Every Christmas there is a must have gift that parents have to get, or risk being dubbed lame, and this year we have an interesting Canadian Xmas It Gift, that is the Hatchimal. Don’t worry about trying to buy it, you can’t find it anywhere. When my daughters were at the magic age we had Tickle Me Elmo, the Teletubbies and countless other important purchases (that have been donated somewhere). Are these toys that important? When I was a kid, I remember making my Dad run around Montreal looking for Dungeons & Dragons manuals, and it was important to me (at the time), so maybe they are important?
Big C8j Xmas Gift hint Remember that if you are planning on being lazy and giving gift cards, you can buy iTunes cards on sale all the time at Costco (usually you can buy $100 worth of cards for $94), perfect for that friend dealing with an emergency CRA audit? Truly an Xmas it gift (for those being fleeced).
The Bank of Canada kept their key overnight rate at 0.5% for 2016. Their overall view is interesting, and not clear:
In Canada, the dynamics of growth are largely as the Bank anticipated. Following a very weak first half of 2016, growth in the third quarter rebounded strongly, but more moderate growth is anticipated in the fourth quarter. Consumption growth was robust in the third quarter, supported by the new Canada Child Benefit, while the effects of federal infrastructure spending are not yet evident in the GDP data. Meanwhile, business investment and non-energy goods exports continue to disappoint. There have been ongoing gains in employment, but a significant amount of economic slack remains in Canada, in contrast to the United States. While household imbalances continue to rise, these will be mitigated over time by announced changes to housing finance rules.
So they won’t do anything, for now. I suspect if the Americans start running up their rates, Canada will have to react in some fashion, or risk having a 50 cent dollar.
Viola Desmond will be the new face of the $10 bill in Canada, an excellent choice.
My Writings for Week Ending December 9th
I have been mucking around with trying to get Quicken running on my Mac in some fashion, and found a great article about it, but found that at the end of it, it was simply easier keeping an old PC laptop to run things, but I outline what I did in, Mac Quicken (in Canada) ?
The Xmas It Gift
In case you wondered what this miraculous toy might look like, here it is!
Deck the Halls
I think a lot of my regular reads are slowing down for the holidays, which is fine by me (not that I have sprinted around a lot either):
- I note that I was (again) nowhere on the ballot for the Time Person of the year, some other guy won.
- Most folks who dividend invest tend to meticulously check their returns, and Mark from My Own Advisor is not different, with his, November 2016 Dividend Income Update. As a couch potato, I think I check next month ? Not sure.
- Looking to make some more money? Maybe it’s time to ask for a raise, so Marie from Boomer & Echo brings us 10 Tips For Negotiating A Raise , I usually just get told I got a raise, which is OK as well.
- Blessed by the Potato is dealing with an actual emergency now, so his post Emergency Funds FTW , is quite on topic.
- I was saddened to read of the passing of John Glenn, truly a man who took risks most of us would never have dreamed of doing (more than once).
- As if there aren’t enough reasons Index Fund Advisors brings us 10 Reasons Investors Should Switch to Passive From Active .
- What are the jobs of the future going to be like, well Many CEOs believe technology will make people ‘largely irrelevant’, maybe they will go and get them coffee ?
- Million Dollar Journey wants to help you do research on yourself with Ways to Get Your Credit Score for FREE .
- I keep wondering how many sites I read are actually human written, but this story from Pop Sci got me very interested, Reuters built a bot that can identify real news on Twitter, so AI now testing the validity of stories? Interesting.
Learn About Investing #2: Why Invest In The First Place?
Preet B. has a new video for your investing learning, Learn About Investing #2: Why Invest In The First Place?
I Believe in Father Christmas
I was saddened to hear that Greg Lake has passed away. This song (to me) really was my first rock Christmas tune (then I heard Slade, but that is for another time). Enjoy this festive tune, remembering the man.
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
- March 4th Welcome Americans and #MoneyStories
- March 11th Bank Rate Stays Put, Spring Forward and #MoneyStories
- March 18th Financial March Madness, Budgets and #MoneyStories
- March 25th, Easter is Here and some #MoneyStories
- April 1, Money Fools, Ronnie, and #MoneyStories
- April 8, Tax Time, Spring Delayed, Panama Papers and #MoneyStories
- April 15,Loose Money, Free Stuff, Hockey and #MoneyStories
- April 22,Disabilities, Tax Time, The Queen and #MoneyStories
- April 29,Pitter Patter Tax Time, RESPs are For Rich Folk and #MoneyStories
- May 6, Fort Mac, Mothers and #MoneyTalk
- May 13, Panama Papers, Google & PayDay Loans, Full Moons and #MoneyTalk
- May 20, Victoria Day, The People’s Elbow, Haircuts and #MoneyTalk
- May 27, Loose Money and #MoneyTalk
- June 3, CRA Itunes Pmts, RESP Scams and #MoneyTalk
- June 10, Portal to Hell Opens in Ottawa, BoC FSR and #MoneyTalk
- June 17, Fathers Day, Trump Housing Bubble, and #MoneyTalk
- June 24, Brexit, Fete National, Enhanced CPP and #MoneyTalk
- July 1, Happy Canada Day and Best Mid-Year Financial Stories
- July 8, Brexit Market Mayhem, Millenial Bashing and #MoneyTalk
- July 15,Brexit Hurts, Loose Money, Postal Strikes, Recounts and #Moneytalks
- July 22,More Pensions, New CTC, and #MoneyTalk
- July 31, Unknown Long Weekend, Windows 10 and #MoneyTalk
- August 5, The Olympics, Topless Spelunkers, and #MoneyTalk
- August 12, Women Rule, Less Jobs and #MoneyTalk
- August 19, Obnoxious 30 Year Old Retirees, Olympics and #MoneyTalk
- August 26,Farewell, EpiPens, Ombudsman Report and #MoneyTalk
- September 9,iPhone 7, High Tuition, Loose Money & #MoneyTalk
- September 16, Unemployment Up, On the Money, Debt and #MoneyTalk
- September 23, Rate Rises, Winter is Coming, Access Neutrality and #MoneyTalk
- September 30, Bye Bye CSBs, 36 Million Strong and #Moneytalk
- October 7, Thanksgiving, Knuckleheads, Debt & the Buddha & #Moneytalk
- October 14, Henson Trusts, RDSP Gripes and #MoneyTalk
- October 21, RDSP , New Mortgage Rules Hurts Economy and #MoneyTalk
- October 28, Overvalued Housing, EU Trade Deal, Overcharging Banks & Scary #MoneyTalk
- November 4, Curses Broken, Doomsday, and #MoneyTalk
- November 10, Grating America, Shocking Mornings, Making Debt Great Again and #MoneyTalk
- November 17, CPFC16, Black Friday, Mortgage Hikes and #MoneyTalk
- November 24, Black Friday is Here, Exciting Tax Calculations and MoneyTalk
- December 2, Air Miles Blinks, Advent Begins and #Moneytalk
My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off-color 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 at the bottom of each article, where you can cast your votes).As they say in Quebec, vote early and vote often!
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