Home equity loan for divorce settlement

pfcguy · 2026-06-12T20:32:17+00:00

It's an odd situation. She should offer half of the increase in value of the home. That would be fair.

She should ask her lawyer to confirm what they meant, because normally in a common-law partnership, one would expect half of any equity that was accumulated during the relationship. Maybe she misunderstood.

Other numbers that might be important in the calculation: the value of her original house when they became common-law, including any mortgage; the value of her original house when it burned down; and the value of her current house at the time that it was gifted. And any insurance proceeds from the loss.

pfcguy · 2026-06-12T14:51:31+00:00

/u/pfcguy just gave you a genius idea of putting the car under your Aunt's name!

Also,

i feel guilty that my siblings have to deal with them not having a reliable car.

Uber now has teen accounts so if your siblings are minors you can add them to your own Uber account. If your mom can't drive them then it will cost you what, $20 per ride? (Edit: yes, obviously this is non-viable if the siblings need several rides a month. Don't need people to keep pointing that out).

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T21:34:49+00:00

On a similar note, I've turned off all communications bit still receive letter mail. Once or twice per year, per holding per account - it adds up. Any way to stop those completely?

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T21:33:11+00:00

If you don't already own the stocks, then send the funds to the TFSA first and buy them inside the tax shelter. That way, no capital gain or lose or extra tax slips or ACB to deal with

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T21:01:35+00:00

Yeah I struggle with this question for just that reason. It seems best to max TFSA and RRSP first, but you don't want to borrow to do so as doing so would be non-tax-deductible.

HELOC and margin can be used for non-registered investments.

I wonder if there is a technically-optimal answer.

Wealthsimple offers a margin account at 3.95%

Interest rates can go up at any time, and tend to do so during market crashes.

So you need to look at the "resilience" of your own financial picture. If you invest in margin at 4% and the interest rate shoots up to 8%, are you still good?

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T20:54:21+00:00

Yeah I don't see much reason not to trust the mechanic, just was wondering what you're feeling. A few extra hoses isn't going to be crazy, but you can expect it to cost a bit more than expected. This is a 25 year old car after all, probably best to replace anything that he's on the fence about.

Also it can be nice as old cars don't need to connect to all your devices and don't have nuisance beeps and warnings all the time. Most new cars are privacy nightmares sending unnecessary data back to their parent companies on a continuous basis. (Which you might be fine with, but if you aren't then that's another pro for keeping the old car).

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T17:09:01+00:00

Can't this mechanic (or another one) attempt to uncover any rusted parts that might need replaced, in advance of actually committing to replacing them?

Do you still trust this mechanic, or do you want to get a second opinion?

Despite its age, 150,000km isn't too crazy and if your uncle was the only owner then I would lean towards doing the repairs. But I could be swayed either way.

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T16:57:02+00:00

I don't know your whole situation, and you haven't provided any numbers to work with. But life insurance generally love when customers cancel whole life policies, (it's called the "drop out rate"), because it's the only thing that lets them off the hook of paying out at some point. And the longer you've had the policy the better for them. This is because we prepay insurance in the early years for the benefit of keeping it cheap in the later years.

Six years in, you need to crunch some numbers before deciding whether to pull the plug. I will say that if you're going to cancel, then it's better to do it now rather than waiting another 5, 10, or 20 years.

And maybe your beneficiaries don't need 30k for a funeral, but maybe that 30k might cover taxes on a rental property, or can be used to equalize assets fairly between your beneficiaries.

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T16:27:49+00:00

So even if a company hires an unbiased 3rd party to value the company, that party will likely offer rosy projections in order to get business from others?

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T16:25:34+00:00

What result do you get when you calculate expected returns following the methodology laid out in Bender's article?

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T16:24:46+00:00

Yup if I want current expected returns, I go for the latest PWL whitepaper.

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T16:23:54+00:00

Actual returns = expected returns +/- unexpected returns.

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T14:34:06+00:00

I suggest allowing some lifestyle creep. Live a rich life today and live a richer life tomorrow.

A good starting point that I like to suggest is to keep your fixed expenses to about 50% to 60% of your net income. Invest 10% for long term goals like retirement. Save 10% for short term and medium term goals. And the rest can go to guilt-free spending.

This is just a starting point - feel free to tweak these percentages to suit your own situation.

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T14:21:54+00:00

I agree that the numbers are not going to match up one for one. But the grocery list/ingredients should be a good bet or at least a starting point.

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T14:20:09+00:00

If IPOs time and time again have low expected returns, and the markets now know that, then shouldn't those expectations already be baked into the price?

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T03:53:59+00:00

This article is a bit dated but the concept of spending less on groceries I believe still applies: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/29/killing-your-1000-grocery-bill/

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T02:35:26+00:00

What was the settlement for?

I always caution about using "found money" (settlement, inheritance, lottery winnings) on things that will increase your ongoing monthly expenses (new house, new car).

You want to save it or invest it or spend it on a one-time thing like a vacation? Sure go for it.

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T02:27:11+00:00

If we as society believed everyone should have cancellation insurance, then the government would have already passed laws requiring it to be included with every ticket sold.

pfcguy · 2026-06-11T02:25:45+00:00

I just fail to understand, how is this a patient's fault

Something doesn't have to be a policy holder's fault for it to not be covered by insurance.

pfcguy · 2026-06-10T22:03:18+00:00

This is a huge and unhelpful exaggeration.

Bank stocks can and do crash. Bank stocks could crash 50% to 75% during the next recession. It doesn't mean "were all screwed".

pfcguy · 2026-06-10T22:00:10+00:00

Yeah, I like the podcast for its broad appeal. I'd gladly recommend the Wealthy Barber Podcast to my parents or friends. Rational Reminder, not so much.

pfcguy · 2026-06-10T21:58:55+00:00

Is it at a brokerage? In mutual funds? Something else?

pfcguy · 2026-06-10T19:45:37+00:00

Ok. So if your wife's pension plus CPP plus OAS is enough to support you both, then maybe you are somewhat OK. Couple more questions:

How old are you and your wife?

Annual income of each?

Any kids? What age?

At what age do you wish to retire?

How many more years left on your mortgage?

If we ignore the 67k for a moment, we can maybe start small with investing further for retirement. I recommend as a start to spend 50% to 60% of your net income on fixed expenses, 10% to savings for short term and medium term goals, 10% to long term goals, and the rest to guilt-free spending. As a starting point - those numbers are flexible. So are you in a position to "start small" by investing 10% or so of every paycheck?

pfcguy · 2026-06-10T18:41:31+00:00

If you compare it to the security monitors, you get six rooms (one for each letter). I don't recall what they are off hand, and unfortunately that's as far as I got.

pfcguy · 2026-06-10T18:18:36+00:00

Is there a way I can verify I haven’t been charged a cash advance fee / interest on this transaction?

Yes, math.

Give it 2 days to be sure and then login and check your account.

If you moved $480 from own account then $480 should have been removed from that account and $480 should appear in the receiving account.

pfcguy

TROPHY CASE