On Wednesday the Bank of Canada decided that the Canadian Economy is still in need of stimulus, so there was no change in the key overnight rate (which remains at 3/4% for now). The decision is nicely summed up in the final paragraph of the short statement:
Although a number of complex adjustments are under way, the Bank’s assessment of risks to the inflation profile has not materially changed. Risks to financial stability remain elevated, but appear to be evolving as expected. Weighing all of these risks, the Bank judges that the current degree of monetary policy stimulus remains appropriate and therefore the target for the overnight rate remains at 3/4 per cent.
It seems like the Canadian economy is like our kids, hooked on a high sugar (stimulant) diet. There is a statement about the “Bond Backup” so again, we shall see where this all might lead.
As of next Wednesday (June 3rd), the new CRTC guidelines in terms of contract length will be law. This means folks (like me) who signed any contract before June 3rd, 2013, can walk away from the contract with no penalties (no penalties are allowed after 24 months of the contract), so there may be a whole bunch of great new deals coming up in the near future.
How much is this great new plan for Sick Leave for Civil Servants going to cost? We may never know since the Feds don’t seem obliged to publish the price points for their new plans. Yes, the abolition of the current system is going to allegedly save $900M but the savings going forward with the new system being proposed is not as clear.
Dirty Football? No, I am not talking about Deflate-gate, it seems 7 FIFA officials have been arrested in Switzerland, and charged with receiving bribes. Doesn’t seem that surprising to me, how else can you justify having the Football World Cup in Qatar? Corruption in FIFA? The next thing you’ll be telling me is there are corrupt politicians!
My Writings for Week Ending May 29th
Hockey continues to linger, as does the NBA, but the CFL will start soon, as will the NFL. Plenty of things to enjoy on TV, but maybe I should be outside enjoying the sunny weather:
- I get asked many questions by folks and at times I am not really sure what answer they want to hear (although I have learned that when someone says, “Can I have your honest opinion on something, they really don’t) so I put out some Frustratingly Correct Financial Answers to help folks out.
- Inflation numbers continue to imply life is good and prices are low, but not really as we see in, Prices up 0.8% in April or More Fun with Numbers
- Remember I do rant about debt and such, and a classic one was Do not Sweat the Small Stuff with Debt
- Coach Money, CPP Up 18 pct, Losing $15B and #BestMoneyStories
Swell Summer Sensible Stories
The Blunt Bean Counter goes a bit morbid, but still an important topic with Financial & Tax Planning for the Terminally Ill – Part 1 – Getting Organized. I have seen terminal folks and they look for things to do to get their minds off things, maybe they should be doing this? It is looking a great deal like Mark from 2nd Career Search is attempting to become an Organizational Consultant with his latest poke at the organizational paper tigers, Human Resources – Slaying the Vampire Squid, and he speaks from experience here folks.
One of the signs of the apocalypse has transpired, Lamborghini is going to make an SUV. My only question is, “In the name of Yahweh, WHY?”. For those that continue to take public transit, Barry from Money We Have has a very useful tutorial for you, the Unspoken Rules of Public Transit, simple, but not always followed rules. Speaking of travel Frugal Trader wants us to learn How to Accumulate Serious Air Miles, I can stand for some frivolous Air Miles, but Serious ones work too. Speaking of serious, did you realize that Netflix Accounts for 36% or Peak Internet Usage, that is serious usage.
Remember how paranoid I was about those new Auto Sensor’s your insurance company wants you to use? The next logical step has happened, and you can read about it in LSM Insurance’s Financial Post: Ready to have a hissy Fit(bit) over health and reward points, yes a FitBit to measure how healthy you are, that sends data somewhere very interesting. What is Today’s Retirement Reality? Marie from Boomer and Echo wants to help you figure that out.
Michael James is trying hard to remove the scales from a friend’s eyes but is not succeeding, as they continue to claim “I Don’t Pay Any Fees“, which no one can claim, you are simply attempting to pay the least fees possible (investing, banking, shopping, shipping, etc., etc.,). Mark from My Own Advisor goes back to some simple ideas for us with 10 Saving and Investing Truths, which you will read and say, that is so obvious, but are they?
Preet Speaks
What about these changes to the TFSA limits ?
Fun in Facebook
Do you follow Ellen Roseman? You should (from her archives):
Mad Max LEGO Tweets
Is there anything LEGO can’t do?
2015 Random Thoughts
- January 2nd Random Thoughts on 2014, Welcome to MMXV and #BestOf
- January 9th Frigid Temps, Plunging Oil, Paris and #BestThisWeek
- January 16th Canadian Economy on the Edge, Frigid Temps and #BestThisWeek
- January 23rd Looser Money, Plummeting Loons and #BestThisWeek
- January 30th CLBs, Weak Loons, Tax Time, Superb Owls and #BestThisWeek
- February 6th Superb Decisions, Gas Going Up, Rugby and #BestThisWeek
- February 13th RRSPs, Valentines, 50 Shades of Debt and #BestOfThisWeek
- February 20th Lent Begins, Freezing Temps, Apples and RRSP and #BestOfThisWeek
- February 27th RRSPs, Saint David, Right Arm and #BestOfThisWeek
- March 6th Illness, K-Cups, Interest Rates and #BestOfThisWeek
- March 13th March Madness, Taxes, Friday the 13th and #BestOfThisWeek
- March 20th Spring has Sprung, Ten Years, The Madness and #BestOfThisWeek
- March 27th Death of EPost, More Madness, and #BestMoneyStories
- April 10th Senators, Retiring Rich and #BestMoneyStories
- April 17th Playoffs, Tax Time, Beer tax and #BestMoneyStories
- April 24th RRIF Allowances, Bursary Changes, Budgets and #BestMoneyStories
- May 1st Tax Extensions, Golf Season, Bank Fees, May Day and #BestMoneyStories
- May 8th Alberta Valium, Mother’s Day, Che Guevara, Pay Day Loans and #BestMoneyStories
- May 15th Starbucks, Monty Burns and #BestMoneyStories
- May 22nd Coach Money, CPP Up 18 pct, Losing $15B and #BestMoneyStories
My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off-colour commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)). I am also on reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest , Flipboard, Instagram and other Social Media sites (look for the BigCajunMan userid) as well. If you have social media accounts, do not forget to vote for my posts (see the nifty dashboard on the bottom of each article, where you can cast your votes).As they say in Quebec, vote early and vote often!
Funny pic 🙂
Thanks for the mention and enjoy the weekend, stay dry today!
Mark
It’s funny that we are more interested in soccer corruption than the soccer itself. Thanks for the mention.
It’s not that surprising though.
