There is a lot to consider when deciding whether to go for a fixed or variable rate mortgage — not least, your tolerance of risk and your ability to sleep at night. Generally, fixed rate mortgages charge a higher rate and cost more, but payments are fixed for the term of the mortgage so you […]

TORONTO — The harmonized sales tax about to take effect in British Columbia and Ontario is proof of Benjamin Franklin’s assertion that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Funerals are just one of many services and goods previously exempted from provincial sales taxes that will be subject […]

Buyers backed away from Canada’s housing market in May, driving sales lower in what is traditionally the busiest month of the year for the country’s real estate agents. The housing market has been key to Canada’s economic recovery, as low  interest rates and pent-up demand drove buyers into the market after months of stagnation in […]

  Ottawa — Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney has had a busy time of it since taking over as the country’s central banker 27 months ago, mostly tackling the financial crisis, mapping out the road to recovery and reassuring Canadians that at the end of the day the bank’s extraordinary policies would work. The […]

Ever wonder how that magical number – The Credit Score – is computed?  Whether you’re obsessing over your FICO score or your Beacon score, you’re likely shopping for credit. The FICO score was developed by Fair Isaac & Co., which began credit scoring in the late 1950s. The point of the score is consolidate your […]

Jeremy Torobin Globe and Mail   Mark Carney is taking a cautious approach to raising interest rates, weighing Canada’s powerful economic rebound against the uncertainty of an “increasingly uneven” recovery across the globe. The Bank of Canada Governor became the first central banker in the Group of Seven to raise borrowing costs since the financial […]

By Alexandra Twin, senior writerWednesday, June 2, 2010 Provided by CNN Money After the Dow’s worst May in 70 years, the threat of the stock correction becoming a full-blown bear market has intensified. But this isn’t new territory for long-term investors. They’ve faced this precipice 29 times since World War II, according to Standard & […]

Lack of ability to do the math, it turns out, is the cause of many consumer insolvencies. Why do people default on mortgage and other loans? It turns out that it’s not so much the amounts they owe, but that they are unable to do the math that tells them exactly what their financial situation […]

OTTAWA – The Canadian dollar plunged to its lowest level in eight months before recovering Tuesday, sending a clear signal that Europe’s debt crisis has the potential to reach across the Atlantic and impact Canada’s mending economy. The loonie has lost about eight per cent of its value over the last month in reaction to […]

Gordon Ives is the sort of customer who keeps real estate agents awake at night: a former customer. Last year, after several years of trying to sell his Charlottetown home through an agent, the retired banker decided to change tack and find a buyer on his own. He calculated how much a conventional sale would […]