Happy Friday from BMWM!

Happy New Year to you and your families. We are excited to be back in the office and all hands are on deck to begin the New Year.

If you have not provided us with a copy of your Notice of Assessment for tax year 2022, please email them to matthew.grieder@rbc.com. This will help us as we update your financial plans for this year, and we can determine any RSP room you may have.

Brenda just returned from a three-day conference where she had the opportunity to hear from many analysts and economists. It was jam-packed with relevant and current information that will help us with our investment decisions as we begin 2024. There was some timely information that has led us to an extra re-balance of your portfolios this week. Interest rates, inflation and the possibility of a recession or a soft landing were the major topics over the three days, you can read more about that in our bi-weekly update.

The Current Account (click here to read) covers the U.S. and U.K. militaries launching strikes against Houthi rebels, U.S. inflation ticking higher in December after easing throughout most of 2023, patients across Canada waiting over 20 hours for emergency rooms, cryptocurrency getting a major boost following U.S. regulators approving a bitcoin ETF, and former NDP leader Ed Broadbent passing away at the age of 87.

Taylor’s word of the week is pheromones, which are chemical signals that animals send to each other. You can think of pheromones an invisible form of communication. For example, rabbits leave a scent (aka pheromones) to convey messages to other rabbits which other animals cannot read.

Have a great weekend,

Brenda, Betina, Taylor, and Matty