About this episode

Michael J. Wiener discusses investment fees, passive investing, and retirement strategies.

Our guest this episode is Michael J. Wiener — retired cryptologist and the writer behind the long-running Canadian personal finance blog "Michael James on Money." After a high-tech career in cryptography that produced roughly 20 patents, Michael has spent nearly two decades applying an engineer's rigour to investing and retirement math, helping everyday Canadians make clearer, lower-fee, evidence-based decisions with their money. In this episode, Dave and Michael dive into the real cost of investment fees, from high-fee group RRSPs to how seemingly small percentages quietly erode a portfolio over decades. They cover the evidence for passive investing over active management, how to optimize RESP contributions, strategies for smoothing taxes on retirement income and whether it makes sense to delay taking CPP and OAS. The conversation also explores how Michael uses the CAPE ratio to adjust his asset allocation, planning ahead for cognitive decline, the debt paydown vs. investing question and why he's skeptical of Dalbar's famous mutual fund underperformance data. Along the way, Michael shares his takes on real estate investing, reverse mortgages, budgeting for healthcare and…

People in this episode

Host: Dave

Guest: Michael J. Wiener

Topics covered

• investment fees
• passive investing
• RESP contributions
• retirement income
• real estate investing
• estate planning

Keywords

• investment fees
• passive investing
• RESP
• CPP
• OAS
• CAPE ratio
• real estate
• estate planning

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Michael James on Money

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