Short Takes: Financial Literacy, Swap ETFs, and more

Here are my posts for the past two weeks:

Eliminating Mandatory Minimum RRIF Withdrawals

Currency Exchange at BMO InvestorLine

Ancient Teachings on Earned vs. Inherited Wealth

Here are some short takes and some weekend reading:

Preet Banerjee argues that if current methods of teaching financial literacy aren’t working well, we should be trying to improve them rather than abandon them. I agree. He started the article with a clever quote: “‘I’m glad school taught me the Pythagorean theorem instead of how to do my taxes. It’s come in really handy this Pythagorean theorem season’ - @CollegeStudent on Twitter.” Much of what I learned when doing my taxes the first time isn’t relevant to me today. This is one of the challenges with teaching financial literacy: what lessons will remain relevant for decades as banks and retailers adapt their methods of undermining our attempts to manage money well? Ironically, it’s the math I learned in school that earned me a good living and gave me the tools to make good financial choices. So, I’m glad school taught me the Pythagorean Theorem rather than how to do my taxes.

Canadian Couch Potato explains how Horizons Swap ETFs are affected by the federal government’s draft legislation and what Horizons is doing to preserve their tax-efficient structure. He also explains how the recent changes to TD’s e-series mutual funds are good for investors. More good news is that these e-series funds are now accessible through online brokerages.

Big Cajun Man reports that tuition in Ontario actually dropped over the past year according to Stats Canada.