the expert traders have secret ingredients but in reality, they are just following the basic rules of investment.

If you start following reputed blog sites you can learn a lot. They publish articles on a regular basis which contains great Forex tips. But you should not blindly follow the tips of the expert traders. Use your intellect and see whether their analysis and tips in lines with your trading mentality.

What do they offer?

In order to know if these blogs are useful or not, you need to know what these blogs have to offer. Most of them offer some reading articles like how to trade, what the traders would do if they could go in their past and how they have changed their career. These are very simple articles but there is one thing that many people miss. They also write about the mistakes of their careers. If you are a novice trader, it is important for you to know the mistakes that all traders do in Forex market. You cannot know it until someone came to you and show your mistakes. These blogs help the traders to find their own mistakes and improve their trading. They also offer news and information about the ongoing market trend like which country has experienced a major deflation in the economy, which currency is getting stronger on the economic market and many other financial and currency-related information. They also tell you about the scams that had taken money from thousands of people. They are the live newspapers that are never getting old. Every day these blogs are publishing new articles and you will find some new information.

What can you learn from it?

The most important thing that you can learn from this blog is to avoid the mistakes that novice traders make. One of the mistakes is overtrading. Novice traders have a misconception that if they overtrade in Forex, they will have more chance of making a profit. This idea is wrong and reading the blogs can tell you what the reasons for losing money if you overtrade. You can also learn about developing your trading routine, how to analyze your mistakes and many other important findings. You can also learn about the bonuses that are offered in the industries by the brokers. You can also learn about the various professional courses they offer through their blogs. These courses are very helpful for all traders and you can improve your trading performance within a very short period of time.

Baby Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, are retiring at a rapid rate, with an estimated 10,000 Baby Boomers retiring a day.  Unfortunately, after decades of unsteady employment, many are retiring without enough retirement funds. If you belong to this generation, here are some tips to help you retire well:

Invest in final expense insurance. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the significance of a final expense policy then you may be leaving your family without a way to cover your burial expenses. This whole life policy will help your family financially after you have passed away, helping to cover funeral expenses, which can range from $5,000 to $10,000.

Start saving and investing. 

The sooner you start putting away money for your retirement years, the easier it will be to retire well, retaining the same quality of life that you enjoy now. If you start early enough, then you will benefit from the accumulation of compound interest gains. However, since savings grow at a slow and steady rate, you also need to learn how to invest some of the money you are setting aside.

If you don’t have enough money to invest, you will benefit from enrolling in your employer’s retirement plan and from getting a professional investment group to invest your money for you. Also, consider putting your money into mutual funds that require low initial investments. And you can always play it safe with Treasury securities.

Leverage your 401 (k) plan. 

The best way to take full advantage of your employer’s 401 (k) plan is to meet your employer’s matching funds. Contribute enough to take advantage of this opportunity. If, for instance, your employer offers to match half of employee contributions, that is 50%, then be sure to contribute about 5% of your salary. So, if you earn $25,000 a year, then contribute $1,250. That way your employer will contribute $625. Understand that this is essentially free money.

The earlier you start, the more time you have to build up your savings because 401 (k) plans and IRAs have a cap on how much you can contribute. However, if you are age 50 or older, you are given a second chance to catch up on contributions and are allowed to go beyond the usual limits to catch-up.

Live within your means. 

It can be difficult to live within your means for two reasons. First, you are dealing with a rising cost of living while your wages remain fairly stagnant. Second, you are surrounded by tempting offers all the time on things that would be nice to buy.

The way to have enough funds to begin saving for retirement is to work with a budget. Without one, it’s difficult to realize how much you’re spending. Simply keeping a mental tally is a highly inaccurate way of keeping track of your cash flow.

By setting a limit to how much you can spend on luxury items and by becoming more aware of where your money is going to maintain your current level of living, you will be acquiring an invaluable skill that will be highly useful when it comes to managing your money as a retiree.

Be aware of Medicare’s enrollment periods.  

You will be eligible for Medicare around your 65th birthday and have a seven-month window to sign up. It’s important to sign up during this enrollment time because a permanent penalty may be added for late enrollment which will affect Medicare Part B as well as Part D premiums. Watch out – Medicare doesn’t cover everything, so if you have any extra money you might want to look into getting a supplemental medicare policy so you don’t get wiped out with catastrophic health care costs.

In closing, it’s important to mention that you should work with a certified financial planner if you feel overwhelmed by all the financial steps you need to retire comfortably. You are not alone. Professional help is available.