Calm Money Coach
Brian Orlando
Money, markets, and mindset with CPA Brian Orlando. Helping Canadians build wealth through financial literacy, tax strategies, and smart investing, while exploring macro trends, business stories, fitness, and mental health. Because real wealth is more than just your portfolio.
Episodes
Why Flying in Canada Costs So Much
Ottawa just offered Canada's 4 biggest airports to private investors. To judge that deal, it helps to know how flying here got so expensive, so here it is piece by piece.1. About 30 cents of every dollar you pay a full-service airline is fees and charges, mostly for the airport, on the Competition Bureau's numbers. Leaving Halifax that's $35, whether you fly 2 hours to Toronto or 6 hours to London.2. Fuel tax is about 1 cent of every dollar.3. Over about 15 years, Ottawa sold Air Canada, leased the big airports to local non-profits that pay their own way through your ticket plus rent of up to 12 percent of their revenue, and sold air traffic control to Nav Canada. Each one made sense at the time, and each one moved a cost onto your ticket.4. When 1 more airline joins a route, fares drop about 9 percent, on the Bureau's numbers. Canada still only lets Canadian airlines fly routes inside Canada.5. Airports sold elsewhere tend to raise the fees they charge airlines, and also add routes and passengers. Watch 2 things in Ottawa's deal: whether anyone keeps an eye on the fees, and whether Ottawa's rent comes down.6. If a big airline delays you 3 hours or more for reasons in its control, you can claim $400, and up to $1,000.Where do you fly from, and what does getting to Toronto cost you?The full guide is in my paid community at calmmoneycoach.com. My email list is free.Photos: Trans-Canada Air Lines Lockheed CF-TGE by InSapphoWeTrust, CC BY-SA 2.0. Porter Airlines Embraer E195-E2 by Andrew Heneen, CC BY 4.0. Both via Wikimedia Commons.
What Canadian Health Care Doesn't Cover Before 65, and Is a Private Plan Worth It?
Your work benefits end before 65. What does your health card still cover, what do people really spend, and is a private plan worth it? Part 1 and Part 2 together.Part 1, what health care doesn't cover1. Your health card covers doctors, hospitals and surgery for life. What ends with the work plan is prescriptions, dental, glasses and physio.2. Households in their late 50s and early 60s spend about $3,600 a year on health out of pocket, on Statistics Canada's numbers in today's dollars. Over 65 it's about $3,300.3. The cost that can really hurt is one big drug bill, and your province covers it, with your share tied to your income. A couple on $60,000 with a $20,000 drug would pay about $1,800 to $2,800 in Alberta, Ontario, BC or Quebec, and about $8,300 in Nova Scotia.4. Use the work plan before it ends, then apply to your province's drug plan that week. In BC, skipping a free form gets you a $10,000 deductible.5. In your first year of retirement, ask your province for an income review.6. Under $90,000 of family income, look at the federal dental plan. It's only for people with no other dental coverage.Part 2, is a private plan worth it1. It won't cover a big drug bill. On most plans you can buy yourself, the most it pays for drugs in a year is $500 to $2,800.2. On the predictable costs, you mostly get your own money back.3. For a couple in Calgary, a health and drug plan with no health questions is about $4,700 a year before dental. Over the 7 years to 65 that's about $33,000, against about $10,000 on the province's plan. A fixed monthly cost and one less thing to worry about is worth paying for to a lot of people.4. Add up what you spent on dental, glasses, physio and prescriptions over the last 2 years and compare it to the premium. If you skip the plan, pay yourself the premium.5. For 60 or 90 days after your work plan ends, most insurers will take you with no health questions. With a health history, decide inside that window.6. Under $90,000 of family income, buying a plan with dental in it ends your access to the federal dental plan.The full guide, province by province, is in my paid community at calmmoneycoach.com. My email list is free.General education only. The households are made-up examples. 2026 rules and prices, and your age, province and income change the numbers.
Passing It Down: The Farm, Giving While Living and Helping Your Kid
A Thanksgiving weekend episode, with the family around the table. Three short videos from this summer on passing money down.Passing down the farm, and why selling it to your kid for $1 is the worst version. Giving while you're living, when a gift at 30 is a down payment and the same money at 60 is a number on a statement. And if you want to help your kid with money, the order I'd actually use.More at calmmoneycoach.comI'm Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. Advice-only planning through Calm Money Coach. No products, no commissions.Education only, not advice for your situation.
Is Retirement Dead in Canada? A Young Renter, a Single Mom and a Senior Renting Alone
IS RETIREMENT DEAD IN CANADA?Both parts together: the young renter, then the single mom on low pay and the senior renting aloneIf you're renting, or on a low income, most retirement advice wasn't written for you. So I built 3 tight cases on purpose and ran them through my own calculators in 180 cities and towns. Maya is 30, single and renting a 1-bedroom on the typical wage where she lives. Priya is a single mom in Ontario earning $35,000 with a 3-year-old. Linda is 67 and rents alone on CPP, OAS and GIS.1. With nothing saved, CPP, OAS and a bit of GIS still pay Maya about $29,000 a year from 65, for life, rising with inflation. Her saving only has to cover the gap.2. Growing her pay does the most. A stable rent and a small automatic TFSA do the rest.3. File your taxes every year, because most benefits only show up when you file. For Priya that's about $14,000 a year, and $0 if she doesn't file.4. If you can save on a low income, use a TFSA. GIS shrinks by 50 to 75 cents for every dollar taken out of an RRSP.5. For a senior renting alone, the rent decides it. Linda protects the lease she has, gets on the list for subsidized seniors' housing early, and asks her province about a seniors' top-up and a rent supplement.6. If you're stuck, call 211. If the stress is getting to be too much, call or text 9-8-8, any time.There's a free retirement calculator at calmmoneycoach.com, and my email list is free. The full guide, my retirement planner and my province calculator are in my paid community there.The takeaways from both videos are a free 4 page PDF: calmmoneycoach.kit.com/low-income-retirementGeneral education only. Maya, Priya and Linda are made-up examples. Today's dollars, October 2026.
Your Bracket Is Not Your Rate
Most of us decide RRSP or TFSA, or how much to draw from a RRIF, off our tax bracket. This episode is about the number that should decide it: what your next dollar costs once the clawbacks are counted.1. An Ontario family on $60,000 with 2 kids and a bracket of about 30 percent pays 77 cents on the next dollar, once the Child Benefit and 3 other income-tested credits are counted. Counting CPP and EI, no province or territory is under 50 cents for them.2. The same rules pay back. A $5,000 RRSP contribution returns about $3,200.3. A single retiree on GIS taking $9,000 from a RRIF pays no income tax and still loses 75 cents of the next RRIF dollar. A TFSA dollar costs her nothing for GIS.Every figure comes from my Marginal Rate Map, which is in my paid community with the guides, the calculator library and live sessions. Free guides are on my email list at calmmoneycoach.comEducation, not advice. 2026 figures, one modelled household each.
What I Wish Someone Told Me About Being an Executor
Four short videos from this year on being an executor, in one place, if you missed some when they went out.How to actually pick one, and the conversation your lawyer skips. The first year of the job, when your brother wants his share and your sister thinks you're stalling. Section 159 of the Income Tax Act, the rule that can make an executor personally pay the CRA two years after the money's gone. Why putting your kid on your bank account can override your will.Get the free estate guides at calmmoneycoach.comI'm Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. Advice-only planning through Calm Money Coach. No products, no commissions.Education only, not legal or tax advice for your situation. Estate rules vary by province.
Could Ottawa Come for Your Savings? Where It Went, and What Could Change
Is Ottawa coming for your TFSA, your OAS or your house? I went through the budgets in two parts.First, what could realistically change, and what each change would cost you. CPP and your OAS cheque are the safest numbers in your plan. The changes worth watching are the quiet ones: the OAS clawback tested on household income, the age credit, and tax brackets that stop rising with inflation. Your home and your TFSA balance are the least likely targets.Then, where Ottawa actually went for money over the last 10 years, in Finance's own numbers. Mostly high earners, private companies, trusts and banks. The biggest increase proposed, on capital gains, was cancelled within a year, and the bottom tax rate went down.Takeaways1. CPP and your OAS cheque are the safest numbers in your plan.2. The realistic changes are the quiet ones: the clawback line, the age credit, and brackets and limits that stop rising.3. TFSA withdrawals don't count as income, so those changes can't touch them.4. Most of the last 10 years of tax increases landed on high earners, private companies, trusts and banks.5. If you split pension income, run your plan once without it.The full guides are at calmmoneycoach.comI'm Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. Advice-only planning through Calm Money Coach. No products, no commissions.General education only. 2026 rules, today's dollars. Ontario unless stated; BC, Alberta and Nova Scotia land close.
Can You Retire in Canada on $500,000?
Can a couple retire in Canada on $500,000? If they spend $120,000 a year, no. This couple spends $60,000.Both 65, $500,000 saved, and CPP and OAS pay them $40,000 a year. So their savings only have to find $20,000 a year until 98.I ran their retirement 20,000 times two ways. Spend a flat $60,000 no matter what, and the money runs out before 98 in about 3 of 10 runs. Follow one rule, checked once a year, and a 35 percent market drop costs them a $2,000 trim. That's a skipped trip.The part I'd take away: a flat $60,000 that works 9 times in 10 needs about $620,000 saved. Willing to trim in bad years and settle around $54,000 later on, they can start at the same $60,000 on $500,000. That's $120,000 less to save.The catch is you have to actually trim. If you know you won't, plan flat and start a bit lower. Either way, rerun the plan every year.TakeawaysBuild your floor first, and know what you really spend after tax.Decide now what you'd trim in a bad year and what you'd add in a good one.A few small trims along the way protect you from one big drop late.Being willing to flex means you need less saved to start at the same number.Rerun your plan every year.The spending rule calculator, the planner and the full guide are at calmmoneycoach.comI'm Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. Advice-only planning through Calm Money Coach. No products, no commissions.Illustrative couple. 20,000 simulated retirements, before tax, in today's dollars, returns per the 2026 FP Canada and IFP Projection Assumption Guidelines. Education only, not advice for your situation.
How to Have the Hard Money Conversation With Your Partner
Someone in my community asked how you actually have the hard money conversation with your partner. So here's a couple who've had the same money fight for 10 years. Takeout, hockey fees, a very expensive air fryer, and still nothing in savings.How the first sentence went, why they were both arguing from something that happened 30 years ago, how they put a number on retirement, and a plan they can live with while the kids are small.Run your own number at calmmoneycoach.comI'm Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. Advice-only planning through Calm Money Coach. No products, no commissions.Illustrative couple, figures in today's dollars. Education only, not advice for your situation.
Where Your Down Payment Should Come From First
FHSA, cash, family money, a regular investment account, RRSP, TFSA, a corporation. Every dollar you pull out has a price tag, and the price is different in every account.The order I'd use, cheapest first:FHSA, topped up, then all of it. No later than 30 days after you get the keys.Cash, but keep 3 to 6 months of expenses. A home needs a cushion.Family money as a real gift, with your parents off title.Small gains and losers in your regular investment account.Home Buyers' Plan before the TFSA, and pay it back faster than the minimum.Big winners and corporate money last.Reasonable people swap a couple of these, and I go through why in the video.Run the order on your own accounts, in your own province, at calmmoneycoach.comI'm Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. Advice-only planning through Calm Money Coach. No products, no commissions.The couple in the example is illustrative. Education only, not advice for your situation.
Car math simplified, repair or replace, and electric battery data
New or used, fix or replace, and whether an electric battery is really the risk people think. I ran all 133 cars in my calculator. Ontario, 16,000 km a year, every cost counted, including what the car's worth when you're done.Keep a car about 3 years and used won on every one. Keep it 10 and gas cars and hybrids get close, typically $25 to $35 a month apart. Electrics are the exception. Used won every time, usually by about $120 a month.Fix or replace: divide the repair by the months it keeps the car on the road. A $3,000 repair that buys 24 months is $125 a month. A 3 year old CR-V costs about $270.And the battery. Recurrent tracks 30,000 electrics, and 0.3% of 2022 and newer ones have needed a new one.The calculator is free at calmmoneycoach.comI'm Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. Advice-only planning through Calm Money Coach. No products, no commissions.Ontario figures, 2026. Costs vary by province. Education only, not advice for your situation.
Am I Okay? A Canadian Retirement Plan, Start to Finish
Am I okay? Where do I draw from? What could break it? What are my moves? And what happens if one of us dies?I took one Canadian couple through my retirement planner, start to finish. Anne's 60 and the breadwinner, Rob's 58, Ontario, both stopping at 63. $1.26 million saved, no work pensions, $85,000 a year to spend. Every figure is in today's dollars.What's in it:The floor and the bridge. CPP and OAS cover about half their spending once both are on. The heavy years are 63 to 66, about $224,000 out of savings.Where to draw from. 14 withdrawal orders, the same spending in 13 of them, and about $500,000 apart in what's left at the end.What could break it. They make it through 1966, the worst year on record to retire into. A private care home at 90 runs the money out at 94.Their moves. Hold the bridge safe, know your 10 percent trim, and the "no best plan" table.If one of them dies. OAS stops, CPP gets capped, and guaranteed income falls about 40 percent.6 things I'd keep:Find your floor, then your bridge.Hold the bridge safe, and know your trim.Draw in the cheap years.Pick the plan for what you want.Look at a death both ways.Re-run it every year.Sources named in the video: Jonathan Guyton and William Klinger, "Decision Rules and Maximum Initial Withdrawal Rates," Journal of Financial Planning, March 2006. The funded ratio as adapted to households by Don Ezra. CPP survivor benefit, section 58 of the Canada Pension Plan.Rob and Anne are an anonymized example household. Education, not advice.The planner, Rob and Anne's plan file and the full guide are in my community. Free guides are on my email list.calmmoneycoach.com
How Much Should You Put Down on a Home? 5%, 10% or 20% in Canada
Put 5% down and invest the rest, or save to 20% and skip CMHC? For most first time buyers it's the biggest money decision they've made so far, and the usual advice only prices half of it.In this episode I walk through one Ontario couple buying a $500,000 first home, modelled in my home funding calculator:CMHC costs about $50 a month once you net the premium against the cheaper insured rate. 20% down means finding $75,000 more before closing.Every dollar you put down earns your mortgage rate, 3.69% here, guaranteed and tax free.Every dollar you keep has to clear 5.91% after tax. Inside a TFSA or FHSA it just clears. In a taxable account it misses in all 13 provinces and territories.Across 4,000 simulated markets, the smaller down payment finished ahead 49% of the time.It only works if you actually invest the difference, and that's the part that breaks.10% down came out best for this couple, and it holds up better when life gets in the way.Then the two things the spreadsheet can't price: flexibility when the furnace dies, and how a bigger mortgage feels for 30 years. When the math is this close, sleeping well is a fair tiebreaker.Calculator and full guide through my community at but i also have free subsriber list there with lots of great calculators as well: calmmoneycoach.comOntario, 2026 figures. Example couple, not a real client. The result moves by province. Educational, not financial advice.Sources: Bank Act s.418, CMHC Mortgage Loan Insurance Cost, CMHC's Story, FP Canada and CPA Canada 2026 Projection Assumption Guidelines, Thaler and Benartzi (2004).
CAR MATH for Canadians & Tradeoffs
Calmmoneycoach.comIf you are buying a car in Canada this year, you are having an argument with yourself. Lease, finance, or buy used. I ran that argument 6,916 times, and the argument you are having is not the one that decides it.Every one of the 133 vehicles in my calculator, all 13 provinces and territories, 4 hold lengths. What comes out of it is that how long you keep the car matters more than how you pay for it.Keep a car 3 years and buying used wins 99.7 percent of the runs, and the cheapest path beats the next one by about 22 percent. Keep it 15 years and used wins 55 percent, buying new wins 32, leasing and then buying it out wins 12. Call it a tie when the best 2 paths land within 5 percent of each other, and at 3 years that happens in 4 percent of runs. At 15 years it is 75 percent. A new car's worst depreciation happens in year 1, and the longer you hold it, the more years that one bad year gets spread across.What else is in here. Put $50,000 into a hybrid and 5 years later you have about $33,100 of it. Gas, $30,300. Battery electric, $22,300. Buying used won 100 percent of the electric runs at 3, 5 and 10 years, which is the same depreciation working for you instead of against you. Hybrids hold value so well that at a 15 year hold, buying new wins 54 percent of the time, the only powertrain where new takes the majority. Knock a full point off the new car finance rate and the winner changes in 5 percent of runs, and in none at all where the gap was already 10 percent or more. Leasing forever came last in 90 percent of runs and at a 10 year hold the median run cost $50,935 more than the cheapest path. On the business deduction, lease payments are capped at $1,100 a month before tax, but buying is deductible too, on a cost capped at $39,000 plus $350 a month of interest, so leasing is not a loophole. And the same Corolla Hybrid at 16,000 km a year over 10 years runs $64,184 in the Northwest Territories against $79,225 in Ontario.Running costs are in every total, including maintenance priced apart for new and used, insurance, fuel or power, tires and registration.I also tell you the 2 things the model cannot do, and the part where it argues with me. At my own usage, 10,000 km a year in Nova Scotia over 12 years, the gas Impreza and the Corolla Hybrid land $9 a year apart. I write about this for a living and the answer for my own household is a gas car.Sources: Natural Resources Canada, iSeeCars, Hydro-Quebec, the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Transport Canada and the CRA. Insurance is a provincial average by segment and powertrain rather than a quote, because Canada has no published model by model rate book.I am Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. I run Calm Money Coach, an advice-only planning practice. No products, no commissions, I do not manage anybody's money.The calculator and the guide are free: calmmoneycoach.comEducation only, not advice for your situation. Talk to a professional about your own.Follow me at @calmmoneycoach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
The Disability Tax Credit and RDSP in Canada & Why it's Substantial
The Disability Tax Credit and RDSP in Canada: Backdated 10 Years, Up to $90,000If someone in your family has a disability, this is my RDSP series in one place. 3 walkthroughs I already posted, stitched together because each one builds on the last and they are easier to follow start to finish.Part 1, the form everything runs through. The Disability Tax Credit tests the effects of an impairment, not the diagnosis. Who can sign the T2201 besides your family doctor. How the 10 year backdating actually runs, from the end of each tax year rather than the day you are approved. The box that gets CRA to adjust your old returns. And the promoters charging 15 to 40 percent of the refund: what they do well, and the bigger money their work stops short of.Part 2, take everything the system gives. Up to $70,000 of grant and $20,000 of bond, and ESDC counts 34 percent of approved people under 50 with the account open. Why a family on $200,000 still qualifies once the child turns 19, why waiting never upgrades an old year, the tax return a 17 year old has to file anyway, using an RRSP contribution to get under the $117,045 line, and why only 2 of the 17 issuers let you hold ETFs.Part 3, the string on the money. The 10 year holdback and the $3 back for every $1 out. Counting back from the year the money is first needed. How withdrawals are taxed and how the provinces treat them, including Quebec, New Brunswick, PEI, and the Canada Disability Benefit in Alberta. Then the question parents ask me most, what happens when we are gone: the RDSP and a Henson trust, and why they work together rather than as alternatives.Free help with the form: Disability Alliance BC, and Plan Institute's helpline at 1-844-311-7526.Sources named throughout: CRA, Employment and Social Development Canada, Finance Canada, the Canada Disability Savings Regulations, Disability Alliance BC, Plan Institute and the CBC.Free on my website, no charge, no membership: The RDSP and Disability Tax Credit Guide, Leaving Money to a Child With a Disability, and the RDSP and Disability Benefits Workbook. calmmoneycoach.com I am Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. I run Calm Money Coach, an advice-only planning practice. No products, no commissions, I do not manage anybody's money.Education only, not advice for your situation. Talk to a professional about your own.Follow me at @calmmoneycoach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
Bonds In Canada: Seven Ways To Own Them, And Whether You Should?
A bond matures. A bond fund never does. Almost everything confusing about owning bonds in Canada comes out of that one line.This is three pieces in one. The research on whether you should own bonds at all, the seven ways you can actually own them here, and the inflation-indexed floor most Canadians already own without seeing it on a statement.Part 1. The paper that says own zero bonds.Anarkulova, Cederburg and O'Doherty. 39 countries, 1890 to 2023, a million simulated lifetimes. All stocks, all the time, a 7 percent chance of running out of money against 19.7 percent for the funds that get more conservative as you age. They publish the price too: the average worst drop along the way is 55 percent, and 1 lifetime in 20 drops 76. Which models home bias for each coutnry. Then the part that rarely gets quoted. When they let the model pick the mix at every age instead of holding one for life, it buys 27 percent short-term government bills at 65, and by 68 it's back above 90 percent equity. So the argument was never whether. It's how many years, and when.It's a working paper rather than peer reviewed, and Emory funded it, not Dimensional. Both worth saying out loud.Part 2. Seven ways to own bonds in Canada.GICs, individual bonds, ladders, bond ETFs, all-in-one funds, target maturity funds, private credit. RBC alone runs 21 target maturity bond ETFs, so the menu is bigger than the decision. One question sorts all of it, and it isn't cost or yield: does the thing have an end date? Something that matures walks its price risk down to zero on a day you knew going in. XBB carries 6.73 years of duration today and will carry about 6.7 in 2041, because it sells bonds as they age out of the index and buys new ones. It isn't a bond, it's a permanent claim on the bond market.The all-in-one is the one people ask about most and it doesn't work how it looks. It doesn't hold stocks and bonds, it holds other funds inside one trust, and when stocks run past 60 percent the manager sells units of the equity funds and buys more of the bond fund. Nothing on your statement. That's the product: rebalancing that happens in March whether or not you'd have had the stomach for it. Vanguard looked at its own plan members through 2020 and 90 percent made no trade all year, against 4 percent in the all-in-one group. What you hand over is judgement. You can't hold the bonds in the RRSP and the stocks in the TFSA when it's one ticker, you can't spend the bond sleeve first, and you don't pick the year your gains land. VBAL paid out 43 cents a unit at the end of 2025 to people who sold nothing.Part 3. You already own a bond.Maximum CPP at 65 this year is $1,507.65 a month and full OAS is $751.97. Call it $2,259.62, indexed to actual inflation, and neither one falls if prices fall. A Canadian insurer this month, single life, registered, escalating at 2 percent, pays about $457.21 a month per $100,000, so that floor is worth roughly $494,000 of purchased annuity. Blanchett and Finke modelled what that does to the allocation question. As guaranteed income goes from 5 percent of wealth to 75 percent, the optimal equity allocation moves from 30 percent to 95. Two people with identical portfolios, different right answers.It works because CPP and OAS are tied to real inflation, and most Canadian private sector pensions aren't fully indexed, so read your own plan's clause. Add up CPP, OAS and any pension. Subtract what you actually spend. The gap is the only part a portfolio has to cover.Sources named: Anarkulova, Cederburg and O'Doherty on lifecycle asset allocation. Blanchett and Finke on guaranteed income and optimal equity. Vanguard plan member trading data through 2020. iShares XBB duration. Vanguard VBAL 2025 distribution. CRA and Service Canada figures for CPP and OAS.The full written guide is in the Calm Money Community.This is education, not advice for your situation, and I don't sell products or manage anybody's money.
22 Topics I Wish Someone Told Me About Retirement in Canada
calmmoneycoach.comSoup to nuts on stuff I wish was talked about more for retirement. Not which account the CRA already owns part of, not how little of your paycheque you actually have to replace, not that the safest-looking withdrawal rate and the riskiest one land in roughly the same place once a spending rule is running.This is 22 concepts about retiring in Canada, in about an hour, in the order that makes sense rather than the order I filmed them. Start at the top if this is new. Skip to a chapter if it isn't.What I cover:What an RRSP, a TFSA and a RRIF actually are, and the part of the RRSP that was never yours. Why 70 percent of your income is a number nobody can source. Why published safe withdrawal rates run from 2.70 to 5.60 percent and why the rate is not the decision. The decade between the last paycheque and 71 when almost nothing can touch your money. Losing OAS without spending a cent. Two people who retired a year apart, one ran out and one died with more than they started with. Why living off dividends can cost $1,700 of OAS a year. Running the same retirement 11 ways and watching the lowest tax bill lose. The RRSP meltdown, and when not to do it. Withdrawal order, and why the answer is how much from each rather than which one first. The spending smile. Why 2 thirds of Canadians over 72 take only the minimum. What a spouse changes, what being single changes, and what leaving a legacy changes. The care cost gap. And the 4 retirement decisions you cannot undo.Sources named throughout and people I really respect and look to in the industry and there's many more than this but a few shout outs: Bengen, Blanchett, Vettese, Chandler, MacDonald, Ben Felix and PWL Capital, Morningstar, Statistics Canada, the CRA, and the RRIF factors out of Regulation 7308.I am Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. I run Calm Money Coach, an advice-only planning practice. No products, no commissions, I do not manage anybody's money.Free calculators and guides: calmmoneycoach.comEducation only, not advice for your situation. Talk to a professional about your own situation.Follow me at @calmmoneycoach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
What I Wish Someone Told Me About Investing at 22
When I was 22, nobody explained any of this. Not what a TFSA was, not what an index fund was, not why any of it mattered. I was making $33K, living paycheck to paycheck, and investing was the last thing on my mind.In this episode I break down everything from the ground up. Why your cash is quietly losing value. The three accounts the Canadian government set up to help you build wealth. Why the TFSA is actually an investing account, not a savings account. What an index fund is and why over 90% of professional fund managers can't beat one. Back-tested returns through every major crash. Why no single country wins forever. And the three steps I'd take if I were starting from scratch today.This one is for anyone just getting started or anyone who knows someone who needs to hear it. Share it with them.Education only. Not financial advice. Do your own research and talk to a professional about your specific situation.Sources referenced: SPIVA Scorecard, Vanguard, Morningstar Mind the Gap, Dimson Marsh Staunton 125-year dataset, MSCI ACWI Index, CRA, iShares, BMO.Follow me on Instagram, facebook, tiktok or youtube at: @calmmoneycoach
Canada's Economy: What the Numbers Actually Say
Canada's GDP went up. So why does everything feel harder?In this episode, I dig into the data on Canada's productivity crisis, the housing trap, market concentration, brain drain, the youth job market, and what Canada actually has going for it. No agenda, no politics. Just the numbers and what they mean for your money.Topics covered:GDP per capita stagnation and why it matters more than headline GDPThe productivity gap with the US and what's driving itWhy 8.9% of GDP goes to housing investmentHow oligopolies in banking, telecom, and grocery affect your cost of livingThe tax math pulling talent and companies southWhat 914,000 young Canadians not working or studying means for the economyCanada's genuine advantages that don't get enough attentionSources: Bank of Canada, StatsCan, OECD, IMF, C.D. Howe Institute, McKinsey, CMHC, Competition Bureau, RBC EconomicsI'm Brian Orlando, CPA. I help Canadians make better decisions with their money.Like and follow if you want more of this.canada economy, canadian finance, gdp per capita, productivity, housing crisis canada, brain drain, personal finance canada, cost of living
The Complete Canadian Investing Framework: Account Location, Portfolio Construction, and Why Simplicity Wins
I have done individual deep dives on cash allocation, account location, portfolio construction, TSX vs S&P 500, and asset classes. This episode ties all of it together into one complete framework.What I cover:Why your behavior costs 10 to 30 times more than your ETF structure, and the $160K threshold where optimization actually starts to matter. Why Canada being 3% of global equities means the TSX alone is not a portfolio. 125 years of return data showing dominance rotates between Canadian and US markets in decade-long cycles. How Canada taxes four types of investment income completely differently and what that means for where you put each ETF. The account location cheat sheet for TFSA, RRSP, and non-registered accounts. What the research says about gold, Bitcoin, TIPS, REITs, and why bonds are genuinely attractive again. The lump sum vs dollar cost averaging data, the behavioral science behind why it feels so hard, and Ben Felix's reframe that changed how I talk to clients about it. A five-step action framework you can implement this week.Every claim in this episode is sourced to named research from PWL Capital, Vanguard, Morningstar, Dimson Marsh Staunton, Charles Schwab, BlackRock, Kahneman and Tversky, and others. Website: calmmoneycoach.comThis episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute personalized financial advice.
The Crypto Math Nobody Shows You + Where 64 Cents of Every Dollar Goes | Complete Guide to Investing Parts 5 & 6
Bitcoin has had 87%, 84%, and 77% drawdowns. A 5% allocation contributes 27% of your total portfolio risk. In Parts 5 and 6 of the Complete Guide to Investing, I cover the real math on crypto, what the "digital gold" narrative gets wrong, and then move into alternatives where hedge fund investors give up 64 cents of every dollar earned to managers. The advertised fee is 2-and-20. The actual fee is closer to 50%.Also in here, the Canadian route rather than the US one: BTCX.B and ETHX.B, and what holding them inside a TFSA changes for tax and for your estate.I am Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. I run Calm Money Coach, an advice-only planning practice. No products, no commissions, I do not manage anybody's money.Free calculators and guides: calmmoneycoach.comEducation only, not advice for your situation. Talk to a professional about your own.@calmmoneycoach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
The Oil ETF That Lost 86% While Oil Went Up | Complete Guide to Investing Part 4: Commodities
An oil ETF lost 86% while oil prices rose 50%. How is that possible? In Part 4 of the Complete Guide to Investing, I break down every major commodity with 125 years of return data. Gold at $5,300 with JP Morgan calling $6,300. The copper story nobody is talking about. And why this is the only asset class that quietly works against you over time. Same volatility as stocks. 600 basis points less return.The copper section is the one people do not expect: 27 tonnes per megawatt, and about 50,000 tonnes for a single hyperscale data centre.Sources named throughout: the CFA Institute, JP Morgan, the World Gold Council, S&P Global, WisdomTree and Dimensional.Gold was around $5,300 when this was filmed in early March 2026. Check the price today before you use that number for anything.I am Brian Orlando, CPA, in Halifax. I run Calm Money Coach, an advice-only planning practice. No products, no commissions, I do not manage anybody's money.Free calculators and guides: calmmoneycoach.comEducation only, not advice for your situation. Talk to a professional about your own.@calmmoneycoach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
The Complete Guide to Investing: Real Estate (Part 3)
Yale Endowment is one of the most successful institutional investors in history. Their target return on real estate? About 6% after fees. Why would the smartest money in the room accept that? Because that's what's realistic. In this episode, I break down real estate as an asset class: public REITs vs private real estate, the fee structure that eats your gains, which property types are winning (data centers, industrial, self-storage), which ones are dying (office), and the simplest way to get exposure without buying a duplex. Part 3 in the Complete Guide to Investing series. If you missed Part 1 (Equities) and Part 2 (Bonds), go back and listen to those first.Free calculators and guides: calmmoneycoach.comFollow Calm Money Coach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. @calmmoneycoach is my handle everywhere.
Canada's Infrastructure Problem
Every new home in Canada starts $107,000 in the hole before anyone picks up a hammer. Not the house. Just the pipes, the roads, and the water underneath it. And we need 3.5 million of them. In this episode, I break down the real math behind Canada's housing crisis, why municipalities own 60% of infrastructure but only get 8 to 10 cents of every tax dollar, how Toronto's development charges went up 906% in 15 years, and what countries like Japan, Vienna, and New Zealand actually did to fix it. I'm a CPA with 15+ years in finance. I don't have all the answers, but I know how to read the numbers. And the numbers are telling a pretty clear story.Free calculators and guides: calmmoneycoach.comFollow Calm Money Coach on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. @calmmoneycoach is my handle everywhere.
Bonds in 2026: Duration Risk, the Mortgage Disconnect, and Why Japan's Bond Market Should Worry You
In 2022, bonds lost 13%. The long bond ETF dropped 31%. The "safe" part of your portfolio got hit harder than most stock crashes.Now in 2026, bonds are paying real income again for the first time in over a decade. But something is happening in Japan that could push your mortgage rate higher, even if the Bank of Canada keeps cutting.In this episode I break down how bonds actually work, why duration is the risk nobody explains until it's too late, why your fixed mortgage rate doesn't follow the Bank of Canada, what happened on January 20th when Japan's bond market had its most violent day in modern history, the $250 billion yen carry trade, and what Canadian investors should actually do with their bond allocation.I also cover ZAG, VAB, ZFL, ZST, how GICs compare, and the tax optimization move that saves you almost half the tax on your fixed income.This is Part 2 of my series on every asset class ranked by actual returns. Part 1 covered equities.Links to other socials: calmmoneycoach.com
Why Equities Win Long Term (And What the Data Actually Shows)
Most people own stocks but don’t actually understand why they work.In this episode I break down equities from the ground up - why businesses compound, which sectors have actually performed, whether international stocks are worth it, and if factor investing actually works.This is part of an ongoing series covering every major asset class. Stocks are the foundation - so we’re starting here.
3 Industries Canada Could Dominate
Canada exports $60 billion in minerals a year and doesn’t make a single smartphone. We have the richest uranium on the planet. And the Godfathers of AI are Canadian. So why aren’t we capturing the wealth?In this episode, I break down three generational opportunities sitting right under our feet: critical minerals and EV batteries, uranium and the global nuclear comeback, and Canada’s AI talent pipeline. The numbers might surprise you.I believe we all do better when everyone’s doing better. Let’s talk about what it looks like when Canada actually leads.Follow CalmMoneyCoach on Instagram and TikTok for more.