Tausi Insider

Apparently, they’re retiring. Using census data, we can approximate the ratio of workers to retirees in Canada and how it changes over time. This ratio has been shrinking more quickly since 2008, which is when baby boomers started to retire in large numbers. More than 1,000 Canadians are reaching age 65 every day, which explains the need for high levels of immigration. (function(root) []; root.ChartTool.push(id: "gc-" + data.id, data: data); var b = document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0]; if (!b.classList.contains("gc-charttool-init")) b.classList.add("gc-charttool-init"); var c = document.createElement("link"); var j = document.createElement("script"); c.href = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/chart-tool/1.4.1/chart-tool.min.css?token=16"; c.rel = "stylesheet"; j.src = "https://www.theglobeandmail...

We’re near the end of rising interest rates – then what? A common view is that rates must hold at peak levels until the Bank of Canada feels confident that inflation is fading. Only then can rates fall back to whatever level proves to be the new normal. It might be a year from now until we see rates decline – what’s in store for borrowers until then? One thing we know is that the burden on borrowers will be unlike anything experienced back in the spring of 2001, the year we last had a prime lending rate higher than the current level of 6.45 per cent. People owed less back then, which means they had less exposure to high rates than today. Canadian debt payments climb at record pace as interest rates rise We are living through an economic lab experiment – the first period where high rates meet the high-consumption lifestyle. Expensive houses and vehicles are part of the story, and so are the internet and social media, bank lending policies and the final capitulation of the Depression-e...

Canada’s publicly traded home and auto insurers are designed to be boring and predictable businesses. But stellar stock market returns have catapulted them into rarefied air, allowing them to dethrone the Big Six banks as the country’s hottest financial companies. Shares of Intact Financial Corp. IFC-T and Definity Financial Corp. DFY-T trounced those of Canada’s largest lenders this year, climbing 21 per cent and 30 per cent respectively, as of the market’s close on Dec. 23. The banks were down 15 per cent on average. The insurers also beat the broader market: The S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 8 per cent since the start of the year. Intact and Definity are property and casualty insurers, meaning they insure personal automobiles and residential homes, and also offer commercial insurance for the likes of contractors and financial and legal professionals, among others. Despite their presence in day-to-day life, they aren’t household names in the same way as banks or life insurer...