Becoming a stay-at-home parent? How to transition to living on one spouse’s income

Zena Amundsen didn't realize how tight finances could be for a single-income household after she and her husband welcomed their first baby. 

She quickly had to learn to keep track of every dollar, recalled Amundsen, a Regina-based certified financial planner at Astra Financial Services.   

For the first seven years as a parent in the mid-90s, Amundsen stayed home to raise two young children while her husband became the sole provider for the household. About 30 years later, she still draws on her experience when speaking with her clients.

Pre-planning tops her list. 

Condo maintenance fees: How to know whether they’re too high — or not high enough

Condos are a popular choice for many first-time homebuyers owing to their lower price point and access to amenities such as gyms and pools.

But as well as a mortgage, condo owners are responsible for monthly maintenance fees that support operating costs for the building, among other aspects, and it's important to factor that into your purchase and monthly budget.

Condo fees generally cover a lot of what homeowners would spend out of pocket, such as property insurance and general maintenance, said Karolina Armstrong, a real estate broker at Right At Home Realty in Toronto. 

"It's what keeps the building running for all the owners," she said.

Pill, bills, budgetary aches

We’re a nation of drug users. Well, not those drugs.

Rather, many Canadians have their health supported by pharmaceutical medications prescribed by a physician.

In our universal health-care system, medication can come with a big additional cost.

The federal government introduced a national pharmacare program in 2024. Manitoba was among the first to sign on, partly leading to its Enhanced Pharmacare Program, which now offers birth control, diabetes and a few other medications at no cost to Manitobans.

How young people can navigate the new normal for life’s financial milestones

Young people don’t need another slew of statistics telling them their financial lives will be different from their parents’ generation. They need a plan. 

Education is expensive, homeownership is delayed, careers have evolved. There’s a new set of milestones for financial adulthood, and timelines have changed. The first goal for young people starts when they land a job, according to Chris Merrick, principal at Merrick Financial and a fee-only financial planner in Toronto.

As soon as you get a paycheque, you need to draft a budget.

“Budgeting is more of a tool than a chore,” Merrick said. “The new normal is that a budget is less of a sign of financial struggle, it is more like financial literacy, because cost of living, housing is higher. Just winging it is much harder.”

Inflation hitting Canadians where it hurts

Inflation bites. That’s especially true for a key element of a budget that’s challenging to go without: food.

Higher prices always eat away at spending power, but food price increases have devoured household budgets in recent years, Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) data show.

Food cost increases may have peaked in Manitoba in 2022 at nearly 14 per cent, year over year. But even recent data shows prices rising 4.8 per cent, among the highest in Canada.

Households have little choice but to endure higher food costs, given they cannot go without, or they are increasingly turning to food banks and other community supports. Since 2020, the province’s food banks have logged a 150 per cent increase in use, a 2025 Harvest Manitoba report found.

SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic: U.S. tech sees splashy IPOs but volatility might follow

Some of the hottest names in the U.S. technology sector are debuting on public markets or gearing up to do so at eye-popping valuations, including OpenAI, Anthropic and — as of Friday — SpaceX.  

But while splashy IPOs can see short-term upside for retail investors, financial experts say they often lag the market over a longer period of time.

That's why many recommend that investors prioritize companies with track records of delivering returns instead.     

“IPOs in general can often see strong first day performance and that's a lot of the hype too that you do see, but usually over the following years many underperform the broader market,” said Brianne Gardner, senior wealth manager of Velocity Investment Partners at Raymond James Ltd.   

From timing rates to upstart lenders: How to get the most out of your next GIC

TORONTO - As wars, tariffs, swinging commodity prices and a bond slump rankle markets, the stability of one investment vehicle is drawing Canadians in: Guaranteed investment certificates.

GICs help people earn guaranteed interest on money they invest for a set period of time. The longer they promise to lock in their cash, the better the interest rates they're offered.

While GIC earnings don't often outpace gains the savviest investors find through stock markets and aren't ideal for people who may soon need quick access to their cash, their proponents like that they can insulate investors from see-sawing or declining markets.

"Our research showed that the amount of Canadians holding GIC investments has actually grown throughout the years, particularly during that high-interest rate environment of 2022 and 2023," said Natasha Macmillan, senior business director of everyday banking at comparison website Ratehub.

Landlord hasn’t paid the mortgage? Know your tenant rights in event of power of sale

You held up your end of the bargain and paid your rent on time — only to learn your landlord failed to keep up with mortgage payments and the home may need to be sold. 

Beautiful game’s big price tag: soccer fans face record ticket costs for World Cup

The world’s soccer fans will converge on Toronto and Vancouver in a few days for the start of the 2026 men’s World Cup, revelling in the euphoria (and deep disappointment) that often is endemic to the planet’s premier sporting event.

Bank accounts for kids as young as five, six can help build financial skills: experts

Personal finance experts say opening a bank account with your children — starting when they're as young as five — can help them develop money management skills.

Children develop on different timelines, so experts say that choosing the right time to open a bank account depends more on a child's temperament than their age.

But regardless of when your child gets access to a bank account, parents should look for ways to make the experience tangible, because managing money is increasingly a digital endeavour than in years prior.

Chris Merrick, principal at Merrick Financial Inc., said he thinks parents should start considering opening an account for their child between the ages of five and nine, “because the kids understand the basic math and the trade-offs.”

Set up guardrails before dipping toes in sports betting ahead of FIFA games

As you don your favourite soccer player's jersey and head to the nearest pub with your friends to watch a World Cup match later this month, you might also be tempted to bet money on the prospects of your team.

Investors can roll dice on emerging technologies that may or may not shape future, portfolios’ net worth

We live in hyperstitious times.

A philosopher named Nick Land coined the word hyperstition in the 1990s, describing the sense of living today in science fiction of the past.

Investors may have that same sensation, given the dominance of artificial intelligence in their portfolios.

Yet AI is arguably more than an advanced chat-bot/search engine. It is “the fabric that’s binding” together a lot of other science fiction-like technologies, moving them closer to viable commercialization, says Mickey Ganguly, associate portfolio manager for the CIBC Technology Innovation Fund.

Selling your home without a Realtor saves money, but can be a demanding task

Getting rid of clutter, fixing paint chips and making your home look straight out of a lifestyle magazine is a rite of passage for homeowners planning to sell their property. But that to-do list gets a bit longer if you're also planning to save money on commissions and sell the property without a Realtor.

Usually, a home seller pays an average of three to five per cent commission on the final price of a house. That means a million-dollar home could result in about $50,000 in fees paid to Realtors. 

When thinking of the potential cost savings, a DIY home sale may feel tempting amid rising mortgage renewal rates and falling home prices in many regions. But experts say it's important to know what it takes to go it alone in the real estate market.

"There's a ton of behind-the-scenes that takes place to prepare a home for the market," said Colin Noble, an Uxbridge, Ont.-based real estate broker and founder of Noble Real Estate.

How to invest consistently when you have an unpredictable paycheque

Investing consistently can often pave the way to wealth in the long term. But that strategy may not feel like it's achievable if you don't have a consistent income.

The problem is "not so much the investments themselves, it's the cash flow," said John Woodfield, senior wealth adviser with Raymond James Ltd.

Gig workers and freelancers often find themselves managing an unstable flow of income, where some months can be more prosperous than others. For many, that makes it more challenging to save and invest steadily for the future. Still, experts say consistency is possible with a slight shift in perspective.

Woodfield recommended starting with building a nest egg for tough times.

‘Pack your patience’: Fuel shortages keeping Canadians’ summer travel plans in flux

With airline tickets growing more expensive and customers facing the risk of cancelled flights, insurance experts are advising those with summer travel plans to stay on their toes.

Air carriers are continuing to grapple with sky-high jet fuel costs, an offshoot of Iran's ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has led to soaring oil prices globally since late February.

Like their international peers, Canadian airlines have been consolidating some flights and adding fuel surcharges, leaving customers with pricier tickets and more uncertainty over whether they'll even take off.

But that situation is now considered a "known event" by most travel insurance companies, making it harder for customers to protect themselves from financial loss — not to mention disappointment — if their plans are derailed.