Best of

Lent for 2017 has begun, and as usual, I hope folks use this period to enrich and change their lives (spiritually and financially). This is an excellent time to try new lifestyles, financial ideas, and concepts. The period is only 40 days, which allows for a short-term experiment.

The Bank of Canada has decided the Inflation scare from Stats Canada is to be ignored for now. The happy world of loose money continues on, but for how much longer? The Bank did comment on the current economic state:

“In Canada, recent consumption and housing indicators suggest growth in the fourth quarter of 2016 may have been slightly stronger than expected. However, exports continue to face the ongoing competitiveness challenges described in the January MPR…. In this context, Governing Council judges that the current stance of monetary policy is still appropriate and maintains the target for the overnight rate at 1/2 per cent.”

The days of incredibly loose money policies may be numbered, but I have been saying that for about 10 years.

Ontarians will be paying less for electricity soon (17% less?), but will be paying for it later. What will lower hydro bills in Ontario do to the Inflation numbers? Will this somehow salvage the Liberals’ chances in the next provincial election?

RRSP season is over, but it has also begun again for 2018. What if you put a little away every pay cheque, and adjusted your tax at source to reflect that? That way, you will not be loaning the government money this year.

It is Crashed Ice weekend here in Ottawa. Crazed skaters go up and down a roller coaster of an ice track, racing each other? Luckily it has cooled off. What better way to help celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday?

My Writings for the Week Ending March 3rd

It was a busy week for me, with plenty to write about. I started off with Gasoline Pushed Inflation to 2.1 %, which of course is from our friends at Stats Canada. The good news is that fresh fruit and veggies are cheaper. With RRSP season coming to a close on March 1st, I felt it important to remind folks about 5 Things to Remember about RRSPs. Finally with Lent starting on March 1, I gave a few good ideas of things to try out during Lent with, Money and Lent : Clutter too ?

A Money Thought

I sometimes like making flow charts, and this is one of my favorites. Yes the box shapes really mean something.

Time to start a financial plan, A good time to start a new journey, try something new a Financial Plan is needed https://t.co/sUUqbjxAcb pic.twitter.com/H2PfLht3iS

— Big Cajun Man (aw) (@bigcajunman) March 2, 2017

Read More »Lent Begins, Loose Money and #MoneyTalk

It is RRSP Season, now, but also the whole year round, but now is the deadline for getting a tax break on last year’s taxes and other financial articles.

Yesterday, a rodent may or may not have seen his or her shadow and winter may or may not be ending sooner or later. What would financial ground-hog day be like ? This happens pretty much every month, when the Bank of Canada sets key interest rates, maybe they decide on the basis of the Governor seeing his own shadow? No, but that is a worthwhile indicator I suppose.

It is the year of the Fire Rooster, to our friends who observe the Chinese Lunar Calendar. If you are a Rooster, this may not be a good year for you, but I still enjoy the Festive Celebrations for this new year. We shall see how fortunate a year it ends up being, but it will be a long year, with 13 months .

In Ottawa we begin Winterlude , the festival celebrating the winter here. The weather rarely co-operates, it is either too warm and the canal melts or so cold no one wishes to be outside. The forecasts suggest  this might be a good year to enjoy the festival.

My Writings for Week Ending February 3rd

I have been meaning to publish this week’s article for a while, but wasn’t sure whether I got it right. I have been approached by a few “Promoters” of companies that charge a fee (or percentage) to help folks get their Disability Tax Credit, and I have ignored their offers, as I feel they are taking advantage with their fees. When I came upon Bill C-462 I thought that finally the government was agreeing with my opinion, however, as I wrote in Bill C-462 : Protecting Disabled Canadians or a Paper Tiger ? it seems this act is dead on arrival.

If anyone has any more insight on this, please contact me as I am very interested to find out whether this Act will ever be put into practice.

Editor’s Note: I have now included the last update date on all my articles, so you can see that those that I may “reprint” in social media, has usually been updated (or edit’ed to make it more readable).

Read More »Year of the Fire Rooster, Financial Groundhog Day and #MoneyTalk

2016 has been a real pain in the arse, especially in terms of news and music. It is safe to say that most people are looking forward to seeing the back of it. However, I have a thought-provoking question for you. Do you think the famous individuals who passed away in 2016 anticipated what 2017 has in store and decided to leave early? This is a deep thought from BCM for 2016, and I firmly believe that this year cannot end soon enough.

Have you done any of the things you should be doing for the end of year?

• Top up your Charitable donations ? Those are counted on the calendar year, you have today to try to get it done (or go to Church on Sunday and they might count it as this year too).
• TFSA juggling, if you were planning on taking money out of your TFSA, you should have done it by now, that way you can easily have the deposit space for next year, and you can start paying it back.
• It is never too early to put money into your RRSP (if you have room, and don’t have a lot of debts).
• Make sure you have paid all of your bills for 2016 as well (quarterly CRA, property tax, etc.,).
• Evidently January 2nd is known as Divorce Day, so maybe you should start that early ?

You could always create a financial plan for 2016 as well (never a bad idea either).

My Writings for Week Ending December 30th

I did manage to get a thematic post out this week, discussing the important celebration of Festivus, with Festivus Financial Airing of Grievances, and I have a lot to complain about this year, that is for sure! Next the feats of strength, get ready to rumble, baby!

Read More »Go Away 2016, Deep Thoughts, End of Year 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!

Parents' futile struggle to acquire Hatchimals, this year's hottest Christmas toy: https://t.co/3Vjp7ElmYq pic.twitter.com/mCumdk4HXh

— The Daily Dot (@dailydot) December 8, 2016

Read More »Xmas It Gift, Loose Money and #MoneyTalk