Financial Planning Simplified
I’m Robb — the guy behind Boomer & Echo. I’ve been a personal finance blogger since 2010 and an advice-only financial planner since 2015. I help regular Canadians with regular problems make smarter decisions about their money — without selling them a thing.
My philosophy is simple: Money shouldn’t be complicated.
You don’t need 17 bank accounts, 12 ETFs, or a side hustle to retire comfortably. You just need a good plan, grounded in what really matters to you.
By reading this website you're joining more than 250,000 people who stop by here every month to get tips on how to save money, invest well, and retire comfortably. And, if you choose to subscribe and receive new posts by email, you'll join a growing list of more than 12,000 email subscribers who are the first to get these tips sent straight to their inbox.
New Articles from Robb
Weekend Reading: What Happens to Your Health Benefits When You Retire?
Robb Engen | April 10, 2026 |
One of the top questions I hear from soon-to-be-retired clients is some version of: “What do I do about health coverage when I leave my employer plan?” The anxiety is real. For decades, benefits were just… there. Dental cleanings, prescriptions, massage, physio – it felt like free money. Now they're staring down retirement wondering how…
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This Is a Retirement Plan (Are We There Yet… or Not?)
Robb Engen | April 3, 2026 |
Like many soon-to-be retirees, Patricia and Charles are feeling that familiar tension as they approach the finish line. They’ve done a lot right. They’ve built up more than $1.2 million in investments, kept their spending reasonable, and stayed consistent savers throughout their careers. But that doesn’t necessarily translate into confidence. Patricia, as the higher earner,…
Waiting for a Better Time to Invest
Robb Engen | March 27, 2026 |
Hannah reached out last week to say she inherited $350,000 almost a year ago and hasn’t invested a dollar of it. It’s been sitting in cash since last April. And to be fair, April didn’t exactly feel like a great time to invest. Liberation Day tariffs had just been announced, markets were sliding, and suddenly…
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Weekend Reading: Your TFSA Contribution Room Edition
Robb Engen | March 21, 2026 |
If you contribute regularly to your TFSA you already know this, but it’s worth repeating. Your My CRA Account is not a live tracker of your TFSA contribution room. In fact, it can be frustratingly slow to update. The reason is straightforward. Financial institutions have until the end of February each year to report your…
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Weekend Reading: Investing Is Not Speculating Edition
Robb Engen | March 13, 2026 |
Every time markets get shaky I get some version of the same message. “Hey, are we getting nervous about VEQT? Anything we should be doing differently, or just let it ride?” It’s a fair question. Market declines and a barrage of bad news can certainly make some investors uncomfortable. But it also reveals something important….
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This Is a Retirement Plan (For a Single Woman in Her 50s)
Robb Engen | February 27, 2026 |
Cynthia is 56 years old, single, and lives in Winnipeg. She rents a two-bedroom apartment for $1,600 a month, likes her place, likes her landlord, and has never felt particularly drawn to homeownership just because it’s what people are supposed to do. She works in healthcare after switching careers later in life, earns about $118,000…
