Random Thoughts

The Canadian Economy keeps taking it in the teeth these days, in terms of its over-reliance on commodities and the cheaper prices of Oil and now on Gold (Au). Gold now sits at a 5-year low in terms of its price, and it is making it less attractive to mine gold, thus doing jobs in mining scarce, to go along with the problems already seen in the oil patches. The lower Canadian dollar will make manufacturing jobs in Canada look more attractive, but we shall see whether that part of the economy awakes from it’s 9 year slumber. The Canadian NHL teams will also have issues with their revenues (given they must pay their players in US $).

Seems like maybe we should have thought about this when the Canadian Dollar was strong, and Oil was over $100 a barrel. Just saying.

Speaking of cheap Oil prices, glad to see gas prices aren’t dropping quickly, even with oil under $60 a barrel, but the price of gasoline has nothing to do with the price of oil, does it?

A sad farewell to Jon Stewart at the Daily Show, many a great quip has come from that show and its writers, we shall see whether it can whether Mr. Stewart’s departure.

The first “leaders” debate transpired last night, but my guess is, it wasn’t nearly as interesting as any debate that might include the “Master of Disaster” Donald Trump. He makes politics interesting again (or at least as interesting as UFC to watch). This week in the election we have had wagged fingers for the Tories and NDP calling Justin Trudeau by his first name (nice hair though), Mr. Harper promising that one day he might, if the budget is balanced, and oil goes back up in price, think about possibly bringing back the home renovation credit, and Mr. Mulcair mostly chuckling in the background, realizing he doesn’t have to open his mouth and he could win a majority. The Green party is doing something, and the Bloc has decided to run a stealth campaign of their own, maybe we’ll look back in on this lot in September?

My Writings for Week Ending August 7th

Well, I didn’t really write much this week, thanks to vacations and studying for my French Exams), but I did go through my archives and found some of my favorites from the past :

• A great financial understatement is really me commenting on my own dry commentary on the stock market implosion of 2008. Those were bad times, but thanks to that I managed to make some great investments? Yes, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that is how things work sometimes.
• Advice: Best Financial Advice Ever Given, is one of my favorite money related parable/joke that my Father told me, and this interesting icon on the right came from that exact same post as well.
• To give you an orthogonal response to the previous post, The Worst Financial Advice Ever Given, is me making a big mistake with a friend (and one of the reasons I don’t give out advice, except to my kids).

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People call Ottawa the city where fun went to die, I think I disagree, it is the city where
fidelity went to die:

Why 20% of Ottawa's population is on Ashley Madison , I'd like to know myself ! http://t.co/sDwD200QbL

— Big Cajun Man (aw) (@bigcajunman) August 2, 2015

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Read More »Cheap Gold, Cheap Oil, Weak Dollar, Election Week 1 and #BestMoneyStories

The Bank of Canada decided that the best way to wean an economy that is addicted to stimulation is to lower the interest rates ? Canada does seem to be in a recession, but lowering Interest Rates is an interesting way to deal with it. Their exact statement about the economy (which they now claim won’t recover until mid-2017):

The lower outlook for Canadian growth has increased the downside risks to inflation. While vulnerabilities associated with household imbalances remain elevated and could edge higher, Canada’s economy is undergoing a significant and complex adjustment. Additional monetary stimulus is required at this time to help return the economy to full capacity and inflation sustainably to target.

What did that do to the Canadian Dollar, you might ask?

Weddings? Yes, my eldest daughter (Daughter 1.0), was married this past weekend and it was a wonderful event. She looked radiant, and it was interesting to be back in Kitchener. I thought Ottawa’s construction problems were insane, but Kitchener has taken it to a new level, ripping up King Street.

For those who have not participated in a wedding as a parent of one of the participants, it is a very different experience, and I was not really ready about how emotionally draining it was, and yet another event that reminds you of your own mortality.

Greece? Seriously? Who is writing this stuff? Is anybody investing in Greece trying to make some quick money maybe? Are you? You are NUTS!!!

My Writings for Week Ending July 17th

I was recovering from my daughter’s wedding, so not much new from me this week, but maybe some more helpful family posts :

• I did do a commentary on the jobs story from last week with More Full Time Jobs in Canada in June. There were less jobs total in June.
• For those who may have missed one of my parenting tip posts, Parenting Tip #327: Large Expenditures (Weddings and Education). Did I pay for the wedding?
• An interesting comment from Michael James on the Parenting Tip reminded me I also wrote about Lifestyles with Boomerang Kids, bricking up rooms is an option.
• You can check out many of my University Cost rants in the RESP section of this site. However, one of my faves is University Costs How Much (I wrote it before my kids went to school).

I did buy something on Amazon Prime day, but what was the impact of Amazon? The Economist has something for you:

Read More »Loosest Money, Weddings, Greece and #BestMoneyStories

Plenty going on in July 2015 but Greece was going into bankruptcy, and were we actually in a recession? Maybe.