Calm Money Coach
Calm Money Coach is a personal finance podcast hosted by CPA Brian Orlando. It covers money, markets, and mindset, with a focus on helping Canadians build wealth through financial literacy, tax strategies, and smart investing. Episodes also explore macro trends, business stories, fitness, and mental health. The show emphasizes that real wealth extends beyond investment portfolios.
Episodes
The Government Cheques: OAS, the Child Benefit and Pension Splitting
Four videos on the money the government sends you, and the ways people lose some of it.The OAS clawback, which only looks at 1 line on your return: line 23400, starting at $95,323 of income for 2026. The Canada Child Benefit you can lose when you take the raise, and the one move that gets some of it back. Why pension splitting on RRSP money doesn't exist until 65 if you retire early. And the one c
Budget 2026: what changed for your RRSP (RRSP for life, explained)
The federal budget wants to merge your RRSP and RRIF into one account, an "RRSP for life." No forced switch at 71. Minimum withdrawals after 71 stay the same. It's still a proposal: comments are open until 8 January 2027, and there's no draft law or start date yet.Also in the budget: one date to file and pay, 15 May, starting with the return you file in 2028. Quarterly instalments only if you owe
You Can't Beat the Market, So Here's What Works
Five videos on investing simply, in one place.Since 1926, about 4% of US stocks created all of the market's net wealth, and more than half lost to a GIC. Over the last decade, 95% of Canadian equity funds lost to a simple index. So what do you actually do? DIY, a robo-advisor or a fee-only planner, and why the market you lived through shapes your fear for life (Malmendier and Nagel). Why you alrea
If Harry Potter had a financial planner: the full story
Harry Potter lost his parents as a baby, found a vault of gold at 11 and inherited a house at 15. Each one is a real estate planning question in Canada. I'm Brian, a Canadian CPA, and I walk through what happens to a kid, the money and the house when the plan falls apart, and what I'd have set up for the Potters.1. Name a guardian in your will, then name backups, in order. Ask each of them first,
40 With Nothing Saved for Retirement in Canada? Here's the Math
40 with nothing saved for retirement? You've got about 25 earning years left and a pension floor that's already building. A 2025 HOOPP study found 39% of Canadians have never saved for retirement, so you're in good company.Meet Jess. She's 40, rents a 1 bedroom in Halifax and earns $70,000. To retire renting there she needs about $41,700 a year after tax in today's dollars, including $6,000 for tr
Property Tax in Canada: Why You Pay It, and What's Inside a New Home's Price
Why do Canadians pay property tax every year on a home they've already paid for, and what are you actually paying for when you buy a brand new one?Part 1: property tax is one of our oldest taxes. Upper Canada's first assessment law in 1793 paid for a courthouse, a jail, bridges and destroying bears and wolves. Cities lean on it because it's one of the few taxes provinces let them collect: by their
Why Canada Feels More Expensive, and Whether the Math Still Works
Four videos on the bigger Canadian picture.Why the number at checkout keeps climbing: the dollar, climate, how few companies sell our groceries, and housing. Why 140,457 Canadians filed for insolvency in 2025, the most in 16 years. What 100 years of income tax actually built, since it arrived in 1917 as a temporary war measure. And whether Canada's math still works for the people now in the middle
Buying Last Year's Best Stock Every Year: Does It Work?
Someone sent me a reel asking if this is a real strategy: every January, buy last year's best stock in the S&P 500, hold it a year, then swap. Shout out to Ricky, @the.steady.investor.I ran it back to 1998. Your $10,000 hit about $48,500 by the end of 1999, then fell to about $1,400 by 2011. You trailed the S&P 500 at the end of every year from 2001 to 2023. Then NVIDIA and Palantir more t
Is Canada Heading Into Stagflation?
Is Canada heading into stagflation? Prices were up 3.1% in September, unemployment is 6.5%, and groceries cost 33% more than in September 2020.Stagflation is prices jumping while the economy stalls. It followed the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979, and in 1981 the Bank of Canada's rate went past 21%. Economists say we're nowhere near that today. Leave gas out and prices are up 2.2%, and the Bank's rate
Canada vs the US: Who Pays More Tax When You Die?
Canada doesn't have an estate tax like the US. We tax death a different way, and it reaches a lot more regular families.Take 2 cousins. Doug in Regina and Chad in Dallas each put $2 million into index funds, and today each pile is worth $10 million.Chad's playbook is buy, borrow, die. He never sells, borrows against his shares to live, and when he dies the US resets the cost of those shares to the
Which Province Is Cheapest in Canada? Your Pay, and Raising Kids
Which province is cheapest? It depends on who's asking. In part 1, I take the typical full-time wage in each province and work out what's left after tax and the bills. In part 2, I run a young family through all 10 provinces and 3 territories.Part 1. Montreal came out on top with about $24,000 left a year. Calgary was next at about $23,000. Halifax came last at about $14,000, and yes, I checked th
Probate in Canada: $0 in Manitoba, About $14,000 in New Brunswick
Probate on a $1 million estate costs $0 in Manitoba and about $14,000 in New Brunswick. It's usually the smaller of the 2 bills your family pays.Probate is the court confirming your will and your executor. Each province and territory sets its own fee. Alberta and the territories charge $525 at most, Manitoba charges nothing, and in Quebec a notarial will skips it. Ontario, BC, Nova Scotia and New
You Inherited Money. What to Do With It, Step by Step
The average inheritance in Canada is close to $200,000, and it usually arrives while you're grieving. It was Mom's money, and you don't want to be the one who lost it. If you've frozen, that's normal. A Danish study of about 17,000 people after a sudden inheritance found only about 1 in 3 non-investors started investing, even after the biggest ones.So take the pressure off. Park it in a high-inter
Men, Women, Money and Shame
Four videos on the feelings side of money, in one place.If you feel like you're failing at something your dad pulled off on one income, the ground moved: in the early 70s food was the biggest line in the household budget, and today it's shelter by a mile. Women and money, the honest version: better results on the actual numbers, and still ending up with less. If you're stressed about money right n
Going South This Winter? The Date That Decides Your Travel Insurance
Heading somewhere warm this winter? Your province pays something toward a hospital outside Canada, and it's small. Nova Scotia pays up to $525 a day once you're admitted. BC pays up to $75. A Florida hospital spends about $4,400 Canadian per inpatient day, and that's the hospital's own cost. Your bill can be very different.Going to Mexico, the Caribbean or Europe instead? Your province pays the sa
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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 hom
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
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 th
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 of
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. Us
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
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
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
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
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,
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
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 TFS
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 he
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
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
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 ret
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 (dat
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
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, wh
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 pip
