The world changes today, with the full release of the 7th chapter of the ongoing Star Wars Saga (at least that is what the Media Hype Machine might have you believe). I am old enough to remember going to the Snowden cinema in Montreal to watch the original release (chapter 4) in the ’70s. I like the movies, but I am just not that psyched to want to go to the movie just yet. I’ll wait until January after I have heard all the spoilers online. There is a very festive Star Wars clip at the end of this post too.
Jaba, your cholesterol looks high too!
Have you finished your Christmas shopping frenzy? I am sure I have not, but that is part of the holiday season for me (the Christmas week panic).
Interesting to see that Shaw Communications has bought Wind Mobile (or is proposing to do so), which could mean more competition in the mobile phone industry, which is never a bad thing (in my opinion). Shaw says they won’t be changing Wind’s low-cost plans, and that would be a very good thing, especially if they improve the coverage map, but that remains to be seen. Scheduling note: since next Friday is the big day, don’t expect to see anything from me, other than my typical Christmas Address, but there will be my traditional end of year festivities.
My Writings for Week Ending December 18th
Our tree is up, but there are still far too many things to do before the big day. I think I may have misunderstood the message on this one on TFSA Transfers. The spirit of Dickens’ Christmas Carol got to me with Financial Hauntings
I posted on my regular feed an old article that Larry MacDonald did in 2008 with me as the subject and now everyone at work is asking me about investing questions? Larry is writing a follow-up in the Globe.
Are you creating a massive financial chain to drag around your financial life? Debt is the chain that will drag your financial life as sure as Jacob Marley’s did.
The end of the calendar year is when you can do one simple trick with a TFSA transfer out, if you are only planning on doing it for a short-term move. Check your My CRA Account to be sure what your TFSA limit is.
Advent continues, and hopefully, you are getting all your festive duties completed with not too much stress and strain. Remember Advent is the time of preparation for your holiday calendar. Just remember you can still get gift cards at any gas station (that is open) on Christmas Day (helpful present gift of the week).
Where Great Gift Ideas Go to DIE!
The Liberals continue to do as they promised, and have announced that the TFSA limit for 2016 will be $5500. Will this cause all those rich folks to charge out and deposit $10000 in their TFSA? Not really sure but it might happen. The alleged middle class tax cut will be implemented as well, which will save you about $600 or so, unless you make more than $200000 in which case, the new tax measures are gonna hurt. I have asked the CRA whether the Family Income Splitting Tax Break is now off the table (i.e. cancelled), but haven’t heard back yet. Will the new trumped-up (pardon the pun) Nanny-gate take the shine off the Dauphin? We shall see.
There is a chance that Canada might actually have a negative interest rate from the Central Bank? The Governor of the Bank of Canada said it is not very likely, however it is not completely off the table either. What would a negative interest rate be used for? To stimulate spending, since keeping your money in a bank would cause it to decrease, but isn’t that kind of what is happening with bank accounts with 0.01% interest and $20.00 month bank fees? Sorry, I couldn’t resist. We do seem fixated on stimulating our economy.
My Writings for Week Ending December 11th
Our tree is not up yet, but I did do some writing this week:
Friend of this site, Kerry from Squawkfox was on the television last week talking about managing kids’ expectations at Christmas. Does this mean she is giving me a lump of coal this year?
Tweet of the Week
It was very nice of the CRA to answer my tweet and now we have confirmation that theCRA does have an RN on call to help out with the T2201 forms (learned that from a commentator ):
@bigcajunman To get help with filling T2201, pls. call 1-800-959-8281 and provide your contacts and an RN will call you back.
