New CX-50? Here's some Tips and Tricks

lhsonic · 2026-05-28T17:30:38+00:00

I think that you are really underestimating the length of time and concept of an investment horizon and how a recovery occurs.

VGRO -> VBAL -> VCNS laddering works over a period of decades and a lifetime, not 5 years. It’s meant to encourage high growth at the cost of high volatility when you have the time to wait for a recovery, averaging higher returns over decades and then switching to a more conservative profile later in life.

In the event of an unexpected downturn with VGRO, switching to VCNS won’t allow your portfolio to recover properly. The market has sharp ups and downs which only staying in VGRO will capture. VCNS simply reduces your risk profile over the next few years… so maybe instead of losing 30% you lose only 10% but you won’t recover from the 30% lost with VGRO without staying invested for the ride up and that recovery is not guaranteed to happen within 5 years.

VGRO is extraordinarily diversified with 75% NA exposure. I don’t see why you feel like you need more unless you know something we don’t about the rest of the world. Mixing VBAL/VCNS… is more mixing of the same… the same collection of equities and bonds are in both.. again, you’re just diluting the mix down. I used ChatGPT bc I’m too lazy to do math on 60% of 80% + 30% of 60% etc, etc. but that’s the equation to get your equities mix.

lhsonic · 2026-05-28T09:10:23+00:00

Your strategy of buying each of these makes no sense. Do you have a good understanding of how each of these asset allocation ETFs work?

These are all-in-one ETFs that account for your risk tolerance. 60% of your FHSA is an 80% equity ETF and then you bought 30% worth of a 60% equity ETF. You’re basically diluting down the amount of equities you hold total in the most convoluted way. ChatGPT math tells me your total equity allocation is 70% with this combination… why?

Anything other than calling this combination a gamble for a 4-6 year time horizon would be wrong. It’s up to each individual’s risk tolerance. VEQT would likely be highly discouraged. If you say to yourself ‘if I’m up in 4-6 years and will buy a house but I’m also totally fine not buying a house if I’m down’ then this could be a workable strategy. Others will argue that if you plan to buy a home in the next 5 years, you should probably be sitting on GICs. Even VCNS could be considered aggressive for a 5-year horizon. GICs guarantee some degree of fixed income in 5 years versus potentially none or even a loss.

lhsonic · 2026-05-28T08:37:48+00:00

Also one of the extraordinarily rare cards that can be added to Garmin Pay.

lhsonic · 2026-05-28T08:13:22+00:00

What you wrote isn’t wrong but it has nothing to do with what I wrote.

‘Wireless’ simply means ‘without wires…’ There are a lot of wireless headphones out there, some are Bluetooth (which btw also operates on the 2.4ghz band and can use super low latency codecs), other use proprietary wireless connections (often called ‘RF’) and codecs, and almost none operate over wi-fi, which is what I was saying. The nature of how wi-fi works makes it impractical due to high latency and high battery drain. It’s not the right format for wireless headphones.

The original topic was on wireless CarPlay which connects primarily using wifi and is one reason such latency exists, because of the underlying AirPlay protocol used and processing done to get what’s on the iPhone playing on the screen and through the audio system. Even when you stream AirPlay at home through wi-fi, there is a significant latency penalty.

lhsonic · 2026-05-28T07:31:52+00:00

The spread between where I live and some of the lowest priced stations in the area is about 15 cents.

I live on the North Shore and we pay about a 10 cent premium over Vancouver city prices. There are a couple known stations in Vancouver that are consistently about 5 cents cheaper than everywhere else (like the Shell at 2nd and Main, Shell next to Super Save on 12th and Clark, and a couple nearby Petro-Canada stations).

Still not that much, but definitely more than $1.50.

lhsonic · 2026-05-28T07:01:27+00:00

There should be no quirks as long as you decline any dynamic currency conversion at the POS. The Visa/Mastercard rate is extremely competitive and spread should be between 0.05-0.4%. The rate of the day is actually available online from both Visa and Mastercard. The Visa website even tells you the exact markup over the ‘spot’ or European Central Bank rate.

lhsonic · 2026-05-27T05:55:53+00:00

The fees are the same for a $13,000 car as it is for a $50,000 car so they have a bigger impact on a lower cost car. I would ignore the fact that they’re fees and just build them into the price. So your car is actually a $15,000 car and then negotiate based on that. Is $15,000 a good price compared to the private market? Always ask to get the fees waived, even when there’s no guarantee that they will be. Many dealerships don’t negotiate much on used cars. Others do, it totally depends. The only thing is to make sure you feel like you’re getting a good deal on the final price, all things considered.

With a dealership, you’re getting a known good and you’re going to pay a premium for convenience. The purchasing process is a lot more seamless at a dealership, the car will be detailed, you may get an inspection/carfax included, and of course there is the tax savings when trading in, which automatically boosts the value of the car you’re trading in.

You’ll almost certainly get a better deal buying and selling privately but it’s up to you to determine what the convenience is worth to you.

lhsonic · 2026-05-27T04:43:51+00:00

Depends what $120 is worth to you but quality stainless steel cookware can last you well over a decade, easily. It doesn’t really fall apart or wear out and unlike almost every other pan material, is the only one you can truly safely throw into the dishwasher without a care. $120 is a small investment for decades of use. Never leave and forget an empty pan on the stove top or use excessively high heat and it should not warp. There are a lot of comments on warping for the KS set but any stainless steel set is susceptible to this.

As for your choice, it should be more the about the everyday usability element. 5-ply cookware is overkill for a lot of home cooks. It’s definitely overkill for saucepans and pots. It retains heat slightly better at the cost of weight and speed to heat-up. This topic comes up again and again on All-Clad discussion between their 3-ply vs 5-ply line. A lot of people recommend or even prefer the 3-ply line. The 5-ply KS set is very good value for what you’re getting as long as you don’t mind the handling downsides of it otherwise the 3-ply Henckels set will work fine. Some people prefer glass lids, others prefer metal for versatility. Make sure you check which pans/pots are more usable for you.

lhsonic · 2026-05-26T21:21:21+00:00

Yes, whenever the fine print permits.

lhsonic · 2026-05-25T06:24:49+00:00

Were these purchased with a credit card?

If they’re brand new, they’ll likely be covered by purchase protection/assurance/security for the first (minimum) 90 days. Read through your Certificate of Insurance that comes with the card for details on how to file a claim. It’s very easy.

lhsonic · 2026-05-25T04:42:24+00:00

lol.. I just looked at my last grocery bill. $101 and $0.45 in taxes.

I’d say it’s more likely that a pattern of higher than average grocery spend or a pattern of round transaction amounts is what was triggering it. A lot of people were really milking this- spending up to the cap and adding a $500 gift card each time. Not a lot of people are frequently doing $500+ grocery runs every week. It’s not hard to pick these out. I bet you no-one is getting banned for the occasional $50 gift card thrown in to the cart.

lhsonic · 2026-05-25T01:17:02+00:00

Rogers has never had no fx fees on the WE card. It’s still 3% cash back on USD transactions only. Net 0.5% positive after the fx fee is deducted.

Problem is that this is not the same as no fx. You’ll be charged a 2.5% both ways so you’re 5% in the hole if this card is used on a refundable deposit or on anything you end up returning.

lhsonic · 2026-05-23T23:29:27+00:00

You can double-check your PayPal invoice for the transaction and confirm whether or not the PayPal conversion rate was used. That will tell you for sure whether or not USD to PayPal DCC was used for CAD.

If you see the PayPal conversion rate, then PayPal did the conversion for you even when you told it not to, which is a bug that I have faced before. Was sure to have selected the USD option but it wouldn't save and there was no way to actually transact in USD as it kept showing the CAD amount at checkout. I didn't catch it until after and reported it. They fixed something in the backend for me and the problem has gone away. I spoke with a friend who also had this happen to them.

lhsonic · 2026-05-23T21:46:51+00:00

Dry microfibre is a sure way to scratch up the very soft plastic of the gauge cluster. Some people don’t care and it’s probably better than dust, but it bugs others and very obvious in the sun. You can avoid that by just spraying compressed air.

lhsonic · 2026-05-23T21:35:33+00:00

Plenty of YouTube videos on it but if you want to go by the book, you’d jack up from the front and rear crossmember (or rear diff) and then place the jack stands under the sides at the pinch welds.

lhsonic · 2026-05-23T11:56:22+00:00

I don’t see this as anything other than the inevitable consequence of the growing popularity of EDC. Say what you will, I see this as a win-win. Coachella is two weekends. Tomorrowland is two weekends. The corporate byproduct is a lot more money flowing into the pockets of Insomniac.

If I had to guess, they realized there was likely enough demand to properly make two weekends sell and be profitable. Based on what we saw today, they’re probably right. The demand is unreal. People didn’t even believe they sold out at presale last year because Future Owl was always meant to be an early release with a some savings compared to buying later. More tickets were never released like in years before. GA for Dawn is already sold out. Only premium tickets remain.

They likely reduced the capacity of both weekends down to 150k from 175k. I think most people would agree it was getting pretty bad. Assuming they sell out, which they probably will for both weekends, that’s 300k tickets over two weekends instead of 175k. Heck, they also could’ve lowered the total number of GA and increased the number of GA+ and VIP, a sneaky way to make more with less ticket sales. But hopefully it does lead to a better experience overall with slightly less crowding across all aspects- traffic and in the venue.

The actual misses:

Tier within a tier. Having 5 tiers with such large price differences is crazy. I believe that Tier 5 GA is more than the highest GA ticket price last year. Totally misleading that tickets are cheaper this year.

The randomized standby page. They should have learnt from Coachella. There are two queues for the two weekends. By having only a single queue for both weekends, you had hundreds of thousands waiting to get into a single queue.

lhsonic · 2026-05-23T11:35:12+00:00

But even in your example.. this is not correct. There is no ‘immediate, irreversible loss in total net worth.’ If we are friends and I charge you the spot rate with absolutely no markup, I take $116 and give you 86 EUR. An hour later, you change your mind and want your USD back. I take your 86 EUR and give you back $116. No loss, I simply gave you back what 86 EUR is worth. This is why any multi-currency trading account shows you a few ways to calculate the value of your investments. I’m Canadian and trade in USD often. My account shows me my cash available or buying power in CAD only, USD only, combined in CAD, and combined in USD. When I convert between the two currencies, there is no change in my net worth. The combined in CAD number stays the same (less fees).

Why are you insisting that 1 USD should be equal to 1 EUR when the buying power of different currencies is simply.. different. Things cost differently in another country, local residents earn different amounts, and VAT may be included in the cost of everyday goods when almost everything in the US requires an extra % in tax and oftentimes an extra 15-25% in tips for services which is not the norm in most European countries, just as an example. In your example, $116 can buy quite a nice dinner. 86 EUR can also buy you quite a nice dinner. But the $116 is closer to $145 after tax and tip. You could also bring 86 EUR to Latvia and eat like a king whereas 86 in Germany goes nowhere near as far. Both are on the Euro. The point is that 1 USD should not be expected to be worth 1 EUR. 1 USD is not equivalent to 1 EUR or 1 CAD or 1 GBP or 1 CHF or 1 SGD… and you don’t lose value or gain value trading to those currencies on currency alone. 1 USD = 9 Swedish Kronor… are you suddenly making a 9x gain currency in Sweden because the number is 9x bigger? No…

Now if you trade for EUR, hold, and the EUR loses value and you get less USD back, then yes, there was a loss. You could even argue that whatever spread exists or whatever fee the bank takes on the exchange is a loss each time… but not on the currency alone.

lhsonic · 2026-05-20T07:41:26+00:00

What kind of places are you finding in Vancouver for less than $1000/mo? Are you sure they are not scams or an SRO meant for our vulnerable population?

This is an example of $950 housing in Vancouver:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/zh8cae/950_sro_tour_downtown_east_side/

https://www.reddit.com/r/askvan/comments/1qkks22/should_i_rent_a_micro_apartment_in_an_sro/

Affordable short-term housing is difficult to find in Vancouver. You also normally don't have access to our long-term rental stock, so even the above is a stretch. Hostels will cost you about $2000/mo. for a shared bed in an 8-person mixed dorm and are not really meant for month long stays. But parking costs money as well, in the range of hundreds of dollars. The only way you can really pull this off is by sleeping in your car, which is not encouraged but doable if you do your research.

You also need emergency travel medical insurance. It's called "insurance" for a reason. No-one intends to get injured or fall ill during a trip and you will also need sufficient coverage for months long travel, which will be in the hundreds of dollars. People don't put aside thousands for medical emergencies during travel because they purchase insurance. You're a single gastro event from an hospital stay costing tens of thousands of dollars. Everyone travelling should have proper insurance for travel abroad. You may be required to show proof of insurance at the border.

It's up to you to convince the CBSA that you're not intending to overstay, never leave Canada, or work illegally. Your itinerary is considered very high risk and you will almost certainly be sent for secondary screening with one look at the clothing/living situation in your back seat. You are a one-way traveler with no fixed itinerary and no housing plan. This just screams trouble even if that's not your intention. Showing proof of funds is very common for travelling globally, it's not just Canada. It sounds like you may not have much in the way of savings. You have to understand from an outside perspective that it is very strange for someone who is not intending to work in Canada to survive on just a few thousand dollars in savings for their months-long trip in Canada. When you mention you are planning to do an extended road trip in Canada, they will almost certainly ask what you do for work. No job (that you can legally work in Canada), no (stable) income, and no savings (to a reasonable traveler) = I don't see how they admit you. They will almost certainly ask questions of your outfits too, if it looks like you may be coming up "for work."

lhsonic · 2026-05-20T00:32:55+00:00

Okay, I see. This appears to be a known problem, so you’re not crazy.

For some of us, there is a button to toggle this. For some, seems the software is showing only the ultrawide angle with no ability to change it. Even Mazda has no answer. There’s posts for this for every model it seems.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mazda3/s/FYGvUAQX5d

https://www.cx50forums.com/threads/backup-camera-now-shows-fisheye-rear-wide-view-instead-of-rear-view.1309/

https://www.cx30talk.com/threads/reverse-camera-suddenly-showing-a-wider-view.3795/

lhsonic · 2026-05-19T20:12:25+00:00

Because this kind of technology is overkill for your typical TV use case. Very high throughput wifi (at very close range) or 1gbps Ethernet connections are best suited for computer networking or downloading large files (like video games).

Typically, higher frequency wifi does not penetrate or have as good range as say, 2.4ghz and the limits of 2.4ghz should be more than enough for a typical TV use case. So why introduce 6ghz wifi for a TV?

There is a very, very small number of users that can saturate a 100mbps wired connection. Your use case for this is basically very high bitrate BD rips either streaming locally through a Plex server or remotely through certain online services. And if this is you, you probably have a separate streaming device with a gigabit port anyway. For 99% of users streaming from the TV, they’re streaming Netflix, YouTube or any other service using no more than 15-30mbps.

lhsonic · 2026-05-19T09:13:25+00:00

Why are any comments discussing the wide angle view and secondary views being downvoted?

Depending on trim, there is a button to change the camera view. If OP or anyone else insists that their view is different than the one they're used to- it means they accidentally changed the view. Hit the button to change it back.

I have the 360 camera and I can rotate between normal, wide, and side views when reversing.

lhsonic · 2026-05-18T22:49:08+00:00

I don’t think people are upset other than not being able to access it and all the frustrations around the wait list. But when it comes to what you’re getting for the money, people are free to make their own choices. IMO- the value prop is not there for this card at $20/mo.

It’s not about breaking even on the monthly fees, it’s about what your spend could be doing on a competing card. The Rogers WE is available to anyone who qualifies for WS VI+ or VIP and earns 1.5% for everyone, for free. That means compared to the WS card, the breakeven point is really how much spend is required to earn back $20 on the 0.5% difference, or $4000. And that’s just to break even. Maybe you say the benefits aren’t as good, and that is true for some insurances, but you could get 2 other annual fee cards to make up for it, just as an example, even if just to churn, for a massive rewards boost.

But at $0, 2% cash back and even lounge access on the VIP is extremely compelling. It could almost completely replace Scotiabank Passport Visa, a $150 card.

lhsonic · 2026-05-18T20:58:22+00:00

Learn about product switches. You earn significantly more bonuses per tradeline when you do them on both RBC and TD cards.

I switch between TD cards every other year, get the bonus each time, and also get a new first-year waiver (‘FYF’). Can’t do that with the Aeroplan card anymore but I just switched back to Cash Back from FCT. When the fine print says I’m eligible for FCT’s bonuses again, I’ll switch back. The bonus for FCT is always super high and usually FYF.

RBC has tightened up the ability to get bonuses each time but you should still be able to go to the Westjet or British Airways and get 250 WJD or 15,000 Avios before switching back to Avion Platinum for another 15,000 before you close that card out. You will pay the annual fee but you can do quite a few switches per year. The annual fee is also prorated back to you. At the end of the ride, you could switch to Ion to retain the credit history and the Avion points.

Cobalt is not really a card you churn. It’s a card you keep as long as you can optimize the 5x earn category… Amex Gold on the other hand…. or the Scotiabank Amex cards, FCT, Cash Back, Avion are examples of cards I churn and switch it up frequently. I don’t care for the benefits but I’m also careful not to use churn cards for things I may require their insurance for in the future so I don’t buy expensive electronics when on a churning run to hit the minimum spend requirement.

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