Rob Engen, founder of Boomer & Echo

Financial Planning Simplified

I’m Robb — the guy behind Boomer & Echo. I’ve been a personal finance blogger since 2010 and an advice-only financial planner since 2015. I help regular Canadians with regular problems make smarter decisions about their money — without selling them a thing.

more about robb →

My philosophy is simple: Money shouldn’t be complicated.

You don’t need 17 bank accounts, 12 ETFs, or a side hustle to retire comfortably. You just need a good plan, grounded in what really matters to you.

By reading this website you're joining more than 250,000 people who stop by here every month to get tips on how to save money, invest well, and retire comfortably. And, if you choose to subscribe and receive new posts by email, you'll join a growing list of more than 12,000 email subscribers who are the first to get these tips sent straight to their inbox.

New Articles from Robb

  • Why We Stopped Saving So Much and Started Living

    Robb Engen | July 13, 2025 |

    One lesson I’ve learned from my retired clients is that it’s human nature to feel anxious about spending money – especially when the paycheque stops and you’re drawing down your own savings and investments. After decades of watching account balances go up, it’s deeply uncomfortable to watch them go the other way. It just doesn’t…

  • Should You Take a Flyer on a Penny Stock?

    Robb Engen | July 10, 2025 |

    Every now and then, I get a note from a reader whose spouse or friend has gotten excited about a stock tip. Usually, it comes with a backstory: someone they know bought a few thousand shares of a penny stock and now claims to be sitting on a massive gain. Naturally, the question that follows…

  • Weekend Reading: Mid-Year Market Update

    Robb Engen | July 5, 2025 |

    Exactly three months ago my Weekend Reading update was all about staying the course amidst a big stock market sell-off. I got into it with a bearish reader in the comment section who labelled my advice too naive as Trump set fire to long-standing alliances and global trade. Well, well, well, how the turntables… Zooming…

  • Net Worth Update: 2025 Mid-Year Review

    Robb Engen | July 1, 2025 |

    Happy Canada Day! It has been an absolute rollercoaster of a year so far. Canadian and US stocks started the year hot before plunging by 13% and 20% respectively from the end of January to the beginning of April. Now we’re back to all-time highs again as global stocks have soared by 20% since April….

  • Mental Accounting: When Your Money Mind Plays Tricks on You

    Robb Engen | June 27, 2025 |

    We like to think we make rational decisions with our money. But time and again, we fall into predictable traps—especially when it comes to how we frame our finances. One of the biggest culprits? Mental accounting. It’s a behavioural bias where we treat money differently depending on its source, use, or location—even though, on paper,…

  • Reckless vs. Reliable: Rethinking Risk in Your TFSA

    Robb Engen | June 25, 2025 |

      A client of mine recently opened up about feeling behind. He’s 32 years old, has yet to contribute to his TFSA, and only just started getting serious about his finances. The good news? He’s motivated. He wants to start saving $2,000 per month. That’s an incredible habit to build at any age, let alone…