Investorial

Signals vs. Noise put up an interesting short Blog asking readers to guess which company this is based on 5 financial stats. Without peeking at the answer, see if you can guess!

767 employees, P/E of 182, operating margin 6.5%, market cap $4.4B, short shares % of float: 12%.

Times’ up! Did you guess yet? Hint: How many companies have a P/E of 182? Did you guess correctly? Head over to Signals vs. Noise for the answer!

I would like to get a series started about all the different RSP ads that are popping up for the season. What are the sales tactics of these mutual fund companies to get you to contribute to your retirement savings plans? How can we filter the truth from the marketing?

I’ll give you an example borrowed from Mark Cuban. Mark Cuban said that the smartest marketing that shampoo companies ingrained into the population was the slogan of “Rinse & Repeat”. It’s a genius way to get people to quickly use up your products and buy more! But no studies prove that rinsing and repeating will actually help versus just doing it once, and letting the shampoo bubbles work their magic!

I’m currently collecting any RSP ads in any media (internet, radio, television and print). When I have more spare time, I will examine these scrutinize these ads and I won’t hold back! For our American audience, I would also like to bring to light any type of marketing efforts you see in the Retirement plans, IRAs, 401Ks; whether it be internet articles, or advertising. Please submit to me, any advertising campaign that interests you, Canadian or American alike!

Now that The Conservatives are elected to form a minority Canadian government. I’m looking forward to Steven Harper’s commitment to reduce GST from 7% to 5%

A 5% GST will mean

Today’s last installment of the Canadian Election Watch analyzes the New Democratic Party’s (NDP) political promises about Canada’s financial prosperity. For those who joined us late, you can browse through previous articles about The Conservatives and The Liberals here and here respectively! You can also find out who I voted for and why at VinceChan.net! Enjoy and as always, your comments are welcomed!

Increasing the GST tax credit
This NDP declaration is in direct response to the other two party’s tactics to reduce personal taxation. (more…)

In today’s part 2 of the Canadian Election Watch, I will be examining the Liberal Party’s tax goodies. You can check out yesterday’s first part focusing on the Conservative’s tax cut promises. You can also find out who I voted for and why at VinceChan.net!

Increasing The Personal Tax Exemption
The basic personal amount of income exempted from taxation is $8,648 in 2005. Paul Martin and The Liberals promise to increase this amount to $10,000 over the next four years. Henry Choo Chong (CGA) states that this translates into approximately $500 of savings in an individual’s pocket, but does not elaborate on whether this is $500 per year, or over the four years. The increase will help all individuals in every tax bracket. My view: it’s going to be more compelling to split revenue with a spouse or pay family members if you are a small business owner! (Example: A small business generating $40,000 and spread it among 4 individuals, and you won’t have to pay a cent in taxes provided these individuals don’t have any other income sources.

RRSP Reform
The Registered Retirement Savings Plans are always fodder for The Liberals. (more…)

I was riding the subway today and picked up a copy of The Metro for some light reading. The Money Matters column by Henry Choo Chong (CGA), caught my eye as he answered a reader question about the different tax promises that each party is bringing on their platform for the Canadian election.

Henry was definitely correct to point out that simply voting for a particular party because of their tax policies is really not the right way to base a decision. Nevertheless, he analyzed 3 major points from the 3 major federalist parties. Unfortunately, the tax policies of the Bloc Quebecois do not offer any substance for the rest of Canada and none of the other independent parties have anything worth saying on the subject of the country’s finance.

I will do the same for these each political party starting with The Conservatives today, The Liberals tomorrow, and The NDP the day after! Be sure to come back and read my analysis of these tax policies! You can also find out who I voted for and why at VinceChan.net! (more…)

I recently saw in a company’s (un-named to protect anonymity) newsletter, this announcement about their group plan insurance. Take a look at this censored excerpt:

Each year our insurer reviews the cost of our LTD coverage and makes adjustments to the premium based on the claims incurred during the year. Our incidence of disability claims has increased this past year, and as a result of the insurer’s review the premium for your coverage will increase by 10% beginning with the first pay in January.

For example, if you earn $xx,xxxx annually, your payroll deduction for LTD coverage will increase by approximately $x.xx per month, or $xx.xx per year.

It is important to understand that even with this increase [company name] employees are still enjoying significant discounts on premiums. You receive a premium discount under the group plan that is not available with individual disability insurance contracts.

It seems like it is still a great deal right? Well, before you decide for yourself, let’s examine how group insurance works!

Underwriting
First of all, Insurance companies are in business to make money! Underwriting is a process that is critical to (more…)