I got a very good comment from someone who calls themselves Anon Banker, about the Tied Selling Banking Regulations and how that should stop banks from forcing you to have a chequing account with them… Read More »Banking Regulations our Friend
The Bank of Canada went and done it! They raised the overnight rate to its highest rate in 9 years! This is going to ruin the economy! The rate is now at 1.25%, oh my God! Yes, I am being sarcastic about tighter money from the Bank of Canada. Their overview paragraph from the report was quite telling.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
While the economic outlook is expected to warrant higher interest rates over time, some continued monetary policy accommodation will likely be needed to keep the economy operating close to potential and inflation on target. Governing Council will remain cautious in considering future policy adjustments, guided by incoming data in assessing the economy’s sensitivity to interest rates, the evolution of economic capacity, and the dynamics of both wage growth and inflation.
Talk about hedging your bets, I guess they are trying not to scare folks? Rates will be going up, but not in the near future, maybe? Does sound like tighter money policies are coming soon.
On the downside, the rate hike has caused all the banks to increase their prime rates, and mortgage rates, which is going to hit us all in the pocketbook. Most of the major banks have raised their “prime” rate to 3.45% and all mortgage rates have gone up as well.
For those curious, what would be the best investment given these changing times? GICs will start becoming more interesting to folks, but what might be a good investment? Hmm… How about Pay Down Debt! It now has even higher pay backs! What other investment can give you a guaranteed pay back of around 5% (on a mortgage)? On the plus side my guess is GIC Ladders is going to be a popular search on Google very soon.
Bitcoin lost value this week. Why? I have no idea really, but as I type these letters it is worth less than $10,000, but it might have recovered by the time you read this. To say this is a murky investment area is an understatement. Are you thinking of becoming a Bitcoin Miner? Go North young folk (Northern Quebec that is). Hydro Quebec is luring Cryptominers to Northern Quebec with very low electric rates. Evidently Quebec Knows How to use their excess hydro-electric resources, to make money.
This week I queried Can I get a Deal from a Chatbot ? Given the use of automated (some might say AI) on-line and social media bots being used for customer service, it is a valid question. I guess you are not likely to get too much from a Bot, although they may offer occasional perks just to keep folks from complaining about the lack of deals.
The importance of keeping your important financial information safe is nicely summed up in the following meme, which is a twist on an old adage.
Given the push by most service companies to replace their customer service folks with AI (i.e. a Chatbot), will we still get up-sold services? Will we get better deals if we say we’d like to… Read More »Can I Get a Deal from a Chatbot ?
I was saddened to read about the demise of the first job for many kids, the paper delivery person. When I was 10 years old I started delivering the Montreal Star, and then I moved to delivering the Montreal Gazette and then I delivered the Sunday New York Times for a while. These jobs taught me discipline, taught me about money and most likely contributed to my torn rotator cuff. With the ever-changing media environment, delivery of papers was going to disappear, but I am still saddened to see it happen.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Do you want to know about Bitcoin? There is a great video at the end of this article that will help introduce you to the most over-hyped investing idea since Bre-X (or Nortel)). Did you realize there are over 500 types of Cryptocurrency? If you want to keep up with them, go to 500 coins and check a few of them out. Choice of the week? Etherium !
More Bitcoin interesting news, a Miami Bitcoin Conference has stopped taking Bitcoins as payment due to high fees and problems. You still think investing in this is a good idea after reading that? You might be a die-hard Bitcoin lover.
A slower week for me, and I fell back on the old click-bait, flim-flammery title trick with Stock Picks 2018. As most of you know, I am an Index Investor so how can I put out stock picks? For that you must have a read.
A very interesting Tweet, that tweaked my memories of when I was a roaming Co-Op Student. Every 4 months I had to move and that made me a Minimalist. Everything I had, had to fit in the trunk of a Mercury Zephyr (admittedly bigger than most cars today). In an esoteric way moving was good (for me), however, for folks like Squawkfox and this Twitter Handle it is a life wrenching horrible event.
For my regular readers you must be shocked by this title, but a new year brings some new ideas and concepts. For the first time in a while, I will be putting out my stock picks for 2018. Hey if I can put out swag Financial Predictions for 2018, I can do this.
Yes, I have espoused Index Investing for a long time, but if you really want to make big money you will need to take some big risks. Some might tell you that Bitcoin is your way to sure money, others might say that Marijuana is a sure-fire money maker in the coming year, but I am here to say they are missing the boat. You buy that stuff and all you’ll have is bad-parity and a craving for Chips and Brownies.
I give you the portfolio that you should have for 2018.
