The cost of commuting is forcing some Ontario residents who moved outside the GTA during the pandemic to reconsider their place of residence as employers call workers back to the office. LARS HAGBERG/THE CANADIAN PRESSThe Canadian Press
Getting caught up on a week that got away? Here’s your weekly digest of The Globe’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and more.
Is the cost of long work commutes worth it?
When remote work took off during the pandemic, housing markets surrounding the Greater Toronto Area became increasingly popular for homebuyers priced out of the region. But as workers are being called back to the office – even just for a few days a week – those who moved out of town are learning that their commutes are increasingly long and expensive. As Salmaan Farooqui reports, one woman who bought a home in Belleville now spends $600 a month to travel to her Toronto-based finance job three times a week. Another person interviewed found his commute from Cambridge to Toronto took too much of a toll on his personal life, and is now looking to move to Halton or Peel regions. As company decisions around remote work change, more people may be looking to move back to the city.
Tom Brady cries FTX crypto tears
A week after the collapse of FTX Ltd., the world’s second-largest crypto exchange, the carnage continues. Sure, it’s been devastating for founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who likely lost billions of dollars, and many investors, but FTX had also built an impressive portfolio of partners and ambassadors, many of whom were paid in stakes in the company, Mathilde Augustin reports. Now, many sponsorships and partnerships are up in the air, and several celebrities who promoted FTX are now being sued alongside Mr. Bankman-Fried for $11-billion in damages. Among the list of names who were FTX partners? Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, NBA star Stephen Curry, Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Women: We’re richer than you think!
The latest high-income figures released by Statistics Canada this week show that women now account for a record-high share of the country’s top income earners, making up 25.4 per cent of the top 1 per cent of income tax filers in 2020. In this week’s Decoder, Jason Kirby looks at the steady rise of female one-percenters over the past four decades, as well as which provinces have the smallest and largest shares.
Rising interest rates are hurting the Bank of Canada, too
The Bank of Canada will make its last interest rate announcement for 2022 in early December, but before then, it will report its first financial loss in its 87-year history. As Mark Rendell reports, it’s a development that risks further denting the central bank’s reputation and inviting more political scrutiny over its purchases of government bonds during the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent months, the bank’s aggressive push to increase interest rates has created a mismatch on its balance sheet, and it’s now paying a higher interest rate on its liabilities – mostly deposits by Bay Street banks held at the central bank – than it’s earning on assets. That’s generating net interest losses, which will begin showing up in the bank’s third-quarter financial statements, expected later this month. The BoC is expecting total losses of between $5-billion and $6-billion over the next few years, and should return to positive net interest income sometime in 2024 or 2025.
Higher TFSA limits and lower taxes are coming
If you’re looking for a silver lining to higher living costs, it’s that inflation results in bigger benefits and lower taxes for many. The annual contribution limit for the tax-free savings account is set to rise to $6,500 in 2023, up from $6,000 in 2022, which means an extra $500 a year Canadians can save and invest in their TFSAs to enjoy tax-free returns. And as the government recalculates income thresholds for both benefits and taxes based on an unusually high inflation measure, Canadians can look forward to several other outsized changes in 2023 that will benefit their wallets. Erica Alini reports on how these adjustments will affect taxpayers this spring.
How to claim home office expenses on your taxes
Speaking of taxes, if you’ve been working from home this past year, you may want to consider claiming office expenses on your income tax. What qualifies as a workday at home? Any day where you worked full- or part-time will count. But you can’t include days off (weekends or statutory holidays), vacation days, sick leave days or other leaves of absence. So what are the rules for claiming home-office expenses in 2022? Tim Cestnick outlines two approaches and the steps to take before year-end to ensure you’re saving taxes if you can.
:format(jpeg)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/2BJSUIPL3ZEELB7P33BFN5S2U4.jpg)
Ready to get your finances in shape?
A new 5-part newsletter course to improve your personal finance skills, including budgeting, borrowing and investing. Taking the course? Tag us on Twitter (@globeandmail) using the hashtag #MoneySmartBootcamp.
Sign up for MoneySmart Bootcamp: If you want to improve your financial fitness, The Globe’s MoneySmart Bootcamp newsletter course is for you. This new five-part course, written by personal finance reporter Erica Alini, will improve your personal finance skills, including budgeting, borrowing and investing. Subscribe to the MoneySmart Bootcamp and you’ll receive an e-mail a week to work a different financial muscle. Lessons will land in your inbox Wednesday afternoons.
Now that you’re all caught up, prepare for the week ahead with the Globe’s investing calendar.