In terms of news, and music 2016 has been a real clanging pain in the arse, and because of that most folks will be glad to see this year over, but my only question for you is, “If so many famous folks died in 2016, do you think maybe they got wind of what 2017 is going to be like and figured they would check out now?”. That is a BCM deep thoughts for 2016 (but yes, I will be glad to see this year over with as well).
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).
Christmas is finally here (on Sunday), and I hope it will be an enjoyable, festive season for you, your family and friends. Christmas is a special time in our household, and I hope this year will be no different. Remember to give to charity this time of year, especially if you are feeling especially fortunate; help them have a Merry Christmas. Charity should be part of your financial planning (if you are thinking of starting your 2017 plans, add that in).
High quality and reliable digital connectivity is essential for the quality of life of Canadians and Canada’s economic prosperity.
– Jean-Pierre Blais, Chairman and CEO, CRTC
Will this somehow cause the big Internet Service providers in Canada to make sure there are affordable (yet high-quality) solutions available to all Canadians? My skepticism meter is reading high that things will change without a legislated solution in place (but we saw how well the whole $25 cable TV solution did). It would be a Merry Christmas if everyone could have access to basic internet, which is defined as:
speeds of 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download/10 Mbps upload for fixed broadband Internet access services.
an unlimited data option for fixed broadband access services.
the latest mobile wireless technology available not only in homes and businesses, but also along major Canadian roads.
Inflation By Category (November 2016)
Stats Canada published the November Consumer Price Index numbers, and year over year inflation is running at a lowly 1.2% but is it really? After a cursory look, it seems that it might be good this month, with Food being a category where prices actually dropped.
As we have learned, there is a much more detailed report for the CPI, which answers a few more questions for us and gives us some tangible highlights:
Main contributors to the 12-month change in the CPI:
Main upward contributors:
Purchase of passenger vehicles (+3.0%)
Homeowners’ replacement cost (+4.4%)
Food purchased from restaurants (+2.5%)
Electricity (+3.5%)
Homeowners’ home and mortgage insurance (+4.4%)
Main downward contributors:
Gasoline (-1.7%)
Fresh vegetables (-4.7%)
Meat (-2.0%)
Fresh fruit (-4.5%)
Travel tours (-4.2%)
The fact that Gas is down in price is not nearly as interesting as to how Fresh Veggies, Fruit and Meat are down in price. This is actually good news (for now); however, remember the prices on those foodstuffs have been going up big time over the whole summer. On the downside of things, Electricity prices continue to rise, not a good thing to see going into this Winter.
My Writings for Week Ending December 23rd
As most of my regular readers know, I am not a very big fan of New Year’s Resolutions, but having a financial plan for 2017 (financially) is a prudent thing to do, so thus I give you Smart Financial Goals for 2017. However, you want to motivate yourself to plan for the New Year as your business, get a plan down, and start using it.
I found 8 Holiday Ideas to Save Money in my archive of unfinished stories, so I dusted it off and published it for a small Ho Ho Ho for this Christmas season. It is a sarcastic commentary, but would you expect anything less from me?
A Warm Coat for the Winter
But do you really need this coat, for that price? I doubt it, and yes, Kerry wrote about this two years ago (I note other folks are only talking about it now):
Actually I borrowed the idea from our friends at LSM, who had a great article in their Facebook page about Lorne King, talking about Smart Goals, however, his SMART is an FLA (Five Letter Acronym), S.M.A.R.T.… Read More »Smart Financial Goals for the Year
