Tagged : canadian dollar

'It's just too good of an opportunity to pass up,' former Winnipegger Diane Olson says

It's time to cash in for many Canadians who bought property from 2008 to 2011 in the United States, says Diane Olson, an Arizona real estate agent and former Winnipegger.

"My clients, when they call me, they're ready to sell. It's just too good of an opportunity to pass up," she said.

Substantial foreign exchange gains and appreciation in home value over the last five years have created a "perfect storm" for Canadian homeowners in the United States, she said.

"The houses that were more around $200,000, they're up. They can [sell for] anywhere from $275,000 to $350,000," said Olson. Add to that the loonie trading for about 70 cents U.S. and Canadians are

Canada's dollar has been on a continuous slide, oil has dropped and the markets were all down. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he's "tremendously optimistic," but his finance minister sensed a different mood on a visit to Calgary.

The Canadian dollar is in the midst of its steepest decline in history. On Jan. 15, 2014, it was trading at a little over 91 cents U.S.

On Friday, it dipped below 69 cents US for the first time in 13 years.

That’s a drop of almost 25 per cent. In just two years.

That means your one-day ticket to Disney World near Orlando, Fla., – pegged at US$105 – will run you at least C$150. Two years ago, it would’ve set you back a little under C$115.

Throw in a few nights in a hotel, some meals and the cost of travel,

The Canadian economy is tied closely to the price of oil, meaning crude will have a broad impact over the coming year.

As they say, the cure for high prices is high prices.

That’s the truth at the heart of the collapse in oil prices in 2015, a force that will shape our personal finances in the coming year. In the GTA, it’s good news. The commute is cheaper and so is the cost of heating our homes. It adds up to a tax cut as good as the one the Liberals are giving us.

In the west, where 40,000 industry-related jobs have disappeared, more pain is on the way because the energy rout may only be midstream. Even if it isn’t, more jobs will likely go. Until the price of oil stabilizes, the only thing companies can do is guess and keep