Mark J. Carney, the Governor of the Bank of Canada controls what our central bank does on interest rates. Governors get paid between $431,80 to $507,900. The reason our mortgages are so affordable today, and why Canada didn’t have an economic meltdown during the last recession is largely because of Mr. Carney. Prior to his current job he had a 13 year career with investment bank, Goldman Sachs and has worked in their Tokyo, New York, and Toronto offices.
Earlier this week, Mr. Carney was appointed to become the next governor of the Bank of England. His new job will start around summer of 2013. This is most certainly a loss for Canada, but we should celebrate that a Canadian has been chosen to become one of the most influential financial leaders in the world. Nobody knows why he decided to accept the offer, but I think it might have something to do with the ₤624,000 ($993,000 CAD) compensation at his new job 
It’s hard to say no to practically doubling your salary. It’s okay Mr. Carney, we understand it’s nothing personal. It’s just business 
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The TFSA contribution limit is going up next year from $5,000 to $5,500. This means one month from now we can invest more of our money and not get taxed on the interest or dividends we make \(^_^)/ If you’ve been keeping track, that’s a total of $25,500 contribution room from 2009 to 2013 inclusive. The loonie bin blog takes a more in debt look at the announcement. If you are making less than $60,000 a year, I would strongly recommend you consider maxing our TFSA before your RRSP. On the other hand if you make six-figure annual income like more than a quarter of you readers apparently are (referring to the poll on the right ->) then contributing to your RRSP is most likely a better strategy, especially if you’re married.
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In global news, a couple in China has refused to allow the government to destroy their home to build a freeway. They claimed the relocation compensation offered to them by the government would not be enough to build a new home for themselves so they decided to stay put and the road was forced to be built around the intact home, probably making this an unintentional tourist attraction now It’s nice to see that Chinese citizens do have property rights after all.
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Foot traffic analyst ShopperTrak estimates nearly 308 million shoppers hit the streets for Black Friday sales, a year-over-year increase of about 3.5 percent. Yeah, go consumers! Keep buying stuff at record amounts so the companies I own will continue to make record profits! The S&P 500, Dow Jones and NASDAQ were up 1.3%, 1.35% and 1.38% respectively on Black Friday, Nov 23rd.
Cyber Monday 2012 was also a huge success, with preliminary figures showing a 17 percent increase over the already robust sales from 2011. A total of $1.46 billion was spent online in that single day, making it the busiest day for online commerce in American history :0)
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Blog roundup – PF related and other interesting articles from around the web
-Dividend Growth looks at Caterpillar (CAT), one of my favorite US stocks that I personally own. I agree that it’s fairly cheap now if anyone wants to get in. Caterpillar paid money to be in the new James Bond film :0)
-Maria from Money Principle gives us the one personality trait that all wealthy people have in common, they control their wants.
-Nurse Frugal shares an interesting visual way to track paying down the mortgage, and has recently gotten their mortgage debt under 6 figures.
-I currently have a part-time job working at a school, but here are 5 other things people can do to make some extra money as explained by Young Adult Money.
-Dividend Ninja explores why some people don’t invest. And why some excuses to not invest, are simply excuses.
-Modest Money explains how personal loans aren’t necessarily bad debt. This fits well with my interest for leveraging.
-Alex from Freedomig reminds us that even if we’re among the poorest in North America, we should still be thankful for what we do have compared to the rest of the world.
-If you’ve ever wanted to try and sell stuff on craigslist because you’re moving, or just want to make some extra money the Outlier Model has some pretty useful tips.
-Don’t yet understand how brokerage accounts work to buy ETFs? Don’t like paying for high mutual fund fees? Vix Money can introduce you to the world of TD e-Series funds. No trading commission to buy or sell, but also low management fees. The best of both worlds :0)
-Timeless Finance point out that re-usable diapers probably isn’t for most people.
-Mo’ Money reflects on her career path and believes that even if we have the same job related goals in mind we can all get there in our own different ways.
-Renovating a home can be a daunting task to some, luckily, as add vodka explains, there are things you can do to prepare like getting financing to make it easier.
-Live Well on Less recommends some ways to stay warm and thrifty this holiday season like buying expanding foam at your local hardware store to seal up those gaps in your house to keep the cold air out and lower your utility bill.
-Making Sense of Cents shares her experience of being a victim of identity theft and how she handled the problem. Scary world we live in.
-If you are currently in debt and need some advice, this article from My Alternate Life suggests you should not be afraid to ask for help.
-Reach Financial Independence has a great recipe for a veggie pizza. Looks yummy. I would probably add some feta to it as well.
-Dividend Lifestyle posted major dividend income for the month of November. Always nice to see what kind of stocks people south of the border are buying.
Thanks for the shout out! A good round-up and I love the Chinese house
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Yar, maybe the owners of the house can put up a toll booth or something :0) easy money.
Thanks for the mention.
I think Mark Carney bailed because he sees the Canadian economy entering a slow motion disaster. The debt bubble is popping and the housing market is starting to implode.
As for China, that’s a hilarious picture and kind of emblematic of the bizarre-o things that can happen if you slip enough money into the correct official’s pocket in a communist nation. I don’t want to make light of the plight of the Chinese people; I think they remain horribly oppressed by a tyrannical government, and they’re bent on ruining North America through currency manipulation, manufacturing hollowing-out, and the purchase of natural resource assets.
He’s a pretty smart dude. I wouldn’t be surprised if he anticipates something about Canada that the rest of us haven’t realized yet. The UK is probably not in a much better situation but I’m sure he’s the best person for the job
Glad you are sending Carney over, my UK mortgage is about to get cheaper then! thanks for the mention have a great weekend
That’s cool you have a UK mortgage, if rates were to get any lower there maybe I’ll think about diversifying my real estate portfolio overseas (~o~)
Wow, is that picture of the Chinese house for real? AMAZING if so!
Sam
Yup, there’s a couple more picture thru the link. Doesn’t look like a place I’d want to live in, but I’m sure it has a lot of sentimental value for the couple living there.
I think Mark Carney is leaving for a few reasons:
1) HELLO!!! Doubling your salary!? I’m there.
2) A new challenge — sometimes it’s boring to do the same thing over and over again
3) He’s seeing Canada is entering (slowly) a debt bubble burst and housing market meltdown, although not to the extent of the U.S.
As for China….. Having been there, I am not a fan. That’s all I’ll politely say.
Heh, I like how you are very politically correct about it. As for Carney’s move, I think this is also great news for his family because he’ll have more time to spend with his daughters, all 4 with dual Canadian-British citizenship. Plus his wife, Diana, is British born anyway, so he’ll probably be doing less traveling and staying in one country more often.
NICE !!! lol
About the house:
Apparently they have now accepted a somewhat larger offer of compensation, and the wrecking crew rolled right in. The Associated Press reported that Xiayangzhang village chief Chen Xuecai said the house was bulldozed on Saturday after Baogen agreed to accept compensation of 260,000 yuan ($41,000).
Good for the ex-owners of the house if they can rebuild or find another place to live for $41K. That’s about one year’s salary for the median Canadian, but when the nominal GDP per capital in China is around $6K, the compensation of $41K might not seem that bad
Hey thanks for the mention! I’ll be very sad to see Mark Carney go.
You and I both. Flaherty actually hand picked him to be our governor in the past. He’s kind of like a rock star in the financial world now, everyone wants him lol. This would be the first time the 318 year old Bank of England will have a foreigner as their boss. I’m happy that at least it’s a Canadian
I read a column somewhere saying, we welcome foreign football managers, because they’re the best, why not do the same with the BoE?? BTW, thanks for the mention. I got quite excited when I read the post and saw it (first time for me), so cheers for that
Sure thing, I didn’t know you could use foam strips to insulate doorways, makes complete sense though. You learn something new everyday
Oh you’d be surprised! I’ve nailed old bits of carpet and allsorts to the bottom of basement doors in friends houses – that’s when there’s like a 2 inch gap at the bottom though – you don;t get foam strips that thick!!
Remember his predecessor – David Dodge? I would not discount how he set-up Mark for some of the success during the meltdown. Most people/organizations seem to discount longterm thinkers unfortunately, and David was definitely one of those. It is unfortuante that people with skills to organize things for the better beyond their tenure rarely get the kudos.
I’m a little dissapointed to admit I’m not too familiar with Mr. Dodge. Too bad I didn’t pay a lot of attention to these things back then, but I really should have. I think one way we can adequately reward long term thinkers in government, give show our thanks, is to somehow link their future pension amounts to their performance and contributions to society. The idea being it will force them to make plans that will benefit Canada in the future, rather than making plans to win the next election. Unfortunately once governing individuals come into power, they rarely want to change the status quo because they don’t want to carry any unnecessary risks to their personal retirement. We need more people like this leading the country though, financial and politial leaders with conviction
Mr. Phil, maybe you should be appointed as the next governor of the BoC :0)
Hey let me think about that… hummm, NO! The money may be good, but the headaches that go with it I can do without. My life is about balance and freedom to do the things I want, when I want. Besides, I think when you are that that level they severely limit you investment opportunities which is why the pay is so good. I have a freind who works as a finanacial auditor for a global audit company, and it is next to impossible to hold good stock investments as there are possible conflict of interest issues or insider information concerns since their company audits like 40% of the Canadian companies books.
Back to the main point though, ensure you review your history, especially financial side as history ALWAYS repeats. We humans really have not changed much -Go buy a good bookand chill that you will know how it will probably work out – “This Time is Different”
Haha, man i wonder what rush hour is like at that house!
Thanks for the mention!
The constant noise of traffic can probably make some people go a little crazy living in that house heh.
Thanks for the link love!
No prob, thanks for sharing your mentoring experience.
thanks for the mention! I’m really sad to see Carney go. Carney/Flaherty have been a good 1-2 punch for Canadian economy.
I’m sad to see him leave too. I wonder who the new governor will be for the BoC. Whoever it might be, I hope he/she is just as qualified
Thanks for the no mention lol! That house reminds me of UP! I don’t even know who Carney is… must be nice to have a salary like that!
I love UP! It’s so creative. I like the talking dog named Dug
That house photo cracks me up every time!
Ha, thanks. It does look a bit out of place.
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Thanks so much for the mention!!!
No prob. Thanks for dropping by
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