Holiday Advice: How to Deal with Uncle Frank the Financial Expert
How to deal with the family financial expert, when he or she tries to corner you and give you some solid financial advice (without hiding in the basement).
Xmas It Gift, Loose Money and #MoneyTalk
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!
Mac Quicken (in Canada) ?
Quicken’s lack of support for Mac Quicken in Canada (and their terrible support of Quicken Canada in general) continues to boggle my mind.
Air Miles Blinks, Advent Begins and #Moneytalk
Air Miles has finally capitulated and will not expire 5-year-old miles starting on January 1st, which is a victory for consumer advocacy folks like Ellen Roseman and Robb Engen who have fought this decision very hard. Is this the end of this whole thing in the news? Maybe not, as folks are now complaining that they spent their miles quickly when they heard of the initial decision and are now upset they didn’t have a chance to keep accumulating points.
Advent has begun so you can now put up all your decorations are garlands and the like, but so many of you already had stuff up Mid-November didn’t you? At least try to follow the Church’s calendar for that stuff.
Whenever something is in the news, it brings out the scum, as we are now seeing with the Phoenix payment system that the federal government has tried to get running for a while. Luckily I have had no issues, but some folks are not getting paid, while others are being overpaid, and that is where the story starts to get interesting. There are folks evidently calling Civil Servants and saying they are from the Phoenix pay system and they want their money back (only, no one is doing that right now evidently). These scammers are trying to make some quick dough off a flawed government system.
My Writings for Week Ending December 2nd
A simple little bit of writing for me this week with Debt is a Four Letter word. I was positive I had already written that exact story, however, after I heard our friend Preet B. use it, I went into my archives and found that I had not written something with that exact title. I have said there is no such thing as good debt, but not that Debt is an obscenity.
Read More »Air Miles Blinks, Advent Begins and #Moneytalk
Debt is a Four-Letter Word
The author highlights the negative connotation of the term ‘debt’, emphasizing that it is a difficult burden that one owes to their future self. Noted financial expert, Preet Banerjee echoed this sentiment in a presentation. Numerous people are likely unaware of the substantial impact that a quadrupling prime rate might have on them, especially with the current low interest rates. The author also encourages readers to anticipate potential increases in mortgage interest rates and consider the levels of consumer debt.
