On March 12, 2018, Manitoba Finance Minister Cameron Friesen tabled the province's fiscal 2018-2019 budget. The budget contains some factors that have potential implications for both individuals and corporations. It is important that you and your accounting and legal professionals are aware of these factors, so be sure to ask them about it. Measures for... Continue Reading →
The updated Federal budget was presented on Tuesday of this past week. There are a few changes from the originally proposed outline are important to keep in mind. The July 2017 proposals took a somewhat draconian approach to the receipt of passive income inside small corporations (interest, rental income, and dividends received). Any passive income generated... Continue Reading →
For those of us that tune into the financial news regularly, we know that our central banks - both in the US and in Canada - are a little more hawkish than they've been in the past few years. In simple terms, they're raising interest rates. Slowly. Generally, interest rates only increase when economic fundamentals... Continue Reading →
This week the mainstream press headlines were plastered with reports of an impending market correction. I saw this quotation a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be applicable to bring up here. Chief economist at First Trust Advisors, Brian Wesbury, has been referencing the present US recovery phase as a "plow horse economy"... Continue Reading →
Last week we talked about some of the negative aspects of rising interest rates. This week we will outline the positive economic impact of a rising interest rate. In an ideal world, reversion to a 6% bank lending rate would be healthy. Loan rates for business purposes would be around 6% interest and the corresponding... Continue Reading →
This past week, the Bank of Canada announced an increase in the BoC rate of 0.25%, causing the chartered banks to increase their prime rate to 3.45%. The chartered bank's prime interest rate is the basis for all retail lending. A familiar term is prime plus 2%. Prime plus 2% would mean the effective interest... Continue Reading →
Last fall we touched on some proposed income tax changes that would significantly complicate family farm corporations. The farming community, small businesses, and professional organizations all pointed out some obvious faults to the proposed changes. The Department of Finance took note of the feedback and simplified many of their initial proposed changes. They have dialed... Continue Reading →
The Department of Finance has issued a press release regarding changes to the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) which they implemented, effective January 1st 2018. The Canada Pension Plan was set up with the intention that all employees and employers would contribute matching contributions for an employee’s forty-year working life (up to an indexed maximum CPP... Continue Reading →
Don and Erik outside of Scotia Tower in Toronto, before inspection of the Scotia Global Banking and Wholesale precious metals vault. Inflation is on the rise. Why should you care? It's safe to assume most people want their savings to maintain its purchasing power over time. If you invest a $100 into a 5 year... Continue Reading →
