Canadian Dollars Blog

I love riding the TTC. It takes me to and from work and occasionally I get to witness the outrageous - whether it's a crazy man that's talking to himself or two friends talking about hot stock picks. I generally prefer the latter type of outrageous because the risk to me is very minimal. It usually starts like this. One guy is a bragger - he'll brag about how he made a killing shorting some stock or being able to time the market. The other guy, on the other hand just sits there an listens. You can immediately tell that the second guy is an investing newbie because he's listening intently to what the first guy has to say. You can see the disappointment in the newbie's face when he exclaims that he only achieved index performance last year. The bragger makes fun of the index performer and claims that the index performer doesn't have any skill at reading the markets. I knew it was going to 13,000 the bragger says in a loud voice. I knew Apple was overpriced ...

Less than 48 hours after the budget was revealed, there are already many criticisms of the proposed Tax-free Savings Account. Some argue that the amount is not enough, while others argue that all it does is make the wealth middle class richer. In today's Toronto Star, there is an article which compares the proposed system with the British Individual Savings Account (ISA) in which the critic writes: "But almost invariably, the only people who participate are the ones with lots of spare cash – the sort of people who already do save and who would have saved anyway. So it ends up being a giveaway to the wealthy middle class." This sort of thinking would also poo poo on the idea of RRSPs as well. What the author is failing to see is that in an age where the average Canadian saves next to little what they earn, there is a merit to programs like this. By sheltering the first $5000 every year, the policy clearly helps and gives Canadians an incentive to save up their money. ...

Twice a month, on a Wednesday, Hart House serves up a delicious multi-course meal for just $5! Note that this is not limited only to students. You should get there early as line ups for this amazing deal become insane very quick! Here is a list of upcoming dates: March 5th March 19th April 2nd All Five Buck Lunches occur on a Wednesday, from 11:45am - 2pm. For more information, contact the Hall Porters' Desk at Hart House. 416.978.2452. http://www.food-beverage.utoronto.ca/food/news/Five_Buck_Lunches.htm

Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) * This is the major measure relating to investors * Begins 2009 * Every individual 18 years and older obtains $5,000 per year (indexed) contribution room regardless of income * No upper age limit for earning contribution room or making contributions ( no 71 year rule as for RRSPs) * Contribution room not used may be carried forward indefinitely * Contributions are non-deductible; withdrawals are non-taxable (including investment income withdrawals) * Qualifying investments the same as for RRSPs * Attribution rules do not apply so one spouse may contribute to the other spouse’s TFSA Partial unlocking of Federally Regulated LIF’S * Effective date unknown * Individuals 55 or older with LIF accounts of $22,450 or less may un-lock * Individuals 55 years and older eligible for one time un-locking of half of their LIF holdings Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) Earned Income Exemption Increased * Implementation date unknown ...

There seem to be a host of new companies in Canada that have recently started operations in the 'community to community lending' space. For those not familiar with this type of business, it allows individuals to lend other individuals money at favourable interest rates for both the lender and borrower. The lender is able to earn a higher interest rate than they would in a 1 year GIC and the borrower is able to borrow money at a rate lower than what is given to them on their Mastercard and VISA cards. While on the surface this sounds good and all and the fact that many of these companies do offer credit checks (I would hope) and do proper screening, it makes me wonder. Have we not learned from the credit crunch issues in the states? Here's why I think this is troubling. First of all, Canadians have a record amount of debt. Folks! On average, we're saving less than we're spending. That would indicate why these person to person lenders are seeing a market - a m...

How many times have you chewed gum only to be disappointed. Be honest. When you're in your car driving two hours to some destination, don't you just hate it when your gum loses it's flavour after about 20 minutes? If you're on the highway you have to quickly reach over and find somewhere to dispose of the flavourless gum. You could keep chewing it, but by now it's starting to taste like chewing rubber. Which, unfortunately isn't very appealing. What if some competitor came along, and decided to change the rules of gum. To break through and truly think outside of the box. This is gutsy of course and risky. Why mess with something that's established? Is it really wise to take on the Wrigley's of the world? If so, how do you decide how to differentiate yourself from them? To give yourself a true competitive advantage? Sure you could come up with another outrageous flavour that your competitor doesn't sell. But does that really work? Peopl...

On Tuesday evening I was given an invitation to attend an event sponsored by a wealth management company (that shall remain anonymous). If wasn't for the fact that I literally work across the street from the event, and that the starting time was right after when I had finished work, I really wouldn't have attended or given it a second thought. So I attended. The topic was "How to Recession proof your portfolio". Knowing full well that the company is a wealth management company that would obviously be shilling their products, the main thing that drew me to the even was the complimentary food and to hear what sort of information they were planning on dishing out to the sheep, so to speak. The company in question is one of those fee based wealth based management companies who charges a flat fee (percentage) of your assets. If you hold primarily fixed asset class investments, the percentage will be low but if one chooses something that has a more global scope and en...

There's an article over at Forbes about how Google is crying foul over the Microsoft bid for Yahoo . This is a very interesting read and I encourage anyone that's following this story to go and check it out. The questions that Google raised about Microsoft are similar to those that European regulators are mulling in evaluating Google’s proposed acquisition of online display advertising specialist, DoubleClick. U.S. regulators approved the deal late last year, but the European Commission has yet to decide and has expressed concerns about possible anti-competitive aspects of the deal. The commission is expected to weigh in by early April. We're definitely in interesting times right now. Particularly if you are a YHOO investor, your stock has already been up 50%. With the two giants MSFT and GOOG fighting over YHOO, there's clearly only one winner behind all this bickering - YHOO!

At a recent gathering with some buddies, the topic of what to get our significant others came up. One friend lamented, "Oh man it feels like Christmas was just last week now I have to spend a lot on my significant other again." Notice the wording. He says he has to spend a lot on his significant other -again-. Why is that? Is it for fear that she won't love him if he gets her a 'cheap' gift. Do we live in such a materialistic society that the value of a present is directly related to how much one loves another person? I casually suggested to my friend that maybe he consider doing something less expensive but romantic nonetheless. He said, well all her girlfriends are expecting to get something nice. She's competitive that way. She doesn't want to be the one stuck with a lousy gift. Wow, I thought to myself. I'm glad I'm not with someone like that. It's kind of sad when I think about it. Somehow money equates love. No wonder there...

Just read this article , and while I don't really agree with most points here, the author does raise some good and interesting ones. Microsoft wants Yahoo because it fears that Google is widening the gap between it and the two also-rans in multiple segments of the online universe. The danger is that, once combined, Microsoft will discover that the gap between Google and Yahoo is even greater than thought. A corollary hazard is this: Combining two lagging companies does not necessarily produce one dynamic competitor. What do you guys think? I think the deal will go through. Yahoo is not showing very good growth and let's face it. It'll take years for their stock to hit the low-mid 30's again. Seriously. If the deal fails, well Yahoo will go back down below 20.

Did you know that you can request your record of CPP contributions? Apparently you can do this once a year. They will mail you a record of all the CPP contributions you've made. Ever. According to the website, after you make your request, after answering a few questions to identify yourself, they will mail out your statement within 5 to 10 days. By default, they will use the address you have on your file with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) I recently requested my statement just to make sure everything looks good and correct. You can also request your record of CPP contributions here through the government of Canada website.

After years of talking about combining businesses, it looks like Microsoft (MSFT) has tabled an offer (after Yahoo's (YHOO) less than stellar 2008 forecast and job cuts sent their stock in a tail spin) Late yesterday, Steve Ballmer sent the following letter to the Board of Yahoo: January 31, 2008 Board of Directors Yahoo! Inc. 701 First Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94089 Attention: Roy Bostock, Chairman Attention: Jerry Yang, Chief Executive Officer Dear Members of the Board: I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of Microsoft to make a proposal for a business combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!. Under our proposal, Microsoft would acquire all of the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 based on Microsoft's closing share price on January 31, 2008, payable in the form of $31 in cash or 0.9509 of a share of Microsoft common stock. Microsoft would provide each Yahoo! shareholder with the ability to choose whether to recei...