How to Pay Less and Keep More for Yourself by Rob Carrick

As the personal finance columnist for the Globe and Mail, Rob Carrick has been writing about about financial issues for almost two decades. The author of four separate books, including two on E-trading and investing, he is a renowned expert in his field.

In this book, Carrick provides practical advice on how Canadians can lower the fees that they pay on a wide rage of financial products, from chequing accounts, mutual funds and stock commissions, to interest rates on consumer debt and mortgages. By finding ways to lower these fees, the book shows how investors can increase their real rate of return, and in the process also find the best financial instruments for them.

Overall this book is very helpful and accessible to all types of investors. Whether you are a young, internet savvy stock trader, or an older, more conservative investor who prefers face-to-face meetings instead of online banking, you will find something useful in this book. As a person who does almost all of his banking online, I really liked the explanation on why TD's e-series mutual funds are an excellent investment option.

If I had one critic, however, it is that the book sometimes loses its focus by providing investing advice on how to allocate assets. While Carrick's recommendations are interesting, (e.g. there is a section on how investors can build a personal pension fund with exchange-traded funds), this side-discussion does not really advance the main point of the book, which is to educate investors on how to stop paying so much money in bank charges, commissions and other fees. That being said, this minor critique does not take away from the fact that this is an excellent book.

4 out of 5 stars