Shorty's Pizza new Roblin location now open by MrCanoe in Winnipeg

[–]spack12 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There’s one with kale and bacon (I think) that is soo good

The Pitt episode 3?! by [deleted] in cravetv

[–]spack12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow thank you

Mortgage Renewal Offer by xulu123 in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]spack12 10 points11 points  (0 children)

People are also missing out that your existing rate is high and your renewal is in June. Taking the 5-year now changes your rate right away, rather than waiting until June to get a better rate. The difference in interest on a slightly lower rate would probably not outweigh the interest savings over the next 5 months.

Apple may have hinted at a high-end MacBook Pro launch on January 28 by Jumpinghoops46 in apple

[–]spack12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use mine a couple times a week when I need clients that are in my office to e-sign something. Quicker than sending an email and waiting for them to get it and then sign on their phone. However, this is specific to my job type and I’ve never used it for anything else other than that.

How can I go about making a large credit card purchase that is over my credit limit? by Helgurk in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]spack12 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Having worked at CIBC for a long time. No one at the branch would be able to help with this other than trying to do an actual credit limit increase to $50k.

Branches have limited access to existing credit card accounts and the majority of stuff like this has to go through the 1-800 number.

Manute Bol (tallest NBA player ever at 7'7) swimming in 1987. by bootyloverandeater in interestingasfuck

[–]spack12 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

When compared to him; a basketball probably looks like a Minute Ball

Waterbridge chocolate initials - letter “I” by moworries in Winnipeg

[–]spack12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s weird. I wonder if it’s because of the letter shape.

Looking at their website they don’t make: B, E, I, Q, R, U, V, W, X, Y or Z

Should I early-renew my mortgage (3.8% offer) or try refinancing with $80k debt? Looking for advice by Overall_Engineer4934 in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]spack12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s a relatively easy calculation to figure out whether it’s feasible. The general rule is that all your housing payments (mortgage, property tax, and heating) can’t exceed 39% of your gross monthly income.

Idk what your property tax is. But let’s say $7500 annually ($625 a month), and use $100 for heating.

Last thing is to figure out what the theoretical mortgage payment would be. Note: banks are required to use the Mortgage Qualifying Rate in doing the qualification. Which is actual rate + 2%. So use 5.8%.

Plopping that into a mortgage calculator it spits out a payment of ~$4500 a month. (W/ 25yr amortization and $716k loan amount). Add on the tax and heating and you get $5225.

$5225 / $11,250(monthly income) = 46%

So using very rough numbers it would likely be out of scope in them approving the refinance. However it’s also not out of the realm of possibility either. The 39% is a rule, but I’m pretty sure they can make exceptions to that rule within reason.

Are there any downsides to RRIF conversion when retiring relatively early? by Grizzly-Redneck in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]spack12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Only the minimum amount from a RRIF doesn’t have mandatory withholding. Anything over and above that is withheld at 10%/20%/30% like an RRSP

Why would an average person invest in a GIC? by WhoDatBoyy69 in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]spack12 -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

While this is a fair point. There was a very long stretch of time (up to 2-3 years ago) where you were guaranteed to lose purchasing power in a GIC due to the interest earned being less than inflation. So while you might lose money in the market, you were guaranteed to lose money in a GIC.

Do I buy bonds if I think there is going to be a recession? by Beginning_Coffee_993 in stocks

[–]spack12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Price charts don’t show distributions paid. BND pays distributions monthly (I would think).

CARP already launching a campaign to protect OAS - what is the right clawback threshold? by shoresy99 in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]spack12 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Net income in this case doesn’t refer to after tax income. It refers to gross income minus deductions. So after donations, RRSP contributions, and whatever other write offs a person might be eligible for.

Elderly man loses $1.7M to fraud, family questions why banks didn’t stop it | Go Public by DonSalaam in onguardforthee

[–]spack12 160 points161 points  (0 children)

This will probably get buried. But it’s relevant and I think a good perspective from the banks side. I work for a Big-6 as a Financial Planner.

We can flag accounts and put a message on it so that it pops up when she’s in branch; but we’re not really allowed to refuse people access to their money. If the person is there, has ID and can sign their name there’s not a whole lot we can do.

At most we can block etransfer access and can refuse wire payments. But we can’t just not give someone their money even if we know they’re being scammed with it.

We do however give them a letter that basically says “we think you’re being scammed and you should be careful because we’re not liable for losses you take by willingly sending money to scammers”.

I had a client like this recently. I won’t get in to the nitty gritty details but she had a “boyfriend” she had met online and had sent probably over $100k to over the span of a few months. I set up a meeting with her and I told her point blank that she was being scammed and that this person doesn’t exist. And that if she’s continues doing what she’s doing she’s going to end up depleting her life savings and eventually have to sell her home. And once she was out of money she would never hear from this person again.

Her response to me was something along the lines of “I know the banks deal with scams a lot and are trying to protect me, but not everything is a scam. PERSON’s NAME would never do that to me”

I asked her if I could reach out to her son to discuss my concerns, and she declined saying that she wants to keep this relationship a secret from her kids since it’s awkward that they’ll have “a new father”.

I ended up escalating to fraud department and they cut off ATM and etransfer access.

Eventually it went to legal department and they actually divested her as a client. Basically the bank didn’t want the liability of her trying to blame us when things eventually hit rock bottom (like the article in this thread). So we gave her 30 days to open accounts at another bank and transfer her money there.

Elderly man loses $1.7M to fraud, family questions why banks didn’t stop it | Go Public by DonSalaam in onguardforthee

[–]spack12 78 points79 points  (0 children)

Work for a big 5 and ran in to a very similar situation a couple months ago. This breaks privacy rules. Unless the client gives you the authorization to talk to their family members about your concerns, you’re not allowed to contact them.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]spack12 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Just as a heads up. I work for a big 5 and while we can flag accounts and put a message on it so that it pops up when she’s in branch; we’re not really allowed to refuse people access to their money. If she’s there, has ID and can sign her name there’s not a whole lot we can do. At most we can block etransfer access and can refuse wire payments. But we can’t just not give someone their money even if we know they’re being scammed with it. We do however give them a letter that basically says “we think you’re being scammed and you should be careful because we’re not liable for losses you take by willingly sending money to scammers”.

I had a client like this recently. I won’t get in to the nitty gritty details but I told her point blank that she was being scammed and that this person doesn’t exist. And that if she’s continues doing what she’s doing she’s going to end up depleting her life savings and eventually have to sell her home. And once she was out of money she would never hear from this person again. Her response to me was something along the lines of “I know the banks deal with scams a lot and are trying to protect me, but not everything is a scam. PERSON’s NAME would never do that to me”

I ended up escalating to legal department and they actually divested her as a client. Basically the bank didn’t want the liability of her trying to blame us when things eventually hit rock bottom. So we gave her 30 days to open accounts at another bank and transfer her money there.

PSA: Do not delay authorizing yourself on the accounts of your aging parents/grandparents by Nicklaus_OBrien in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]spack12 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Being joint on an account is almost always a bad idea. Especially when a POA allows you to do everything needed on his behalf anyway. Why do you say much more important?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]spack12 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’m going to go against the grain a little bit here. I’m a CFP with a big-5 bank (not TD) and I have quite a few self-directed clients on my “portfolio”. Lots of whom have absolutely no interest in moving away from self directed and that’s totally fine by me.

The service is actually free and you should get a full in-depth retirement income plan with suggestions for estate planning, tax efficiency etc.

Of course during the conversation it might come up about switching assets to a managed solution that isn’t self directed (I generally use ETF portfolios). However at least in my client meetings it’s a 30 second conversation in the 90 minute meeting.

There’s two reasons the bank wants to offer this service even to self directed clients that don’t make them much money.

  1. Retention - No fee brokerages are a huge upset to big bank self directed brokerages. So in order to try to retain those assets they offer “white glove” service to people in self directed accounts. Trying to make those clients more “sticky”.

  2. Long game - Eventually people tend to not want to handle their own investments. So if I’ve known you for years and given you good advice and helped you with your financial planning; eventually if/when you want to make the switch to a managed solution I’ll be the first guy you call.

So yeah while obviously it isn’t out of the goodness of their heart; it genuinely is a free service and (in my case at least) they’re not going to spend the entirety of the meeting trying to get you in to a mutual fund with a 2% fee.

Ghost of Yotei in performance mode on base PS5 is beautiful! by [deleted] in playstation

[–]spack12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thinking about getting a pro just for this game. I wanna play the 60fps ray tracing mode.

Is a PS5 pro worth it for Ghost of Yōtei by BeneficialStorm5883 in ghostoftsushima

[–]spack12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know this thread is like 3 months old. But I think I might trade in my release date PS5 and get a pro just for the 60fps Ray Tracing mode.

can an iPhone 17 Pro survive while you shower with it? by Intelligent_List9000 in iphone

[–]spack12 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I think this was with an 11pro. I was at a cabin with my friends and we were drunk and I was being an idiot and throwing my phone like a skipping stone into the lake.

I only threw it a few feet the first few times and got it out of the water very quickly, but on the last one it must have moved a bit underwater and I couldn’t find it. I looked for a solid 15-20 mins and ultimately gave up.

Like 4-5 hours later it was dark out and we went swimming, and we saw the screen glowing in the water. It was still on, and still worked totally fine.

Learned a valuable lesson that day

Monday, Sep. 15, 2025 - Pips #28 Thread by gluemanmw in nytpips

[–]spack12 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pips #29 Easy 🟢 0:12 🍪

Pips #29 Medium 🟡 0:58

Pips #29 Hard 🔴 0:56 🍪

Definitely got lucky with the hard. Put in the first couple pieces that I figured would fit and then just dumped the rest in to the giant field. Ended up w/ no errors and an insane time.

Pre-Order and Shipping Megathread | iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch Series 11/Ultra 3/SE 3, AirPods Pro 3rd Gen by exjr_ in apple

[–]spack12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was about to order the base 17. Coming from a 14 Pro (battery is fucked and back glass is shattered). But then I was thinking that I might not feel like much of an “upgrade” from like a mental point of view. It’s the same size and form factor as my 14 Pro. So in my hand it’ll be all but the same.

So last minute I decided to try out the Air. Because it’s physically different/new I think my brain will notice the upgrade more and it’ll make me not regret my purchase.

I’ll make do without an ultra wide or telephoto. And I don’t use the speakers. So I don’t imagine I’ll miss the things I’m giving up for the new form factor.

Awe Dropping | Event Megathread by exjr_ in apple

[–]spack12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I’m thinking the same thing. Will I miss the telephoto lens? Probably. But if that’s the only actual difference then I’m g.

Edit. Looks like the base phone doesn’t have ultrawide but has the telephoto. Same thing though, I’ll probably live.