gary17

i'm not qualified at all to give any opinion, there are many intelligent investors here. it's just a feeling more than anything else, that a conservative government would likely see policy shifts away from higher taxation and towards one that is more pro-business. The Liberal government is the one that taxed financial instituions. The current conservatives in Canada are in opposition and had a real great chance of forming a majority government up until about 6 weeks ago. Trump & Carney win in my view seems to have solidified another minority government, probably a minority Libearal , and that means the chance of a shift in policy that the market may be expecting will not be materializing.

Market didn't like Mark Carney win i think. Now the conservatives won't stand much of a chance of a majority. Maybe a minority or some other form of government...

I think Trump's position on the issue while makes sense, the unintended onsequence is that many countries like Korea, Taiwan , etc will look at this and realize the only true security guarantee they'll ever have is to have their own nuclear weapons. I don't disagree it's a bad situation and I don't know how else one would negotiate with Putin, but i think backing away from the 'leader of the free world' (right or wrong) creates a void for others to step in. just my two cents.

i'm in my early 40's and based on a few different calcs, fairly sure i can be OK retiring now. my job is fun but there's one partner that's a little not great to work with. other partners thought so but we are canadians... too nice to do anything lol. AND, after 20 years at it, feel like i owe it to myself to explore something else. Really toying with the idea of stepping back, may be instead of retiring, can reduce my hours, etc. I think it'll be scary to not go to work one day though i am sure. Still have a kid in elementary...so can't really travel the world just yet. thanks for all those who shared their path.... nice to read.

I assume RIA = registered investment advisor ? thanks !

do the people here with $5M - $10M still have a day job ?

what would you be buying when market crashes. , SD?

So back to finance / stocks: If Trump's motive is beyond border / fantanyl and truly wants Canada as 51st state. What would be the sensible thing to do to preserve wealth? Perhaps after tarrifs Trump might start economic sanctions (ie isolate Canada like Russia), etc

i 'd be very curious that in an inflationary (due to taxes) enviroment , but economy is weak - how will the fed tweak the lever on rates. yikes

my view is the 25% tarrif is very heavy handed and most Canadians feel it's an unfair and unjust punishment that gives no value to the longtanding friendship between the two countries. i agree canada's been focused on the wrong thing for the last decade , nato spending falling behind, border, etc, etc. but the president could have approached the problem differently, and not threatn canada to be 51st state. it would have been nicer to give very specific targets: meet 2% or 5% of GDP on defence by 20XX, spend XX Billions on border, allow FBIs to jointly participate in cracking down drug operations in Canada, etc, etc. the current 25% tarrifs approach will likely back-fire and i am concerned will have the opposite result the new administration is looking for. need carrot and stick.

there's a nice CBC piece by Andrew Cheng that talks about whether Trump has some valid concerns about drugs from Canada - Canadians should watch basically it's like COVID testing, you don't test, there are no cases. no policing, so nobody's getting caught. It's that simple. Liberals are gaslighting Canadians that

Thanks SD - always insightful. I was recently reminded too about the inter-provincial barriers being very significant and perhaps removing those could help Canada offset the impacts it might feel from the barrier that US is about to impose.

I'm not familiar with Canadian laws but can the Liberal government actually stop oil / electricity etc from being sent to the USA? Or all they can do is implement some sort of export tax , thus indirectly forcing those to be dialed back? It's really too bad they shot themselves in the foot - we can't send oil and other resources to Asia or Europe.

Xi and Putin must be having popcorns , watching the new world order live streaming ... I for one never liked the current Canadian government's policies, but bullying Canada is low. Musk can bully Justin Trudeau on X, yet it's ok for X to shut down a local Vancouver pub for having a sign that reads "forever neighbours, never neighbors". that's a bit much. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/the-penthouse-marquee-hate-speech-allegation-1.7428625

Americans probably have short memory - let's not forget who helped american diplomats out of iran. who welcomed stranded americans to their homes after sept 11. who stood shoulder to shoulder , sharing intlligence, etc on fighting terrisom. we even had two michaels went to jail to execute a US warrant. that's just what I know. many more examples I am sure.

one weights reduced productivity against cost of maintaining a decent office in a inflationary environment and staff retention - likely attributed to why it has lasted as long as it has been

he also pointed out the Liberals need to get bcak to the centre. they've drifted too far left

We will never foreget the two michaels. i think that relationship has soured,

I have all the contributors here to thank... Sanjeev for having this forum. Viking & many others on fairfax, CSU, etc. I focus on running a 50 person engineering company in BC and investing in the last two years has been completely , more or less 'passive'... ie just piggybacking on ideas of others; occasional evening or weekend reading of materials, no big diving into anything. The return this year has been extraordinary, well above average, and now contributing much more to my wealth than the day job... Basket of CSU/FFH/tech , and started to get into a few Japanese (been to Japan few times the last year). I am too young to retire, but certainly this unexpected turn in the last few years has made me think more about this new 'freedom' to do anything, consider options about what I should do next , etc. It's a truly first world problem, but certainly has occupied my mind a lot these days ! Happy new year everyone- here’s hoping 2025 will be as phenomenal as 2024!

wow did you type this up with LaTeX

Apple is transitioning from a hardware to a software / service company IMHO

Somebody posted in the FFH new all time high what price to sell. This was my thought about 18 months ago. I have therefore trimmed my ownership.

thanks LC, appreciate the insight. Gary

LC: what attracted you to AECOM? Have you looked at WSP and Stantec ? Gary

$5 USD / share nice!