Hands off our retirement money! Should Ottawa loosen the RRIF rules even more? + MORE May 18th

LISBON, Portugal – Portuguese officials are evaluating three bids submitted for a 61 per cent stake in TAP Air Portugal as the government makes a second attempt to privatize the flag carrier.
The airline and government experts are expected to report on the merits of each bid by the end of May. The government may then announce a winner, or select one or more bidders for further negotiations.
Officials declined to name the bidders, saying the offers are confidential.
The government has said it hopes to complete the sale by the end of June though the deal would still need regulators’ consent, which could take several months.
A 2012 attempt to sell the debt-heavy airline collapsed after the sole bidder failed to provide the required financial guarantees.
The post Portugal receives 3 offers in attempted privatization of debt-heavy national airline appeared first on Canadian Business – Your Source For Business News.

South32 fills a gap between mega-miners and minnows, and offers a diverse assets, from aluminum to silver

ATHENS, Greece – Greek government borrowing rates shot up Monday amid growing concern the country will be unable to meet upcoming repayments to the International Monetary Fund.
Interest rates on two-year bonds — a gauge of default risk — surged to 23.5 per cent, while the Athens Stock Exchange dropped was down nearly 2 per cent in midday trading.
Greece is trying to reach a deal with eurozone lenders that would release the final installment of its bailout plan. It needs the 7.2 billion euros ($8 billion) to avoid defaulting on its debts this summer.
In Spain, the country’s conservative economy minister said he was confident an agreement will be reached in the coming days.
Speaking at a business breakfast Monday, Luis de Guindos said Greece an agreement was imperative given Greece’s financial difficulties. He urged Greece to present a complete and wide-ranging list of economic reforms that creditors have demanded in exchange for the loans.
De Guindos said he was not aware of any alternative emergency plan should an accord not be reached…

Not that we have any choice, since there is no way to opt out of the Canada Pension Plan, but suppose we could. Would it be better to invest in an RRSP? What kind of return would we need to achieve to beat the CPP? AssumptionsCPP: A 65 year old receiving maximum CPP of $1065 fully CPI inflation-indexed income per month for life would need to pay in for 39 years $2479.95 per year (in current 2015 dollars) if an employee, or double that ($4959.90) if self-employed and having to pay the employer portion as well. See RetireHappy blogger Jim Yih’s explanation of how to get maximum CPP here.RRSP: The same $2479.95 (or $4959.90) is invested in an RRSP. At age 65, the person buys a $1065 per month lifetime annuity indexed (increased) annually by 2%, which is our best guess future rate of inflation based on the fact that 2% is the target policy rate of the Bank of Canada. Like CPP, the life annuity stops when the recipient, or the spouse as well in joint life annuity, dies. The prices we obtained from Cannex…

The 2015 federal budget proposes to lower the amount of tax-sheltered retirement money you are forced to access after 71. It’s a good step but doesn’t go nearly far enough, according to many financial planners.