Global Credit Crisis and Canadians

Canadians Showing More Caution On Borrowing

First Published Date: March 27, 2009

It is becoming clearer that the average Canadian is cutting right back on borrowing as the global credit crisis continues to exert its hold on the purse strings of both businesses and the individual. In a world where money is now becoming more of a luxury item, people are becoming much more likely to save than to go out and spend money that they do not really have. What is becoming more and more obvious with every new set of figures that is released, is that more and more people are coming around to the idea that this credit crisis is not something that will be here today and gone tomorrow.

It is therefore no great shock that people are seeking to feather their nests in the current climate. With the best will in the world, no one really seems to have any firm idea when things are going to be better. So while people at the beginning of the credit crisis may have taken a more gung-ho attitude and resolved to ride things out without making major changes, it would take a brave or foolhardy individual to look at the pronounced slowdown and assume that things will improve tomorrow, next month or even next year. In such a climate, the only thing that many people feel they can do is hold on to what they have and pray for a boost.

With the figures for 2009 likely to show that the market growth globally for this year has slipped into the negative numbers – the first time that it has happened since the end of the Second World War – there is an absolute necessity to live according to the realities. This in turn is posing problems for governments, though. In order for markets to recover, it is essential that consumers are spending. If consumers are to spend, it is necessary that banks will allow them to borrow. With banks going to the wall in many countries, it is unsurprising that those who remain are keeping a firmer hold on the purse strings. It all adds up to a apocalyptic vision.

Fewer people are buying homes at the moment, and now it emerges that less money is going on retail too. When you are not sure that your job is recession proof, the prospect of speculating in order to accumulate is naturally less attractive. So what does the future hold? If people do not get spending, how will the markets ever recover? What we are likely to see – and there is not a period on this – is a slow, cautious improvement when it happens, which will gradually pick up pace as people gain confidence in the markets. We must hope when this does take place that banks and governments have learned lessons from the chaotic situation which has led us where we are now – and make the changes that need to be made.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Canadapersonalfinancewebsite.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on Mar 27, 2009.

What Are the Top Ten Socially-Advanced Countries?

Canada Ranked World’s 6th Most Socially-Advanced Country

First Published Date: April 19, 2015

The Social Progress Index, an index that was developed by team lead Harvard professor Michael Porter, measures social progress by taking a more holistic understanding approach and complementing traditional measures such as GDP and other indicators. There are 52 elements, from crime to literacy rates and gender equality to accessing information that are tracked by the Social Progress Index.

Here are the top ten countries on the 2015 Social Progress Index out of 133 countries:

1. Norway

2. Sweden

3. Switzerland

4. Iceland

5. New Zealand

6. Canada

7. Finland

8. Denmark

9. Netherlands

10. Australia

Here are some global highlights:

– Canada is the top ranking G7 country and the only G7 country to show high progress.

– Canada gets a high score for tolerance of religious minorities and immigrants and access to advanced education, but gets a low score on access to information and communications, obesity, and protecting the environment.

– Sweden is the top performing country in the EU.

– Costa Rica is the world’s best over-performing country.

– Brazil is the top BRICS performing country. After Brazil comes South Africa, Russia, China and India.

– US is ranked #16, although it has the world’s highest per capita GDP.

– Zimbabwe is 133rd and the worst country on the list.

Next Book: Credit Card Hacks

Credit Card Hacks: What Credit Card Companies Don’t Want You to Know

First Published Date: April 23, 2015

These days, we all know that credit cards have become a necessity, rather than a luxury. Take off credit cards from your daily living and you will not be able to perform your daily activities as you normally would. However, for many of us the convenience and functionality of credit cards have become burdens because we lose control of them. This is where my next book Credit Card Hacks: What Credit Card Companies Don’t Want You to Know comes in.

Instead of credit cards taking over your life, Credit Card Hacks reveals the techniques that will let you take control of your credit cards (and your life) and not just that – the information you will learn will take you beyond the scenes (that credit card companies don’t want you to know) of ordinary credit cards, so you can use credit cards to your advantage and even make money.

I am working on the last 2 chapters of Credit Card Hacks. So you are probably looking at another 5-6 months before you will be able to get your hands on it. Like my last book, Money Hacks, Credit Card Hacks will be published on the Amazon Kindle platform.

Once my work is done on Credit Card Hacks, the next stages of editing, cover designing, and format designing will begin. However, I will keep you updated once we are close. Keep an eye on A Dawn Journal for further announcements.

The CN Tower – An Architectural Triumph

The CN Tower – A Wonder of the Modern World

First Published Date: Aug 8, 2009

Each major city in the world must have at least one tower that stands over the skyline to really give it definition. These towers invariably end up on postcards and other visual media for sale, and as often as not they find their way into the civic logo as well, as a means of identifying the city visually in combination with its name identifying it verbally. The most famous towers can even identify a city without the need to mention its name. People see the Eiffel Tower and they think of Paris. They see the Empire State Building and think New York. More recently, the Burj al-Arab has performed this role for Dubai. In Toronto, a city which embodies the Canadian tradition of having wealth, power and success without needing to shout about it, there is still such a tower – the CN Tower.

In a lot of ways the CN Tower is situated in an ideal place to give Toronto a further boost to its identity. This is due in no small part to the proximity it has to Toronto’s major sports arena, the Rogers Centre. Originally known as the SkyDome, the Rogers Centre was a ground-breaking example of the now common mega-structure, multi-use sporting arena with a level of technological advancement that really makes you draw breath. One of the first stadia in the world to feature a sliding roof, the SkyDome made it possible to play games “outdoors” when the weather suited and “indoors” when necessary. This is now commonplace in sporting arenas, but in 1989 when it opened was huge news.

Any wide-angle view of the SkyDome/Rogers Centre will typically involve the CN Tower, which imprints it on the consciousness of baseball and football fans from all over North America. Completed in 1976, as part of a rash of skyscrapers being built in the city, the CN Tower is as recognizable a part of Toronto as any of the above buildings are to their home cities. In fact, it was the world’s tallest free-standing structure for over thirty years, from the point where it surpassed Moscow’s Ostankino tower in 1975 to the winter of 2007 when it was finally surpassed by the Burj Dubai, still under construction at present.

Unlike many of the world’s most notable towers, the CN Tower was built with a technical purpose in mind rather than office and commercial space or residential properties. It is used primarily for communications, although it does contain a restaurant, a gift shop and other elements that attract tourists as well as providing a meeting-place and a landmark for the people of Toronto. When the similarly-sized Ostankino Tower had a fire in 2000, with the deaths of several people, the response from many was to fear that the same thing could happen in the CN Tower, given the similar heights and ages of the buildings. The fact, though, is that the CN Tower was built much more safely, with fireproof building materials, stringent emergency monitoring and automatically-replenished water reservoirs at the top of the building.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the realestateexpedition.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on Aug 8, 2009.

The World's Top Happy and Sad Countries

Canada Is One of The Top Happiest Countries

First Published Date : April 28, 2015

The World Happiness Index in an index published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) under the United Nations that measures the well-being and happiness of 158 countries, as they are indicators of a nation’s economic and social development.

Switzerland (7.587) is on top of the list, followed by Iceland (7.561), Denmark (7.527), Norway (7.522), and Canada (7.427). The report assigns scores from zero to ten based on data collected from people. Although Canada is in the fifth position, in terms of score it is close to the other 4 top countries.

Some of the factors the index looks at are income, social support, health, generosity, corruption, and personal freedom. The world’s least happiest countries are Togo (2.839), Burundi (2.839), Syria (3.006), Benin (3.340), and Rwanda (3.465).

The World Happiness Index was first launched in 2102 and an increased number of governments are using this index to research and construct their policies.