2016 Financial Goals – September update + MORE Sep 11th

Parti Quebecois leadership candidate Alexandre Cloutier, centre, announces a new supporter, Maka Kotto, left, Thursday, May 19, 2016 at the legislature in Quebec City. (Jacques Boissinot/CP)
Normally, there is a cleansing aspect to a political leadership race. Coming in the wake of bruising defeat, it allows a party to make a show of taking stock, seeking out new blood and renewing policy. This mixture of humility and self-confidence is usually good media fodder, crucial for a party to stay relevant through the lean years in opposition.
In this sense, the current Parti Québécois leadership race is lacking on several fronts. There was no recent crushing defeat—that came more than two years ago, when Quebec’s main sovereignist party lost to the Liberals. Rather, the current race is to replace Pierre-Karl Péladeau, whose quick rise to the top of the party was matched only by his swift departure less than a year into the job.
Nor is there much new blood. Three of the four people vying to lead the PQ also ran in 2015…

Main Street of the hamlet of Sachs Harbour on Banks Island in the Northwest Territories. (Erika Larsen/Redux)
We are not a northern nation, and we need to stop lying to ourselves that we are.
More people live in Moose Jaw than live in the Yukon. Compared to other Arctic regions, Canada has done so little to develop its northern economy that it is now rivalled by the tiny Faroe Islands. There’s still no four-season road to our Arctic shores. The only railroad is falling apart. There’s no longer a port, and it’s easier to fly to Africa than it is to Nunavut.
Canada needs to stop pretending that it cares about the North. Decades of false rhetoric has created expectations among those few who do live up North that someone “has their back.” No one does. They’re on their own and they have been for generations. We tell the world the North is ours, that we are protecting our sovereignty and our vast mineral wealth. But the truth is we aren’t, and those resources are so far from the nearest railhead they may as well be on the moon…

Learn, save, invest and prosper with My Own Advisor.
Welcome to my third financial goals update for 2016.
All plans remain nothing more than guesses.  However it’s the process of planning, making some educated guesses, monitoring how those guesses turn out and revisiting the outcomes to learn from them – that’s more important.
Let’s recap our goals for this year and see where we’re at as of this month.

Maximize our Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs)

The TFSA remains a gift to all adult Canadians regardless of their income status.  If you don’t know the rules of the TFSA yet please read this post here.  Our TFSA is maxed out – which feels great.  We’ve actually started to save a few hundred bucks already for 2017 TFSA contribution room.

Make double-up mortgage payments

I continue to say this on my site and it’s worth repeating again:  I don’t think there’s an absolute right or wrong way of tackling debt.  We’re fans of getting rid of all high-interest debt first – and we do…

Pension funds snapping up businesses facing heightened regulation following global financial crisis