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Please find my attached submission for the reflection questions portion of the assignment.
Thank you,
Alicia Hughes

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Most of us are wondering where to put our money. Whether it's to plan for the future or to simply avoid and tax consequences right now or defer them to a later date. I thought the boxing gloves were a nice touch as I feel as a young investor I am always being pushed and pulled in all directions by anyone wishing to tell me where to put my money.

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Financial security in todays business world is hard to come by, as suggested in this article from the CBC. While I understand that work is hard to find, the reality of someone working three jobs and still being unable to make ends meet is what we are really dealing with. The world is accepting to part time job status as it is cost effective to the employer; leaving the employees to fend for themselves for insurance, pensions, and benefits. Everyone’s financial security is out the window if full time work is unavailable. It’s time for the government to step in and take action to provide for a future for the next generation.

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At 40, the self-employed worker we'll call Natalie is one of a growing number of Canadians shut out of the world of stable, full-time work.

She has three bookkeeping jobs, she's watching every penny and still she makes just half of Canada's average industrial wage of $49,500. She's had to move back home with her 10-year-old daughter because she can't find full-time work.

It became a way of keeping down wages, and companies became addicted to it. -Wayne Lewchuk, McMaster University professor

"The way I'm going, I'm never going to get my own place for my daughter and I won't be able to afford a car; I won't be able to afford a dentist appointment for my daughter, or something she may need, braces," she told CBC News.

Like an increasing number of Canadians, she's in precarious work, without security, benefits, vacation pay or the prospect of a pension.

People in temp positions, part-time workers and contract workers all fall into the insecure employment category. And the number is growing.

Secure jobs a vanishing breed

A study by the United Way and McMaster University in 2013 found 18.3 per cent of the workforce in the Hamilton-Toronto area had insecure employment. And only a little over half - 50.3 per cent - had standard, full-time jobs.

Across Canada, the category of self-employed workers increased almost 45 per cent between 1989 and 2007, according to the Statistics Canada labour survey.

Precarious workers aren't just minimum-wage employees with irregular hours, says Wayne Lewchuk, a professor at the school of labour studies at McMaster University. They're also high-tech workers hired for projects, accountants who must seek one job after another, social-service sector workers employed by temp agencies and university lecturers hired on contract.

A lot of these jobs used to be secure, Lewchuk points out, but not anymore.

"It became a way of keeping down wages and companies became addicted to it," says Lewchuk, who has been studying precarious employment for seven years.

There's no career path for temp or flex workers - they lurch from one job to the next, get neither training nor benefits nor paid leave and are expected to save for their own pension.

Sitting by the phone

"Often they don't know their schedule until the day before or their schedule changes at the last minute They don't know where they have to be until just before their shift," Lewchuk says.

Over a working life, the penalty for precarious work is financial - those in insecure employment earned about 46 per cent less than workers in the same field who had standard jobs.

But on a day-to-day basis, the toll is often personal.

"All of this makes sustaining a household and a family difficult," Lewchuk says.

If they think they're going to be sitting by the phone waiting for a call to work, they often can't enrol their children in extracurricular activities or make it to the parent-teacher conference, Lewchuk says. There's no option to coach Little League or volunteer at the local seniors' home.

"People that are in precarious work delay making significant life plans," says Micheline Laflèche, with the United Way, who is part of a group of researchers updating the 2013 report.

"They don't feel confident enough to establish an ongoing relationship or have children."

Socially isolated

Men in particular may feel socially isolated, she says.

"Men were the ones who were much more likely to be in standard employment relationships [permanent full-time work], and they built their social relationships through their work," she says.

"They're no longer in those kinds of jobs; men are more likely to have no one to talk to."

Laflèche says people in insecure employment tend to be less engaged with their community, a trend that could weaken the fabric of Canadian life.

"It hurts our democratic commonality and our democratic values because people don't feel like they belong. We don't have a healthy society," she says.

In the face of the rise of precarious work and the expansion of low-paid work, the Ontario government has said it will review employment standards and the labour code.

Laflèche and the United Way will be among the parties trying to suggest innovative ways to address precarious work.

She argues Canada's employment insurance system, which is a federal responsibility, is geared to a world where people had an industrial job for years, and if that was eliminated, they got another permanent job, a scenario that now rarely happens. She recommends a more realistic approach to employment insurance for part-time or contract workers.

Changing labour laws

She points to some of the ways other countries are addressing precarious work:

A minimum wage "premium": an extra payment from employers for low-wage workers who don't have benefits or secure work.

"Flexicurity": Denmark has a social contract between employers, the government and individuals that helps people who don't have secure work. Opportunities for training are provided when they can't find work and there is support, similar to employment insurance, but which kicks in even if people haven't worked for the required minimum time.

Parity legislation: There are variations on this throughout the European Union with laws that ask employers to give temporary or contract workers the same pay, vacation and benefits as permanent employees doing the same jobs.

Creating better training opportunities for those in marginal employment.

Providing more flexible child-care solutions (instead of always full-time, five days a week, allowing part-time child care).

Businesses have also put forward voluntary solutions, among them temp agencies or groups of employers combining forces to provide full-time hours to part-time workers and better social inclusion in work events for temp and part-time workers.

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Precarious job security takes financial and personal toll on workers | CBC News

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At 40, the self-employed worker we'll call Natalie is one of a growing number of Canadians shut out of the world of stable, full-time work. She has three bookkeeping jobs, she's watching every penny and still she makes just half of Canada's average industrial wage of $49,500.

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I found this image to be particularly important when it comes to financial planning and financial security. Knowing how much to put away in each jar is the ultimate question is regards to your lifestyle. This has proven to be an effective way of saving for myself and I am posting this as a quick and simple way of displaying what you need now, tomorrow, and in the future. Without seeing those visuals on a daily basis, expenses can easily get away from you.

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While some of us believe we have a great understanding of finance, this video from BNN.ca describes our understanding differently. The person being interviewed explains that people were asked our financially literate they are and while most said that they had knowledgeable understanding of the topic, after being asked 15 questions most were found to have little to no understanding at all and those who did well only received C- and D grades. It was interesting to see how we thought of ourselves and how well we actually understand.

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Pattie Lovett-Reid: Canadians greatly overestimating their financial literacy

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CTV Chief Financial Commentator Pattie Lovett-Reid looks at new survey that shows most Canadians aren't necessarily as financially literate as they claim.

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This article was written to warn potential retiree’s from using only their home equity as their retirement fund. As someone who knows someone doing this exact strategy, I was intrigued by the information you should understand before putting all your eggs in your home basket. With the current market conditions, homeowners shouldn’t expect as much profit from their homes as they think its worth. Home owners should also be aware of the prices of home to buy. Sitting on your house as a retirement fund is great, if you understand the risks involved.

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Making your home part of your retirement plan might seem like a no-brainer, especially in some of Canada's hottest real estate markets.

Surveys suggest about a quarter of Canadians expect their home to be their primary source of income when they retire.

But financial experts warn there are pitfalls to look out for, whether you hope to downsize your home in retirement or to run your old home as an investment property.

"If you look at the last 10 years, most people have had good timing with real estate," said Jim Yih, a financial educator at retirehappy.ca in Edmonton. "It's been a real bonus for some people. I talked to a couple of people in Ontario and Vancouver and it's a big part of their retirement plans."

Yet, Yih says, bad timing can hit at any time, as can be seen in Alberta, where the plummeting price of oil has hit the real estate market, knocking back the price of homes.

"It's a risk for those people who need or want some equity in their home or even just [are] planning to relocate," he said.

With that in mind, here are a few real estate don'ts from the experts.

Don't overestimate the value of your house

Though housing-market collapses might not be common, homeowners can't expect real estate to rise 10 to 20 per cent indefinitely either, said Matthew Ardrey, a vice-president with T.E. Wealth in Toronto.

"Your house is only worth as much as somebody else is willing to pay for it," he said. "That's something to keep in mind."

Ardrey says he is conservative when working with clients who are talking about downsizing.

"In my financial projections, I do nothing more than just grow their real estate by the rate of inflation," he said.

Ardrey also warns people to shave 10 per cent off the expected selling price, because you will lose it to real-estate fees, land-transfer taxes, legal fees and moving costs, as well as unexpected costs. "The couch doesn't fit in the new place," he said.

Don't underestimate the cost of a new home

A person selling a home in Toronto to move to rural Ontario might find themselves with $1 million extra in retirement. But the reality is that many people change addresses within the same real-estate market, which is much less lucrative.

​Yih said people downsizing in the same city often aren't actually downsizing when it comes to money, especially when moving from a bigger, older home to a smaller, newer one.

New retirement communities often have homeowners' association fees, which can actually make retirement more expensive than living in the old house, he said.

"They're downsizing inside of Calgary and these new retirement places, they're brand-new, they've got all the frills and they're like, 'Holy cow, we've got to spend an extra 50 grand to get into a smaller place."'

Don't move away rashly

Yih said that if people want to live somewhere else in retirement they should start planning it years in advance.

"You go and you vacation there and you visit there every year to see if you actually like it," he said. "And when you're there, go look at real estate."

People who take that kind of approach have the easiest transition into retirement, Yih said.

Don't become an 'accidental landlord'

Tom Feigs, a money coach with Money Coaches Canada in Calgary, said he knows of people who have decided to keep their house as a rental property, sometimes without thinking it through.

He said looking after a property is a decision not to be taken lightly and warned against becoming an "accidental landlord."

"You have to be able to stick with it for a period of time, and you have to be comfortable with that," he said. "It's a job and the job needs attention. So if you're in a retirement lifestyle and you don't want to have a job, perhaps real estate is something that you want to move away from."

He also said any retirees running rental properties should have an exit strategy. "Know when to quit."

Don't put all your eggs in one basket

Feigs said focusing too much on the sale of your house is dangerous, and instead retirees should have a mix of cash and low-risk investments, as well as longer-term investments like real estate.

"It's not a good idea to have real estate as the only card in your deck, because it's not liquid," he said. "It's not easy to sell usually. It takes time, so you want to have some diversification."

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5 things not to do when selling your home in retirement | CBC News

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Making your home part of your retirement plan might seem like a no-brainer, especially in some of Canada's hottest real estate markets. Surveys suggest about a quarter of Canadians expect their home to be their primary source of income when they retire.

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This video was selected because we always hear the “do’s” of retirement, but rarely do we hear the “don’ts”. CTV’s Chief Financial Commentator goes on to talk about 3 mistakes that retiree’s make once retired.
1. Don’t spend too much too soon.
2. Don’t have too much home that you can’t manage the payments.
3. Don’t be so quick to give away your kids inheritance too early.
I found the budgeting what you have early rule to be most interesting. She mentions inflation causing a rise in every day prices years in future; something I didn’t take into too much consideration.

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Pattie Lovett-Reid: 3 mistakes to avoid in retirement planning

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CTV's Chief Financial Commentator Pattie Lovett-Reid offers tips on how to avoid three common mistakes when it comes to retirement planning.

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I have chosen this picture out of humour. I see all the good in retiring – family, relaxing, hobbies, sleeping in. On the flip side I see the route to getting there – saving and being frugal while also investing. Unless you have the money to do it all, saving for the future can be confusing. Talking to a financial advisor may point you in the right direction.

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This Government of Canada webpage has been built to help you identify your goals, obstacles along the way and after retirement, and helps calculate those savings goals into attainable values. I have chosen this webpage as it directly affects the Canadian retiree and tax payer. It provides tips on how to adjust your future budget to take inflation, interest rates, and emergency funds in account. Additional available savings options such as single pension plans, tax credits, and tax-free savings accounts are listed as well as hyperlinked to allow for quick access. I found this page to be easy to navigate and understand.

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Information to help you plan for retirement, including how much money you might need, where your money may come from, creating a will, and estate planning.

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This short video is selected for its simplicity in explaining our retirement expectations. Canadians on average believe that holding a retirement fund of savings of $908,000 is enough to finally retire and put your feet up (this is of course described as subjective to your lifestyle and taste). Throughout the video residents of Toronto are asked whether they are ready for their retirement. Most just responded that the $908,000 was simply out of reach for them and weren’t sure when they would be able to save that amount of money. I’m sure the interview at least got them thinking a little more seriously about their futures.

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Average Canadian wants $908,000 for retirement: study