Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Canadians spent almost $13.2B in April investing in foreign securities and the bulk of that was in Foreign Stocks and Bonds. Canadian investors dumped money market devices (specifically US Government Treasury Bills was a big seller by Canadians).

This is the highest investment in foreign securities since 2001, which reflects the strength of the Canadian Loonie (for now).

What could this mean? Means, the Canadian economy continues to plow along nicely (for now). Foreign investment in Canada continues to be in Stocks with Foreign Investors dumping Canadian Bonds and Money Market facilities as well. Things might change if lending rates go up, so let’s all hold our breath on that one!

Here they come, walkin‘ down the street… No wait that is the Monkees, but tomorrow morning Stats Canada will be publishing the monthly inflation numbers, which might dictate to the Bank of Canada about whether or how high interest rates are going to go up in the short term. With the Canadian dollar at 93 cents (today), if Interest Rates go the way it is being predicted (to cool down the economy and slow inflation is the reason given), we could see a Canadian Dollar above the might Yankee Buck. That will mean a lot harder times for the manufacturing sector in Canada, but the economy keeps going, so how do you argue with success?

Stats Canada posted an interesting set of data about “Labour force projections for Canada, 2006-2031“

An interesting quote in this article is:

The study found that in all the scenarios, the number of workers for every retired person aged 65 or older would be reduced by half between 2005 and 2031, falling from about four today to slightly more than two in 2031. In 1981, this ratio was more than five workers per inactive senior.

So there are going to be more inactive seniors and/or less people in the workforce too, which means, (dramatic music) Pension Plan underfunding (maybe). This has been predicted for a while, so nothing new here, but something to keep in mind.

The associated graph here points out that no matter what happens there is going to be significantly more 55+ aged folks in the workforce in the years to come, between 16% and 20% of the workforce? Expect me to be one of them.