Canadian Capitalist

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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I have a business trip coming up and since it snowed heavily last night in Ottawa, I dropped into the nearest TD Canada Trust Branch instead of a RBC Branch (where we hold all our chequing accounts) to exchange some Canadian dollars into US dollars. We have our investment accounts with TD Waterhouse and I [...]

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Almost exactly one year after finance minister Jim Flaherty played Freddy Kruger and slashed the income trust sector to shreds, he is playing Santa Claus this Halloween and announcing a number of personal tax measures in the Fall fiscal update:

The Goods and Services (GST) tax will drop a further 1% to 5%, effective January 1, [...]

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The National Post is reporting that the federal Conservatives are planning on a “mini-budget” packed with a number of new tax cuts. Some ideas being considered are:

A further 1% reduction in the GST.
A broad-based tax cut that will “save the average middle-class family around $700 a year”, which sounds like a 1% cut in the [...]

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Derek Foster is a bit vague in his book on how much he had to save over 12 years that enabled him to retire at a young age with a portfolio much less than a million dollars plus a fully paid-off home. In many articles he says that he has saved and invested at least [...]

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