Canadian Capitalist

The nice thing about NETFILE is that if CRA owes you a refund, you can expect to receive it by direct deposit in about eight business days. I owed the CRA a bit of money this year but my wife got a big refund and we wondered what to do with it. Jon Chevreau writes [...]

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The Bank of Canada followed up its previous 0.5% reduction in interest rates with another cut of the same magnitude today. At this point, it looks like our central bank is expecting to lower rates even more as it noted that “some further monetary stimulus will likely be required”. You can read the full text [...]

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You can’t make up things like this if you tried. Jonathan Chevreau recently wrote about the second annual Lipper awards that gives new meaning to celebrating mediocrity. In addition to four overall awards, thirty (30) Lipper Awards were given to mutual funds in each of the 1 year, 3 year and 5 year categories and [...]

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Is there anything more annoying than telemarketers who seem to have the uncanny ability to call at the most inconvenient times? It is no wonder that the Do Not Call registry in the US has become so popular and the Canadian list is slated to become operational in late 2008. But political parties, print media, [...]

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RESPs are already the best way to save for a child’s education. In most instances, a RESP beats out other alternatives - it is better than a RRSP, it will be better than the TFSA and it is certainly better than saving in a taxable account. Bill C-253 introduced by MP Dan McTeague proposes to [...]

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Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled his government’s third budget in Parliament today. The mainstream media has extensive coverage of budget highlights but if you are inclined to read the document yourself (available here), here are my notes of the interesting bits:

Improved management of EI: The government is proposing the creation of a new crown corporation [...]

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Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will rise in the House of Commons to present the minority government’s third budget tomorrow. Mr. Flahrety has set low expectations for the budget, claiming repeatedly that the “cupboard is bare” and not to expect significant tax cuts or spending measures in the budget.
There is some speculation that the budget would [...]

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The Bank of Canada cut interest rates for the second time in two months by 0.25% and strongly signalled that it may cut rates further noting that “further monetary stimulus is likely to be required in the near term”. Despite speculation in the press that the banks may not match a rate cut, the major [...]

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As we bid farewell to 2007, let’s look back at the news that directly affected our pocketbooks:

The Federal Budget in March introduced major changes to RESPs and introduced a new child tax credit.
Vanguard introduced the Europe Pacific ETF (VEA) and injected much needed competition to the iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (EFA).
After charging $25 to [...]

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I’m traveling on business and couldn’t find the time to write a decent post, so here’s a collection of links that you may find useful if you are in a strange city and want to get some cash:

CIBC / President’s Choice
RBC Royal Bank
TD Canada Trust
BMO Bank of Montreal
Scotiabank
National Bank
Laurentian Bank

Have a nice weekend!

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