A good reference for those organizations who don’t keep up with technology and customer preferences. Like water, Customers will flow to the path of least resistance….
So Salvation Army donations for 2018 are down, at least in Florida. In Manatee County, for example, donations are down $30,000 so far this year. The lower contributions mean that services cannot be provided to their fullest extent, and shelters may run out of available beds. What’s driving this drop? I believe part of the […]
I haven’t written much lately, and that’s been for a variety of reasons. The most important being that I had to ensure clients capital was sheltered from what seems like Tsunami’s of bad news. Not much changing to do, just some re-balancing into less risky investments and continuing to hold our oldies but goodies.
Some of my observations or takeaways over the last few months:
Stay sharp, stay committed and stay focused
Rick
With the world up in arms over several disputes, trade, human rights, or immigration, politicians and people alike are finally getting the message. Life is not fair. The world economy is not fair. Living standards and human rights are all over the place. Many of the recent disputes are adding fuel to these issues. How do we cope. Very simply.
Do our own thing. We in Canada can self-sustain our population very easily. We have energy, agriculture, resources, space and the talent required to be self-sufficient. Tensions would be reduced if we adopted policies that encouraged national interests over political/environmental ones. When you know that you can be self-reliant you don’t sweat the small stuff. America knows this. Time for Canada to wake up and do our own thing.
Put up or Shut up…Chrystia/Justin
Build more pipelines, Factories and Refineries here.
Make Canada Greater Again!
These cheeky questions should help you decide whether to listen to their opinions or not.
These questions should help you determine if your advisor is worth listening to and investing with. Experience, transparency, and personal service, should all be considered before trusting any advisor with your hard-earned money.
Rick Barbosa.
It’s a classic saying, yet never more appropriate than when it’s applied to professional advisors in any field. Be it medical, legal, counselling or financial. All professions that deal with the public can relate to this expression. In the beginning I used to cringe when good advice fell on deaf ears. But as I matured and raised a family, I learned to let things play out.
Failure is good. We forget about that. I’ll borrow a line from Batman and use these lines as a great reference;
“Why do we fall down Master Bruce?” “So we learn how to get back up Alfred”.
Our culture and especially our families have become too protective over failure, to the point of stifling effort. In sports the score does matter. It provides a clear indication of ones reward or effort and also spurs reflection and drive for those on the wrong end of the scorecard. Life is similar. It owes you nothing. Sooner or later you will learn its harsh realities. The longer you prolong or protect individuals from these lessons, the harder it will be for them to learn from them.
Parents, Teachers, Counsellors, Lawyers, Doctors and yes Accountants, are all there to help us make good decisions. As professionals, we must also understand that not taking our advice is also sometimes necessary for the greater good. I know I have learned the hard way several times, and wish I had just listened the first time. I also know that these consequences made me who and what I am today.
Rick Barbosa
Canada’s push to legalize pot is running into more opposition, this time from a realtor group that says home cultivation could cause property damage. In testimony to a Senate committee in Ottawa, Michael Bourque, head of the Canadian Real Estate Association, flagged risks associated with cultivating cannabis plants, such as the spread of mould and…
via Growing four pot plants inside is still enough to wreck your house, realtors warn — Financial Post
Recently, there was an article that mentioned Rogers and Bell were increasing monthly internet fees by between $5-$8 a month. That roughly works out to be a 10% annual increase for the average user. Of course the standard response is that they will be using these excess funds to further research and improve service. I call B.S
The next gen internet technology has already been developed (li-fi) and the infrastructure to harness the higher bandwidth is already in place. The real reason is that they are offsetting hundreds of call centre hourly wage increases that came into effect this year. Thank you Kathleen.
What makes it worse is that no one can really compete against the 2 biggest providers. They even collaborate on investments (MLSE). So what can you do?
Stay frugal my friends…
Rick Barbosa
Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area plunged 34.9 per cent in February compared to the same month a year ago as buyers adjusted to new mortgage rules and government policy interventions, the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) said. Prices tumbled too, with the average sales price for all housing types falling 12.4 per cent…
via Toronto home sales plummet almost 35% in February as new mortgage rules bite — Financial Post
When you combine Trudeau’s Selfie politics with Morneau’s silver spoon trust fund mentality, you get ongoing budget deficits, careless spending on wasted programs and social agenda’s with no economic merit. Couple that with Trump’s war on everybody, and our lack of true leadership, and voila. Stock market downturns, investors pulling out of Canadian projects and infighting between provinces for political gain without consideration for economic fallout.
So what’s a person to do? Well if you’ve invested using time-tested fundamentals you weather the storm. When deploying new capital, go for fixed income instruments that have low volatility and meager returns. Now is not the time to bet the Farm.
Stay Calm and Build your Cash reserves.
Rick Barbosa
Traditionally, the end/beginning of the year sees billions in new cash poured into RRSP’s and TFSA’s. If you’re anything like me you want to put those funds to work right away. Unfortunately there is too much going on right now to warrant a knee-jerk investment. Stocks in general are fully priced or overvalued, and both short-term and long-term bonds are not offering substantial returns. The best advice for those out there looking at deploying capital is to wait it out. The following issues need to work their way through the system:
We at BBT see a negative or Bear Market on the horizon. Once all or a majority of the uncertainty has cleared we believe there will be a good buying opportunity. Good companies will always adjust and thrive in a hyper-competitive marketplace. Our job is to pick the ones that do this consistently and invest when the time is right. And that time is not now.
Rick Barbosa
bbtfinancial.ca 