AI, AI, AI! Oh, my goodness, what a week. By now we all know that artificial intelligence is taking hold, with trillions of new investment dollars flowing into the industry. Computing power is becoming more powerful by the day. Competition to dominate the large language space is fierce – Anthropic, ChatGPT, and Orca, to name a few, are competing to become the globally preferred language model. However, energy consumption for these massive facilities is also fierce. Combined, the AI, crypto and associated server farms consume almost 2% of the world’s electrical energy. As demand grows, where does this energy come from? Options include nuclear, hydro-electric, coal, and natural gas. Of all these energy supplies, natural gas is currently the easiest and cleanest to expand. Both the U.S. and Canada are abundant in natural gas resources. The question for Canada, will our politicians get out of the way of progress and allow us to make money from the vast resource?

This morning, the Canadian government reported that our unemployment rate jumped to 6.8%, the highest in almost eight years. Earlier in the week, the former Governor of the Bank of Canada, Stephen Poloz, said in a speech that he believes we are in a recession, either technically or real. Meanwhile, our Deputy Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, believes that we are in a “Vibecession”—people feel their financial situation is worse than the actual economy. The government also reported that Canada’s GDP per capita sank for the sixth consecutive quarter—fantastic! Either the statistics are wrong, or Freeland is out of touch with the country and Canadian taxpayers. Maybe giving people a GST break for two months is really going to help! I have an idea: reduce government spending, eliminate carbon taxes, reduce regulations that cost consumers money, and increase competition through tax legislation that promotes economic growth and allows us to compete. Then the Vibecession will disappear!

As the U.S. election fast approaches, the news services—both mainstream and on social media channels—continue to funnel information intended to inform and skew voters’ opinions. Even outside the United States, much of the news is dominated by election coverage. For whatever reason, we are fascinated with the political coverage and the personalities running for office (if you know what I mean)! The truth is that, as foreigners, we should be concerned because of the dominance that the U.S. plays globally. Below are a few statistics that may make your head spin or not, but they are important.

You may have been advised to transfer your Individual Retirement Account to a Registered Retirement Savings Plan. This misguided advice is usually a terrible mistake! You may keep and maintain your IRA when you become a Steele Wealth Management client. There is no need to collapse your IRA. There is no need to transfer your IRA to an RRSP. Transferring your IRA to an RRSP is not necessarily in your best interest.