Welcome Americans and #MoneyStories

Another historical piece, when President Trump as elected SO many Americans said they were going to move to Canada, never really happened, that I saw.

Welcome our American cousins, and all those who are claiming that if Donald Trump (or Hillary Clinton) gets elected they will move out of the United States of America. We Canadians welcome you with arms wide open, however, please leave your arms down there (thank you). It is always interesting to hear folks down south claiming they would move up north, a few good examples were:

• If Obamacare passes! So you are running away from socialized medicine to move into a country with socialized medicine?
• If gun control laws are passed? Canada you want to move to? The big one up north?
• If marijuana is legalized?
• I am not even going to mention abortions

Should be an interesting choice down south, guess I should look into Wall futures? Remember that Toronto in the 60’s was a haven for Draft Evaders from the Viet Nam war, and that time was viewed as a Golden Age for Toronto, so who knows, maybe this is a good thing for Canada?

For any folks thinking of moving here, the topic for March is either, the Weather or Taxes! Luckily we have plenty to complain about on the tax side of things, with the Ontario Government slapping new taxes on many things, and the newly crowned Liberal Federal Government (or am I supposed to call them The Trudeau Government) talking of more taxes needed as well, the cold might not seem so bad. You see what I did there, I did the old switcheroo where it sounded like I was going to complain about how cold it was, and instead, I zinged in with a Tax Complaint (that is a very Canadian thing too).

It is Tax Time again!

My Writings for Week Ending March 4th

We leaped out of February into a short beginning of March, with RRSP season leaving us, but Tax Season is now in full bloom.

With this being a leap year did we have an extra day for RRSP contributions? Maybe, a few folks said it didn’t matter, but if you only worry about your RRSP at the end of February, you may have a financial planning problem, as I pointed out in Leap into Your RRSPs and Financial Planning

As I have mentioned many times I have a massive backlog of unfinished ideas, and I found one and added a bit of polish and a lot of sarcasm poking fun at Financial Services Web Pages

A Friday Thought

The hardest times to say the word no, are usually the most important times to say it.

Tax Time or Knee in Your Package

If you are thinking of moving to Ontario from the US you must have a look at the Blunt Bean Counter’s piece on the 2016 Ontario Budget, where he outlines just how much more painful it will be to live in Ontario. I was particularly unhappy with the “will discontinue tuition and education tax credits”, thanks Ms. Wynne, the Middle Class shall remember. If you want to learn about a topic, many times talking to an expert can help out a great deal and Mark from My Own Advisor does just that with his two-part series Catching up with Millionaire Teacher and Expat – Andrew Hallam, well worth reading this interview.

New Canadians might be cautious in where they invest their money and the Canadian Couch Potato might have a place to put that concerning money, The Curious Case of the BMO Discount Bond ETF, there is money to be made in bonds? I always enjoy honest writers, and when Kerry from Squawkfox wrote, TFSAs vs. RRSPs: Where’s the biggest bang for your buck? The first line had me hooked. Why did you start getting serious about money? Barry from Money We Have tells us Why I Became Serious About Money, hopefully, you are serious about money (although being on a site where the author claims to be the Clown Prince of Personal Finance might not be the right place to be looking).

Mark from 2nd Career Search was shocked with what Vanguard predicted his lifespan would be (so he could plan his retirement) and he wrote Damnit, They Predict I Will Live to 100 in response to their optimistic predictions. I know that many folks are looking at real estate prices these days, and we keep hearing that we might be in a “bubble”? Robb from Boomer and Echo gives us an interesting query, Zero Down Mortgages: The Last Gasp From A Housing Bubble Ready To Pop? Don’t think this is going to be a Pop, more like an Earth-Shattering Kaboom (to quote Marvin the Martian).

Sometimes a swerve article is a fun thing to write (or at least a swervy title) and Michael James did that with what sounds like a shocking title, Examining Six Reasons to Downgrade Retirement Saving, however before we all panic and run into the streets clutching our children, MJ is really commenting on a piece Rob Carrick wrote, and his arguments are as usual sound and well thought out. If you are going to save, Blessed by the Potato was going to write an article about comparing investing methodologies but found someone else had beaten him to the punch, and Flat-Fee Robo-advisor Model is him using this useful comparison.

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OMG I Missed the RRSP Deadline

Are you flummoxed because you missed the RRSP deadline? Preet (as usual) has some sound advice for you folks who are at atwitter about this problem.

The Producers do Trumped

The only thing missing from the US Primaries is a lunatic singing, “Springtime for Hitler”, but luckily Jimmy Kimmel made sure we had the next best thing!

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2016 Random Thoughts

• January 7th, Market Meltdown, TFSA, WildCard Weekend and #MoneyStories
• January 14th, Cheap Oil, Cheap Dollar, Dead Folk, and #MoneyStories
• January 21st, Loose Money, High Household Debt, Weak Loons and #MoneyStories
• January 29th, Doomsday Clocks, Rogue RRSP Receipts, Cash Crops and #MoneyStories
• February 4th Bouncing Loonies, RRSP Season, Superb Owls and #MoneyStories
• February 12th Lent is Here, Bricked iPhones, Love Day and #MoneyStories
• February 19th Digging Out, Ransomware, RRSP Time and #MoneyStories
• February 26th RRSP Time and #MoneyStories

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