I have no aspirations to write a book, become a YouTube star, or start trending on TikTok. I don’t want an online course empire or a podcast studio or a public speaking circuit. None of that has ever appealed to me. What has kept me going, year after year, is the quiet work: writing articles that help regular Canadians make sense of their money, and sitting down with families to build financial plans that actually improve their lives.
Lately I have been thinking about what I hope this work adds up to. Not in a legacy-with-a-capital-L kind of way, but in a simple way. After more than 15 years of writing Boomer & Echo and helping people one-on-one, what would I like to be remembered for?
When I look at the financial choices Canadians wrestle with, whether it is when to take CPP, how to invest, or how to avoid paying too much in fees, a few themes stand out. If anything I have written or any conversation I have had has nudged people even a little in the right direction, that feels like a meaningful contribution.
Take CPP. The data is still stubborn. Around 90 percent of Canadians take CPP by 65, and only about 2 percent wait until 70. That gap costs people real money. If my work has helped move even a small fraction of people toward delaying to 70 and making the mathematically stronger choice, that is something I would be proud of.
The same is true for investing. For years, the simplest solution for most people has been a low-cost asset allocation ETF. Yet the biggest investment fund in the country is still a high-fee balanced mutual fund that charges close to 2 percent.
Every dollar that shifts away from overpriced products and toward something fairer, cheaper, and more diversified is a win. If even a handful of people bought VGRO, VEQT, XGRO, or XEQT because of something I wrote, and if that contributed in any way to the growth of these funds or the gradual decline of expensive closet-index mutual funds, that feels worthwhile.
And if I am remembered for only one thing, I hope it is helping to normalize advice-only financial planning. Not planning tied to investment products. Not planning for people with tens of millions of dollars. Just clear, transparent, conflict-free advice for regular Canadians. The kind of advice I wish had been available when I was starting out.
If more people demand transparency, real fiduciary care, and clear fees, and if the industry slowly moves in that direction, then this whole project will have been worth it.
That is the impact I hope to leave. No flash. No viral moments. Just better outcomes, more financial literacy, and fewer Canadians stuck with products or advice that quietly drain their wealth.
1. Helping Canadians make the smartest retirement decision they will ever make
I have spent years writing about CPP because delaying to 70 is, for most people, the strongest financial decision available in retirement. The math is clear, longevity research backs it up, and the behavioural benefits are real. More stable income. Less fear around withdrawals. Fewer decisions driven by market noise.
Yet the reality has not changed much. About 90 percent of Canadians claim CPP or QPP by 65. Only about 2 percent wait until 70. The biggest spikes still happen at 60 and 65, simply because those ages are easy and familiar.
This decision gap costs retirees thousands of dollars every year for the rest of their lives.
If my work has any legacy, I hope it includes helping shift these numbers. Not through lecturing or shaming anyone, but through patient, evidence-based education that shows people what they stand to gain by waiting.
Even a small increase matters. If the share of people claiming at 70 moves from 2 percent to 5 or 6 percent over the next decade, that is tens of thousands of Canadians with more secure retirements, more breathing room, and more confidence in their long-term income.
If I helped even a fraction of those people see that possibility, that feels like something worth leaving behind.
2. Making simple investing the standard instead of the exception
If there is one theme I have repeated more than any other, it is that investing does not need to be complicated. You do not need dozens of ETFs, individual stock picks, sector bets, cryptocurrency, alternatives, or a spreadsheet full of rebalancing rules.
Indeed, most Canadians would be far better off choosing a single asset allocation ETF and sticking with it.
When I first started writing about asset allocation funds they were far from mainstream. Today they are among the most popular ETFs in the country. VEQT and XEQT, in particular, attract billions in new money each year. They are simple, transparent, diversified, and inexpensive. They fit the needs of ordinary investors better than almost anything else available.
If my work helped take the idea of “just buy VEQT” from niche advice to common knowledge, that feels meaningful. I have seen this in emails from readers, in client meetings, and in parents telling me their kids invested their first dollars into a single ETF instead of trying to pick the next winning stock.
Simplicity works. Low cost works. Broad diversification works. If I have helped these messages spread even a little, I am happy with that.
3. Chipping away at the dominance of high-fee balanced funds
There was a long stretch of time when it felt unavoidable that the largest investment fund in Canada was a big-bank balanced mutual fund with a fee close to 2 percent. Millions of Canadians owned these funds inside RRSPs and TFSAs without realizing what they were paying for.
I have spent many years calling attention to this. Not because I enjoy criticizing banks, but because the numbers are so stark. A two percent fee on a balanced portfolio can reduce lifetime investment wealth by 25 to 33 percent (or more). That is not a minor drag. That is a meaningful loss of financial security.
In recent years, balanced mutual funds in Canada – once the default choice for many investors – have generally lost ground. ETFs, especially low-cost asset-allocation ETFs, have become the main growth engine. That doesn’t mean mutual funds have vanished, but the tide has clearly turned.
Low-cost ETFs have seen steady inflows. I certainly don’t claim credit for that trend, but if anything I wrote gave someone the confidence to ask, “Why am I paying 2 percent?” and switch to something more reasonable, that is real-world impact.
If I live to see the day when Canada’s largest investment fund is a low-cost balanced ETF instead of a high-fee closet index, that will feel like a quiet win for consumers.
4. Building a path for regular Canadians to get honest financial advice
When I launched my advice-only planning practice, very few planners were working outside the product-sales system. Most Canadians believed that financial advice was inseparable from investment management. The default assumption was that if you wanted help, you had to buy something.
I wanted to show that regular people could get real financial planning without needing a large portfolio or a sales relationship. Just clear, objective advice for a fair price.
The response has shown how much this was needed. Hundreds of families now come through each year. Many arrive saying they had no idea advice-only planning existed. Others say they assumed planning was only available to wealthy households. And more planners are entering the field because they see the same demand.
If I have helped push the industry toward more transparency, clearer fees, and a higher duty of care, that might be the most meaningful contribution of all. Better advice leads to better outcomes, and better outcomes compound across lifetimes and generations.
Final Thoughts
I am not going anywhere. I enjoy the writing, the planning, the conversations, and the challenge of helping people make sense of their finances. But it does feel worthwhile to pause and reflect on the impact this work might have over time.
If, years from now, someone looks back and sees that I’ve helped even a small corner of personal finance in Canada move toward something simpler, fairer, and more transparent, that is a legacy I am proud of.
And the best part is that none of it depends on big platforms, flashy marketing, or viral moments. It is built on everyday conversations with Canadians who simply want to make good decisions with their money.
If I have helped even a little with that, then this work has been worth it.
