Financial literacy is power!
$8K money left on the table!
People didn’t file their tax for many reasons. One could be homelessness or just hardship that is too much to bear. Here is a real-life story. I call him Joe to conceal his identity. He has been experiencing homelessness in recent years. Now, he is living in a shelter. His caseworker booked an appointment with…
Finally, they got caught!
Good news by CBC that home selling fraudsters were caught! In this specific case, the homeowners were away in China. They probably tried to rent out their house in Scarborough. The fraudsters pretended to be renters and got access to their home. They forged ID and documents to impost as the homeowner trying to sell…
What a roller-coaster ride!
As soon as the market opens yesterday, my phone was buzzing with stock market alerts. Bank ETFs are down dramatically together with crude oil down, 10-year treasury yield and US dollar. Gold is up understandably. It is flashing recession in the minds of investors. However, the Nasdaq is up a little bit early when market…
Is inflation good for the banks?
It depends on how fast is the inflation. When interest rate is too low, it is hard for banks to charge more on loans. However, if the interest rate is raised too fast too high to fight inflation, it pushed a lot of potential customers out of the borrowing market. For example, mortgage rate is…
Open a business bank account
I helped someone to open a small business chequing account recently. She and her husband are starting a small business. I suggested RBC digital choice business account because its monthly fee is $5 which is the lowest. She does all her transactions online so it fits her needs. We tried to apply online. After we…
Are women better investors?
Happy International Women’s Day! Any discussion about gender is thought provoking. 😊 A Forbes article says so because women usually take the slow and steady approach to investing rather than taking too much risk and hoping to get rich quickly. It does makes sense from this point of view. Let’s play the long game and…
Apps to curb impulsive money behaviours
Many of us made impulsive money behaviors. Some more and some less. Rather than feeling guilty and helpless, there is a solution. A recent Wall Street Journal Money Briefing podcast reports that some apps can help to curb those bad behaviors. It can remind us to take a break and asking ourselves “What’s my intention…
Oh no, I missed something for my tax return!
I am sure the above issue happened to many of us before. When we think that we have been thorough, there is still something we might miss because tax can be complicated. We only do it once a year and we could forget what we did before. First issue is missing tax slips. Financial institutions…
Oh my, the government websites!
I was helping someone to register GST/HST account online for her small business. When she clicks register, it just went back to the original webpage. She and me looked all around but just can’t find the page to register online. She had to call. The service Rep on the call was nice, but what a…
The challenge to learn financial literacy
The key about learning is to keep the experience positive. 😊 The common and easy mistake is to make it a pain which I committed too often. Something comes very easy to some people could be quite challenging to others. It absolutely requires talent to explain how bond and interest work to a 7-year-old in…
How much to spend on Valentine’s Day?
Americans expected to spend $26 billion for Valentine’s Day this year up from $23.9 billion last year. More than half of consumers are planning to spend on average about $192.80. I know some people who are genius on gifting that show their thoughts and hearts. It is not about how much spent on the gifts…
Spousal loan to split income?
It is still Valentine’s Day. Let’s continue the topic on split income. You might have heard about spousal loan as a split income strategy. Here is an article by Turbo Tax. One key thing to know is the attribution rule. For example, a higher income earner gift $1000 to his or her spouse. The interest,…
Sharing is loving – income split
Happy Valentine’s Day! It was said that money is one of the top 3 reasons for divorce. It is also tax season. Let’s talk about income split – a topic of money, relationship and tax! Sharing is loving especially when it comes to money. 😊 In many marriages or common-law relationships, the two spouses earn…
Capital loss and wash trades
Tax season is just around the corner. Some of us might have received the tax slips for our investment accounts. Naturally, we are thinking how to optimize the tax. An article mentioned something called “Tax loss harvesting” strategy. The names sounds very sophisticated. Good branding. 😉 Basically, it is to sell a security lower than…
High-interest loans
60% is the legally allowed maximum interest rate for personal loan in Canada. How did they arrive at this number? I can’t help but wonder. 59% is totally fine but 61% is criminal. How ironic! It might help to look into who are those that have to use high-cost loans. Today, BNN Bloomberg reported that…
Oh no, the bank account dips below the minimum balance!
Someone told me this story perhaps many of us have experienced. He has been a customer with one of the big 5 banks since the 90s. It charges $9.99 monthly fee for the chequing account if the balance is below certain amount. He has been very careful and his balance was never below the balance…
The RRSP first 60-day rule
Now it is so-called RRSP season because many of us have a habit to contribute to RRSP right before the March 1st deadline. Some also like to put their annual bonus towards RRSP which is usually paid out around this time. Since RRSP is a saving towards retirement that we can’t access now, it takes…
A call with CRA on a request to reduce tax deductions
Tax season is upon us. Let’s talk about the request to reduce tax deduction that I was helping someone with. Here is how it works. We can fill out this form T1213 to indicate in advance all sorts of legitimate circumstances to reduce income tax deducted from our paycheque by our employers. RRSP contribution is…
Please check your title insurance
Home selling scam has been in the news recently. Some homeowners were away for work or vacation for an extended period. When they came back, they were shocked to find that their house had been sold without their knowledge. That is very nerve-racking indeed. I can’t imagine what they were going through. Fortunately, there is…
What a complicated picture!
Today, Nasdaq is almost up 2% again following Fed Chairman’s speech. I guessed he used the magic word “disinflation” again. The “disinflationary process” in the U.S. economy has begun. Sounds like music to investors’ ears especially equity and growth stocks in particular. Not sure whether there was any short squeeze that drove up the index.…
Is Robo-Advisor for you?
Most people do not have a big portfolio and might find that they don’t get enough attention from a financial advisor. They also find investing, finance, business and economics intimidating and very hard to understand. Besides they are very busy and don’t have the time to manage their portfolio. Perhaps, they can try Robo-advisor. Here…
A money saving challenge
A friend was asking me to help him for a weight loss challenge. He gave me $100 to keep. If he can lose 2 20 pounds in 10 weeks, then he can get the $100 back and we go out for a meal to celebrate. If he can’t, then I will keep the $100 and…
Wrong book values?
The book value of a stock, bond, ETF or other securities is the dollar amount when it is bought. Usually we buy the same security at different time because we keep adding to it, so the book value is usually an average of the prices at different time when it is bought. This value is…
Investment account transfer fee rebate
Yesterday, I suddenly got this email from my brokerage saying that I got a negative balance on my account. Right away, identify theft jumped into my mind. How can it be negative? I just checked yesterday. Did someone deplete my account? I rushed to my computer and found that only cash balance was negative for…
80% in cash?
Just read this article that financial guru Suzi Orman. She recently moved her investment out of tech and put 80% of her money in 3 to 6 month Treasury bills. She wants to wait how the debt ceiling crisis will play out. With such slim margin of Republican in the House, the extreme right wing…
Borrow to contribute to RRSP?
Tax season is just around the corner. Heard a financial expert on TV suggested to borrow to contribute to RRSP. The rationale is that there will be tax refund since RRSP reduces the taxable income. I am not quite sure. If a person has to borrow to contribute to RRSP and he or she has…
Is it finally a firm trend of disinflation?
Today is an interesting day in the US financial market. It’s like a breath of relief or a long-waited rain on a drought. 😊 The Federal reserve still raised the short-term interest rate by 0.25%, but this is a slowing trend. The hikes were 0.50% last time and 0.75% prior. Therefore, the financial market is…
Oil demand to peak in the next decade?
Exxon just reported record profit of $56 Billions in 2022. Some investment professionals suggested to invest in oil and gas companies because of the excellent stock market performance and dividends. Some investment professionals venting about Biden Administration’s tough stance on Fossil Fuel industry. I also kept reading news that oil demand is going to peak…
Home selling frauds
More than 30 homes in Greater Toronto Area were sold or mortgaged without homeowner’s knowledge. This is very unnerving considering many Canadians are house rich and cash poor. Majority of their wealth are locked inside their houses. 3 people were charged for selling homes they don’t own in Toronto. Organized crime groups hired criminals to…
Phone bill too high in Canada?
Here is a story on how a Rogers customer got her phone and internet bill cut in half, from more than $300 to around $150. She stayed on the phone for 5 hours to achieve that. 5 hours are gruelling but saving $150 per month or $1800 per year. That is significant savings for many…
Dementia and financial mismanagement
Population aging will naturally increase the number of dementias. It can easily lead to financial mismanagement for those seniors who suffer from dementias. For example, they might miss simple tasks such as paying credit card bills and making mortgage payment. Furthermore, they can be easily exploited by scams. I heard this case. An elderly lady…
Independent contractor vs employee?
It is quite common for IT industry to offer contact works. Naturally, many people would ask how they compare to each other. At what hourly rate of a contract can I at least make the same as an employee after all the taxes and expenses? It does need some investigation and calculations. First question might…
Half of Canadians have little rainy day fund
Our oven can’t heat a week ago. It took $435 to fix it. Last year, we spent $350 to fix our laundry dryer when it didn’t dry. Fortunately we have emergency fund set aside for those home repairs. I read an article that 40% of American don’t have $400 for emergency fund. That is very…
A good discount brokerage
The online discount brokerage has been quite popular which took market share away from the big banks. I guessed TD Direct Investing was TD’s response to this threat. The web user interface is satisfying but I don’t really need it that good. Most investors are not active traders. They are just doing passive investing. The…
Saving account interest rate promotion period
I kept getting this ad whenever I open my Simplii Financial banking app promoting a 5% interest rate for savings or deposits. Sounds like a good deal until I read the fine print. It is only a promotional offer which ends by April 30 2023. What the heck! I feel this is the cat and…
Consolidate investment accounts?
Some of us might have investment accounts such as RRSP, TFSA, Margin accounts, etc. with different financial institutions. To simply it and save time in the long run, we might want to consolidate them under one brokerage firm at least for the same types of accounts. Moreover, some brokerage is more expensive. Transfer the accounts…
An affordable business tax software
I have been researching for an affordable tax software for Canadian corporation tax return which is called T2. I went through each website of the T2 tax software certified by CRA – Canada revenue agency. There are around 20 of them. The one I am looking for is for simple tax return with most affordable…
Teach kids financial literacy
Here are a few good programs by Junior Achievement to teach grade school and high school students financial literacy. They offered both in-person and online presentation delivered by volunteers. It covers very essential and wide range of topics such as inflation, credit card, exchange rate, currency, budgeting, online shopping investing, etc. It aims to build…
Need to pay off these three types of loans before retirement?
Just read an article saying that we should not retire until these three types of loans are fully paid off. They are student loans, car loans and credit card debts/personal line of credits. We all know that public pension is not enough for retirement. Most people do not have a generous pension from their employers.…
Invest it and forget about it?
We usually hear a suggestion to invest it and then forget about it until the day we need the money in retirement. Totally understand where this is coming from. People live a busy life and investing is not something they enjoy doing. Therefore, some experts aim to simplify investing and make it easy. Besides, passive…
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