Another day to celebrate with the proletariat, our brothers and sisters who have thrown off the shackles of oppression, happy May Day! During the COVID19 lock down celebrating any day, is something. I think it is Friday (May 1, 2020) today?
More talk of restarting things in Ontario, which will be a slow process. In Ottawa things are very bad in our Seniors and Care Residences, and that is a concern for all of us. How to keep our Seniors and those who need our help, safe, is the most important plan.
Not sure about the wearing a mask thing. I did see that the NFL on-line store is selling NFL Team themed masks, which would be cool. Wearing a Vikings mask would be good, but I would really like to walk into a bank wearing an Las Vegas Raiders mask.
Now is the time to ask for help or lowering of fees from your Bank, Insurance Company, or Internet Provider/Phone Company. Banks have claimed they will lower rates, but I haven’t seen it (TD’s Unsecured Line of Credit is at 5.60% (their prime is 2.6%), yet my Tangerine Line of Credit is at 2.45%). Your Car Insurance should be lower, you are not driving as far, yet I didn’t get much back from my Insurance company. As for Bell, they have actually raised my rates. Yes, the answer is always NO, unless you ask. If your income is curtailed, you should ask for all the help you can get.
| Inflation (year over year February 2020) | 2.2% |
| Bank of Canada Overnight Rate April 21st | 0.25% |
| Unemployment Rate (as of March 2020) | 7.8% |
| GDP Growth January 2019-20 | 1.8% |
| Population of Canada (Jan 1, 2020) | 37.894 Million |
| CIBC current prime rate | 2.45% |
| BMO current prime rate | 2.45% |
| Scotiabank prime lending rate | 2.45% |
Past Writings
I did an interview with Tom Drake and that seems to cause more posts on the topic of RDSPs:
- Taxes Delayed, Money Lost , remember that the filing date is June 1st for 2019 taxes. However you only have to pay on September 1st.
- Financial Echo Chamber is something we all live in. We enjoy hearing people’s opinions that are similar to ours. It is important to hear divergent ideas if only to allow you to understand the scope of your opinions.
- More RDSP Talk is me clarifying two points that I made in that interview with Tom Drake. They are important points and well worth reading (lots of interesting discussion as well).
- I played my TD money shuffle RDSP game again this week. I wish I could deposit directly into my son’s RDSP, but TD will not fix this issue.
- I can’t believe this crap is still going on, but in Urgent measures needed to help group RESP subscribers during pandemic, we see the smelly underbelly of the financial world.
More Financial Writings for Troubled Times
Some interesting reads for your weekend, while you are still practicing social distancing (I hope).
- The computer algorithm that was among the first to detect the coronavirus outbreak, is an interesting video which highlights Blue Dot a company that you will hear more about in terms of Pandemic Predictions.
- Quebec appeals judge invalidates $517,000 debt incurred following rock-paper-scissors games, I’ll just leave that one here for you to enjoy.
- How To Qualify for the Disability Tax Credit and RDSP: They really will let anyone listen to these Podcasts online.
- Another Emotional Reason to Take CPP Early, Michael James giving you some insightful ideas on your retirement that you should be considering, or at least reading.
- I was happy to hear that the COBOL programmers came through and fixed the Government systems that kept falling over. Remember FinTech’s Foundations COBOL, and it will continue on for a long time.
Tweet of the Week
Gail Vaz-Oxlade has been posting about her Master Money Class, and this tweet is an important thing for folks with kids with a Disability Tax Credit.
This one from the New Yorker is a bit too topical.
Video of the Week
I must admit I am a bit of a Fanboy for Stephen Fry, fairly sure I’d watch him read quietly for hours.
Preet is showing off his prowess in Financial Matters, and also his ability to grow a very bushy beard.
One more from Doug Hoyes, which really does make me sick.
Random Thoughts from the Past
- Unemployment Spikes, Easter and #MoneyTalk (April 11th)
- Covid-19, Stay Home and #MoneyTalk (March 27th)
- Dusty Typewriters and #MoneyTalk (November 8th)
- March Madness and #MoneyTalk (March 30th)
- Lent Begins and #Moneytalk (March 6th)
- Christmas Treats, RESPs, The Markets and Polkas and #MoneyTalk (December 17th)
- GM, PC M/C Changes, Podcasts and #MoneyTalk (November 30th)
- RDSP Awareness , Volatility and #MoneyTalk (October 12th)
- Tech Infiltration , NAFTA/USMCA, WiFi, Tornadoes and #MoneyTalk (October 5th)
Latest CDC estimate puts COVID-19 death at rate of ONLY 0.26%!!! With as many as 36% never getting symptoms (that’s lower than MANY OTHER studies that everyone “debunked”.
https://macdailynews.com/2020/05/26/new-cdc-estimate-puts-covid-19-death-rate-at-0-26/
Not to cast “shade” on our friends at the CDC, currently the data collection everywhere is… interesting. There are other studies saying in New York IFR was 1.4% https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-rate/ . I wouldn’t start dancing the “I told you all, you are all wrong!!” jig, just yet. As I have said we will know more as time passes, but yes, very interesting.
Just sharing some of the info being published. Thanks for that article.
BTW, your reference also goes on to state that the mortality rate (chance of dying from this virus) is about 0.28% overall and only 0.09% for those under 65.
It also states at as of May 1 (almost 4 week old data), the infection rate of New York City was 19.9%. Since then announced data shows the rate for New York State is over 25% now. And though the article goes on to state that herd immunity needs 67% exposure rate, additional case studies suggest that herd immunity might be achieved with as little as 35% infection rate.
Yes, all this is still ongoing, but there is SO much info out there now that shows the general trend (for which there will always be exceptions). Like ANY new infection, rates are ALWAYS higher in the beginning as it hits the vulnerable. But since then the virus has shown to not be anywhere near as deadly as was at first feared, even to the point of the CDC now saying they believe the spread is not likely via aerosol contamination but predominantly by person to person contact.
It’s just good to maintain balanced perspective and not buy into all the fear-mongering that has been and still is going on, where the negative is way over emphasized and the positive is hardly brought to light.
Oh, one more thing for context, again, the current death rate is estimated at 0.26% overall. Keeping in mind that these rates tend to be higher in the early stages of spread and decreases by the end, the H1N1 (Swine flu) of 2009/2010 has a final death rate of 0.50%. Already COVID-19 has an estimated rate lower than that. About 61 Million people in the US alone were exposed to H1N1. When was the last time you even thought about H1N1 with its higher death rate?
I have had to think about this too much, I am going back to the world of personal finance.
And with that, let’s get back to money.
Nice post
Thats a great tangerine HELOC rate. Any idea if you can have your first mortgage with a different lender and then have Tangerine do the HELOC behind it? Or do they need to be the first mortgagee too?
Actually it is an unsecured Tangerine rate (but only for 6 months).
“How to keep our Seniors and those who need our help, safe, is the most important plan.”
Unfortunately I must ask WHAT PLAN?
A pandemic has been “forecast going back over a decade. POTUS Bush even budgeted several billions to prepare for it back in 2005. B. Gates foretold of it in a TED talk in 2015.
The truly unfortunate part is that our politicians who we vote in to administer the budgets to the benefit and well-being of the citizens get distracted by pet projects, getting re-elected among others, and slice in to budgets that do not garner as many votes.
The proof is in the pudding. Budgets were “compressed”, fancy word for cut, in order to save money (for those pet projects). So health care workers are offered part time positions so the facility does not have to pay retirement benefits, paid holidays, etc, etc. This obliges the workers to pick up another part time job in another health care institution in order to make a “living” wage. SO it the health care worker gets sick she/he spreads it around to more facilities. The important thing to remember here is that the health care institution did not have to pay sick days as the employee is a part time employee. So to save a few dollars disease is more easily spread to more clients (patients) who get sick and maybe die. The disease progression from one facility to another is easily, and has been, proven numerous times with other diseases (Ebola for instance). That is why they want to trace contacts so as to quarantine all who have come in contact with the disease.
So to “save” a few dollars for pet projects, a highway here, a museum there, low hanging but less visible fruit are cut.
And now we pay for it in increased medical costs and deaths. All because someone is not administering our monies for our well-being. But they do send their condolences and pray for us… as long as we vote for them.
My rant for today
RICARDO
Yeh, that was a rant alright.