[Gator13]

I think we'll see 3% by the end of the year as well.

 

[Gator13]

Stocks could get a boost over the next week or two when a lot of funds and ETFs rebalance.

 

[Gator13]

With markets down, I would expect stocks to rise. I would think balanced funds will need to trim fixed income positions and buy equities to balance. The recent uptick could be partially attributed to this.

 

[Gator13]

I have read a few articles about it in the past, but I don't know the exact rules/guidelines that Funds or ETF's with an allocation mandate follow. I hold ZUT and VRIF. No mutual funds. Like you, I don't follow bonds either.

 

[Gator13]

I am at a new low for the year.

 

[Gator13]

I haven't bought or sold since the beginning of the year. I have been accumulating cash since then, but that is only because we want the cash on hand for our next property purchase. If it wasn't for that, we would have been buying all the way along similar to past years.

It's been a roller coaster of a year.
March 22nd: +6.2%
July 14th: -6.3%
August 18th: +1.1%
As of now: -6.7%

On a positive note, increases to dividends & distributions have our annualized investment income has increased.

 

[Gator13]

Yup, I give any day a 50/50 chance of going up or down

Very good insight! 🙂

 

[Gator13]

There are a lot of products that are still in very short supply. Shortages of products combined with high energy and food prices are definitely fueling inflation. It will take quite some time for manufacturing to catch up, albeit with high production costs.

 

[Gator13]

Well that's the thing. Slowdowns are supposed to hurt investors. There hasn't been a wipeout and capitulation.

As you know I'm pretty risk averse and even with all these losses, this still feels like "nothing" to me. It should be much more painful and agonizing.

IMO the central banks have not tightened conditions nearly enough yet. Even the leveraged people are trying to get back in, already.

I recall you mentioning at one point that your sphincter was tightening up. 😂 I hit a low on October 12th at -12.5% and that was uncomfortable. I was feeling some pain at that point. I have since rebounded to -3.6%. The loss would be less if I included my cash hoard in the results.

 

[Gator13]

There are some straightforward things the government could do. Claw back OAS more aggressively, suspend the RESP program for top 10 percent family incomes, tax capital gains on rental properties and prooerty flips more aggressively, far more aggressive consumption taxes on luxury items, give money to teachers, nurses and doctors instead of administrators, etc.

But prior to any of this or additional taxes, cut wasteful government spending, cut government spending on wining and dining themselves, shrink the civil servant ranks in a big, big way, change civil servant golden pensions to something more realistic, reward successful innovation and job creation by companies, etc

We need a government instead of politicians.

However, better chance of spotting twin unicorns in my backyard than any of this happening.

 

[Gator13]

Even small businesses waste money, I worked for a small business of less than 40 employees and we went for a dinner with potential clients, we were a total of 7 people (including the potential clients) and the bill was over $1,000. At my job the Christmas party costs $50,000 for about 400 people present.

Also, have you ever seen a Silicon Valley IT big corp? There's stuff you won't ever see at the government: paid daily snacks, paid daily lunch, paid weekly alcohol, free arcade games in the office, relaxation rooms with huge aquariums, etc. Now the executives of those big corps move by private jet, nice hotel rooms, expensive dinners, etc.

Don't get me wrong, the government is highly inefficient, archaic and wasteful... As much as most very old business with hundreds of thousands of employees. As much as any big corp with too much money. I've also worked for some of the big banks and big insurance companies in Canada, you'd be scared how inefficient and wasteful they are, because they have so much money.

Also, when you donate money to food banks or any other charity, do you know how much of that money is wasted towards salaries and administrative costs and so on?

Private companies can spend their money any way they want. It is their money. Just like you can spend your money any way you want without question. As for public companies, I have a choice whether or not I want to be a shareholder.

The same can't be said for the government. We do not have a choice whether or not we pay taxes. You are correct. The government is highly inefficient, archaic and wasteful. Waaaaaay too many public servants feeding at the trough. All on the backs of tax payers.

The charities I donate to provide reports on where the money goes, charity vs administrative. Those reports help me decide where my donations go.

 

[Gator13]

They can manipulate the price as much as they want with the oligopoly. Please recall the bread price-fixing scheme in Canada. And that's only bread! That's a "tax" on the customers.

Android OS has 72% market share and iOS has 27% market share. They can do whatever they want with their price to squeeze more out of their customers while wasting "their money", or more realistically wasting the extra money they get from overpricing their customers, the money given by their customers.

The inefficiencies and the wasted money of the big 6 banks in Canada are priced back in fees to their customers. They don't care about being inefficient, it's the norm and anyways all Canadians use one of those banks.

All the waste and inefficiencies are priced in all those oligopolies that you are somehow forced to use because everybody has a smartphone, everybody deals with a bank, everybody has to buy food, etc. That's a form of "tax" from the economic system.

And when there's low taxes, instead of being taxed by the government, you get taxed by private companies through insurance. Sure, you can choose to skip insurance or be cheap on your insurance choice, and play the Russian roulette with your future because you won't have any support if you suddenly have to pay a $100,000 medical bill in private healthcare.



Yes, you have choice, the voice of the population is the choice through democracy. If the population wanted lower taxes, they'd vote for it, it's a democracy. Don't get me wrong, democracy has its flaws, but power through wealth is even worse.

Anyways, we're being off-topic here, this is not the politics thread.

I am not sure why you are talking about oligopolies, smart phones and private healthcare. Maybe you're a civil servant?? That's a lot of smoke and mirrors in response to my original comment.

But prior to any of this or additional taxes, cut wasteful government spending, cut government spending on wining and dining themselves, shrink the civil servant ranks in a big, big way, change civil servant golden pensions to something more realistic, reward successful innovation and job creation by companies, etc

We need a government instead of politicians.

However, better chance of spotting twin unicorns in my backyard than any of this happening.

 

[Gator13]

How selling all my belongings would make a change? Voting for governments that want more efficient wealth distribution would make a change. I'm top 5% income......

Ahhhh, so you're in the income group you're complaining about. I suspect that even though you complain, you still take advantage of the RESP, RRSP, etc???

 

[Gator13]

Well then you should vote left for the NDP for instance.

See they drew the line for their dental care idea:

To access the money, families with a household income of less than $90,000 need to attest that their child does not have access to private dental coverage, they will have out-of-pocket dental expenses they plan to use the money for, and they will be able to show receipts.

Maybe if you voted more for the left, they would set limits to the use of RESP, RRSP, TFSA. But since democracy decided that those tools were available to everybody, then obviously I'll use them.

Look at what the centre-right Premier of Quebec did... Last spring he sent $500 to every taxpayer making less than $100k net (based on 2021 income tax). And now he'll send another $400 to those making between $50k net and $100k net (and $600 to those making less than $50k net). Basically, a couple with no kids making a total of $200k net income will have recieved $1,800 this year, while a single mom with 3 kids making $50k net income will have recieved $900 this year. That's what happens when people vote for those in favour of the rich, with vote-buying strategies and marketing to get the popular vote.

I should vote left? You are the one complaining about that the high income earners, of which you are one by your own admission. I simply asked if you take advantage of RESP's and RRSP's. You didn't answer the question.

This is what I want:

But prior to any of this or additional taxes, cut wasteful government spending, cut government spending on wining and dining themselves, shrink the civil servant ranks in a big, big way, change civil servant golden pensions to something more realistic, reward successful innovation and job creation by companies, etc

We need a government instead of politicians.

However, better chance of spotting twin unicorns in my backyard than any of this happening.

 

[Gator13]

Look at what the centre-right Premier of Quebec did... Last spring he sent $500 to every taxpayer making less than $100k net (based on 2021 income tax).

But since democracy decided that those tools were available to everybody, then obviously I'll use them.

If you're all about what democracy decides, why are you criticizing the right of handing out $500, or anything for that matter? Comes across as okay when it's convenient for you. Cheers

 

[Gator13]

Also starting to hear about layoffs in non-tech industries.

 

[Gator13]

Interesting, what kind of industries are seeing it?

FedEx, Walmart, Wealth Simple, Skip the Dishes Hudson Bay, Post Media, Best buy, Clutch (online car sales)

Nothing compared to tech, but maybe the pinch has is happening.