Pricey at the Pump?

Heading into the summer season, Winnipeggers are again set to engage in one of their favourite summer past times: Jumping into the car and getting out of town! For the majority of the city, this clearly means heading out to the lake, while for others, this simply means packing up some gear and heading out on an adventure. Road trips, camping trips, canoe trips, trips to Steinbach... We're an adventurous bunch, and we rely on our vehicles to get us to our destination.

We stop off at the gas station to.. Whaaat? - Is that the price of gas?! Winnipeg pumps continue to spend time up in the 120's, and while we're still a few cents short of the national average of 125.6, the hit to the wallet still hurts! Regardless, we're a resilient bunch and will gladly continue about our summer lifestyles, enjoying the sun and good times with the family. Here's some simple methods and tactics you might be interested in to help reduce fuel consumption and save some gas.

Become a Carpool Champion - Six people in two vehicles? Get all your friends together and take the mini-van!

Find Lower Gas Prices - Don't be afraid to tap into your inner "Bargain Buyer", the website listed below is great for tracking city prices at the pump.

Purchase a New Car - Counter-intuitive yes, but maybe it's time. Think smaller car, diesel engine, manual transmission, fuel efficiency.

Drive Less - Going somewhere close by? Consider walking or taking the bike.

Check Tire Pressure - Over/under-inflated tires aren't good to drive on, and low tires cause fuel-consuming drag. Maintain correct pressure!

Don't Idle - If you're going to idle for more than a minute, then it saves to turn off your vehicle and restart when you're ready.

www.winnipeggasprices.com

Drive Slow and Steady - Driving slower uses less gas.

Easy on the A/C - Using A/C only when necessary will help save fuel.

Windows Up - Especially at higher speeds, windows-down causes lots of extra drag.

Be a Shady Parker - Parking in the shade will reduce gasoline evaporation from your tank.

Easy Acceleration - If you can spare the Days of Thunder rush from 0 - 50km/h, you'll save gas.

Going to/from work - Leaving earlier/later will avoid traffic saving 10-15 mins and all that gas.

Becomes friends with Inertia - Good drivers brake far less than ones who are constantly accelerating and braking. Roll up to stop signs, anticipate lights and rely less on constant braking.

Regular Service - Maintain your car regularly including scheduled oil changes, correct oil grade, changing air filter, rotating tires.

When in doubt, just get over to WinnipegGasPrices.com

Enjoy your summer!

Tax Saving Tips for Business, Professional Corporation

Income taxes are the biggest expense for most Canadian. If you have your own business or professional corporation, your company can help generate tax savings to accelerate your mortgage repayment or boost your retirement savings.

Use Capital Gains Instead of Dividends

If you are planning large cash withdrawals from your company, consider taking the cash as capital gains rather than dividends. Only one half of the capital gains is subject to tax.

Set Up Corporate Health Plan

You can get 45% discount on your medical expenses by setting up your own Private Health Services Plan. It allows your corporation to deduct dental and medical expenses for yourself and family members without any corresponding taxable benefit to you.

Split Income With Family Members

The corporate tax rate is around 10% (depending on your province), compared to the highest personal tax bracket of around 40%. Tax saving can be enormous by channelling corporate income to family members in a lower tax bracket, instead of paying all the income to you alone.

Maximize Deductible Pension Contributions

Consider swithing your retirement savings to an Individual Pension Plan (IPP), instead of the RRSP. You can make larger contributions to an IPP than to the RRSP, especially if you are over 50 and you are also entitled to a large tax deduction for past service contribution.

Deduct Mortgage Interest

If you have a sizable house mortgage, you should look for creative ways to write off the mortgage interest.

Jets land, Winnipeg takes off.

When the Jets came back, Winnipeg didn’t just get a hockey team, but more so an economical jump-start.  Over the years Winnipeg’s economy has steadily been increasing, slowly, but steadily. It’s not that we don’t possess the characteristics and charisma of a major city; we just didn’t have the capital or investors, until now.

Since the Jets have come back to Winnipeg, we have seen growth in all major sectors of our economy. From retail to the real estate market, people are buying in Winnipeg as well as buying into Winnipeg.

Downtown Winnipeg alone is a definitive example of our potential for growth. With True North Sports & Entertainment paving the way with new restaurants, stores, and hotels, other investors will surely follow. I can tell you personally the team has had extremely positive effects for us at Madison Financial Services Inc.

If this little social experiment has taught us anything, it’s the positive effect of a sports team on the unity of a community but most importantly to never underestimate the purchasing power of the middle class. In seventeen minutes the Jets sold 13 000 tickets at a five year commitment. The people of Winnipeg have money; they just needed a viable reason to spend it.

So the question is, what will the future hold? Will the Jets become a serious playoff contender, will Portage Place rise from the ashes, and will Mark Chipman replace the golden boy atop the legislative building? Only time will tell, until then let’s just sit back and watch our little city get back on the map.

What Freedoms can a Financial Plan offer?

Benefits of a financial plan

A solid financial plan can help you:

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• Provide for your family in the event of your death, disability or a critical illness
• Secure a comfortable retirement
• Control your debt
• Fund a post-secondary education for your children
• Minimize your taxes
• Leave an estate to your heirs
• Meet a variety of business protection needs
• Provide affordable benefits for your company’s employees
• Or as is the case for many Winnipegger's:
• PURCHASE WINNIPEG JETS TICKETS!

Are we there yet?

Buying at the point of maximum pessimism
By Larry MacDonald

In past issues of The Boeckh Investment Letter, Tony and Rob Boeckh recommended using the current bout of stock-market weakness to rebalance toward equities. In their latest issue (Sept. 22, 2011) they advise holding off until better value emerges, as they now believe the decline is likely headed toward a more severe stage due to continued temporizing from policymakers.

In Europe, the banking system is in danger of a Lehman-style calamity unless sufficient liquidity and capital is injected. And with a default in Greece no longer being a question of “if” but “when,” the eurozone will be hard pressed to find an orderly way to manage it without triggering contagion and a run on the banking system.

In the U.S., the Federal Reserve needs to do more than change the composition of its assets (as it did recently under Operation Twist). It also needs to launch another expansion in its asset base, i.e.a third quantitative easing (Q3).

Governments need to retrench fiscally, but this should not be pursued in the short term while the world economy is in danger of falling into recession when heavy debt loads are to be paid. The first priority is to keep a downward debt-deflation spiral from taking hold; once that scenario is less of a risk, reining in government finances can be considered.

As for Asia, a sustainable solution to current world problems requires China and other chronic surplus countries to allow their currencies to rise. It’s time for them to switch more to growth based on domestic sources instead of exports, for the sake of achieving a more sustainable global growth path.

Unfortunately, it seems political paralysis will continue until markets revolt and spread fear and panic. The Boeckhs urge investors to get ready to rebalance toward equities on the major dips they envision occuring until inaction gives way to a vigorous and coordinated policy response.

Source URL: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blog/investing/48024--buying-at-the-point-of-maximum-pessimism

NFC - Technology that will change revolutionize financial transactions for everyone.

Tonight, Seattle's Museum of History and Industry will be hosting an expert-hosted industry discussion about a technology that will replace your wallet (eventually). Read more from the forum below.

NFC is a technology that has been around for a number of years, but has been thrust into new prominence by an explosive growth in mobile phones, slated to reach five billion worldwide in 2011. With one chip, NFC enables trusted information sharing and secure business transactions to occur between paired devices. The resulting everyday applications – credit card, ID card, key card – could lead to real-life implications (from that of a wallet-less world to just-in-time target marketing) that were once the realm of movie makers and technology visionaries.

As NFC’s promise becomes reality, top players in key industries such as mobility (T-Mobile, Verizon), finance (MasterCard, Visa), retail (Amazon), and entrepreneurs (Qthru, Iota) are collaborating as well as vying to capitalize on the opportunities that this technology presents. During this lively and insightful discussion moderated by David Brudnicki, CTO of NFC software and system provider Sequent, we ask industry experts to elaborate on the promises and pitfalls of NFC, the key players, and how entrepreneurs can get in on the game.

Source URL: http://www.mitwa.org/events/enterprise-forum-program/next-mobile-revolution-near-field-communications-nfc

Why I'm Writing This Blog

Why am I here?  Spiritually, I think I have almost found the answer but I will save that for later.  In terms of why am I here writing this blog, well, that is a very good question and I’m glad you asked.  I feel like I have some very helpful advice to share with those who need it.  I would hate for someone to have been able to use my service, and not be aware of my area of expertise and how I help so many clients.  So in short, I am writing this in case you need me.

For those who know me through business they may think I am too serious- but I am very serious about aspects of life that are no joke.  For those who know me well personally, they would say I am a jokester who loves to play sports- keep in mind that doesn’t mean I am funny or athletic.