superangrypenguin

Here's hoping it bounces today. I'm not American, and I don't support Trump (even though I am someone who votes right/Conservative). In the US, you guys are more effed than we are in Canada. If you're fiscally conservative and socially progressive, you really are #*$(&D in the US. There's no party for you to vote for!!

I mean, I don't care what people do in their bedroom. I have some moderate views on immigration, but nothing extreme, but I do have very extreme views on fiscal spend - and that is, spend what you have, don't borrow more than you need to, and for heaven's sake, a deficit of trillions of dollars is probably, oh I dunno, a bad idea?!

Wait, what? I seem to recall that you're on the younger side, like me. While you may hear differing opinions on this, I do believe in investing in mutual funds. There are certain self directed investment tools that let you invest for free. No front load/back load fees (fees when you buy vs fees when you sell) and the only "fee" that you pay is the MER (management expense ratio) for the fund - which you don't even see. If the fund goes up 2%, then it goes up 2% after the fee gets paid.

Might I recommend a relatively low risk mutual fund with a low MER?

http://quote.morningstar.ca/QuickTak...&culture=en-CA

1 year up 14%. Investing is all about managing risk, and I'm VERY risk adverse. That being said, if you don't invest, you risk out on not even breaking even (matching inflation). Long term wise, you're always better off investing, otherwise you'll never get ahead. Trust me, when I started off in my day job, I invested in BONDS because I was so scared (parents lost it all in the stock market), SIGH.

Hey, at least none of you own Aimia shares (owner of Aeroplan. They're down 65% since the announcement that Air Canada and Aeroplan are divorcing).

Carsy

That is a good Govt.policy over a whole economic cycle. The Governments should spend when there is an economic slowdown & rake it in when things are buoyant to help maintain steady positive economic growth .

superangrypenguin

While I accept this is a commonly held political belief for those who typically vote 'left', this isn't a universal truth. In fact, even as someone who is fiscally Conservative, I do 100% agree with you that there is some merit in this approach. However, like with anything in life, I believe that there should be a level of restraint and that at some point a government can go overboard. Why? Because let's assume a government spends a trillion $ at a low interest rate, the assumption is that from that spending, (temporary) jobs are created which causes an increase in taxation dollars which ideally boosts the economy.

However, at some point, the money that goes towards servicing the debt will balloon to a point whereby if the interest rate goes up by 1% (or whatever), then the government is at risk for a lowering of their credit rating, which can cause the interest rate to go up even more. This then causes a reduction in government spending which will then cause the jobs above to go poof and etc etc.

Ultimately, in a time like the 2008 financial crisis, I agree with you. However, IMHO, over the last few years, we haven't really seen growth in any sector (1-3% overall - if that), and so all of this money wasted/invested by government really hasn't given us a return worth discussing. However, in that time, we've seen the amount of debt go up and nothing really to show for it*

* = I am only aware of Us/Canada politics on this. Sorry ahead of time, I don't follow other countries although the same rationale could be said worldwide.

//Yes, I also do realize that microeconomics and macroeconomics are wholly two separate discussion items and one shouldn't use one to describe the other (hence why I cringe when the government uses analogies during elections that are microeconomics theories which they try to topics that should be explained via macroeconomic theories )

Alfadude

You mean like to Oklahoma? Man, you must be feeling desperate.

dieseldoc

No like Canada. I have dual citizenship. Mom is Canadian and Dad was American. I was brought up in the states. I have lots of family in Toronto. Could not get me to live in Oklahoma.

Alfadude

I figured as much as I saw you are in Texas and I know how Oklahoma is viewed by anyone in Texas....and vice versa.

superangrypenguin

Not sure about taxes in Oklahoma as every state has their own income taxes, but if it's anything like WA state (no state income taxes) which I'm looking to move to...I'd be there in a heartbeat.

This insane taxation + $500/month hydro bill due to the libtards obsession with lining the wallets of these so called 'green energy' companies has me itching to get out of here. I'm so tired of seeing more than half my money being taken away. Those *******s!!

dieseldoc

No state income tax in Texas. Come on down. Energy in cheap. Great cost of living. I actually could not afford to move to Toronto. Too expensive! Besides, my wife does not like the cold.

Colin G

Colin G

Houses are affordable on the prairies. Winters here lately in Saskatchewan have been getting less severe and no snow till end of November and it is gone by the end of March. We only had about 15 days below -20 this past winter. It was a cake walk.


Only thing I hate is the damn wind. I am cyclist so the wind here is my nemesis.

superangrypenguin

I've had the privilege/horrid opportunity to be all over Canada. I've been to every single major city/capital in every province in Canada in all 4 seasons, and have been to each city at least 10-15 times over the last 3 years. (all for work).

Couple of things. Prairies have horrible winter, and on top of that, there is a serious lack of jobs. Saskatoon's airport is a joke. Regina is butt cold (like everywhere in Saskatchewan). Winnipeg is flat, grey and barren...(and also stupid cold)

And that's the problem in Canada. I'm in the top 2% of income here, and I can barely afford to live in the Greater Toronto Area. I moved here (from Vancouver) because of the lack of jobs. Vancouver is even more insane (from a cost of living standpoint), but quite honestly one is stuck either in Vancouver/Toronto (or Montreal but no way in hell am I moving to Quebec).

Sure I could move to Central Canada but then I'd either not have a job or take a significant pay hike - neither of which are appealing.

I get to work from home for most of my job, but there is a component where I'd have to see customers. So the other option is to live in C. Canada and fly out on my own dime for meetings and such but I don't think that's economically feasible.

Texas on the other hand - I've been to Las Colinas, Dallas, etc in the summer. It was 120F once - I could smell the plastic burning on the dashboard of my rental car. I don't know how you guys do it.

North Carolina/Washington State (HQ for my employer), Virginia I'm looking at. San Francisco is insane. I have a few friends who work at Google and sure, they get paid >$300K in base salary + immediate RSU grant, but their rent is also $4000 for a bachelor pad. After the state income tax is done effing them over, their take home salary is not nearly as impressive.

That's why Washington state is appealing to me. Great weather, great chance of a high paying job, etc. Sure Texas is great taxes wise....but it's so damn hot. I have no idea how you guys do it...

I remember the Westin at Dallas. I went for booze one night. It was a 10 minute walk - at most. I was sweating bricks by the end of that. There's a mall attached to that hotel - guess what I did for the rest of the week? I ate at the mall/restaurant and did room service and never once set foot outside of that hotel (except going to the office in Las Colinas via taxi)

The US is a tricky place to live. Your take home salary is highly dependent on the various tax jurisdictions. There's state taxes, possible municipal taxes etc. In Canada, we screw you while looking at you. In the US, they screw you with your back turned

Either way, it hurts

I'm just trying to find a place where the government will screw me less. Decent weather, people and the like are always a plus. I'm by no means Republican although I do agree with fiscal conservation, but I don't think I could live in a Republican state. I don't like painting a State by how they vote but I'm not sure I could live there (being Asian and all) =O

I was in Atlanta once for work. WOW I was stared down hard.

Colin G

Not that bad actually. I found winters in Calgary were worse when I lived there but at least there are Chinooks. -15c in Montreal also feels much colder than -25 here on the prairies. I hate winter and don't think it is that bad.


I have not had to fire up the snow thrower in 3 years here which is odd.


Yeah, Vancouver prices are nuts. My sister has been there for over 20 years and still can't buy a house.


Penguin, just curious but what do you do for a living?

dieseldoc

I have been in Dallas for 22 years. Gotten used to the summer heat. Was in NC before that. All places have their pluses and minuses. The nice thing about Dallas/Ft Worth is its diversity and reasonable cost of living. 4th largest metro area in the US. I am fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Most of my colleagues are the same way, but Texas outside the metro areas is extremely conservative. Makes life interesting.

superangrypenguin

Man you should have been in Calgary this last winter. It was balmy! I remember landing once in Regina in January. I had a polo on, dress pants, dress shoes and a light fall jacket. It must have been 500pm or so, and I walked out of Regina Airport [YQR]. As you go down the elevators to pick up your bag, you then slightly turn to the right to grab a rental. I then walked out and every expletive I knew came out of my mouth. It was -30 or so without the windchill. It was so fracking cold it caused the bottom of my feet, THROUGH MY SHOES to be in pain from the cold. The ONLY thing I liked about Regina is the Doubletree hotel, across the road from a pretty awesome Japanese restaurant. I mean, I guess it's nice the liquor store is also a block north, but HOLY CRAP. Booze is expensive, cold as *****...but the girls are HOT :P Lululemon right at the mall there across the road from where I used to teach (at the CTC training facility there). You know how to tell a city is used to the cold? When they don't use salt for the roads b/c it's SO DAMN COLD. Regina has some effed up roads too, with the HUGE grooves in the road. I remember drifting in a Impreza rental car (weird eh, YQR only has Subarus for National Car rental), and I'd go sideways and the damn car would get flopped around b/c of the grooves. Actually, I lie, there is ONE cool thing about Regina - the RCMP training depot is pretty cool...there's also a Moxies by the BestBuy/Boston Pizza there - that Moxies has some HOT women.

--
Went to University and got two dumb degrees which served me no purpose other than giving me a shot at an internship. Ended up working as an intern and then landed a role full time at a very well known multinational IT firm. I won't reveal my old job title as it'd give it away who I work for (happy to share via PM but not publicly), but let's call it [super crazy special] field engineer. My hourly rate was $300/hour and my job was to fly all over Canada/(sometimes the US/(sometimes internationally) to either fix issues (emergencies) when they were in a critical state or teach how to use the technology without breaking things. A customer usually gives us a few million $ a year for a support agreement and as part of that, they get the chance to get training by yours truly (my specialty was in one technology that almost every enterprise company uses). Billable rate for 3 days of my time was usually around $40K or so (managed IP) [and no, I was not paid that! It was what my employer got for gross revenue]. I've had the chance to teach/work at the Department of Defense, Passport Canada, Department of Finance and very large commercial entities as well (big 5 banks etc). The job involved 2-4 flights a week somewhere (I usually didn't even bother looking where I went b/c I was all over) and it involved spending 600+ nights in hotels, and 450+ flights on Air Canada in a span of about 3 years. It wasn't cool, it wasn't fun. Drank FAR too much and ate far too poorly, and to be blunt, I treated my body and my personal life poorly. Got married, and got divorced in that time frame, BUT I did end up getting top tier hotel status at Starwood, Fairmont, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and I probably forgot a few others (yes, I have a favorite hotel in every major city and it's sad when they say "welcome back Mr. Penguin. Nice to see you again". Main benefit of that job was a bunch of free personal travel (burnt through 1.6 million Aeroplan miles last year alone for worldwide travel), and the flights and hotels were all free as a result of amassing a huge amount of miles. (this is also why my W204 was 3 years old a few years ago with 12,000km at the time), LOL

If you've seen the movie "Up in the air" - that was my life. I had watched that movie in University and hoped one day to fly like Clooney did. I regret that b/c I did end up doing that and it damn cost me my health/life. I had some pretty bad moments on the road...

I don't miss the job. I love being home now (new role, same employer). Commute is now 15 seconds to my man cave, and I do drive to see customers every once in a while. I was in Enterprise Services - Delivery, and now my role is to manage a handful of customers who pay us large sums of money to receive enterprise services support. I've been with this employer my entire working career and there's been good times and bad times, but all in all I enjoy the job and the insane lifestyle that goes with it.

Anyways, sorry if I bored anyone about that. Just thought I'd answer the question that was posed

superangrypenguin

Thanks for sharing Doc. I'll never forget DFW. As you drive to the departures terminal, you see the planes taxing over your head. That's pretty cool. Outside of that though, the airport is pretty shoddy, (sorry, LOL). TSA Pre is nice though. Security is so much easier to go through with TSA Pre vs even NEXUS domestic in Canada (NEXUS card holders have a special line at almost every major in Canada except for YXE (FML))

Oh if you ever have a chance to try out a sushi restaurant, check out "The Blue Fish". OMG - to die for.

IF you're into BBQ meat, check out 'Hard Eight'. Really cool stuff!! The highways are also pretty awesome in Texas. Fond memories of Texas, that's for sure (that is, minus the heat!).

Adi-Benz

Hold on penguin...$300/hour?...I might know you...

edit: or a fellow friend who's job is slightly different but pays similar lol

superangrypenguin

$291 an hour, and this is a recent increase from $285 an hour, which is an increase from $265 an hour...

Oh gosh. Maybe I did write too much

MB Marko

Help me get a job with your current employer LOL I'd be more than happy with $35 an hour

superangrypenguin

I think the part where I mentioned that I don't get paid that much was missed. Lol. I'd be in a S63 every year if I got paid that much.

Those numbers are what gets charged by my employer to the customer. I don't get paid nearly that well although I'm certainly still a lucky sob for what my salary is. But man if I got paid 300$ an hour I wouldn't be be on here. Sorry guys! Not being mean but just speaking the truth

MB Marko

Hahaha I know just messing with you, you/anyone else would be in the AMG section if that were the case.

superangrypenguin

^On another note Marko, I think we need to redo your signature (the photo in your signature. Shouldn't one of the lamps be yellower than the other?)

LOL #trollalert

Adi-Benz

I can fix that!

Colin G

Penguin, yes the roads here are terrible. Tons of construction lately which is really annoying but at least the city is going hard on road repair. -30 C to +30 C temp swings can do crazy things to the roads.


Haha, I am picturing you walking out of that air port into -30. It is not that bad but if the wind is blowing it will tear your face off. Winters are dry here so the cold seems less sever then lets say -30 C in Toronto.

MB Marko

Aw guys I don't need that hahaha the pain is still there! Maybe you could photo shop one of the dead duck pictures off YouTube exploding on my headlight hahaha

Adi-Benz