Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Is it Safe?

One of the most terrifying movies I have ever sat through is the Marathon Man which stars Sir Lawrence Oliver as a crazed Nazi dentist hiding jewels and Dustin Hoffman as a pawn in the entire scheme, and in this movie there is a set of scenes where the crazed Nazi dentist torments the Dustin Hoffman character with a hobby drill, drilling his teeth and the only question he keeps asking is “Is it safe?”. Just recollecting this scene puts chills up my spine, but it is actually a good metaphor for the current financial crisis.

Is it Safe?

At the macro level governments have no idea whether “It is safe” and they really don’t know what the answer to the question is, but in fact this movie is an even stronger metaphor at the Personal Finance level.

Is it safe? What does that mean? Is our money safe? Is our job safe? Is our lifestyle safe? Is what safe? Is our economy safe? Is my credit safe? Is my RRSP safe? Is it safe to retire? Is my house safe? (to paraphrase a frantic Dustin Hoffman), the question without context is very hard to answer, and there is the harder part, what is the answer? Is it safe? I have no idea, but I think we are all fighting to find out “Is it safe?”. I hope we are safe, but I guess we really won’t know what the question means and what the answer is, for a while.

Are you safe?

Pension Info Arrives

My final pension settlement has arrived from my former employer, which makes me feel a little more safe. I must now answer the question, “Is it safe(r) to stay in the pension or go to the LIRA?”, I think I know the answer but I will keep my readers posted.

Montreal Grand Prix Dead

One of the major economic events in Montreal every your for a while has been the Grand Prix of Canada held in Montreal, however, this year the F-1 board decided to not return to Montreal for 2009. The Quebec Government has been attempting to change Max Mosely (no comments about Nazis and prostitutes) and crew’s mind, but Jean Charest has said he has no more economic cards to play. I enjoyed the Grand Prix and am an F-1 fan and am saddened to hear of this turn of events. This will have a serious impact on the bars in downtown Montreal that relied on the Grand Prix to draw customers.

Jim Flaherty is predicted to announce this to help ease the credit crunch, but is this going to help? We shall see, but it isn’t bad news, except for tax payers like us, who are now on the hook for these loans as well. This whole “bail out” thing seems to be another possible area where governments will overspend and this will lead to higher taxes. 

Stock Decline Continues

Not that you hadn’t noticed, but, stock prices continue to drop on sentiment (and not much else), as we seem to be in a “shame spiral” in terms of investing, where folks are getting out now just for the sake of getting out. Yes, some companies are announcing pretty shaky numbers, but not enough to justify this kind of sell off.

Is it time to buy yet? Not sure, call me in six months, I’ll tell you whether now was a good time to buy.

Ontario Deficit Provincially?

Evidently the forecast now is for a $500M deficit for the Province of Ontario this year, which means the province is going to have to make cuts or increase taxes to get their books balanced again, or make sure they make more money next year some how . Word is that the cuts will not happen and they will be protecting Education and Health Spending, and should be able to reverse this problem soon. I am skeptical about this statement, and hope this is not a trend we will start seeing at more levels of government.

Competition in Wireless World?

Quebecor announced they will be launching a wireless phone and data service to compete with the incumbents in the area (Bell and Telus).  This is very good news, as I feel that Bell and Telus are both gouging the hell out of the customers (I am a Bell customer currently). More competition is a good thing, and the fact that this offer is a GSM and HSPA play says again that CDMA (the incumbent North American technology) is not doing well either. Rogers, and Fido run a GSM network, whereas Telus and Bell did run only CDMA, but have since announced an “overlay network” with HSPA and GSM technology as well.

For those Nortel watchers out there, CDMA is one of the remaining “cash cows” in Nortel’s war chest, and this technology continues to erode (less and less spending worldwide).

More competition in this market is a very good thing. Time to walk into Bell and ask, “Why is my bill so darn high?” and see what “deals” they have for me.

Financial Meltdown Continues (aka I really don’t like Mondays)

Well, just when you thought it was safe to go swimming in the Amazon, a fresh batch of piranhas come out and chew the living daylights out of you. Yesterday, I watched the TSX dip below 10,000 for the first time in almost 6 years, and while there was a ‘recovery’ of sorts by the end of the day, the roller coaster continues to swerve, dip and dive making even the most ardent investors sweat a great deal. 

My RRSP as it stands now seems to have lost about 20% of it’s value, and it may well dip a lot lower before things start getting back to normal. Is this a concern? Not really, since the money is for my alleged retirement, which is many years away, and most of the equities I own are fine (OK some of the banks I wonder about), but I am not planning on getting “Whip Sawed” as Michael James points out. I will continue on the course I have chosen for now.

Why Am I not Financially Panicking?

Well, I am trying to be more optimistic for one thing (yes, I am not succeeding all the time), but I also am about to inject a great deal of cash into my retirement, to be invested in some fashion, and for once, I think I may enjoy shopping for bargains in this BEAR of a market. 

My wife and I (Mrs. C8j as we call her) will need to put together a plan for investing and put together a budget with some “bear” assumptions to get us through to next year, with the severance I have just received, but with those decisions will come the interesting questions of where to invest? Most of the financial bloggers I know will be getting that question asked to them (once I can get them over a beer or two), and that is one of the reasons I am smiling during this grim financial time.

Could it get worse financially?

Never ask that question. Every time in my life that I have stated, “It can’t get any worse…”, it has, so I have stopped asking that question, or making that statement. Follow the lawyers credo in this situation, “Never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to…”.

Remember many things can happen, the Horses Might Even Sing!

Election?

Who(m)ever inherits this mess in the U.S. or Canada, I wish you good luck, because you are being left holding the bag, and as usual, the culprits (as it were) are enjoying the fruits of their labors, on our nickel (not that I am pointing a finger of blame, just that I know someone made money on this, and they aren’t giving any of it back).

For the rest of either electoral race, the simple answer to any other issue is

“It’s the ECONOMY STUPID!“

to paraphrase Bill Clinton’s campaign of 1992. Nothing else matters, now.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow watch for a celebration of sorts on this blog, celebrating 4 years of work and the fun I have had doing it (unless today brings even worse news, then I’ll push it out another day).

The following is a paid review:

Tn Visa Expert is a site that should help Canadians get their TN work visas in the U.S. . Since 9/11 and even before that Canadians traveling to the U.S. have been under closer and closer scrutiny to ensure they are not attempting to work in the U.S. illegaly, and this site helps you get the correct paperwork in place so that you can travel to the U.S. without hassles or problems.

What is TN Visa status? Well Wikipedia says it is:

TN (Trade NAFTA) status is a special non-immigration status unique to citizens of the United States, Canada and Mexico. TN status was created by virtue of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It allows American, Canadian and Mexican citizens the opportunity to work in the United States or Canada under a somewhat limited set of occupations.

The folks at TN Visa Expert will help you get this visa so you can work in the U.S. without hassles or issues.

I have run into these issues many times, and all it takes is running into 1 border guard who thinks your papers are not in order, and your life becomes very complicated, and once you are rejected, things get much more sticky trying to get back across the border as well.

I do not use Tn Visa Expert currently, but may avail myself of their services in the future, should I need to travel to the U.S. to work.