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How much is enough?

1 week ago | greaterfool.ca | Garth Turner

The average wrinklie in Canada has a retirement income of about $34,000. The average for a couple (and their cat) is $74,200. This includes everything. The public pension. Old people’s pogey (OAS). Income from RRIFs and any benefits from a past job. It ain’t much, especially if you live in a city, or have an expensive property to carry. And Dog forbid if you spawned a needy kid or two expecting you to cough up a house downpayment.
The Troubled Future of Real Estate

1 week ago | greaterfool.ca | Garth Turner

He came to Canada from the States as a toddler. Met his throb while working in tech on the US west coast, then returned to Canada to make a life. They’re both duallies, but when it comes to family finances the Yankee-cowboy side prevails. Of the three million they’ve saved and gained in stock options, 90% is in equities, eighty per cent in US$ and most of it sits in American accounts, including some 401k and Roth IRA stuff. We talked.
Turning the page?

1 week ago | greaterfool.ca | Garth Turner

After six months, Parliament resumes today. Expect big, fast change says the guy in charge. The latest Nuk Nanos poll shows a wee burst of optimism in the wake of the federal vote. “In the period following the election of the Carney federal government, consumer confidence has been improving,” he reports. “Views on the future strength of the Canadian economy remain net negative but positive views have doubled in the past four weeks.
The Troubled Future of Real Estate

1 week ago | greaterfool.ca | Garth Turner

So the King arrives tomorrow. Before lunch on Tuesday he’ll read the Speech from the Throne, opening the new session of Parliament. Crowns, horses, pomp and ceremony will abound. If there’s any doubt remaining we’re not the 51st state-in-waiting, Chuck and Camilla will douse it. That’s the point, after all. Carney engineered it. It’s been a long time since a monarch sat in the House of Commons and delivered the government’s agenda. The Queen did it in 1977 for T1.
The Troubled Future of Real Estate

2 weeks ago | greaterfool.ca | Garth Turner

“My dear wife has listened to me espouse your wisdom in the morning over coffee,” he says. “With good coffee, good company and borrowed wisdom I have had 30 good years together with her.”Ah yes. The GreaterFool marital bliss strategy. Saving romantic unions across the land, one at a time, with arousing talk of basis points, index funds, monetary policy and, of course, shorts and BRAs (buyer representative agreements, silly).
The big, beautiful mess

2 weeks ago | greaterfool.ca | Garth Turner

This week a lost soul in the comments section said this pathetic blog had lost its way. Stop with the politics, he cried. Stay with the investment stuff. The reply was simple. They’re married. If you don’t understand what’s happening in public life the financial consequences may whack you. In today’s ridiculously-polarized political world, it’s truer than ever. Park your bias. Pay attention. Example: you can forget about mortgage rates going down. Fivers for sure. Maybe even variables.
The Troubled Future of Real Estate

2 weeks ago | greaterfool.ca | Garth Turner

News that 2,000 unsold and spanking new condos sit empty in Vancouver – where everyone says there’s a ‘housing crisis’ – made it onto the international scene this week. The story was picked up in the UK, for example, as an example of Canadian silliness. Fears are, say analysts in YVR, the number could swell to a breathtaking 3,500 soon. And this week a new development planned for Burnaby was cancelled for lack of buyer interest. Well, West Coast snowflakes, cry us a river.
The Troubled Future of Real Estate

2 weeks ago | greaterfool.ca | Garth Turner

Yesterday we discussed the rash thing that tuba-paying, cowboy-punk loving former YVR mayor and spouse of a climate and racial action advocate, Gregor Robetson, had to say about house prices. Will they come down, Minister?, he was asked. “No,” he replied. And then a bunch of other words, none of which mattered as much. As stated here, there’s no desire on the part of any government to have real estate values crash. They can’t, unless we want a smoky hole in the middle of the economy.
Famous last words

2 weeks ago | greaterfool.ca | Garth Turner

As detailed here the other day, the first misstep of the Carney Libs was to push a budget off into the future. Sure, there are reasons. Good ones. But why feed the barbarians so early? Now, gulp, the second hunk of red meat. The new housing minister, Gregor Robertson, was on his way to the first cabinet meeting when reporters attacked, asking him if he thought home prices needed to come down. “No,” he said – a word that he will never, ever get past.
The Troubled Future of Real Estate

2 weeks ago | greaterfool.ca | Garth Turner

Jann Arden called them ‘pricks’. In return (she says) they threatened her. And so the latest social media ugliness unravels between the iconic Calgary-based musical artist and the folks who want Alberta to be a separate country or, even better, part of the USA. Since the Carney victory a few scant weeks ago, the steamy little issue of secession has fired up again. Some people think that two million votes on a referendum (which will never happen) would justify making 41 million of us poorer.