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For once they agreed. Federal and provincial finance ministers agreed on creating a system that would encourage self employed and employees of small firms to save for retirement. The minister had different views on how to ensure Canadian have enough saved for retirement but they did agree that they want to make sure that employers are not put under a burden by the new plan. The Pooled Registered Pension Plan, called PRPP’s for short will be used to increase retirement savings for individuals with out a corporate pension fund. Employer contribution will be determined by the provincial registration. PRPP will enlist insurance companies and financial institutions to administer then new saving plan network which will make it easier and cheaper for small companies to offer employee sponsored pension plans to their workers on a voluntary basis. Self employed would be able to contribute to the pooled pension plan under the government proposal. The terms for PRPP’s will be worked out next June, where they will also be working on trying to a consensus on changes to the Canada Pension Plan. So far, there have been no estimates of how many people would join the plan and how much it would cost them per year and the expected savings that the plan would generate.
Self Employed Pension Plan
21-Dec-2010 | kate | Budgeting Canadian Investing Economy Estate Planning Government New Announcements
This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.
Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.
Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.
Crescent Point Buys Shelter Bay
12-May-2010 | kate | Canadian Investing New Announcements Stocks
Crescent Point made her first billion dollar deal today, after spending 1.1 billion on a friendly takeover. The deal, which will increase their holding in the Bakken oil field, will see Cresent Point swallowing up Shelter Bay Energy, in an all stock offering. Crescent Point, however, is still raising money though a $375 million bought deal, which will help them develop their expanded holdings.
The union of the two companies is really about bringing family home. When the federal government shut down energy trusts in 2006, crescent point was handcuffed when it came to acquiring new properties. The board of directors was faced with an interesting challenge of trying to remain a trust unit with the need to restock their reserves.
The board decided to make a private holding company, which would buy interesting properties, Crescent Point would own a 21% stake and manage the subsidiary. Several other investors got on board including Carlyle Group and Goldman Sachs, who helped provide the funds to get the company going, which was named Shelter Bay. (Pretty good name if you ask me!)
But times change and so do companies, and in July 2009, Crescent Point converted from an income trust to a traditional common stock and they no longer needed Shelter Bay. And while Shelter Bay played their role buying up the Bakken and Lower Shaunavon and provided great returns for their shareholders, Crescent Point is ready to bring her home.
Shelter Bay shareholder will receive 0.037 Crescent Point shares for each Shelter Bay position. Crescent point will be assuming around 121 million worth of Shelter Bay’s Debt.
This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.
Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.
Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.
Google Stands tall against the Commies
24-Mar-2010 | Reggie | Asia Government
Amazingly and quite surprisingly, the Worlds largest Search Engine among many other things has decided to take a stand against the Worlds most populist country and fastest growing economy. Although Google’s Chinese business is currently a pretty small piece of the pie ($600 million out of the total $24 billion or 2.5%) the potential of growth in the Chinese market is extreme. The move is sending a message that Google is only willing to bend so far when it comes to compromising their moral code.
“Don’t be evil” has been the unofficial Google mantra that Google themselves incorporated into the very heart of their business. The mantra is meant to keep Google on the righteous path and avoid making poor decisions on the prospect of short term gains. Instead Google can grow and preserve an image of honesty and moral upstanding. Taking a stance against China will do just that as Google shut down the Google.CN page and began directing traffic to the Hong Kong page where the stringent censorship laws do not apply.
I think that the positive attention Google is receiving from this move is one of the main reasons the stock is down less than 2% on this news. People seem to genuinely appreciate the move and message that Google is sending and shows how much value is placed on not being “evil.” It will also be interesting to see how other foreign companies react to Google’s message. It is probably only a matter of time until China shuts down access to the unrestricted Google HK site, but for now Chinese surfers have full access to the world wide web.
This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.
Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.
Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.
South Korea Eyeing Up Canadian LNG
01-Mar-2010 | kate | Asia Canadian Investing Commodities Oil & Gas
South Korea is investing $565 million into two northeastern BC natural gas plays, after Korea Gas Corp signed a three year farm in deal with EnCana Corp for a 50% interest in land blocks at Horn River Basin and Montney shale formations.
On the news Encana shares rose nearly 3% today, the company is excited about the partnership with their spokesman Alan Boras saying that “this (opportunity) gives us an opportunity to accelerate development faster than we would have otherwise and bring some of this additional gas potential to the market”.
In Korea, the news is reporting that the state owned firm plans to spend over $1.1 billion over the next five years on the shale plays, where they have 50 interests in 10,000 hectares in Horn River Basin and roughly 52 hectares in Montney. The firm has already signed an agreement to buy liquefied natural gas from an export terminal planned for the northern coastal city of Kitimat, B.C.
EnCana is trading up on the news at $35.41.
This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.
Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.
Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.
Trouble Ahead
08-Feb-2010 | kate | Commodities International Investing Market Outlook Market Strategies Market Theories Stocks
In 1996 copper was being hoarder which led to a price collapse, and predicts that we are going to see this on a much larger scale once again. President of Resolved Inc, a metal trader, believes that a catastrophe is on the way and that copper prices are set to dissolve on rising stockpiles and the unwinding of positions by speculators.
So why does David Threlkeld believe copper prices are going to fall? David says that part of the problem is because of tricky word usage by analyst, so let’s start here. Demand simply means buying a product while consumption means that the demanded product is being used and is no longer available for use. So instead of looking at market demand, which can meet stockpiling of metal we should be looking at world usage.
In two thirds of the world consumption of copper went down by 20%, but consumption in 1/3 of the world which is China went up 10% as well as copper production in China also went up 10% There is also a theory that so the theory that China is reliant outside copper is incorrect. The country produces 4 million tonnes of copper and uses roughly 5 million tonnes, meaning that they import roughly 1 million tonnes a year.
Anything in excess of that is unsold inventory which remains available to the market and creates a stockpile of inventory which will eventually lead to the market is going to collapsing since the demand will slow down. Unsold inventory is usually around 5 million tonnes, this year it is going to be a couple extra tonnes a year, meaning that supply is outpacing consumption. We will find that we need consumption to start outpacing supply so that we can remove the excess capacity on the market in order to stop a collapse in the price of copper, something that Threlkeld sees as unlike and rather is preparing for a slowdown in copper price for the next few years.
This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.
Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.
Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.
