While it’s not Greece, Canada is still fairly comfortable place to retire.

A working couple who is retiring today at age 65 after earning the average industrial wage throughout their careers will receive a combined annual Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security pension of about $36,000, indexed for life.

That’s a significant amount of retirement income – which makes you wonder why so many people never get around to collecting so much of it, says consumer advocate Richard Shillington.

Looking to sell those double-booked tickets in a hurry? Why not try the Zoltan family?

According to a new study, your last name is a good indicator of how quckly you're likely to buy stuff. What could possibly explain this phenomenon, which the study authors dubbed "the last-name effect"?

Researcher Kurt A. Carlson believes this habit is linked to childhood and constant alphabetizing during school. Children with late-letter last names tended to wait longer for things, and therefore compensate later in life, he believes. 

“For years, simply because of your name, you've received inequitable treatment,” says Carlson, an assistant professor at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business. “So when you get to exercise control, you seize on opportunity. It's a coping strategy, and over time it becomes a natural way to respond.”

It's no secret that most Canadians are unsure how much they should be saving for retirement.

But a new study by investment firm Edward Jones suggests we may be equally clueless about how much we can safely spend once we get there.

When asked what percentage of their savings they think they can afford to withdraw every year, only one-third (32%) appeared to have any realistic spending expectations.

According to the poll, almost half (49%) of respondents thought they would need to withdraw 6% to 20% of their savings each year, a number most planners would describe as "a bit high."

It seems most Canadians can’t go very long without getting paid.

57% of Canadians admit they’d in a tough spot if their paycheque was delayed by just one week, according to a recent survey from the Canadian Payroll Association.

That's a lot of stress. People who are strapped can’t afford to switch jobs or get laid off because they're just barely making enough to squeak by.

What’s more concerning though is that that number has remained fairly steady for the past two years and is quite evenly distributed among provinces. Here’s what things looked like last year. 

A couple of week ago, we talked about the Misery Index, a measure of how Americans feel about their bleak economic prospects.

Now, however, Canadians have their own index and it's much broader than the U.S. version -- but not really any less gloomy.

The measure is based on 64 indicators from eight separate areas: living standards, community vitality, democratic engagement, education, healthy populations, environment, time use, leisure and culture.

Overall, the index suggests the quality of life in Canada has actually decreased since 1994, the starting point for the new measure which is based out of the University of Waterloo.

Although you hear lots of stories about parents supporting their grown offspring, sometimes positions are reversed and it's the kids that have to carry the load. 

We're not talking here about parents who fallen on hard times because of disability or ill health.

No, this is more about dealing with those who've simply lived too high on the hog, leaving their grown children to pick up the tab for their irresponsibility -- whether through addiction or poor money skills. 

What do you do when your parents ask for money? Just say no, advises Dave Ramsay, a syndicated radio show host who's known for his black and white views.

Aah, another growth industry.

An increasing number of primary-care physicians are hitting their patients with a new charge: an annual "administrative fee" of $100 to $300 to help them defray the costs of running their practice.

It's not not clear how many doctors are charging extra fees, but the number seems to growing -- as are the fees, say health critics.

And some practioners do seem to be taking things to extremes. A Toronto doctor will face a disciplinary hearing for charging patients a $1,000 a year to receive care. And there are those collection agencies.

There are now at least four companies specializing in helping doctors collect annual fees from patients, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal. 

75 per cent of children of divorce live with their mother and more than a third of them ended up in households with incomes below the poverty line, according to recent U.S. data. And the Canadian numbers really aren't much better.

What's sad about this statistic is that children didn't ask to be put in this situation, says Lee Block, a post-divorce consultant and author of The Post-Divorce Chronicles.

Hers is a controversial take: Instead of focusing on where the money is being spent each month, focus on the lifestyle of your children. Is it fair for them to go without because the child support is not enough, she asks. 

51 per cent of Generation Ys between the ages of 20 and 29 lived with their parents last year, according to the latest Statistics Canada data.

That’s compared with just 31 per cent of Generation Xers and 28 per cent of late boomers who lived at home during that same age period.

And while it may be easy to view them all as permanent 'basement dwellers', Generation Y is just more financially savvy than past generations, says CIBC economist Benjamin Tal.

The gang in this cohort simply know when they've got a good thing going.