Copper slump continues amid waning Chinese demand + MORE Aug 30th

Industry calls on governments to loosen regulation, expand tax credits and increase investment in northern infrastructure

CALGARY – Want to buy gold as a savings alternative? Well, you guessed it, there’s an app for that.
Josh Crumb, co-founder of BitGold, says he created the software that automatically links buyers to bullion dealers and storage companies because he wanted to make it easier for people to own gold as a hedge against inflation and as a store of value.
“It’s just so much easier, like everything else, to do it from your mobile phone,” said Crumb.
The system charges a one per cent fee to exchange cash into gold and back but storage is free. It also allows users to transfer their gold value to a prepaid credit card, so they can actually buy a cup of coffee with their gold holdings, said Crumb.
“It gives the ability without having to go to coin shops and shave off some flakes of gold to buy something.”
Crumb said he and co-founder Roy Sebag were inspired by the possibilities of Bitcoin, which allows global financial transactions without going through banking systems…

Decline in Chinese demand, increase in production capacity and surplus existing stock combine to drive down prices, with no relief in sight

TORONTO – Five things to watch in Canadian business this week:
Alberta fiscal update: A financial report from Alberta on Monday should offer a glimpse into how the provincial government has been faring amid low crude prices. Finance Minister Joe Ceci will be expected to address how the NDP government plans to regain its fiscal footing.
GDP: Did Canada fall into a recession? That question has been the source of heated discussion in recent weeks. On Tuesday, Statistics Canada will shed light on that when it announces the gross domestic product for the second quarter of this year. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Some economists say Canada likely met the technical definition of a recession but without some of the classic hallmarks of a severe downturn.
Alimentation Couche-Tard: Quebec-based convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard will report its first-quarter results on Tuesday. In July, the owner of Mac’s and Couche-Tarde stores said its U…

Learn, save, invest and prosper by subscribing to My Own Advisor.
You might already know by now, over the last couple of years I’ve posted our financial goals on My Own Advisor.  I do this because:

I believe all goals should be clear and transparent,
I believe all goals should be realistic,
I believe all goals should be measured, and
I believe all goals should be documented.

So those are the academic / textbook reasons.  The other reason?   Doing this works and we’re realizing most of our goals because of it.
Here’s a recap of our financial goals for 2015:

Maximize our TFSA contributions.
Put $300 lump sum payments on our mortgage every month.
Save $5,000 for home improvements.
Do not incur any new debt.

As of this post here’s where we are:
Maximize our TFSA contributions.
Done!  We filled up our TFSAs earlier this year.  We just recently maxed out the additional contribution room available for 2015.  We’ll have to wait until January 2016 to contribute more to these accounts but this was a major goal for us and I’m proud to write we nailed it…