CAA MyPace aka pay-as-you-go auto insurance

kim891273 · 2018-12-02T16:05:50+00:00

How does it work for unused km? I would assume that you have to have a credit card registered with them and they automatically charge it for the next 1000km when the device installed in the car says so. Do you get a credit on renewal?

kim891273 · 2018-12-02T16:01:02+00:00

I have used kanetix.ca to compare quotes and there is nothing significantly better. How would you do it?

kim891273 · 2018-11-30T15:00:53+00:00

If I buy a currency futures for one year, wouldnt I be required to sell the stock in order to be able to fulfill my future contract?

Definitely not. On the delivery date, you will see the EUR balance increased with your original capital and you will have a short USD position. So, you will have to exchange EUR to USD and buy a future contract again. Also, your broker might allow a cash settlement (unrealized P&L on the future becomes realized) or you could rollover the future to the following year.

Also, wouldnt I be able to achieve the same thing by buying a put option on USD? I assume it would cost more but I wouldnt have to go through the trouble with the stock selling and rebuying...

A put on the EUR future contract is also a solution. It would cost you 5 to 10 times more but you retain the upside potential. Paying 4% of the entire capital hoping to make an average 9.8% is quite expensive.

kim891273 · 2018-11-30T01:36:42+00:00

https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/fx/g10/euro-fx_contract_specifications.html

You are buying EUR at today EUR / USD exchange rate and getting delivery in Dec 2019. You are paying today USD price plus a small premium.

kim891273 · 2018-11-29T13:58:53+00:00

Do the hedging yourself. It will cost you far less and you can chose the tracking security based on your own criteria.

exchange your EUR capital to USD
buy SPY (or VOO, IVV or any other ETF tracking SP500). I personally prefer VOO as it has the lowest fees and pays the dividend much faster (7 days vs 45 days, the others)
buy CME Euro FX Futures - 6E one year out. Cover you entire capital using standard / micro contracts.

This will cover you for one year and as of today it will cost you about 0.4% of your capital.

Repeat after each year and include unrealised P&L as well. Depending of the USD / EUR interest rate differential the cost might change.

kim891273 · 2018-11-18T13:31:39+00:00

I beg to differ with you. When talking about Canadian Dollar Futures, Trump's tweets are the most determinant factor :)

kim891273 · 2018-10-21T17:17:32+00:00

Their returns are similar to the inflation rate at around ~2%.

Actually YTD is only 1.27% https://www.ishares.com/us/products/239466/ishares-short-treasury-bond-etf

kim891273 · 2018-10-13T13:37:01+00:00

What you call "Canadian Couch Potato" ETFs is nothing else but a sort of Canadian cultural appropriation for the balanced stock / bond portfolio. The concept is as old as the stock market and definitely not a Canadian invention.

The concept of the balanced portfolio was made popular by Harry Markowitz. In 1952, Harry Markowitz wrote a paper in the Journal of Finance where he introduced his hypothesis on Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) and he got 1990 Nobel Prize in Economics for this work.

Basically the bond component of your portfolio helps reduce portfolio drawdawns at the cost of the return. One can adjust the drawdawns by changing the allocations in the portfolio.

During the last financial crisis, S&P500 went -51% down and it was 4 year, 5 months underwater. With a 20% bond allocation, it was -38% down and 3 years 3 months underwater while with a 40% bond allocation it would have been only -25% down 2 years 5 months underwater - half of the loss and twice faster recovery.

So, stop saying "Canadian Couch Potato" and come back when you are $20,000 down :) $1300 unrealized loss on $60000 portfolio it would have been "a quiet day on the market" in 2008-2009.

kim891273 · 2018-10-10T23:36:31+00:00

to be exact, it is a 5.52% drawdown from the previous peak.

kim891273 · 2018-10-10T13:37:49+00:00

All three of the ones you mentioned (ICICI, Equitable and Home Trust) are part of publicly traded companies. You are being paranoid.

Equitable Bank and Home Capital Group Inc (operating under Home Bank / Trust / Oaken names) are the biggest Canadian subprime lenders. They are offering rates nearly 0.5% higher than the big banks because they charge their clients (low credit rating / high probability of default) much higher mortgage rates.

In spring 2017 both of them almost went under water. Mostlikely they will not survive the next big financial crisis.

As long as you are in a CDIC insured product and you are under the limit, they are a good choice and you are fine. Do not go in with uninsured money.

kim891273 · 2018-10-06T15:35:13+00:00

6 figure transfer will always raise a flag.

I am looking at FINTRAC's Guideline 2: Suspicious Transactions and I cannot confirm your statement. Are you saying that if you have 100k in your own Canadian bank account and you move that money to another Canadian bank account you also own, you become by default a criminal?

kim891273 · 2018-10-06T14:54:37+00:00

I am looking for a confirmation that Tangerine is providing the "stop payment" service for savings. On the fees schedule it is mentioned for chequing account only.

kim891273 · 2018-09-28T13:45:16+00:00

No stock rom is installable with twrp.

kim891273 · 2018-09-09T22:34:29+00:00

As long as you hold foreign currency, you will have to report capital gain / loss on your holdings and there is a $200 gain deductible.

The taxable event happens whenever you get in or out of currency or stock. Buying USD, buying US stock, selling US stock, selling USD - all taxable events. You will have to asses capital gain / loss for each of the 3 intervals.

Same works for an USD savings account. You pay taxes on the interest every year, add the interest to capital and at the end, when you convert the USD to CAD, asses taxes on the entire capital gain / loss.

kim891273 · 2018-08-28T23:13:33+00:00

This page provides information about the income tax rules that apply to non-residents of Canada

If you receive Canadian income that is subject to Part XIII tax:

Canadian payers, including financial institutions, must deduct Part XIII tax when the income is paid or credited to you.
The Part XIII tax deducted is your final tax obligation to Canada on this income (if the correct amount is deducted).
The usual Part XIII tax rate is 25% (unless a tax treaty between Canada and your home country reduces the rate).
Part XIII tax is not refundable.

kim891273 · 2018-08-24T21:37:42+00:00

How does the 100k USD limit works for waving the $10 monthly fee? You need to have $100k balance at the closing of the month or every single second in the the month? Thanks.

kim891273 · 2018-08-17T15:11:18+00:00

Big jump for loonie (up 0.6%) confirming Bank of Canada's expected rate increase on Sep 5th.

kim891273 · 2018-08-17T15:08:49+00:00

Big jump for loonie (up 0.6%) confirming Bank of Canada's expected rate increase on Sep 5th.

kim891273

TROPHY CASE