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Spring Financial Cleaning

Facebook, Spring is here and #MoneyTalk

Spring is here ? That is a question most of us are asking in Ottawa. Previous years we have had warmer temps and things starting to grow, but not yet this year. For those thinking financially, good time to start thinking about doing your taxes, and what to do with your refund, if you are getting one.  Possibly the RRSP to TFSA pas de deux?

Spring is here
Saw this in My Backyard, I think I agree

Will you be removing your Facebook account? Remember that we are on Facebook as well, but yeh lots of folks are talking about Facebook betraying them? Really? What did you think they were going to do with all the data they had? You were all Facebook had to sell, and that is their business. Yes, I have a Facebook account, yes I share photos and make personal quips on it, but do they have all my data? I hope not.

A more colon tightening expression could not have been thought up, yet I received an email with the title, “3 Reasons Your Retirement Is One Big Math Problem”. If you are trying to convince people they can’t do their own retirement planning, that is the headline you want. People are paranoid about anything to do with Math, and will run from it like a frightened deer, if it is mentioned. The headline while truthful is almost a false flag to convince them they need to get a retirement financial advisor. No, you don’t need that, it’s arithmetic really, which wasn’t that hard, was it?

What do I have planned for the coming personal finance year? Not sure, still working on that.


My Recent Writings

I am still astounded it has been 13 years since I started writing here, but Still Financially Crazy after 13 Years does outline some of my favorite topics. There are more than 3000 articles here, need to make it easier for you folks to be able to find them, I think.

K. Trevor Wilson is a very good comedian, and not a bad financial advisor, as I point out in More Financial Advice from a Comedian. It really is cheaper to go see a comedian than it is to go to a financial advisor, think about it.

Micro Blogging on Finance

I am trying a small experiment with the tag #FinancialDeepThoughts where I precurse something from my archives with a quote from a smart person. See what you think.

A more colon tightening comment is this one.

https://twitter.com/ScottTerrioHMA/status/976507934929666050

Read More »Facebook, Spring is here and #MoneyTalk

Claptrap

Still Financially Crazy after 13 Years

After thirteen years of writing financial articles, I am still financially crazy , after all these years. I must be crazy I think debt is a bad thing!

DST

Steady Interest Rates, Spring Forward and #MoneyTalk

Interest rates continue to stay at 1.25% for the overnight rate, (March 2018).I suspect that, given the economy’s current state, we won’t see another rate hike for a little while. Their statement seems to imply that they are unsure where things might be going in the next little while.

DST
Time to Spring Forward

Inflation is running close to the 2 per cent target and the Bank’s core measures of inflation have edged up, consistent with an economy operating near capacity. Wage growth has firmed, but remains lower than would be typical in an economy with no labour market slack. Inflation is fluctuating because of temporary factors related to gasoline, electricity, and minimum wages

Bank of Canada March 2018

This seems to point a wagging finger at Ontario’s minimum wage increase, but it asks why wages normally don’t go up given how few unemployed folks are out there. We seem to live in interesting economic times.

Belated Happy International Women’s Day! As the father of 3 wonderful women, and the proud son of a trailblazing woman (my mother had a Statistics Degree in 1951, which was a rarity), I stand in awe. Do we have wage parity? Nope. Do we have gender equality? Nope. I think we still have a lot of work to do.

It is not only Tax Season again; it is that weekend when the clocks go forward (in most places in Canada and the US). There is talk of sticking with Daylight Savings Time, we shall see where that might leads, but if you won’t put your clocks forward you will be late all day Sunday.

My Recent Writings

Luckily I got something interesting in the mail to write about this week, with RDSP Statement of Grant Entitlement . Once you have gotten through the DTC maze, set up an RDSP and started putting money in it for your loved one, this is the most important document you will receive every year (aside from any reassessment notices from the CRA of course).

Micro Blogging on Finance

If you somehow think that the Government is going to escape the Phoenix Pay system debacle unscathed, I don’t think the media in Ottawa is going to allow that to happen.

Read More »Steady Interest Rates, Spring Forward and #MoneyTalk

Budgets, Phoenix Death, Inflation and #MoneyTalk

How does a system named Phoenix go down in flames? The $1B payroll system, will be repaired enough to work (at much further cost), and then it will be replaced by something else? It was obvious that the current Government wanted this albatross from around their neck, but is this enough? We shall see if this helps or hinders them.

An interesting budget. It’s interesting that fiscal conservatism (note the small C) has gone right out the window in North America as a whole. Balanced budgets are a thing of the past, I suppose? There is an extension of the RDSP qualifying plan holders program, which will help families still trying to figure out the RDSP Statutory Guardian world (it is really not easy, and it is expensive too).

Last week Stats Canada published the January Consumer Price Index numbers, and as usual they are interesting.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.7% on a year-over-year basis in January, following a 1.9% increase in December. Excluding energy, the CPI increased 1.7%, matching the gain in December.

Interesting that energy did not cause issues this month.

CPI Inflation Phoenix
CPI by category compared to last month

Looking with a little more detailed eye we can see year over year:

Main upward contributors:

  • Gasoline (+7.8%)
  • Food purchased from restaurants (+3.7%)
  • Homeowners’ replacement cost (+3.5%)
  • Air transportation (+12.2%)
  • Purchase of passenger vehicles (+1.4%)

Main downward contributors:

  • Electricity (-5.0%)
  • Travel tours (-2.5%)
  • Digital computing equipment and devices (-4.9%)
  • Video equipment (-10.0%)
  • Natural gas (-3.0%)

Gas is really up year over year, but not really month over month. Eating out continues to rise in cost too.


My Recent Writings

I found something in my backlog of over 300 unfinished titles, with, Credit is the Lubricant for the Wheels of Business, which really should have been title Credit is the Opiate of the Consumer. Banks, and stores want you to use credit but trussing yourself up with easy credit is a dangerous game to play.

Micro Blogging on Finance

Will Payday loans go away? Not likely, according to Hoyes Michalos.

Read More »Budgets, Phoenix Death, Inflation and #MoneyTalk

Potholes, Tuition Increases, and #MoneyTalk

February’s new symbol in Ottawa is the Pothole. Due to the quick temperature swings, we have been experiencing, the roads are slowly deteriorating, and the size of the potholes cannot be discerned until you hit them. I think big money will be in realignment, hub replacements and tire repair because some of these potholes (or sinkholes) are pretty deep. They are as inevitable as tuition increases!

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Table of contents

Pot Holes are getting out of Control Here in Ottawa (Photo Courtesy CBC News)

My Alma Mater (the University of Waterloo) announced their new fees schedule, and tuition and all associated fees continue to track higher than inflation. Undergraduate tuition will rise by about 3%. However, co-op fees will increase by 2.8%. If you are planning to help your kids with University Costs, you need to know that you should prepare for these tuition increases every year. I don’t mean to pick on Yuppy U., but at least they publish this information.

RRSPs continue to be the non-topic for February, with few ads being seen. There are more ads for PayDay Loans and Short Term Loans than for RRSPs. The only thing people care about less is the Roll up the Rim at Timmy’s. What is going on in Canada? The next thing I’ll hear is that a Canadian Tuxedo has gone out of fashion!

The CRTC has rejected a call for a public inquiry into the big Telcos and Telecomm companies? It must mean that the frequent visitors at my front door, on my phone and in my mailbox must be my imagination. Well, that puts my mind at ease. The Canadian Telcos have it too darn easy, and what we pay for Mobile Phones, Internet and Cable is just too damn high.

This Flu season does seem to be a nasty one, with a second-round coming at us. I have noticed more folks sick at the office and more folks coming to work to share their illness. I got a flu shot for the first time this year so far, I don’t seem to have caught the Flu, but I guess I might be speaking prematurely?

Tangerine went a bit berserk a week or two ago and sent me countless tax forms in my emails (in both languages). I only have one account, so I’m not sure why I got that many emails, but I got an email saying they knew they sent them, but no real explanation why.

My Recent Writings

I guess I got caught up in the Olympics and work and ended up not writing anything new this week, but as I have mentioned, if you follow my Twitter feed, you will get a hefty dose of my archives as well. Remember that RRSP season can also be RRSP Re-Balancing season too.

Micro Blogging on Finance

The City of Hamilton is looking into limiting the number of PayDay loan places, and I am all for it. Our friend Doug Hoyes spoke, but this graphic did hit me.

Read More »Potholes, Tuition Increases, and #MoneyTalk
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