Blog for July 11th, 2025
Rogers Stadium instability, surfing, and staying on the sidelines
I survived! The stands at Rogers Stadium that is. Denise and I saw Coldplay on Monday, which was amazing other than the fact that we thought we were going to die. No seriously, those stands were moving! Our biggest fear was when Chris Martin encouraged everyone to jump to their songs. Yikes! We survived thankfully and apparently the stands are designed to move, but it did take away from the experience. Everything else you might have read about the new stadium on the old Downsview airfield is not what we experienced. It was pretty good actually with no complaints other than the swaying stands. Next up for us is Oasis in August. I think I might try to switch out to the floors!
Denise and I are in Vancouver to have dinner with Alex and Yvonne for his birthday and then heading to Tofino for some ocean salmon fishing, hiking, and surfing. This is a new experience for us as we have not been to Tofino before. The red wood trees are insanely large!
Addison is flying in to meet us next week for a tour of UBC. We are on a stretch of university visits as she heads into grade 12. We were in Halifax recently for a long weekend touring Dalhousie (my Alma mater), Acadia and St FX. All were very good and unique. Small and intimate at Acadia, great campus and atmosphere at St FX, and much larger, historic campus at Dalhousie. The tours are a great way for Addison to experience a variety of schools to compare to others in Ontario and beyond.
Alex and Yvonne are finalizing plans and permits to start building their house in Pemberton (30 mins north of Whistler) early next year. They are learning about all the environmental regulations in BC that far outweigh Ontario, and it adds to the cost.
My niece, Emma, Jason and Henrik flew out to Exeter in the UK to start a new life there. Jason got a cool job in programming and artificial intelligence in the aerospace field. It sounds exotic even if I don’t completely understand it. They both have family in the UK and thought it would be a cool adventure. I get it. It’s good to be young and adventurous, and it will be a missing for us and my mother.
Addison got her G2 driver’s license recently. We ended up taking over Emma’s VW Taos lease for Addison so she has her own car to get around.
We finally took the plunge and started watching Ted Lasso. The first season was great and it has gone a little flat as we head into the final episodes of season three. I particularly like Roy Kent and have embraced his attitude…lol...you will know what means if you have seen the show. His character is really well done.
It was exactly a year ago that I had my eye surgery. Quite the journey when I look back on it. All good now! The eyes are working pretty well and I am back to full activity. I had a minor procedure for scar tissue recently that went really well. Whew. It’s good to be back.
Turning to the markets, I find it nearly impossible to find someone that has a clue as to why the markets are at all-time highs in light of the world economic and political uncertainty we are experiencing. I am going to venture that investors don’t believe Trump will follow through on his tariffs and he is using them as a negotiating tool only. Maybe. Economic numbers across the globe have actually been pretty good in the face of the tariffs so far and maybe that is encouraging investors to buy. Employment on both sides of the border have held up relatively of late.
I just can’t bring myself to jump in here and add to equities at the moment. I feel like I am chasing returns and there is just too much uncertainty for my tastes. I am not sure what will move me off my 25 to 30% cash position in portfolios. I have given up a little return at the expense of safety of principle, and I really don’t think that is a bad idea. So far, everyone I have spoken to is more than agreeable with that thought process.
I believe we are going to see stagflation at some point as tariffs begin to bite. Low growth and higher inflation is not a good recipe for market growth. I also have some serious concerns about the US deficit that no one seems to care about other than the bond market. The “big beautiful bill” is going to add $3.3T to the already record deficit in the USA. Spending on interest payments south of the border is now higher than spending on defense and closing in on that of Medicaid. They spend $2.6B a day on interest! Crazy. Somewhere, somehow, that is going to come back to bite them.
Don’t get me started on the political instability and military action in the world…
For now, let’s stay conservative, hold extra cash, and ride the sidelines a little longer. I am watching for new entry points, changes in economic data and some resolution to tariffs and world political instability. That might be wishful thinking on my part.
The experience in the markets these days is a little like the stands at the Rogers Stadium. Swaying and moving and still standing…so far.
Enjoy your summer. Stay well. Enjoy the exceedingly hot weather as winter comes all too fast in this country.
Cheers.
Miles…