These are the best personal finance reads from November 2019

Traditionally, November is Financial Literacy Month but here at LowestRates.ca, we have an unpopular opinion. Every month should be Financial Literacy Month. 

With that in mind, we’ve decided to round up some other unpopular opinions for November’s best personal finance reads, to continue going against the grain. 

What personal finance advice do you think is overhyped? Don't be afraid to give us your unpopular opinion even though November is done.

Sorry, owning a house doesn’t earn you an A+ grade in personal finance, via The Globe and Mail

In this story, personal finance expert Rob Carrick discusses Canada’s relationship with housing.

“Rightly, Canadians have become more cautious in recent months about spending and taking on debt. Wrongly, they have made an exception for housing,” Carrick writes. 

Considering you need a $219,239 income and 31 years of savings to afford a Vancouver house, maybe it’s time to look at other options, such as renting and co-living as smart financial decisions. 

“Remember, housing affordability is not just about your ability to carry the cost of your mortgage payments and property taxes. There’s also home maintenance and improvement, daycare costs if you’re starting a family and commuting costs if you’re buying in the suburbs.”

Millennials heading into middle age are like baby boomers who never got a chance to boom, via The Financial Post

Are Millennials just embittered adults hurtling into their 40s before their finances are in order? According to writer Noah Smith, millennials have a lot more in common with boomers than they perceive.

“For many aging millennials, the lifestyle of extended adolescence — living with parents or roommates, finding dates on Tinder, starting relationships and breaking up again — is probably beginning to seem less like a never-ending party than a trap. Even modern workout regimens and diets can’t eternally postpone the day when skin begins to sag, joints begin to creak and mental acuity begins to dull,” he writes.

Throughout the piece, Smith explores various reasons why he thinks millennials are just boomers that have "failed to launch."

The Incredible Immorality of the Billionaire Class, via Money After Graduation

In this piece, Bridget Casey —  founder of Money After Graduation — gives a breakdown of what she thinks is “wrong with billionaires.” 

Casey, who is no stranger to unpopular opinions, delivers the reader many points that make one consider whether the existence of billionaires harms you personally.

“We tend to think of billionaires as deserving of their wealth. They’re not,” Casey writes.

“We need to be more critical of the painful reality that the existence of a billionaire depends on literally tens of thousands of people suffering in poverty. We cannot have one without the other.”