Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Burns? That is the question we will have answered today, but my guess is the answer will not really be an answer, just another question.

Financial Recovery?

So far, so good from the actions of the G7 nations, the equities market seems to be recovering, in some fashion or another (remembering full well, that one day does not a trend (or recovery for that matter) make). Stocks are starting to strengthen, but is this a simply stop on the way down or an actual restart or reset of things? I’ll tell you the answer to that…. in 6 months, since I have no idea, nor do I wish to even hazard a guess.

Tuesday is the first chance Canadian investors will have to show their support or concern with the entire recovery, so it will make for another interesting financial day. I will be watching banks very closely to see whether the statements about Canada’s banks being the most “solid” are actually taken as “truth” or “fluff”. 

Vote Often!

Sorry, growing up in Quebec, that is one of the fun jokes you always heard, Vote Early and Vote Often!  Not to say that politics in Quebec was or is corrupt, just that it always had an interesting attitude.

On September 11th, I called for a Liberal Minority as My Election Prediction, and I will stand by that call, even though I feel Monsieur Dion has done his damnedest to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. My guess is there will be no majority this time, and that more likely than not we will be voting again in 2009 (possibly very early), we shall see if my ability to prognosticate elections is better than my ability to pick the next BOOM stock.

If I was going for an interesting long shot call for this election? There could be a Conservative Majority IF (and only if), the NDP, Greens and Liberals split the vote three ways and a bunch of Tories win in Ontario because of this, but I think this is a 20% chance (i.e. I’d want 5-1 odds if I was betting on this).

Cash is King

Currently I am collecting cash from my severance in a few investment vehicles (and look forward to the TFSA which is coming on January 2nd), but I am still unsure of what to do, so I may stay totally liquid until I am sure of what is going to happen. I think the TFSA is going to be my new favorite topic in the coming weeks, as every bank is offering it, so I am confident this thing is going to be something big in investing.

For now, in investing, Cash is King (i.e. if you have the cash, you are in control of things), no I am not saying cash out of your existing investments, just that it would be good to have some cash right now (as well).

Vote Canada, if you don’t you don’t get to complain!

Carnivals

• Girls Just Wanna Have Funds is hosting the 173rd Carnival of Personal Finance where they had my  Stupidest Bill Ever, post.

Well an eventful week all around with the Western economies all on the brink of collapse and me reaching a milestone of sorts, and it’s all summed up with my catch phrase for the week.

It’s The Economy Stupid!

Around the blogs we read the following:

• Everybody Loves Your Money asks the chilling question, Is this The End of America? Where it is asked is it time for America to get it’s books in order?
• Nancy Zimmerman had a guest post by Franklin Delano Roosevelt stating The Greatest Thing We Have To Fear is Fear Itself. FDR guided the US out of it’s first depression, maybe he can lead the way out of this mess too?
• Michael James writes about Lessons Learned from the Great Depression, where he asks two very pointed questions at the end of the post, that we must all think about. 
• The Canadian Capitalist asks a timely question (especially for me) Thinking About Worst Case Scenarios, where he outlines some points to think about in these hard times, especially if you think you might lose your job.
• Larry MacDonald points out that The Stock Market Hates You!, gee thanks Larry, way to cheer me up with the headline!
• My Money Blog talks about Current Market Conditions: His Opinions, where he outlines maybe we should just all stop watching so closely? It’s kind of like asking someone not to watch a 300 car pile up going on outside of their house, but not bad advice. 
• Gail Vaz-Oxlade talks about how Credit Limits Going Down, not just credit rates, but limits too! Read on, as the sage of savings straightens you out.
• Free Money Finance points out How The Rich Get Poor, interesting in these times that there are still spendthrifts out there.
• On a happier note One Million and Beyond announced the birth of his daughter in It’s a Girl! Good for them, and good luck.
• I even had a momentous moment with Posting Number 1000 this week, which is funny given the futility of things sometimes, but I am still at it, for now. 

We most definitely live in very interesting times, and they are getting more and more interesting every day. With the U.S. government’s bail out plans going on hold and the markets not appreciating that (if you view a 700 point drop as “negative feedback”), I think we are most assuredly living in very interesting times.

Eerily Similar Commentaries

Now, I am not saying that this is time to panic, but I remember in 2000 when folks started wondering at Nortel whether the company could actually “collapse” from it’s $120 per share stock price I heard statements like:

• The government wouldn’t let it happen, it would kill the TSX and the Canadian Economy.
• If Nortel goes down, a lot of people are going to be hurting
• Nortel’s fundamentals are sound

Have you heard those same statements about the U.S. financial system? No, I am not saying this is in any way similar, I am merely pointing out that no one knows where this is going to go, and what the final fall out might be.

OMG I Almost PMP’ed

OK, that’s for my younger readers, for my reaction when I heard the Congress didn’t pass the “bail out” bill.  Speaking as someone with no income now, I am curious to see what happens, because if this causes an American recession or worse depression (anything is possible, I am not saying this is going to happen, simply I hope it doesn’t), finding a job in Canada is going to get a lot more interesting.

Is it time to buy in to equities? Don’t ask me! You should buy when you think the bottom has been hit, but I have no idea what “bottom” is any more.

By the Way Oil is Below $100 a Barrel

Remember two weeks ago when we were worried about Oil prices? Oil is below $100 a barrel, but I guess it’s kind of hard to notice that the hurricane is over if your house is on fire.

Now is the time to Panic?

No, but watching the financial pundits is more interesting than listening to the Election pundits, that is for sure.  In Canada Jack Layton is portraying the NDP as the official opposition to the Tories, if that happened, I would truly agree that we are living in interesting times, and the Devil is going to put in central heating, because it really is getting cold in hell.