We are in a time of troubles, for in Canada, the U. S., Europe and even China, investors are worried that the recovery that began in March, 2009, has lost its legs. Now the search is on for assets that pay dependable income. Trouble is, they are hard to find. If you have been watching […] Read more
Tough Times Make It Harder To Buy Yield
How To Manage Taxes And Benefit Clawbacks Late In Life
A widow we’ll call Alice, 83, lives on a farm of 600 acres in Alberta. Murray, Alice’s husband, passed away several years ago. The farm is no longer an active business, for Alice ceased working it in 2003 while they continued to live on the property. There is, nevertheless, modest farm income of $2,000 to […] Read more
How To Balance Risk And Reward
If you are looking to make off-farm investments in stocks or bonds, you’ll find you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rock is the wavering returns of the stock market, now in a sideways pattern and liable to plunge if the world economy goes into the double dip contraction that many analysts […] Read more
Why The Urban Population Is Eyeing Up Your Farmland – for Sep. 6, 2010
A funny thing happened on the way to the stock exchange: A decade of data has come to light challenging the supremacy of holding stocks as a way to build a fortune. What’s more, major hedge funds are — wait for it — plunging major money into farmland. Yes, soil and crops appear poised to […] Read more
Succession Planning When Most Of The Kids Want Out – for Jul. 23, 2010
Dale Williams, 58, and his wife, Moira, 56, farm 10,000 acres in Saskatchewan with their son Michael, 32, and his wife. They have two other children, ages 30 and 26, neither of whom are part of the farm nor want to be. The names we’re using are, of course, fictional to protect the privacy of […] Read more
Look Beyond Government Pensions For Retirement Income
How prosperous will your retirement be? That depends on how generous and dependable public pensions and government services will be. Many lucky folks will have private investments and prosperous farms and will, therefore, be relatively less dependent on the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security. But those services will be the great levelers of […] Read more
How To Pace Inflation
In the business of keeping up with inflation, there is nothing simpler nor more guaranteed to work than a Government of Canada Real Return Bonds (RRBs). They have been in use for several decades and, though complex in their operation, they do the single job of making sure what they pay and what they are […] Read more
Stock Market Should Reward The Prudent
Where are markets going? It’s a perennial question, but at the moment there is anything but clarity. The U. S. Federal Reserve Board has given a hint of what is to come by raising interest rates from 0.25 per cent to 0.50 per cent for overnight loans to banks by the Fed. It’s a token, […] Read more
Keep The Century Farm In The Family
Want help? Grainews is looking for farmers with troublesome financial questions. We will protect your privacy. We insist on examining real situations, but we DO NOT use real names or even identify your hometown. You do not have to pay to participate in this article. If you have a financial question, send your name and […] Read more
Profits Made In Greek Tragedy
Buying U. S. Treasury bonds, which pay on average 20 basis points more than Government of Canada bonds for mid and long terms, is looking more attractive in spite of the American economy’s well-known problems. As well, the U. S. dollar is gaining respect. The greenback has been soaring as global investors flee from the […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
