Best of

For my regular readers you know I am a big fan of Mark the Blunt Bean Counter (even if he is a rabid Leafs fan), and a while back he dropped me a note that he was going to be publishing an article on a topic I had asked him about a while ago, Henson Trusts. Mark said he knew a bit about them, but didn’t feel comfortable commenting on them, but did find someone who did a great job explaining another way for families of disabled loved ones to take care of them (financially). Mark got Katy Basi to write Estate Planning for Disabled Beneficiaries – Henson Trusts , and it is a great read. Next week Mark will be touching on another important topic (near and dear to my heart) the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP).

Speaking of RDSPs, this week I wrote about another annoying session with TD Direct Investing attempting to put money into my son’s RDSP, and naturally I wrote about it in, TD Investments RDSP Continues to Annoy. I am just flabbergasted by how the system works, and as Michael James pointed out (in an April Fool’s article) this may actually be a Deposit-Only Bank Account (i.e. I will never be able to get the money out of the darn thing). The added annoyance from previous posts about the account I only learned about because the young lady I was speaking with said, “Oh, I remember, with that type of account I have to…”, read the article to find out what the “…” entailed.

The only comment I can make about the fiasco that is the US Election is,“… people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones …” . That’s enough on that topic, let us hope it is over very soon, or that there are more Blue Jays games to watch instead!

Read More »Henson Trusts, RDSP Gripes and #MoneyTalk

This weekend we celebrate the harvest in Canada, with our version of Thanksgiving. At this time, we need to remember the turkey, and the contribution it makes to our festive tables. Traditionally for Canadians this weekend is a time for families and friends to get together (nothing compared to our raucous neighbours Thanksgiving in November, however) and remember that charity at this time of plenty is important as well.

The ugly side of sports showed itself as a Blue Jay fan chucked a beer can (and almost hit) an unsuspecting Orioles player. As a lifetime Expos fan, I am unimpressed, and if I saw anyone do that at a ball game, I’d point them out to the authorities. Come on Torontonians figure out who the culprit is and do the right thing. The only Knucklehead at the Jays game should be R.A. Dickey!

It is also Oktoberfest in my old stomping grounds of Kitchener/Waterloo (and Germany) (a good use of beer, as well). This wonderful fall tradition starts (officially) on Thanksgiving weekend. Allegedly, the PM himself will be tapping the first keg.

The big financial news for the week was Minister Morneau Announces Preventative Measures for a Healthy, Competitive and Stable Housing Market, which we shall see how it impacts the bubbling house markets in some cities in Canada.

Stuff I wrote this week

I had grandiose plans of writing a bunch of stuff this week, but life does sometimes get in the way of my best laid plans. It’s not quite what I had in mind (Financially) outlines how some folks settle for bad service, with their money, and they should not. You worked hard to make that money, fight to make it do the most for you.

I keep asking the same question on Social Media, but I never get an answer, RDSP: Question for Canadian Big Banks, asks why is the RDSP such a piss poor program at most banks? I have yet to have anyone from a bank respond to it.

Deep Financial Tweets

The Buddha mentions the following happiness:

Ananasukha – the happiness derived from not being in debt.

#DeepThoughtsOnMoney pic.twitter.com/GMmN4vnnEh

— Big Cajun Man (aw) (@bigcajunman) October 4, 2016

Read More »Thanksgiving, Knuckleheads, Debt & the Buddha & #Moneytalk

Autumn has arrived in Ottawa, which of course means that Winter is Coming, but unfortunately the financial pundits down south are also warning of Financial Winter, in the face of possible Fed Rate increases by December. If the US starts ratcheting up interest rates, Canada might follow suit, or might not, to make the dollar weaker? I can’t remember what is in vogue these days, a Weak Dollar helping trade or a Strong Dollar, helping trade?

If Financial Winter is coming, maybe it is time to think about whether you are ready or not?

The CRTC is trying to make sure our Internet Access (at home) is not only available from specific companies, however, the Monopolies (Bell, Telus, Rogers) are not playing very nice, as outlined in ‘We need to fix this’: Big telcos hoard fibre optic networks despite CRTC order. Companies like Teksavvy have been trying to compete, but continue to run into the Monopolies lack of co-operation.

Preet and Money

We see him here, we see him there, that Preet B. is everywhere!.

Financial expert, @preetbanerjee gave @jmacspeaks tips on how parents can make their children more money savvy
https://t.co/T1SnCiGtqF

— The Morning Show (@morningshowca) August 29, 2016

Read More »Rate Rises, Winter is Coming, Access Neutrality and #MoneyTalk

Stats Canada published their Labour Force Survey, August 2016 last Friday and the numbers continue to underwhelm, if not discourage folks. While employment is up 26,000 jobs, unemployment rate is up 0.1% as well, leaving it as 7.0%.

I always look to see what kind of jobs are being created, and this line from the report is quite telling:

Compared with 12 months earlier, employment increased by 77,000 (+0.4%), with all of the gains in part-time work. Over the same period, the total number of hours worked fell slightly (-0.4%).

So more folks working part-time jobs is not a ringing bit of good news for the current economy.  The types of jobs being created is also telling:

There were more people working in public administration, and fewer people working in professional, scientific and technical services.

More admin folks, is that a good thing? For me I am glad there are more folks over 55 finding jobs, but us old folks clogging up the market can’t be good for the young folk looking for work.

CBC Newsworld launched a new show about money, On the Money, looks to have regular contributions from many friends of this humble site. It uses Flash Player for its videos (CBC should really get to HTML 5).

Stats Canada also reported on Household Net Worth this week, and as you might guess there is more debt out there.

The household debt service ratio (seasonally adjusted), measured as total obligated payments of principal and interest as a proportion of disposable income adjusted to include actual interest paid, increased from 14.1% in the first quarter to 14.2% in the second quarter. The interest-only debt service ratio, defined as household mortgage and non-mortgage interest paid as a proportion of disposable income, was 6.3%.

Let the media storm around this data commence!

My Writings for Week Ending September 16th

Seems to be RESP season these days, but if you have kids, are there any times when RESP Sometimes Doesn’t Make Sense ? Yes, but only in obvious areas that you can already guess about. It is free money after all.

A Money Thought

Have I mentioned that text books are expensive lately ?

The things we really need are getting more expensive. Other stuff is getting cheaper. Why? https://t.co/jTUSe9poM7 pic.twitter.com/7ZyXkoy8TP

— World Economic Forum (@wef) September 10, 2016

Read More »Unemployment Up, On the Money, Debt and #MoneyTalk

Exciting news this week in the technology world, with the iPhone 7 being announced, by Apple. Is there anything new? Two different cameras, no such thing as a headphone jack and some other fun stuff, but nothing earth-shattering (which upset investors, so the stock didn’t do its normal jump on the announcement of a new iPhone). It was interesting in the keynote for the launch, the Apple CEO pointed out that the iPhone is the “Gold Standard” for smartphones, and that is true (unfortunately), “Just as Good as an iPhone” is the battle cry of all the smartphone “pretenders”.

The Bank of Canada announced that loose money policies will continue, but they also (optimistically) stated that the economy should turn around soon.

On balance, risks to the profile for inflation have tilted somewhat to the downside since July. At the same time, while there are preliminary signs of a possible moderation in the Vancouver housing market, financial vulnerabilities associated with household imbalances remain elevated and continue to rise

Evidently, the new CCB payments will also positively affect the economy? I guess if you give folks tax-free money they will spend it?

Stats Canada put out their yearly report on Tuition fees, and surprisingly (sarcasm) Tuition fees are up again in their latest survey. The report does have some interesting breakdowns showing that Ontario is the most expensive place to send your kid to school, and that Engineering and Professional programs are bloody expensive as well. The report doesn’t really mention all the funny service fees that are typically part of your tuition bill, or the cost of text books and other things, but still a useful barometer to confirm what I already knew, it is expensive to send your kids to University in Canada.

My Writings for the Week Ending September 9th

Given it is back to school season I continue on with my onslaught about the high price of a University Education in Canada, and remember it is not just fees, it is also Textbooks are too Expensive, as well. If you are fretting about the price of your kids’ backpacks, you really need to read more about the expenses of a post-secondary education.

Read More »iPhone 7, High Tuition, Loose Money & #MoneyTalk