Good Choices

  The new year is coming. What should we expect in 2023? -  Inflation will slow down. It means we are less worried about depression.  - The interest rate will not go up. It means bond prices will be stable or go up because bond prices are opposite to interest rates. - Good to purchase high-quality bonds. However, it is easy to say than to do because it is difficult to find a good bond to purchase. I will let it go and won't touch it. - S&P 500 needs to be monitored. When it is higher, you can sell, and when it is lower, then buy. Or leave it alone if you don't have much time to monitor it. - US dollar will decline during 2023. If in this case, it may be better to spend foreign country's money in the USA.

  Canvas is a website for editing photos, creating posters, and making decorations for your Facebook, Linkedin, etc. It has tons of design templates, and many are free. When I have spare time and write something, I usually go to this website to create my pictures. It is fun.

  Studying a language is easy and difficult. What does it mean easy and difficult? Easy I mean you don't need to make a big commitment. Only five minutes a day, that is it. The difficulty is that you have to spend five minutes every day. When I first learned French at university in 2016, I felt it was difficult. However, I have continued to learn it through the free website Duolingo for two years and now I am more familiar with it.   It may not be the best way to learn French but at least I don't have much pressure during the learning journey and I do feel not exhausted. Maybe one day when I have more time, I will put more effort into it. 

  I was not a fan of football until I watched Messi play in the 2022 Qatar World Football games. I was impressed by his creative shooting and I thought Messi must have a vivid map in his head when he runs with the football.  Messi was born into an ordinary family and he has shown a talent for playing football when he was only four years old. However, even though he is a genius he struggled with the situation that an ordinary person faces, such as the difficulty to be accepted as a foreigner and getting the rare opportunity that others do not normally offer, furthermore, he has his own mild personality and was struggling with making friends with his teammates at the beginning.  However, he survived and proved himself as one of the best players in the world.   What can we learn from him? First, find our own strength and sharpen it. For example, keep thinking about how to find a better way of living.  Second, find your goal/aim and be creative and be patient to wait for your opportunities

I received this information from CPA Canada Seasonal benefits. The website is memberdetails.com . Although it says to be exclusively for CPA, I can purchase for any of my family members and it does not ask me to provide my CPA number. It is also weird after I purchased a flight ticket and booked two nights of hotels, it does not recognize my order history. I signed up several times by using my email address but the site still could not find my email.  Anyway, it is a good site because the prices were cheaper. I recommend that if you need to book a flight or book a hotel, this is a good site to try. 

 Sometimes, free is not always good. For example, there are lots of credit cards without annual fees. But compared to some credit cards that charge annual fees, these free cards have fewer benefits. I compared several banks/institutions' credit cards and I like these three most. First is CIBC Costo MasterCard.  I recommend signing up as an executive member with a CAD$120 annual fee because this membership has 2% cashback. Costco has many products that other stores do not offer, such as its Kirkland brand items, much fresher fruits, much cheaper meat, discounted makeup, medicine, supplements, etc.  The second is the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Credit Card. TD has several Infinite credit cards but I like this Aeroplan Visa credit card the most. It is ideal for someone who flights often. Its benefits include free first-checked baggage, and travel insurance policies, such as trip cancelation, trip delay insurance, delayed/lost baggage insurance, etc. Its annual fee is CAD$139 but you can