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2016

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Interest Rate Hikes, TFSA Limits and #Moneytalk

The Federal Reserve in the United States in December 2016, hiked its key rate from 0.5% to 0.75%, marking the first time in a year and only the second time this decade. This rate hike is a significant increase of 50%, and it is imperative to understand its impact on Canada. Although it is uncertain what actions Canada will take, it is unlikely that it will follow the US’s lead. We must stay vigilant and be prepared for any changes that may arise with the upcoming presidency of Mr. Trump. I highly recommend reading various articles analyzing the interest rate hike to stay informed and updated on this crucial matter.

Interest rate hikes
Interest Rate Hikes Down South, but what does it mean?

The most intriguing part of the announcement is that there were 3 planned rate increases for 2017. This was in reaction to an inflationary trend in the States. Canada may not have reacted with an interest rate hike right away, but a reaction seems likely (unless gas jumps to $120 a barrel, in which case the Canadian economy will be back in boom mode).

What should you have done about this? Lower your debt, now, before it become more expensive to hold, thanks to these interest rate hikes.

The TFSA limit for 2017 is going back to being $5500 (you should know this for your end of year and start of 2017 financial planning). Doesn’t look like the limit is going to go up in 2018 either, which sucks. Don’t be financially stupid, still take advantage of the TFSA program (even if the rates suck).

My Writings for Week Ending December 16th

With the holidays next week, and getting together with family and friends, I wanted to help out with those interactions with my simple idea, Christmas Advice: How to Deal with Uncle Frank the Financial Expert. Every family has the one relative who is a know-it-all and wants to tell you what you are doing wrong.

A Money Thought

The CRA likes to think they can help out with your end of year account close outs, and remember to give this holiday season.

Read More »Interest Rate Hikes, TFSA Limits and #Moneytalk

Christmas Advice: How to Deal with Uncle Frank the Financial Expert

How to deal with the family financial expert, when he or she tries to corner you and give you some solid financial advice (without hiding in the basement).

Good Fun

Xmas It Gift, Loose Money and #MoneyTalk

Hatchimal
Hatchimal and Me

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!

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

Mac Quicken (in Canada) ?

Quicken’s lack of support for Mac Quicken in Canada (and their terrible support of Quicken Canada in general) continues to boggle my mind.

Santa at Home Depot

Air Miles Blinks, Advent Begins and #Moneytalk

Air Miles has finally capitulated and will not expire 5-year-old miles starting on January 1st, which is a victory for consumer advocacy folks like Ellen Roseman and Robb Engen who have fought this decision very hard. Is this the end of this whole thing in the news? Maybe not, as folks are now complaining that they spent their miles quickly when they heard of the initial decision and are now upset they didn’t have a chance to keep accumulating points.

Air Miles Christmas Tree
Not This Year’s Tree, we haven’t got ours up yet, too worried about Air Miles I guess

Advent has begun so you can now put up all your decorations are garlands and the like, but so many of you already had stuff up Mid-November didn’t you? At least try to follow the Church’s calendar for that stuff.

Whenever something is in the news, it brings out the scum, as we are now seeing with the Phoenix payment system that the federal government has tried to get running for a while. Luckily I have had no issues, but some folks are not getting paid, while others are being overpaid, and that is where the story starts to get interesting. There are folks evidently calling Civil Servants and saying they are from the Phoenix pay system and they want their money back (only, no one is doing that right now evidently). These scammers are trying to make some quick dough off a flawed government system.

My Writings for Week Ending December 2nd

A simple little bit of writing for me this week with Debt is a Four Letter word. I was positive I had already written that exact story, however, after I heard our friend Preet B. use it, I went into my archives and found that I had not written something with that exact title. I have said there is no such thing as good debt, but not that Debt is an obscenity.

Read More »Air Miles Blinks, Advent Begins and #Moneytalk
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