The Bank of Montreal released a study this week saying that 51% of Canadian homeowners plan to carry a mortgage into retirement. The study went on to say that half of Canadian homeowners age 50-59 still have mortgage debt, and by age 60-69, 25% of those people still have a mortgage.
This is an alarming trend, but really no surprise when you consider the high real estate prices in Canada and our tendency to take on mortgages with longer amortization periods. A 35-year old couple buying a home today might still be making mortgage payments into their 60′s.
In other news, Facebook shares are set to begin trading today and could be valued at $100 billion by the end of the day. That’s roughly 16 times the market cap of Research In Motion, even though RIM’s revenues are 4 times higher.
Here’s a look at some other interesting personal finance articles from around the blogosphere this week:
- Cash Money Life explains why resume fraud is never a good idea
- Free From Broke asks should you charge your Boomerang kids rent?
- Retire Happy Blog looks at negotiating retirement as a couple
- Young and Thrifty compares RRSP vs RESP accounts
- Money Mamba explains why everything you thought about stock picking is wrong
- Canadian Finance Blog looks at marrying for money and earning potential
- Money Smarts Blog asks should you sell your house and avoid the market crash?
- Financial Highway looks at increasing fixed income returns
- Big Cajun Man says you should take advantage of the rules when you can
- My University Money asks are banks really in it for you?
We were also included in the following blog carnivals this week:
- Carnival of Financial Camaraderie
- Carnival of Personal Finance
- Financial Carnival for Young Adults
- Top Personal Finance Posts of the Week
- Carnival of Money Pros
- Carnival of Financial Planning
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Thanks for including me this week, have a great long weekend.
Thanks for the link! FB’s valuation is nearly criminal. For the price of FB you could own Ford, GM, and AFLAC outright and still have a few billion left over. Crazy.
Thanks for the mention Echo!
What’s this face book I keep hearing about? It can’t be anything useful?
Thanks as always for the link Echo! I read that Bono was one of the early investors in FB through his private equity fund. His original $90 million investment is worth around 1.5 billion.
Thanks for the mention.
Sixty year olds who have a mortgage are poor financial managers. Most of them probably bought their first house a long time ago (when very cheap), so they must have continued to buy more expensive homes over time or borrowed their equity.
Either way – not good.