It’s been quite the year for me and am very thankful to Tom Drake for all of his support in my online endeavours.  He makes running a blog easy because I can just focus on writing without having to worry about all the technical stuff of running a blog.  Together, Tom and I launched Retire Happy Blog at the beginning of 2011 and in less than a year, the site has grown beyond my expectations.  My biggest accomplishment was being voted Canada’s Best Personal Finance Blog by the Globe and Mail.

As we near the end of the year, I thought it would be fitting to share some of my best and most popular articles of 2011.  I can’t believe I wrote about 200 articles this year so I thought it would be best to organize my top picks by category.

Three most popular posts of 2011

• How much will you get from Canada Pension Plan in Retirement?  By far, my most popular article in 2011 was this article on Canada Pension Plan.  There are 68 comments and this article gives you a really clear perspective on how much you can expect from CPP in retirement.
• New Proposed Changes for CPP  On May 25, 2009, Federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Finance recommended changes to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).  These proposed changes are set to be implemented for January 1, 2012.  This article goes through the four biggest changes that will affect Canadians.
• Everything you need to know about RRIFs  Most Canadians choose a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) as their primary retirement income option. This article shares with you some of the most important decisions you need to make with your RRIFs

Best three articles on investing

My three top picks for investment articles revolve around the choppy markets in 2011.

• 5 Realities of the Stock Market
• Strategies to deal with market volatility
• The Science of building a diversified investment plan

Top articles on retirement planning

For my top articles on retirement, I will revert back to the basics:

• 3 Basic steps to a retirement plan
• What rate of return should you use for your retirement plan?
• How much money will $100,000 pay you in retirement?
• Retirement planning with gross incomes can be misleading

Top articles on estate planning

Estate planning is a topic I have become more passionate about because of personal circumstances with my late mother and now with some health issues of my father-in-law.  Here’s some of the essential things you need to know about estate planning

• Estate planning starts by getting organized
• Should you write your own will?
• Three legal documents of an estate plan
• How often should you review your estate plan

Top articles on wealth and money

To finish my list of top posts, I offer you some of my picks on general wealth and money issues

• Developing financial routines for financial success
• How to become a millionaire by 35?
• Know your spending
• 5 Strategies to manage your debt levels